update...
in Beirut now, staying with Razan in Achrifieh... relationship potential seems to have reached a dead end, unfortunately... though not for any of the reasons I ever expected (nothing to do with any religious, cultural, traditional differences whatsoever)... but, we can still be close friends, I think... back to searching for my Arab princess, I guess...
watched the Danish consulate burn (and an entire office building along with it) a few days ago... was quite surprised how freely I was allowed to wander around taking pictures of soldiers and the burning building... but naturally, the Lebanese have found ways to blame Syria and Palestinians for the whole event.
visited Harari's tomb/shrine thing... 6 days until the one year anniversary, which could prove to be an interesting day. I also took a peek at the site where the bomb went off... wow, that was a fucking serious explosion.
also visited Edward Said's grave in Broumana... which to me evoked far more emotion than Harari's, really.
spent a couple weeks between Hama, Lattakia, and Aleppo... ended up becoming a tour guide to this cool Brazilian traveler I met in Damascus, and I took him to Afamea, Qala'at Marqab, Safita, Hosn Suleiman, Amrit, Qala'at Salahaddin, etc... made some Syrian friends here and there, but nothing substantial...
weather has been quite good... it has been split between rainy days and sunny days, but the temperatures in Damascus averaged around 10-15C... it was actually warm in Beirut until today. I still haven't seen any snow aside from up on the Lebanese mountain ranges... :P
still, I'm looking forward to the spring.
as far as my budget... after splurging a bit the first month of travel, I'm being more conservative and seem to be getting back into the range of $300/month. I think I'll be able to stretch my funds a full 18 months if I continue this.
my Arabic vocabulary hasn't really improved much, but I pretty much have the alphabet down and my handwriting is legible now.
I'm going to be putting together an online travel guide to Syria and Lebanon, with more details on the overlooked/obscure archaeological sites (basically everything in "Monuments of Syria" plus a few others)... though I'm saving most of the work for the spring, when it will be more pleasant (and better for photography) to travel.
that's it for now... I'll be in Beirut for a few weeks.
watched the Danish consulate burn (and an entire office building along with it) a few days ago... was quite surprised how freely I was allowed to wander around taking pictures of soldiers and the burning building... but naturally, the Lebanese have found ways to blame Syria and Palestinians for the whole event.
visited Harari's tomb/shrine thing... 6 days until the one year anniversary, which could prove to be an interesting day. I also took a peek at the site where the bomb went off... wow, that was a fucking serious explosion.
also visited Edward Said's grave in Broumana... which to me evoked far more emotion than Harari's, really.
spent a couple weeks between Hama, Lattakia, and Aleppo... ended up becoming a tour guide to this cool Brazilian traveler I met in Damascus, and I took him to Afamea, Qala'at Marqab, Safita, Hosn Suleiman, Amrit, Qala'at Salahaddin, etc... made some Syrian friends here and there, but nothing substantial...
weather has been quite good... it has been split between rainy days and sunny days, but the temperatures in Damascus averaged around 10-15C... it was actually warm in Beirut until today. I still haven't seen any snow aside from up on the Lebanese mountain ranges... :P
still, I'm looking forward to the spring.
as far as my budget... after splurging a bit the first month of travel, I'm being more conservative and seem to be getting back into the range of $300/month. I think I'll be able to stretch my funds a full 18 months if I continue this.
my Arabic vocabulary hasn't really improved much, but I pretty much have the alphabet down and my handwriting is legible now.
I'm going to be putting together an online travel guide to Syria and Lebanon, with more details on the overlooked/obscure archaeological sites (basically everything in "Monuments of Syria" plus a few others)... though I'm saving most of the work for the spring, when it will be more pleasant (and better for photography) to travel.
that's it for now... I'll be in Beirut for a few weeks.