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Syria -
the land of Assad
We flew from Tehran to Damascus on January 3, 2003.
My first impression: Hafez Assad (father, died
in 2000) and Bashar Assad (son, current president)
portraits everywhere, probably more than the Khomeini
pictures in Iran. Either they are dictators or people really love them. I'm
guessing the former is more likely to be true.
Syria is a lot more relaxed about women's dress code than Iran. There doesn't
seem to be any government imposed rules, but most women still dress in hejab.
One thing we all noticed is that women are a lot less visible in Syria. In Iran,
50% of the people in the streets are women. In Syria, the ratio is about 80%
men, 20% women. I'm guessing the really conservative ones don't leave their
houses very much. In Tehran, about 25% of the private cars are driven by women. In
Syria, I saw exactly one female driver the whole time I was there.
Hammam: In Aleppo, I decided to try a Turkish
bath at a famous hammam (Arabic for bath house) highly recommended by
a friend. This hammam was originally constructed in
1491 and was restored recently. The inside is decorated in traditional Syrian
style and is truly a work of art. Men and women are admitted at different times.
People come here mainly to socialize and have parties. When I got there, one
party just got started. The group had the food all spread out and was singing
and cheering pretty loudly. Occasionally one would get up and dance. No one was
dressed. Most of them were wrapped in nothing but a towel. After
four weeks of
seeing women in scarves, magnaes, coats, chadors, abeyyas, veils, and masks, I
was a bit overwhelmed by the sight of 30 or 40 of women running around half
naked.
I bought the whole package - massage, rub down, soap, towel and tea. The bath
lady worked on me for about half an hour. She lathered and scrubbed me all over,
then massaged my back. After she rinsed me clean, she gave me a kiss on the
cheek and told me it was done. When I got out of the bath, a cup of tea was
already waiting for me in the resting room. My first Turkish bath experience was
awesome.
"Kwayyis:"
I don't know the right terminology, so I made up my
own. Veiled means a woman covers her face from nose down so only her eyes are
showing. Curtained means she has a piece of thin cloth draped over her
face so nothing is showing. Curtained women are the
most conservative and are not seen very often in Syria. Iranians are never
veiled or curtained.
I took an evening bus from Aleppo to Hama to meet my friends. There are usually only one or two other female passengers on the bus, but this time I was surrounded by four curtained women. The guy who was with them looked and dressed like a Quaker. I thought for certain that the four women were his four wives. Later I found out they were his wife, sister, mother and sister-in-law. After he introduced the women to me, he pointed to his mother said:"115 kilograms, very heavy." I tried not to laugh out loud. Why was he telling me this? Was that why she was wearing a hood? I felt compelled to show some respect, so I pulled out my scarf and put it on discretely. The woman sitting next to me leaned over and said: "Kwayyis" (means good in Arabic). I was amazed that she was actually paying attention to what I was doing AND she could see through her "curtain" in the dark. I got the approval from the curtained woman. COOL!
During the two hours on the bus, she counted her rosary beads and murmured some words. I asked her what she was saying, and she told me about the 99 names of Allah. For example, repeating al Salam (the Peace) 160 times to a sick person helps him/her regain health, and repeating al Qadir (the One with Authority) 100 times after offering two Rak'aat Salaah will cause one's enemies to be humbled and disgraced. I wanted to ask her which one I should say to put a curse on the chain-smokers sitting in the back of the bus, but didn't know how to phrase the question in Arabic - probably a good thing. :)
There are a lot of heavy smokers in Syria and Jordan. Having lived in California for the past 14 years, I've grown more and more intolerant toward cigarette smoking. Smoking, along with traffic and pollution, made up the top three annoyances (all pretty minor) on this trip. I don't remember seeing women smoke in public. The face veil presents a logistical problem. I have seen plenty of women smoke in their homes.
For female tourists, Syria is probably easier to visit than Iran. Palmyra,
Aleppo and Damascus have some cool sites, but not as impressive as Persepolis or
Esfahan in Iran.
Lebanon
We hired a taxi to take us from Damascus to Beirut, stopping at Baalbek, the
site of the tallest Roman ruins in the world. The border crossing was as hassle
free as it can be. Tourists usually get free 3-day visas at the border. The
officer welcomed us to Lebanon and gave us free one-month visas. The Lebanese
government is trying pretty hard to promote tourism.
The civil war ended eight years ago. Nowadays, it's quite safe to visit
all the tourist attractions in Lebanon.
Baalbek is absolutely amazing. If you only have time to visit one ancient site
in the Middle East, make it Baalbek. The huge Roman temples and columns are one
of the most impressive structures I've ever seen.
See Baalbek
photos.
From Baalbek to Beirut is about two hours. I read an article on Beirut in National
Geographic 12 years ago and remembered the image of a city full of damaged and
abandoned buildings, not much better than the Roman ruins we saw earlier. When
we got to Beirut, we saw a bustling city with brand new buildings and
well-planned streets. It took 16 years of civil war to destroy the city, and 10
years to rebuild it. If you want to see old buildings full of bullet holes,
you'd better come soon. In three to
five years, they will all be gone, replaced by
shinny new buildings that are bigger and better.
Beirut is more like an European city with prices to match. Food is about 30%
more expensive than the US. Parking downtown is about
$20 a day, the cheapest room at the Crown Plaza Hotel is $125 a day in low
season. US dollars are widely accepted even at places like coffee shops and fast
food restaurants. Banks and department stores dominate the downtown district.
About half of the private cars are either Mercedes or BMWs. Young couples
(including gays) walk around holding hands. Unlike other ME countries,
here the pants are tight, the heels are high and the skirts are short. I felt
the overwhelming sense of freedom. Lebanon is small but with a lot to see. I
give it two thumbs up and would like to return someday to spend at least a week
here.
At the hotel, there are more than 50 TV channels from all over the world. There
are the usual news channels in Arabic, French, German and English, plus MTV,
CNBC, Showtime, USA, National Geographic in German, WWF wrestling, Jerry
Springer show, Bay Watch, Curtis Court, and of course, porno channels from
France. Definitely no censorship here.
coming soon
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Designed and Maintained by Linda Shen. Last updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 01:38