‏Enjoying being here but feeling frazzeled…

I'm not sure if I'm cut out for such long days & I'm finding it a bit hard. Not to mention the blisters on my feet kill. I even have the proper blister plasters but I don't think they are made to stand up to 12-14 hour days whilst on your feet the whole time. My new shoes were fine & I'd been wearing them close to 2 weeks then had to carry my pack & I wore them… Stupid, should have worn my hiking boots. Not to worry.

Anyway back to work. I've only given it 2 full days & I'm sure I will get use to it. I think it's only cause I'm new that I'm having to stay there the whole day & from next week I think we'll start arranging days off etc. Everything is very organized it seems, except for the staff. It's more a play it by air approach, which is fine but it'll be nice to have things sorted. So far I seem to be spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen, dam that catering qualification – even though it's 9 years old! I'm actually enjoying it (don't tell anyone though). The only thing that sucks is that I can get in & help out but they haven't shown me the meal prep etc so I feel a bit useless. The bosses will say you can help the chef in the kitchen & I'm like cool but when I ask him what he wants me to do the answer is nothing,… then the boss comes in & is like" I'll come back here & help" which makes me want to scream "I can bloody well do it, just tell me what!". I got a tad pissed off yesterday but I'm over it now.

On Sunday I'll go to my new abode which will be great. I really can't wait to get settled. The cycle starts again. I've got to get up now, have a shower then get to work.

Oh, yesterday morning I opened my English bank account with HSBC. It was so easy, I've heard some real horror stories about people trying to open bank accounts here so are feeling quite lucky.

Sorry for not responding to emails, I can do it at work when it's not busy but my mind just isn't with it. Will try to send a few quick responses today.

So much to update & it’s a race against time! ‏

I have to find an English power converter for my laptop, I forgot to get one in Turkey.

I haven't updated in a few days so just to quickly fill in the gaps. I wasn't going to apply for jobs in England till I got here but I had a quick look on the net when I was in Istanbul to see what was about and there was one that really jumped out at me, so I had to apply. My boss wrote back saying I sounded like just the person for the job & told me to come on up as soon as I arrived in the UK. I flew into London about 8pm local time on Friday night (2hrs diff from Turkey) got to a hostel near Victoria Station in London about 10.30pm, woke up early & caught the 7.30am bus to Hanley, Stoke on Trent, a 3.5hr bus trip & started learning the ropes about 12pm & got to sleep about 1am this morning.

It's such a fantastic place & I'm so glad that I'm here. The bar & grill is one of the best I've seen. It manages to encompass 3 different styles of establishments very, very well. That of a fantastic restaurant with great food & a menu that changes daily; that of an awesome chill-out coffee shop with big comfortable sofas; & that of a pub. At any one time you can look around & see people involved in any one of these activities, very happily. The owners are really cool, too & everyone gets along fantastically. Needless to say, I'm very happy. I wasn't too sure what to expect when I got here. I thought that I'd have to sit down & go through an interview etc, but nope, I just got straight on in there.

The other thing that I'm really pleased about is that I will be doing a bit of everything. Bit of prep in the kitchen, dishes (I'm very weird – actually enjoyed doing this yesterday) & serving at the bar. It's all set up so well, the till system is computerized, food orders get sent electronically to the kitchen, & now it's just a matter of me getting super quick at using it. I've mastered the coffee machine. Still have to get the tap beer names down pat. I've never heard of them before – John Smith, Bommer, Miller & there's about 4 others as well. I'm getting the table numbers, slowly, & most of the drinks are straight forward, except things like bitter shandy & wine spritzers. I thought I knew how to do most things! Oh, the wines, too. Got to master them. They make it so easy, though. Everything is so organized!

I was so happy to go to sleep last night! My last night in Istanbul (Thursday night) I ended up going out with several guys from the hostel. Joel & Nick (who are from Bristol) & Craig (Aussie from Bondi), & only had about an hours sleep before I had to get up, pack & check out of my room. Friday night I didn't sleep very well, either. It was a 6 bed hostel room & people got up at 3am, as happens in dorms. I can't tell you how happy I am to be settling down somewhere for several months (just hope it stays that way, hehehe).

Sunday we're ("we're", hehehe) closed but everyone meets up for Sunday lunch. I believe today it's roast Lamb. I'm going to get fed very well here! Last night it was an awesome Shepard's pie. So good to be eating normal food again. The other thing that I think is quite cool is that I won't be living on site. I'll be about a 5min walk away, but they pay my rent. So the deal is I take home a minimum of £170 per week (over $400au) with no expenses, accommodation & food are included. They are even going to reimburse me for the bus ticket to get here.

Umm what else, I'm still kinda in La La land. I don't think that I expected things to happen quite so quickly but I'm happy they have. I wonder how many times I've mentioned the word happy in this post. Do you think I could be pleased? ;o)

A few more things I forgot to mention. They have broadband internet set up there & I can be standing at the second bar area behind the counter using a wall mounted screen to check my email or internet. Plus! I can get a wireless card for my laptop & have access anywhere in the establishment! So the things that I generally spend money on – Accommodation, food & internet now no longer cost me anything!

Oh & my tongue is doing well – on to solid food. Didn't get to go back for a smaller bar on Friday. Didn't have enough time. So I'll have to find one here. I'll also get a pre-paid sim for my mobile here, too. Oh & Monday they are going to help me open a UK bank account (which can be very very hard to do here, believe it or not) & help me organize tax numbers etc. It's all just too easy!

Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent – England, Sunday 26th September 2004, 11.20am

Life of a Traveller:

A friend jsut sent this to me. Believe it or not these are all pretty factual! Oh & I keep forgetting to say I posted some Egypt photos a while ago :)

Try this at home for the true backpacking experience

1) Replace your bed with two or more bunk beds, and invite random people to sleep
a) with you or
b) in your bedroom every night.

2) Ensure that a couple gets drunk and shags on one of the top bunks at least once a week. Loosen the bolts on the bunk to ensure a healthy squeak...this will no doubt provide you and your new roomies with a special understanding of the art of drunk shagging (bump, oww, snore, thud, flush,bump, bump, snore). This exercise will also increase your tolerance for such activities after a combination of alcohol, sleep deprivation & dementia take over during the following night and you find yourself sleeping like a baby under a squeaky gyra! thing bunk that's been converted into a sex machine of sorts.

3) Sleep in your sleeping bag, forgetting to wash it for months. Add some bed bugs (yes, they exist) in order to wake up with many unsightly bites all over your arms and legs.

4) Enlist the help of a family member to set your radio alarm to go off randomly during the night, filling your room with loud talking. This works best if the station is foreign. Also have several mobiles ringing, without being answered. To add to the torture, ask a friend to bring plastic bags into your room at roughly 6 in the morning and proceed to rustle them for no apparent reason for a good half an hour.

5) Keep all your clothes in a rucksack. Remember to smell them before putting them on and reintroduce the! use of the iron SLOWLY.

6) Buy your favourite food, and despite living at home, write your name and when you might next be leaving the house on all bags. This should include mainly pasta, 2 minute noodles, carrots and beer.

7) Ask a family member to every now and again steal an item of food, preferably the one you have most been looking forward to, or the most expensive. Keep at least one item of food far too long, or in a bag out in the sun. This will ensure that you spend the next 24 hours within sprinting distance of a toilet.

8) Even if it's a Sunday, vacate the house by 10 a.m., and then stand on the corner of the street looking lost. Ask the first passer-by of similar ethnic background if they have found anywhere good to go yet.

9) When sitting on public transport (the London Tube would be ideal) introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you, say which stop you got on at, where you are going, how long you have been travelling for and what university you went to. If they say they are going to Morden, say you met a guy on the Central Line who said it was terrible and that you've heard Parsons Green is better and cheaper. If they are cute...try and shag them after a cask of wine in the Parsons Green hostel.

10) Finally stick paper in your shower so that the water comes out in just a drizzle. Adjust the hot /cold taps at regular intervals so that you are never fully satisfied with the temperature. Because of this frustration, shower infrequently...!

I'm on a new weight loss scheme…

Umm, no seriously, I got my tongue pierced today… Mum, it was safe & clean, I swear! :o)‎‏

I've been planning on doing it for a while & the other day when Helen & I were looking for hair dressers I came across a pretty decent looking tattoo & piercing salon. I've been a bit run down & had a cold sore so I wanted to wait till I felt a bit better so I didn't get it done when I first came across them but today I had to go to Taxsim, where I saw the salon, to get my flights changed (which cost me $200us btw!) so thought I might as well do it. It only cost 50,000,000 TL (just under $50au). It was cool too cause last night I met a great guy called Jukesey & I told him that I was going to get it done today & he was like I'll come with you. So I didn't have to go by myself which was good. I always freak out that I'll chicken out before I get something done so it's nice to have some moral support. The barbell that the guy put in is slightly to big which sucks. I know it should be big to accommodate the swelling but it's still a bit big for that so I'll go back tomorrow afternoon to get a slightly smaller one then Friday morning to get the right size. I should have eaten a big ass meal before I got it done too, cause even trying to eat yoghurt earlier was a bit of a mission, hence my new weight loss scheme, hehe! It wasn't to painful & even now isn't really that sore, more just a little uncomfortable & I can't talk properly, cause it’s a bit swollen... I hoping it doesn’t affect how I talk on a permanent basis...

I know I still haven't finished writing about the rest of my travels in Turkey & I still have the 9th, 10th & 11th to catch up on from the tour but I've just gotten plain lazy. It's funny I usually really enjoy writing my posts but the last week I just haven't had it in me. So major highlights form the 3 days I haven't caught up on – Ephesus, said to be one of the most complete roman cities (ruins) left; Troy – as in the wooden horse & city ruins; Anzac Cove/Gallipoli; then of course Istanbul.

I don't know why but I really like Istanbul & each day I stay here it's growing on me. This afternoon I was on the bus coming back from Taxsim, crossing over the bridge looking at the water way & awesome skylines, I decided that I'd be coming back here at some stage to work. It’s the first city that’s well & truly grabbed me. I've walked through many cities in quite a few different countries & thought to myself "I could live here" but with Istanbul I really hope I'll act on it one day. I'll just have to try & learn Turkish which is really hard…

I've been doing a bit of sight seeing but nothing to strenuous. I've done a bit of shopping too… I can't tell you how sick of my clothes I was getting, don't know if I mention it but my cargos were falling apart after the months of hard slog I've put them through. I've mana‎‎‎‎‎ged to buy a pair of Levis engineered jeans…a pair of cargos, some ridiculously expensive shoes that I think are wonderful (which are also practical), a jumper, plus a top. Sad thing is I feel like I've been on the biggest shopping spree in the world! The only other thing I'm going to buy while I'm here is a throw rug to go on a bed or something, some of them are really lovely & man, how can I leave Turkey with out getting one. Plus I think I can pick one up for about $40au.

Oh & like I said I changed my flights. I fly to London on the 24th so now it's all settled I have to figure myself out. I also changed my other destinations too so Louise honey, if you're reading, I'm going to come visit you in Denmark at some stage! Hope uni is going well too. Then the plan is in March to spend a couple of weeks in Thailand before coming home for a visit. I so can't wait to see everyone. When I left I didn't plan on using the last part of my ticket but I figure it'd be great to pop home for a visit & get another round the world ticket so I can continue on.

I'm going to try & drink some more yoghurt now, wish me luck1 xox

Istanbul – Turkey, Monday 20th September, 8.20pm

I just spoke to my little bro & my mummy :o)

(WARNING: Rather long pos...)

I was just walking past a row of phone boxes & there was a lady selling phone cards so I thought why not call home. I have a very bad attitude at the moment when it comes to money… I'm spending it… but I haven't gone 'totally' crazy, it's been a while since I've talked to mum & it was only a $10 phone card. Don't know why but I kinda got the impression that mum had really been stressing cause I haven't been emailing or posting as much as normal. Just to clarify for everyone - the Middle East (or at least where I am & have been) is safe. Of course you have to use common sense, as per everywhere in the world, but really there is nothing to worry about! K?!

I'm totally going in to relaxation mode. It's fantastic & I'm having a blast! I've had approximately 30min to a hours sleep at the most & I've just drunk a red bull cause I don't want to waste today. Think I'll have a bit of a nap later though... I feel slack cause I haven't been posting but‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏, ahhh, such is life, I'm having fun & really like Istanbul :o) Everyone will be gone in a few days though & I'll have a week here by myself so I'll see how I get on. Great thing about staying in hostels though is you meet heaps of people, think I'm going clubbing with a group tonight… that is if I make it with out falling asleep.

It's so hard to post now…. Think my brain has decided to go on strike….I'm finally starting to relax & think I've just gotten plain lazy.

I can't believe I'm 16 days behind with my posts 5 of those days are Istanbul which isn't too bad. They pretty much consist of shopping, walking around, eating & DRINKING :o)

Ok here we go…

After Crac de Chev we headed for Allepo (where I brought my new toy… the laptop peoples where were your minds? hehehe).

2/9 – We arrived in Aleppo sometime around lunchish & were booked in for a walking city tour with a very cool guide, but I can't remember his name – Helen just told me his name is Achmed. We walked through the souk, which is pretty much a ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ market place that has everything. There are basically shops on either side & corridor in between is covered in high arch ways & its nice & cool inside. Souks are quite similar everywhere & are pretty cool. We saw quite a few things but my mind is mush… although I really enjoyed visiting an old a mental hospital. Maybe I felt at home – Ha J it was really cool to see how the separated the inmates in to different categories & how the illnesses were treated. After the tour Helen & I went to the computer shop to see what was on offer & try & barter a little, not that they wanted too. So we went & had dinner & went back later to pick up our toys.

3/9 – Go the 5.15am starts! They suck! At least we haven't had that many on this trip though which is a really good thing. It was quite funny, Helen is really on to it & I'd never known her to sleep in or not be somewhere waiting for us. On this morning though she wasn't there… Kim went up to the second floor of the hostel where Helens room was & started calling out her name with no such luck cause we didn’t know which room number she was in, it didn't work. So I ended up waking up one of the guys that works there to get her room number. She'd slept in… Oops, no big deal J we all went down to breakfast & she was there 5 minutes later, no big deal.

I just had a huge sleep then, Helen & I got a DVD off the guys down stairs & put a mattress on the floor in our room & watched‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏ Along Came Polly on Helen's laptop. It was really cool; I haven't done anything like that‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ since I was home. It felt very normal & was a bit exciting lying on the floor watching a movie & eating corn chips J

Wow, I'm only up to Aleppo…

3/9 cont. After our breakfast we jumped on the truck & headed for Cappodoica in Turkey. So a border crossing from Syria into Turkey, the last one of the trip… In Cappodoica we had the choice of either staying in tents or in a cave. We all opted for the cave. I'd actually thought it would be a cave like a big opening in a rock face etc but it was a bit different. Basically it's been carved out of the ground & was underneath a building & had been totally fitted out with carpets. It was rather cool down there too but was so much better than having to put up a tent! Once we crossed the boarder it was amazing the instant change in scenery & also in the houses. Going form all of the houses been the same colour to different colours & designs was a bit of an eye opener too. It's funny what you get used to seeing. Also as we drove through the small towns there were no where near as many women fully covered up.

4/9 – We spent the whole day on a tour of Cappodoica which was pretty cool. We went to the ferry chambers which are pretty much lots of little pinnacles of rocks in quite a small area for want of a better way to describe it. They were pretty cool. Then on to the open air museum which was awesome. The museum consists of caves. The really interesting thing about the caves is that people used to live in then until the 1950's. Now when I say caves we're talking 3 stories that have separate rooms then for each valley of group of families a kitchen/cooking area. Most of the caves have been carved out & are fantastic. They even had churches, mosques, everything really. The only reason people moved on was there was an earthquake & people got a bit scared so created a settlement nearby.
I think my favorite part of the day though was the underground city, it was mad. To think that people actually lived there & went to all the trouble of carving it out. We were only there for 45 min on a guided tour but by the looks of it the city had everything, form ventilation shafts to pipes to bring in fresh water. It would have been so co‏‏ol to run wild there just to explore, it seemed to go on forever. It was cool J
Turkish Night. Free alco‏‏‏‏hol, need I say more…. Well, it wasn't exactly free for 25,000,000 TL (approx $23au) we got dinner & to watch belly dancers & the traditional dances of Turkey which was great. At one stage they played out a Turkish wedding which was cool then everyone was gotten up & formed a conga line & we ended up outside around a big fire which people proceeded to jump over. It was a really good night & we all proceeded to get a just a little tipsy… At about 12am the Turkish night was over so we hit a local pub called Flintstone's & partied on.

5/9 – We were actually supposed to drive then bush camp somewhere between Cappodoica & Olympos but Ian & Helen thought it would be better if we made the 10 or 12 hour drive (I can't remember which) straight to Olympos. Because there was only 5 of us it cuts down on the time for toilet stops & I think the truck actually goes faster when it's not fully loaded down so it was cool that we got to spend in the tree houses. Anyway, after an hour or so's sleep I woke up & managed to wake every one else up & got up to help Helen prepared breakfast, we were still kinda drunk though but did a good job… After brekie we proceeded to get on the truck & sleep most of the way to Olympos. In Olympos we stayed at Kadirs tree-houses. Nick, Tracey & I went on the night tour to see the eternal flames on mount Olympos – Kim & Frances weren't feeling the best so didn't come. The walk up the mountain was a bit of hike (not really that bad but the night before was a huge one so we were still recovering). It was cool to see the flames coming out of the ground & watch some one just use a lighter to bring forth a flame from supposedly nothing. Helen had given us some mash mellows so we toasted them & made a few new friends by shearing.

6/9 – The plan was to be a bit active cause Olympos has a lot of activities on offer including canyoning, rock climbing & sea kayaking just to name a few. The boys did canyoning & us girls booked in for sea kayaking but it was too windy so they cancelled it. We just ended up on the beach then hang out back at the tree houses. Helen & I were supposed to go rock climbing, which would have been cool, but I just didn't have it in me & neither did she so we gave it a miss. That night we smuggled our very 'special' water bottle in to the bar area at the tree houses. It's so much more expensive to drink in the middle east than it has been else where so buying bottles of vodka to shear works out a lot cheaper, although I believe the proprietors are always so keen on BYO hence the water bottle J At about 12am the tree house bar closes & the bull bar very near by kicks off. It was a really great night.

7/9 – The bull bar closed about 4am & Kim & I went down to the beach with 2 lovely boys that we met. We stayed down there & watched the sun rise which was cool, then made our way back to the tree houses. Waited up for breakfast at 8.30, then packed & left at about 10am, on no sleep. It was only about a 1.5 hour drive to Kas (pronounced Cash) & I slept a little for about 30 min. We were supposed to be camping but there was an upgrade option for 5 million TL a night which we all took. Just the thought of battling with a tent wasn't to appealing. Once we had our gear in our bungalows we headed into town to check out the net & I actually did a bit of shopping & brought a couple of new tops &‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏ a pair of shorts. I hadn't had any sleep & managed to make it to 8.30ish pm before I completely crashed. I'd helped Helen get dinner ready then as soon as we ate it was like – "ok, have to go to bed, can't help clean up – Night".

8/9 – Great day. Kas is beautiful! Right on the Med. We spent the day on a cruise & dived off the boat in to the crystal clear waters. It was so nice just to chill out & relax. We sailed past the sunken city & just had a really good day. That night we had dinner in town then after dinner I proceeded to shop some more… only brought a singlet top & bra though. My clothes are literality falling apart after 6 months of continuous wear so I have a good excuse….

I'm going to give up for tonight. I'll eventually get up to date. It might just take me a little while.

Istanbul – Turkey, Thursday, 16th September 2004, 9.37pm

Sorry Mum!!!!

Thıngs have just been so flat out so sorry for been so slack at postıng & keepıng ın touch. I'm ın Istanbul now & are planıng on stayıng here for a couple of weeks. I've booked myself ınto a hotel for a couple of nıghts, I'm ın need of a bıt of luxury, then I'm back to the hostel.

Istanbul so far ıs really nıce, not quıte what I expected I thought ıt'd be a bıt crazy but ıts not at all. Wıll get my posts up to date ın the next few days but I'm off to fınd a haır dresser before I take matters ın to my own hands & shave my head ;) Plus there are supposed to be some desıgner factory outlets Helen knows about that we're goıng to go to thıs afternoon. I'm happy to report that I once agaın love shoppıng! I was gettıng a bıt worrıed for a whıle there.

Well as always, gotta go... love ya all! xox

Istanbul - Turkey, 12th September 2004, 9,42am

Land of the good toılet stops - Turkey!

Once again another real quick update – there just aren't enough hours in the day! I'm having sooooo much fun though & are still loving the middle east. I honestly can't remember the last time I updated & don't have time to go through everything but the following are the highlights, I did write a post on Lebanon though so that gives a bit of detail. Oh, I brought a laptop in Syria! Yep so even with the technology I'm not having enough time to write…

I think did a quick update when I was in Jordan ın Ammarn… so I'll take it form there.

Sat 28/08 – Ammarn. I brought the most expensive bikini that I've ever brought! For those of you who know me I'm pretty budget so spending $120au was a bit of a laugh, but what do you do when you can't find bikinis anywhere & it least it's good quality, Quick Silver. We had a pretty big night out to farewell Aaron & Kaz at a Irish pub there (like I said Irish pubs are everywhere!).

Sun 29/08 – We met Kim & Tracey who joined the tour & headed for Damascus, stopped at the roman ruins at Jearsh. Then drove to the Syrian boarder. We pretty much spent most of the day on the truck. That night Kim & Tracey wanted to go out, Syria is supposed to be 'dry but we found a hotel just down the road form the campsite that had a bar & they were playing really good music. We all got very drunk & ended up dancing on the bar, which the bar tender set alight, it was a fantastic night!

Mon 30/08 – I think pretty shattered would describe this day. We got to bed well after 4am, closer to 5 I think then had to get up at 8… it was a hard day. We wondered round the souks of Damascus & went to one of the most famous mouscus there. Ummm, quiet night J

Tue 31/8 – Went to Lebanon (read Lebanon post if you're interested)

Wed 1/09 – Huge day. Left Damascus & went to the ruins at Palmyra which were pretty cool, had lunch there then drove to Krac de Cheverlay, a huge castle which was awesome!!!! I've never seen anything like it & we had so much fun! Kim & I were racing round playing tag & getting told off by the guide. It's an amazing place, oh, & they really had a thing for pouring boiling oil on their enemies.

That's all I've got time for now… will try again in a few day…

I'm in turkey now & are having a fab time.

I am getting tired though. I think traveling for over 5 months in developing countries has really taken it out of me. Since we arrived in turkey I've been laughing at myself, when ‏‏‏‏we go past a petrol station & I go WOW – because they look like the ones we ‎have at home, same thing with the shops. More often than not we even have western toilets that SUPPLY toilet paper! & that actually get CLEANED! I don't think we've done one bush stop since we've arrived in Turkey!‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏ It scares me that this is exciting :o) I've decided not to travel in Spain & France for another 4-6 weeks… I just don't think I have it in me at the moment. I need to stay put somewhere for a bit. I've changed my flights so I'm going to have 2 weeks in Turkey to chill out after the tour finishes (its soooo beauti‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏ful here!) before flying straight to London.

Kas – Turkey, Wednesday 8th September 2004,

Day trıppın Lebanon

Firstly, to look at the temperature display at 10.30pm on your way back form Lebanon & for it to say 28oC & for you to ‏think to yourself 'it's a bit cool ' there has to be something wrong :o) Then again‎ you could just be in the middle east & getting used to the 40- 50oC days.

Today was really cool. So worth the $105us that we had to pay for the day trip form Syria in to Lebanon. It only took us about 3 hours to get form Damascus into Lebanon & our first stop for the day, balbek ruins. It's said to be one of the most impressive Roman sites in the Middle East & it's pretty spectacular. It's a massive temple complex & was just this really nice tranquil peaceful place. It would have been so cool just to have been able to sit there for a couple of hours and soak up the atmosphere; it had a really nice vibe to it. After spending a couple of hours at Baalbek we set off to lunch at a local restaurant which was awesome. They brought out so much food & I had the best Lamb that I've had in ages!!!

After lunch it only took a couple of hours to get to Beirut which is amazing. As we were driving down town we were driven down one of the main roads which is kno‎‎‎‎‎w as the green, or, to the locals, the red line because of all the blood that has been shed there. This road separates the Christian section of town form the Muslum section. It's been 12 years since the civil war ended (1992) in Lebanon. I knew that the country was war torn but I didn't know when the war had finished or what quite to expect. As we drove down the green line there were so many buildings that were still in a state of destruction with various types of bullet holes ‎or damage done to them. Our guide could tell which type of weapon was used by the damage done. A lot of the buildings have been left there as a reminder of what has happened in the past others the owners are still waiting for compensation form the government…

I really didn't expect to gee the sadness that over came me as we looked at these buildings & the people surrounding them as there were getting on with there daily lives. Just as an example, Sydney sides, the green line reminded me some what of Parramatta Rd (with out the car yards). Fair enough (gross generalization coming up form ignorant me) if stupid people want to act out to prove a point but these were peoples homes, lives & children…we're talking about. This is where their children slept at night… Countryman, fighting countryman over politics & religion. It really really saddened me to think of what had happened & what these people have been through & went actually experienced for 17 years before the civil war came to an end. To think that children born during that time would have only know a world in a state of warfare… It's just sad, that's all.

After the green mile we went down town & it was mind blowing to see how modern & western Beirut is. Helen & I hit the shops but I didn't really need anything so didn't part with to much money. Oh but I did buy a lip balm from the BODY SHOP! Helen had been looking for underwear through out the whole Middle East & coul‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎dn't find any‏thing decent until we got there. They even sold bikinis & pretty much everything you get at home. We spotted a Starbucks & I can't even beginning to tell you how human it felt to be able to order a herb tea & sit downstairs on comfortable sofas & chat to Helen. That’s the stuff I miss the most… After hitting the shops we grabbed some Nachos from hard rock café & headed back to the border to go back in to Syria.

It was a great day, next time I'll just make sure that I get to spend more time in Lebanon.

Damascus - Syria, 31st‎‎‎ August 2004, 11.43pm ‎‎