Kasab & Latakia

7/17:

In the morning Alden finally got around to visiting the Sayyid Rouqaya mosque. It is right next to the house he was staying in, and it was a sight to behold. Funded by the Iranians, it looks like something out of Las Vegas. There was some singing going on, which was a little crazy to watch. Speaking of singing, in the evening Alden went back to the Citadel for another concert. Pink Martini was playing. This is the band that does the hilarious song, (in French), "I don't want to work, I don't want to eat, I just want to smoke." Alden has always liked that song- it is so very French; it was fantastic to see it played live. Good times were had.

Then at 4 am on 7/18:

Alden was awake (somehow) and heading to the bus stop to head up to Kasab. This is a town in the most northwest corner of Syria, just below Turkey. Alden headed up with the following crew: Rahit (from London-ish), Sara (who baked amazing cookies), Sophie ("The worst Canadian ever" who packed for the weekend by using three purses), and S. (A great Syrian guy, who brought the Nargila). Kassab is a mostly Armenian village of roughly 3000 people. It is amazing- it is in a temperate region of Syria- i.e. there are trees! and it is green! The bus ride was 4 hours to Latakia, and the driver smoked despite the numerous no smoking signs. whatever. Then a little "Service" minibus taxi up to Kasab. The little bus sped around narrow switchbacks and mountain roads way too fast to even be considered remotely sane. But Alden et al. arrived alive.

Adlen spent the afternoon on the porch of their rented apartment drinking several too many Lebanese beers (Almaza- "The Diamond) and smoking Nargila. The view was spectacular. Dinner was on the roof of the one major hotel in town, and when heading back to the apartment, they ran into the greasy landlord who finally returned their passports. They were sitting on the dashboard of this car, which Alden has always considered the pinnacle of security. Geeze. Alden was then in bed (which was almost long enough for his mammoth-by-Syrian-standards frame) to prepare for...

7/19:

The crew headed to the same restaurant where they had lunch the previous day to attempt to get breakfast. A waiter sits them down and brings out bottled water and a box of napkins (both which you pay for...). Then after a nice long wait they are informed that the restaurant doesn't actually serve breakfast. Great, thanks for the water, but Alden needed some breakfast. So the crew heads next door, where the power is out, but they have croissants! We don't care that the powers is out- give us the croissants! Alden is a patient guy, but less so when he is hungry in the morning. Syrian restaurants always seem to have dozens of extra people working in them than would be needed, but this does not mean that things get done quickly. Alden nearly reaches behind the counter to grab a damn croissant himself, but finally it arrives.

After breakfast the crew headed out to the Fromloq Forest for an hour of hiking. It could have been West Virginia; it was so perfectly green. On the way back to the hired taxi, Alden, walking in front, nearly stepped on an 8 foot long snake, as thick as his arm. Alden screamed, and the snake slithered away. It was later confirmed that the snake wasn't of a poison variety, but indeed it was still terrifying at the time.

From the Forest to the beach! An amazing drive from Kasab down a narrow valley with crazy switchbacks to a very little rocky beach, where Syria hits Turkey. So Alden immediately jumps in the water, and a 300 meter swim later, he was in Turkey! The Syrian side was rocky, but there was lots of picnic goers hanging around, and a few people swimming. No one on the Turkey side, where the beach was nice and sandy (that's how you know where Turkey starts, the rocks immediately end). Alden had heard that there are guards to prevent this unauthorized swim between Syria and Turkey, but Alden was unbothered.

Lunch was a bit south, right on the beach. Alden split from the group at Latakia, where he will spend the night. The rest headed back to Damascus, since they have jobs/classes/obligations. Tomorrow Alden will try and find his way to Saladin's Castle and then to Aleppo. He is staying in a hotel that is twice as expensive as his out of date Lonely Planet guide said it would be, but it has clean beds and air conditioning! Alden hasn't slept with AC since arriving in the Middle East, and $20 is a fair price for this, no? Latakia is a port city, and it is a bit extremely humid, so the A/C will be nice.

Side note 1:

Alden often wonders, "Why isn't it socially acceptable for men to wear shorts around here?!?" It is so damn hot, and Alden's pants (the only pair he brought with him!) zip into shorts... Alden looks even more like a Gringo as his light gray t-shirt goes dark with sweat in about .03 seconds. The sweat drenching would be delayed if he could zip off the legs of his pants and turn them into shorts. Alas, it just can't be like that.

Side note 2:

Alden's been going to Hammams. These are great ways to clean up, since a hot water shower is usually a very tall order. They also involve receiving 1) a scrub-down and 2) a massage. The scrub-down is typically given by a fat little man who uses a cheesegrater and some soap, and nearly makes Alden bleed. This is followed by a massage given by the large man in booty shorts. Alden didn't even know his bones could crack like that. Wow, the whole thing feels amazing, once it is over.

Side note 3:

Alden learned things about Canada this weekend from Sophie. Mainly, that Canadians call hats "touques." This, Alden is convinced, is a Canadian shibboleth. This has been duly noted just in case Alden is drafted into the military when Pres. Obama invades Canada to get their inexpensive generic drugs.