Jordan, Turkey, and what in between.

It took me sometime till I got to idea that I should complete my AIESEC cycle and do an internship somewhere, while always hoping to get something in Iran, I was pretty much excited when I got accepted for Ankara, and get the opportunity to learn Turkish and explore nearby countries which usually I won’t have the opportunity to visit, such as Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

To save money – now I think it was a very wise choice, I took the bus from Amman to Ankara, not really a bus all the way, I took a shared taxi from Amman to Damascus, it cost me about 9 dinars Jordan (JD) to Damascus. on the down side of this sharing a taxi to Syria smocking, of course, despite all take for granted that you are fine with smoke and choking every 10 minuets as one by one they begin to smoke.

I traveled by car with a married couple, the man to be Syrian and Jordanian wife, they were nice, except that the husband is a smoker, lucky me.

When presented with a small and narrow segment of society other than you notice the small differences between them, although Amman and Damascus are 4 hours away (2 border without the mess) you can see in the box of sardines and small differences of emphasis some habits, for when I was offered a snack from the Syrian boy who gave me 3 pieces of chocolate, now his wife told me to give me more and how rude he was to give me only 3. Of course, when it comes to Jordanian food and hospitality are the most generous and would not let go of you until you get a good share of what he got, even if they are full and what they make me want to vomit.

On the other hand, the man was so pleasant, smiling and throwing jokes every now and then, while his wife had a grumpy face (face a dragon), like mine, than try to hide it and keep smiling when necessary, but the gene Jordan jumps out quite often.

The Jordanian crossing was very smooth and fast, does not take much time to pass the buffer zone, unfortunately, was so slow on the road that took us almost 2 hours to reach the Syrian side, it seems like the first day someone was trying to smuggle a hell of a lot of stuff to Syria, was scared and left the car right in the middle of the buffer zone, whoever you are thank you for letting me pass the test of 2 hours smoking frenzy.

However, we arrived at the Syrian side has tried to stamp my passport, they exchanged a few Syrian pounds, and took off.

As we approached Damascus, you can see the lights fill the sky from a distance, a huge city compared to Amman, is home to about 4 million people.

Shortly before 9:30 we arrived at our destination, and now I need to fix a ride to the bus station Bollman (بولمان) in Damascus, my ticket to Ankara via Antioch was 10 – I was able to book 5 days my first trip, the company that I used was called Nur, a turkish one – so there was no way I could make it in time, I took a taxi and, of course, tried to fool me by saying that the show is 1000 pounds, which is too damn much, should not cost more than 200 pounds to get to from anywhere in Damascus for Bollman, plus there is some way for every taxi to be unaware of its position, as a sign of ground to Damascus buses going everywhere in Syria and other neighboring countries and neighboring countries.

I arrived at Bollman at 10.15, the bus was gone, but the good thing is that they have a bus to Antakya almost every hour, I had to pay $ 10 to exchange their tickets, yet not sure if I was wrong, but I was happy just to find another bus. But if you think that the cheating streak is over, well think again, when I went on the bus, an employee who has been in office, when I arrived and asked for a new ticket came up and said, "Oh, my head just said we need $ 10 more for the bus and it turns out not to be enough, so you can give me before boarding the bus. " Of course I knew it was an attempt to get some money, I told him that he should tell the bus to wait, and I will pay in the office, looked tense and said that is ok and forgive me the money and there ' is that I need to pay and that he loves me so amount will cover for me, just because he likes it. What a fool thinks that I am!.

So, an advice when it comes to Syria to negotiate the price at any point, not an expensive country, and should not cost much, even the bus fair was cheap, it cost me € 30 from Damascus to Ankara, it is removed the additional 10 Dollar fee for changing tickets.

The bus was full of people of Antioch from Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and a boy who was on a business visa and stay in Sochi Russia.

Along the way I've heard so many arguments between Syrians and Lebanese on Lebanon and the Syrian role there, once in the blink of an eye an old couple would become Jordan and have a fight with two young Lebanese to go to Istanbul for the Palestinians in Lebanon, a long list of incomprehensible nonsense.

But the most common argument advanced complain or say about a Syrian boy who speaks in English rather than Arabic to communicate, now says that his mother is Scottish and that he is the holder of the passport "Scottish." But who am I to judge, I do not care, should not anyone.

After 7 hours we arrived at the Syrian Boarder harrowing, has brought us some time because there were some few Yemen, the diplomats believe they were and it took ages to get done with their cards as soon as we arrived at the Turkish side does not c 'was a massive search by the customs authorities have seized so many packs of cigarettes and alcohol, well that was too cheap to buy something, good thing, though, this means that we have about 2 hours until you get to Antakya.

Sunshine, lollipops! we came to Antioch, most of us speak Arabic, especially since all there is of Syrian origin, who hoped to see the sea, but unfortunately that is not Antakya is a city bank as I hoped, but it's a city called Iskenderun, ah well that is ok, at least I'm halfway there.

When we arrived we had to check in for the bus connective, almost everyone would go for me except Istanbul to Ankara, I was happy, sleep no more arguments over for me while I was looking for my passport and give it to people who working in the office and while I was looking in my folder, my Serbian passport was visible, I heard someone say "Jesi bra iz Srbije?.", meaning they are from Serbia brother?. What a small world this is, his name is Alexander and he was on tour in the Middle East and now back in Serbia on the bus via Istanbul.

was 7:00 and my bus to Ankara was 9.30 am, the other to go to Istanbul has endured a terrible wait until 14:30, I was lucky this time. So, time to move Alex from Serbia, the Syrian boy – who does not speak Arabic, and made me sit in a cafe had some strong turkish coffee.

The Syrian boy said it was an active member of Couch Surfing, which is going to be with a guy who is offering accommodation in Istanbul, pretty neat, but if I was the guest would be difficult to control who or what could be achieved, but more you get involved the largest number of people who endorse and are thus more credible.

Any way, while we were talking, the Syrian suggested that we commemorate this meeting unknown who know only what the other spoke of himself, with a picture since the bus station in Antakya.

Still a lot of miles to go, paid for my coffee, took my bags and jumped into the bus to Ankara, waiting for some adventures.

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Submited at Sunday, November 28th, 2010 at 6:00 pm on Middle East by dave
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