Trapped in Aleppo

I'm getting really fed up with all this religious holiday nonsense! Friday is the day of rest in muslim countries,and becuase of this I got stuck in Aleppo for 3 nights because there were no buses to Turkey.

This was good and bad in a way. I got to stay at Kasr Alandaloss again and have good times with the hotel staff (rani, abdul, i love you)...I found the pair of strappy sandals that I had been eyeing on the french girl I met in Bcharre..and I got to hang out with two crazy Turkish men, one of which drank a liter of whiskey every morning and did small amounts of cocaine throughout the day. He was quite a funny man.

Other than that, not much to report--the border crossing from Aleppo to Antakya was as cinch, although I had to have my temperature taken at the border for fear that I was carrying swine flu into the country.

I CAN say, first impressions, Turkey is AMAZINGLY beautiful. I was shocked at how beautiful the countryside was driving from Antakya to Adana, and I was even more shocked that when I looked around the bus all the local Turks weren't even looking out the window. They didn't even care that they were surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen!

It's also been difficult communicating so far--almost nobody speaks english here and after communicating in broken arabic for almost 2 months straight it's hard to switch over to the few Turkish words I memorized on the bus. I managed enough to make sure me and the two other american kids on the bus (from, guess where? san francisco, of course) got to a cheap hotel.

to cappadocia tomorrow!