Syria Aleppo (Haleb) part II

November 11-13th

Our first night in Aleppo we decided to hit the town and wander around the old city, looking for somewhere nice to eat. We ended up at a very swanky restaurant with amazing food that cost a fraction of what a UK meal would do for this quality of service and cuisine. We even threw in some nice Lebanese wine. Syrian cuisine is unbelievable. By unbelievable I mean, I can't believe the crap I have eaten for years in the UK and called it edible. Hummus is part of the staple diet here but dishes such as Mutabalah, mmmm aubergine and olive oil, or kebbeh, ground mince, wheat, fried in breadcrumbs, or shirwama, kofte, lebna, the list just will keep going on. This has not even reached dessert. btw, the lentil soup rocks also.

So anyways, bellies gently hanging over our trousers and wafting - this being an ambiguous verb - in the wind we adjourned to the live piano bar and had a couple of beers. After this I was ready to drop. Luckily our hotel, despite having rooms colder than an Eskimo's haemorrhoid, had SKY TV (of sorts) bring it on with the Star Trek. My room was a better place for this.

Day Nov 12th

We woke the next day eager to explore this vibrant city. It usually takes a day or so to adjust to a new country. So there are always practicalities to observe that I know all you travellers have experienced: language, currency, orientation, communication, and transport. Once you have those figured you are just seven degrees away from being normal - i.e. language, attire, cultural identity, housing, that sort of stuff. Luckily, Turkey and Syria share very similar phrases; well hello is the same anyways.

We met up with Rachel and struck out to explore the labyrinthine Souq and the Jami al-Kabir Mosque for the day. We first explored the central area of Aleppo, changed some money, and grabbed some food. Cinemas are a huge attraction here; mainly for the reason they promise wanton decadence and wild abandon. What I love about these places are that they are, on the exterior, promulgated by scenes of an ostentatiously sexual nature. However once you enter the picture house, you will find that the government has banned nearly all risque excerpts (I am not at liberty to expose how I know this). The result is mass sexual frustration. No wonder so many men grow moustaches as a hobby.

Some of the things I love about Aleppo (Haleb) so far:

• Smoothies - you can procure these bad boys for about 35p. They can be a mix of banana, milk, honey, sugar, strawberries; or mangoes, kiwis, banana, orange, apple, milk, sugar, or pomegranates, pistachios (did I mention Aleppo is famous for these?) Or a combination of any of the above. mmmmm




• Shiwarma - you can buy these for 25-45p. They are delicious, kebabs, peppers, mayonnaise, lamb or chicken (usually chicken) meat. flat bread, juice (more on this later) and stuff...




• Nuts! Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, Walnuts, nuts nuts nuts, nuts. Everywhere. I recently, and accidentally bought a kilo of them by mistake. I am still eating them a month later.




• Streets. They never go where you expect them to.




• Pizza slices; meat, cheese, tomato, thyme. All at 5p a slice.




• People. They are amazing, friendly, sincere, and warm.




• Souqs - They never end




• Oh - the Syrian Government blocked blogspot. Thus I am a month behind. Sorry about that

After stuffing our faces we headed into the Souq and spent an amazing afternoon wandering around these overground catacombesque streets. It was like being on a constant high. Not only was this experience open and honest, but there was next to none - if any at all - hassle. It was amazing. Aleppo's souq is one of the most famed in all the Middle East; and with good reason. It is sublime. It stretches through so many paths and ways I think I actually got fed up being lost. As always the main area of the Souq is fortified and each area further decimated into rough categories: textiles, jewellery, fabrics, and so forth. Of course, the whole area is cultural and therefore geographically juxtaposed with a mosque: the centre of the community.

I think we all bought something in the Souq that first day. Rachel bought a bowel, to blag it as a Turkish present, Marcus bought a length of string: for nefarious purposes, and I bought some Havle. For those not in the know (including me up until this point) this is a dessert made of honey and sesame seeds. It never goes off - unlike my sexlife - we are such big spenders. We are also fat b*stard supremos as we had extra smoothies and shawarmas. Tonight Rach and Marcus went off to the internet and I, I found an off-licence and watched Naked Gun 2 1/2 the smell of fear.... what? It has been over two months since I could sit in bed and drink and watch crap TV!