Damascus

Here in damascus I am staying in this super small boutique hotel with small overly made up rooms with a big balcony overlooking the street below, and old fashioned English style heat exchangers in rooms. Super friendly guys, free broadband in the room & 10 minutes walking distance from the Turkish mosques, The Four season's hotel, the Omayyad mosque, the old markets and all..

It is cold, near 10 / 12 degrees all the time, and all meetings have gone like a dream so far and i am playing 'Rehna tu' far too many times than normal.

Ive been on 2 or 3 exploratory walks on my own - mostly around the neighbourhood im staying, and one really long walk yesterday to kill sometime after India closed (Remember yesterday was the equivalent of our sunday here in Damascus - and most places are closed, even shopping malls & restaurants)

Basic photos are here below. No energy to write up elaborate commentary - maybe when i get back. More sightseeing left to do in any case.



I just woke up 10 mins before - its like 7:30 am - i slept at 9:30 yesterday - i DONT normally sleep long hours when travelling - but the cold and i guess the whole exotic air is sort of making me drowsy.

Just before waking up I had this dream about sitting in a high school maths exam where i was given a whole sets of calculus questions - all my key competitors back in school - J, A, R, K and even some of the dumber females are all furiously scribbling away whereas i cant figure out what the hell to do what even with one question - i try dabble with a question or two with what calculus i remember now - but i cant proceed beyond a step or two - then i sit there chewing on my pen & thinking about the meetings i had on Thursday - with Mr.B & E and if ive sent to them all offer documents & datasheets as per what we decided.

Then the dream scene abruptly shifts to Damascus (- i sort of replay what actually happend yesterday inside my head i guess -) i am sitting at this KFC joint trying to fabricate a vegetarian meal out of what they served me - a chicken burger (out goes the chicken, the buns, a thin slice of cheese & some lettuce remain), a chicken drumstick (thrown out fully), coke & a sort of a colesaw (which smells like a Rabbit enclosure in a playpark - because its mostly cabbage in the regular colesaw fashion)

There is this very interesting looking girl (an Arab) with honey blonde hair - eyes matching her hair colour - with her friends -looking at me in obvious wonder - munching on chicken popcorn and french fries - this staring goes on for a few more frames -

All details are still surprising clear in my head still -

Then a phone rings - i fidget around with my pockets - i wake up - its Mr. Ahmad - the Hotel guy - with my wake up call.

I darent scroll up and look at what ive written :-, after posting, if its like really mental-il probably take it off.