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Comments on: Aleppo, Syria http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/ London to Shanghai, by land Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:40:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: abs http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-242609 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:41:34 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-242609 Dear Iain,claire hope your both well. Its saturday afternoon and youve touch a nerve, (lol) Dont take offense just some points on syria I think you shold know. (just chat) Iam a syrian, but born raised and educated in england and see were your coming from I really do because I have seen so many tourist like your self and claire in aleppo and always in the same places doing the same things, the majority of tourist visiting syria will always opt for cheap accommidation and do the normal touristy thing ie cittedal, souks etc, belive me when I say these hotels offered to tourist would not even be suitable for the majority of syrians to stay in. Converting western currencies any westerner or south african (as it is a first world country) should be able to afford to stay in 4 or 5 star acommadation as compared to other countrys its still very cheap, your buying your luxury, but staying were you stayed you cant expect luxury, as i can opt to stay in any youth hositle I would not expect to find a 5 star service, you know just for information purposes Iam not (being rude or getting at you) but feel I have an obligation to tell you, house prices in syria rivel any western country beit france england newyork etc and this is a fact the street I live on in syria when visiting, (the new shabat) dont even think about buying in the old shabat, every other house is valued a $ 2 million dollars thats *2 million*, and the most expensive house in the city is worth $10 million and thats aleppo you can double that for damascus and belive me there are no morgages or money lenders in syria thats cash to buy, I live in england and people have 25 to 50 year morgages, land prices in syria are astronomical. An S class mercedes car in england is $100,000 us dollars, in syria because cars are so highly taxed an S class mercedes is $300,000 us dollars and belive me luxery cars are EVERYWERE, come to my area in allepo and see for your self I mean everywere, when you make a judement on a city you have to see the whole city, not just the souks or a dirty old coffee shops, you visited. dont know about jassem but I recently had my wedding in syria and it cost $40,000 us dollars and that was only ok by standards, which kind of shocked me as i thought i was going all out living in england and all, the bawabt al shabat resterant cost $10 million us dollars, thats a big differnce to the coffee shops or the donkey draw falafel cart you saw, an expresso there will cost you $4 us dollars not 10 cents, as for women try keeping mine she wont go out in the same dress or shoes twice and she was born and raised in syria, and as for her voiceing her opinion well, no comment very hard work if you know what I mean, finally syria is statisticly the third safeist country in the world, and is only not the first beacuse we couldnt have a arab country as the first could we (so called axis of evil and all that),as for wealth as a whole syria is the only country in the world which is not in debt to the world bank, not bad for a third world coutry. Any time you wolud like to visit syria again (if you do) call me first i'll tell you were to go and what to see and maybe you would have a different opinion. all the best. Dear Iain,claire hope your both well.

Its saturday afternoon and youve touch a nerve, (lol)
Dont take offense just some points on syria I think you shold know. (just chat)

Iam a syrian, but born raised and educated in england and see were your coming from I really do because I have seen so many tourist like your self and claire in aleppo and always in the same places doing the same things, the majority of tourist visiting syria will always opt for cheap accommidation and do the normal touristy thing ie cittedal, souks etc, belive me when I say these hotels offered to tourist would not even be suitable for the majority of syrians to stay in. Converting western currencies any westerner or south african (as it is a first world country) should be able to afford to stay in 4 or 5 star acommadation as compared to other countrys its still very cheap, your buying your luxury, but staying were you stayed you cant expect luxury, as i can opt to stay in any youth hositle I would not expect to find a 5 star service, you know just for information purposes Iam not (being rude or getting at you) but feel I have an obligation to tell you, house prices in syria rivel any western country beit france england newyork etc and this is a fact the street I live on in syria when visiting, (the new shabat) dont even think about buying in the old shabat, every other house is valued a $ 2 million dollars thats *2 million*, and the most expensive house in the city is worth $10 million and thats aleppo you can double that for damascus and belive me there are no morgages or money lenders in syria thats cash to buy, I live in england and people have 25 to 50 year morgages, land prices in syria are astronomical. An S class mercedes car in england is $100,000 us dollars, in syria because cars are so highly taxed an S class mercedes is $300,000 us dollars and belive me luxery cars are EVERYWERE, come to my area in allepo and see for your self I mean everywere, when you make a judement on a city you have to see the whole city, not just the souks or a dirty old coffee shops, you visited.
dont know about jassem but I recently had my wedding in syria and it cost $40,000 us dollars and that was only ok by standards, which kind of shocked me as i thought i was going all out living in england and all, the bawabt al shabat resterant cost $10 million us dollars, thats a big differnce to the coffee shops or the donkey draw falafel cart you saw, an expresso there will cost you $4 us dollars not 10 cents, as for women try keeping mine she wont go out in the same dress or shoes twice and she was born and raised in syria, and as for her voiceing her opinion well, no comment very hard work if you know what I mean, finally syria is statisticly the third safeist country in the world, and is only not the first beacuse we couldnt have a arab country as the first could we (so called axis of evil and all that),as for wealth as a whole syria is the only country in the world which is not in debt to the world bank, not bad for a third world coutry. Any time you wolud like to visit syria again (if you do) call me first i’ll tell you were to go and what to see and maybe you would have a different opinion. all the best.

]]> by: Maha http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-167960 Fri, 09 May 2008 19:22:16 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-167960 Dear Iain; I'm from Aleppo, an Aleppine university woman student. Every city or country in this wold has advantages and disadvantages. If you objectively examined many European and American cities , where justice is supposedly achieved, you would easily discover that there is no perfection what so ever in this world. While reading your article, I felt that I am reading a fairy tale!!! I'm sorry Iain, but I think that a good deal of what you narrated is not true! Aleppo is a very beautiful city. Aleppine people are very friendly. It is your passive attitude and your prejudice that make it hard for you to see Syrian beauty. Dear Iain;

I’m from Aleppo, an Aleppine university woman student. Every city or country in this wold has advantages and disadvantages. If you objectively examined many European and American cities , where justice is supposedly achieved, you would easily discover that there is no perfection what so ever in this world. While reading your article, I felt that I am reading a fairy tale!!! I’m sorry Iain, but I think that a good deal of what you narrated is not true! Aleppo is a very beautiful city. Aleppine people are very friendly. It is your passive attitude and your prejudice that make it hard for you to see Syrian beauty.

]]> by: mahmoud http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-141056 Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:26:15 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-141056 Hello everyone, I am not syrian but i lived in Aleppo for a few years... and i must say, it is an extremly beautiful city. its not about how modern and clean a city is but its the spirit of its people, the stories each building holds, the essence of its streets and the culture and history behind it that makes it great. your article does make it seem very stereotypical. honestly it seems like you havn't discovered the city enough... to start there are several five star hotels all over the city and obviously you werent in one, there very luxorious restaurants...the city has much more to it...i worked their as a tour guide and i know for a fact that you visited the worst of the worst in the city... i study in toronto and i still go visit aleppo every summer to enjoy its hospitality and if your are ever there just e-mail me at midoshennawy@msn.com and i WILL show you the city and its old places...i will even open the ones that are closed and invite you to the luxurious restaurants all on me... Hello everyone,
I am not syrian but i lived in Aleppo for a few years… and i must say, it is an extremly beautiful city. its not about how modern and clean a city is but its the spirit of its people, the stories each building holds, the essence of its streets and the culture and history behind it that makes it great.
your article does make it seem very stereotypical. honestly it seems like you havn’t discovered the city enough… to start there are several five star hotels all over the city and obviously you werent in one, there very luxorious restaurants…the city has much more to it…i worked their as a tour guide and i know for a fact that you visited the worst of the worst in the city… i study in toronto and i still go visit aleppo every summer to enjoy its hospitality and if your are ever there just e-mail me at midoshennawy@msn.com and i WILL show you the city and its old places…i will even open the ones that are closed and invite you to the luxurious restaurants all on me…

]]> by: Rosemary Sheel http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-120557 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:16:44 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-120557 Hi, Ian. I've got to look up the meaning of arcane! I enjoyed your story about Aleppo and your impressions including your anxieties about Jassem. It is only natural! You wrote with feeling. Your description of the ash-wielding hotel proprietor was funny. I could feel the chill of the rainy afternoon as you and Clair made your way back to the hotel. Keep it up. If you censor yourself your work will be boring! It's your work. You are the judge. Rosemary Hi, Ian. I’ve got to look up the meaning of arcane! I enjoyed your story about Aleppo and your impressions including your anxieties about Jassem. It is only natural! You wrote with feeling. Your description of the ash-wielding hotel proprietor was funny. I could feel the chill of the rainy afternoon as you and Clair made your way back to the hotel.

Keep it up. If you censor yourself your work will be boring! It’s your work. You are the judge.

Rosemary

]]> by: sabumani http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-52358 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:42:23 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-52358 Friends, the so called -ve comments have stirred up quite a dust.....but unfortunately, the people who protest should look into their own societies. Honesty and straightforwardness from local people meeting guides is a rare phenomenon. Most touts, guides, are out there to filch off money by whatever means!! 'information' about the local culture is not one ofthem. As to foreigners, please listen to all those immigrants who rushed off to the west seeking better living conditions! You would think there was no hell like the west!!! must say that yr photographs are quite indicative of yr own artistic inclinations!!!good and mood-evoking. Congrats! Friends,
the so called -ve comments have stirred up quite a dust…..but unfortunately, the people who protest should look into their own societies. Honesty and straightforwardness from local people meeting guides is a rare phenomenon. Most touts, guides, are out there to filch off money by whatever means!! ‘information’ about the local culture is not one ofthem. As to foreigners, please listen to all those immigrants who rushed off to the west seeking better living conditions! You would think there was no hell like the west!!!
must say that yr photographs are quite indicative of yr own artistic inclinations!!!good and mood-evoking. Congrats!

]]> by: Iain Manley http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-37609 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:42:40 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-37609 May, Honesty always has purpose. Travel writing must be left at impressions, or no longer be the observations of an outsider (and no longer travel writing). My fear - as I mentioned in the article, and repeated in these comments - had as much to with South Africa as it did Aleppo. Fears of the unknown are, besides, a part of travelling, and this blog is, ultimately, about travelling, and not just each isolated destination. Aleppine women certainly do wear burkas, and the comment suggests you have never visited the city. Syria, as much as I liked being there, has a number of serious problems: gender inequality, an oppressive tyrant and child labour included. Why are people so sensitive to the observations made here? May,

Honesty always has purpose. Travel writing must be left at impressions, or no longer be the observations of an outsider (and no longer travel writing). My fear - as I mentioned in the article, and repeated in these comments - had as much to with South Africa as it did Aleppo. Fears of the unknown are, besides, a part of travelling, and this blog is, ultimately, about travelling, and not just each isolated destination.

Aleppine women certainly do wear burkas, and the comment suggests you have never visited the city.

Syria, as much as I liked being there, has a number of serious problems: gender inequality, an oppressive tyrant and child labour included. Why are people so sensitive to the observations made here?

]]> by: May http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-37450 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:28:34 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-37450 Ianin- I find your entry truly disappointing! What purpose does it really serve other than preserving a first impression, informed by fear and ignorance? I am really sorry for this negative comment, and I hesitated before writing it. As a historian of the region, your post left me quite disheartened. Surely, it is honest to the extent that it captures your own subjective impression of the city, but does it have to be made public? I didn't have to read it, but I was doing research on the history of Aleppo, and your post came up! By the way, what do you mean by burka-ed ladies? As far as I know, the burqa is not used by Aleppine women... Ianin- I find your entry truly disappointing! What purpose does it really serve other than preserving a first impression, informed by fear and ignorance? I am really sorry for this negative comment, and I hesitated before writing it. As a historian of the region, your post left me quite disheartened. Surely, it is honest to the extent that it captures your own subjective impression of the city, but does it have to be made public? I didn’t have to read it, but I was doing research on the history of Aleppo, and your post came up!
By the way, what do you mean by burka-ed ladies? As far as I know, the burqa is not used by Aleppine women…

]]> by: Iain Manley http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-28088 Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:08:19 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-28088 Thanks Tracey. No insult was intended. Claire's posts should have proved our love for Syria by now. As for Afrikaans being an arcane language: I used "arcane" because die taal's presence took me by complete surprise. In an Aleppan souq? Surely that's arcane... Thanks Tracey. No insult was intended. Claire’s posts should have proved our love for Syria by now. As for Afrikaans being an arcane language: I used “arcane” because die taal’s presence took me by complete surprise. In an Aleppan souq? Surely that’s arcane…

]]> by: Amman and the Dead Sea » Old World Wandering: A Travelogue > London to Shanghai, by land http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-20253 Wed, 16 May 2007 15:37:36 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-20253 [...] After Aleppo and Damascus, Amman was ordinary and unromantic; its Roman ruins seemed improbable. Downtown, boys dressed like hip hop players sold pirated DVDs for a pittance, and balding men with beefy hands pressed ground meat into long kebabs. Concrete buildings lined every street; small square windows marked their few identical floors, heavy clusters of Arabic signage gave life to their stillborn walls. [...] […] After Aleppo and Damascus, Amman was ordinary and unromantic; its Roman ruins seemed improbable. Downtown, boys dressed like hip hop players sold pirated DVDs for a pittance, and balding men with beefy hands pressed ground meat into long kebabs. Concrete buildings lined every street; small square windows marked their few identical floors, heavy clusters of Arabic signage gave life to their stillborn walls. […]

]]> by: Tracey http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-17681 Tue, 08 May 2007 14:18:00 +0000 http://www.oldworldwandering.com/2007/04/22/aleppo-syria/#comment-17681 Hi there you two I would just like to say that your articles thus far have been informative and wildly exciting. I am envious of your travels and wish you God's strength on your continued journey. As for the people who have given you (Iain) so much flack about the Aleppo article, screw them, it's your damn opinion of what you BRIEFLY saw. We all have parts of our country which we wish visitors would never see or experience but that is the adventure of traveling and no harm or disrespect to another culture as I know you, was intended. BRAVO to both of you!!!!! Hi there you two

I would just like to say that your articles thus far have been informative and wildly exciting. I am envious of your travels and wish you God’s strength on your continued journey.

As for the people who have given you (Iain) so much flack about the Aleppo article, screw them, it’s your damn opinion of what you BRIEFLY saw. We all have parts of our country which we wish visitors would never see or experience but that is the adventure of traveling and no harm or disrespect to another culture as I know you, was intended.

BRAVO to both of you!!!!!

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