Syria Local Custom Tips by call_me_rhia Top 5 Page for this destination

have you seen him before?

There's two faces you'll become quickly familiar while in Syria: the older guy is the late president Hafez al-Assad - very much beloved by everyone, it seemed. The younger guy whose image will keep you company white travelling is Assad's son Bashar, the new president... who seems just as beloved as his father. However there's a 3rd face to be spotted occasionally: a cool-looking young man sporting dark sunglasses - looking very much like a fighter. Well, he's none, I found out. It's Assad's first son, Basel, who would now be Syrian's president, had he not died in a car crash in 1994.

you're welcome!

You're welcome... I've heard it say so many times in Syria... sometimes as a real welcome, sometimes as a friendly hello, sometimes I simply just did not understand why. But the real welcoming "sign" is the offer of a cup of tea (chai, pronounced "shey") - to be drunk with plenty of sugar, of course - and served in a glass. My rule of thumb is: the more tea you're offered, the more you're welcome... so it becomes very hard to say "no thanks" sometimes. By the way, personal proverb (tested on location)... many cups of sugared chai keep the hunger away!

news in english

There's now a Syrian newspaper called the Syria Times which appears daily. It's not a big one (just a few pages) and - as far as international news - it tells very little: you won't know what's going on in the world for sure. However it's a great newspaper to read and learn a bit more about how Syrians perceive the West - and how differently Middle Eastern politics are perceived locally. I can't say I always subscribed to the views expressed: sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. All the time I learned a lot about people's thoughts and feeling in the Middle East. Definitely worth reading. There's also an on-line version: see the address below.

Website: http://www.teshreen.com/syriatimes/index.htm

open? closed?

Opening days are not always what people re accustomed to.
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TUESDAY
is the closing day for museums or anything similar to it (this includes the citadel in Aleppo)
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FRIDAY
It's the general "holy" day for Muslims, and basically most shops and all offices close down for the day
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SUNDAY
In Christian towns it's the "holy" day when all things close down. All over the country many goldsmiths (mostly Christians) close down too.

money matters

First of all a small conversion help: 100 Syrian pounds are about 2 US$. There are notes of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pounds - and then there are coins: 1, 5, 10, 25 pounds.
It's useful to know the arabic numbers to read the coins. The 0 is our five, the I is our 1, the small dot placed in the middle is our 0. The silver and gold coin is the 25 pounds.
As for budgeting: for simple but clean hotels with private bathroom I paid between 7 and 21 US$ - but there are many cheaper alternatives. Luxury bus travel is about 2 dollars for a 3 hours trip, microbuses are roughly half that price. Meals normally cost 2-3 dollars in simple but nice restaurants. Take-away shwarmas are about 25 Syrian pounds a piece. Same for the local Ugarit Cola, the local version of Coke. Falafel sandwiches between 10 and 20 pounds. Generally speaking: a 12 days stay, including hotels, food, transportation, renting a car with private driver for a few days, entrance fees to many attractions and souvenirs costed me about 350 dollars - and I did not exactly budget.