Travel Tips

While in Syria we were invited to partake in the 4th annual Euphrates River Raft Race. This race takes place from above Deir-Ezzor, through the town and ends after the river goes through the town.
The only rules were that your craft had to be made of readily available oilfield materials, such as oil drums and have at least 4 people.
We only heard about the race about 2 days before it started....and for lack of any other entertainment availble in the Syrian desert, we decided to enter.

Having heard the rules, we assumed (rightly so) everyone would be building rafts.
We decided an outrigger canoe ought to outrun any rafts on the river!

Here our mighty craft is beginning to take shape!!

The great river canoe "Al Shark" is born.
We named our craft after the only alchoholic beverage available in the area... A very green and not so tasty beer called, of course, "Al Shark"
Numerous bottles were beginning to disappear at this junction.

A few more bottles down and we are arriving at the launch site.

Here we are carrying our craft out to the river.

You might notice, if you look closely, our craft is cleverly designed to hold a few cases of the local beverage in the cockpits along with the crew!!

Here we are at the start of the race....trying not to get wet in the river water.
We were a little concerned about falling in the river, as the bacteria content was off of the charts!!