EXTRACT FROM
OVERLAND
Sat.25 May 1974 - Damascus
Entered Syria, and drove down a superb road from Haleb (Aleppo) to Harmaa, Homs and Damascus. Both the fuel pump and speedometer gave up on this leg. Stayed at a reasonable camping area on the North side of Damascus.
[This] morning we drove on South, bypassing the main part of Gaziantep, and arrived at the Turkish-Syrian border, just past Kius, at 8am. Unfortunately the border did not open until 9am, but once we reached the check point we got through in about one and a quarter hours, without any search.
We did not need the Carnet for Turkey, but it is necessary for Syria. On the front of the document is a list of countries the document is valid for - including Israel - which the customs officer very quickly crossed out. Generally a quick efficient crossing though, and then on to Aleppo.
In Aleppo we found our way to the tourist office, then a bank and a service station. This bank, by the way, was the first one we have encountered that would accept the National Bank Sterling Travellers Cheques - we have had a great deal of trouble with these, despite the assurances of the bank when I bought them. If you see the NBA manager tell him this - they are virtually impossible to exchange in Asia.
Very obviously the oil companies in Syria were nationalised a couple of years ago. All the service stations can be identified by colour scheme and occasional emblems as being Shell, Esso or Mobil origin, but they are now in a shocking state of disrepair and are run by young boys. We saw one huge new Esso tanker, with the emblems still on it, being used as a water cart to damp down the dust at the side of the road. The petrol here is not quite as cheap as I had expected - a complete fill cost me Sy£60 (Sy£5.40 = A$1) (38¢/gal.).
Aleppo itself is quite a pleasant town. A silver domed mosque dominates the city (all the other mosques we have seen have had blue, green or gold domes). Gardens surround the brown mud brick buildings, and there are wide tree lined streets. Even the traffic is relatively orderly.
The cars here are nearly all American made. They are either 1950s vintage, or less than two years old. It looks as though there was an embargo on car imports for ten years. There are thousands of brand new yellow Dodge Darts here, being used for taxis. There are also lots of Land Rovers here, as well as a Russian made vehicle that looks identical to a LR in every way except the grill. It is not as well made though.
We have noticed that each country seems to have its own favourite brand of truck - in India- Tata, Pakistan - Leyland, Afghanistan - Russian, Iran - Kaveh (local), Turkey - DeSoto and Syria uses anything that will move, but mainly Mercedes. They also have the world’s biggest number plates, as they are written in both Arabic and English numerals.
In the afternoon we drove South from Aleppo to Damascus, travelling through Hamah and Homs. The road was incredible. It is a four lane expressway for at least three-quarters of the 250 mile trip, and the rest is at an advanced stage of construction, and they will probably have an expressway the whole way within a year.
We passed through acres of wheat fields and huge paddocks of tomatoes, as well as more olive groves until we reached Homs. After that the country became quite barren until we came down out of some hills just North of Damascus to the city, which is relatively fertile, although looks just like a series of brown bumps from the distance.
Just South of Aleppo one of the fuel pumps stopped - again!! So now we are back to one fuel pump. We have finally traced the trouble to the fact that when Annand & Thompson in Townsville installed that heater, they repositioned the fuel pump too close to the engine, so that whenever it gets a bit too hot, the capacitor in the fuel pump melts - so we will get it fixed next week in Beirut, and have the pump position changed.
As we drove through Hama the speedometer cable came undone from the gearbox - no great catastrophe, but inconvenient. It may sound as though the car is falling to pieces, but I assure you it is not - it is just that everything that would happen to a car in a full year is happening to us in a few weeks (ten since we left Brisbane), and we have done nearly 8000 miles since Bombay.
On the way into Damascus we passed a bombed out petrol dump, a few tanks beside the road, and a huge yard full of wrecked military equipment - but really there is very little to indicate that this country is at war. We have seen virtually no soldiers or even aircraft, even though we can see the Golan Heights in the distance to the South.
We arrived ...... at a camping ground just North of the city - the first organised one since we left Tabriz in Iran. It is quite well organised, and it is a great relief to have a good shower and wash. There are three other campers here from UK, France and Germany.
[This] morning we set off for Syria, and only took an hour to get across the border (it’s getting easier all the time), and drove on to the most beautiful road you have ever seen, just like the Newcastle Expressway, all the way down to Damascus except for 30 miles that they hadn’t finished. I suppose it is good for the quick movement of troops. We were driving through desert again though. I do not like desert, however we found quite a nice camping site.
