The road to Damascus

It's a short taxi ride from the Hotel to the main service cab junction. It's 1.45pm and I'm thinking a conservative estimate 2-3 hours drive and 1 hour at the border I could be in Damascus at 6.30pm at the latest. I eventually arrive at 8pm and with a large element of luck thrown in...

To get a Syrian visa at the border, I know from reading a fellow travellers guidebook that I'll need to pay in US dollars and there isn't the facility to exchange money there so I need to go to a bank in Amman. There are a number of banks near the service cab stand so it should be easy but it takes half an hour because the ATMs are broken, however in that time I have an interesting conversation in French with a young Iraqi refugee who has been deported here after six years in Marseilles, wanting to know if it is possible or easier to seek asylum in the UK... désolé mon ami, pas une chance des boules de neige dans l'enfer!

With $40 in wallet, I'm prepared, and finally set off in a Hyundai saloon car along with three other passengers at around 2.30pm.

Departure Taxing
The first border post is for leaving Jordan. After making my way to the desk I'm told I need to pay a departure tax, which is a small stamp affixed to your passport costing 5 dinar (why the bother?!). This is a problem, I have no dinars left and there are no cash machines here... fortunately I discover the 5 pound note change from the breakfast meal I bought at Liverpool airport, 108 days ago, and there is a money exchange.

A short drive and we reach the Syrian visa offices. It's around 5pm now, maybe a little after. First I need a green application form and complete with all my details, including a residence address in Syria or name of hotel (which I don't have but my fellow passenger asks around for the name of somewhere which he scribbles down). A stern clerk in army fatigues sits scrutinising a tiny-type print out of numbers and data, studiously ignoring me or so it seems until he feels like looking at my form. 10 minutes of waiting he finally picks up my form and after a quick glance fills out and issues two slips (yellow and white) which determine the cost of my visa, $52.... merde!!!

I now have to go to an exchange desk in another building to convert my dollars into Syrian Pounds and receive an 'official' receipt for this transaction and then go to a small hut between the two buildings to exchange the Syrian Pounds for the necessary visa stamps. I'm desperately hoping there's an ATM in the exchange building... there is.... it's broken.... (bite lip!!)... Ok, so visa is $52, I have $40 and 2 dinar, which is about $44 in total and a VISA card,, which won't do any good.... aide!!

A Dutch (i think) couple come to my rescue. They offer to pay in Euros and accept the dollars and dinar in return. I ask where they're staying in Damascus so I can pay them back the remainder but they say it's a gift and don't want to make a big deal of it, so we wish each other a good trip and I hurry to find the stamp hut as it's getting dark. It's no problem getting the stamps and I run back to the first desk, on the way meeting a fellow passenger, a Jordanian businessman - they're all waiting as their process has been considerably quicker. At the desk the gruff clerk says I'm missing a stamp. Cursing, the Jordanian man takes me back to the hut and in a curt exchange get the extra stamp, and on the way back explains they were trying to pocket it themselves (seems an pointless thing to do as I'll obviously have to come back and claim it). Finally, around 6.30pm, I get my visa certified and we're on the way to Baramka station in Damascus where I'm going to stay with Elizabeth and Jason, the travellers I met in Petra.