Palmyra rhymes with my surname

(note: I know have put up photos at my new flickr site... so you can see them there, I would embed them this page, maybe I will, but it just takes so much more time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25797682@N03/sets/72157604687007482/

My hotel in Palmyra is right next to the ruins, so I just get up, get in my car and drive round the corner to the ruins.

The ruins are basically the same sort of story as those of Apamea; except covering a much bigger site, which is really quite huge.

I find an arena where a few hundred people can watch wild animal wrestling and battles, which is still very much intact. I figure it would be an excellent place to make a video clip for a band!

Despite there being so many tourist buses on the road, I am basically alone in the ruins and it is not too early either! I only come across one group of tourists who I manage to avoid. The tourists you see in Syria are mostly the kind of people you would not look once at... almost excessively bland people.

I wander off into the area where there are all these towers and tombs... but don't venture any further.

I go to the temple of Baal which is the most intact structure on the site, and take some nice photos. It is quite interesting how the Muslims have destroyed the faces on the frescoes, so no human imagery is left.

Palmyra itself has quite an interesting history. As its strength and size grew, eventually it was concluded by its people that it should break from Rome and become its own Empire.

The Romans decided this was not the way of the world and sent in their armies, which Queen Zenobia and her people defeated... thereby gaining power of all of Syria, Palestine and a lot of Egypt.

A few years later in AD 272, the roman emperor beseiged Palmrya and took Queen Zenobia back to Rome as a prisoner - thereby bringing Palmrya back into the empire.

After Rome fell, the city had no reason left for existing, as its primary source of money came as a center of trade in the route between the east and Rome - and so it fell into ruin.

As I come out of the Temple of Baal I realise it is about midday and I have seen enough of the ruins and so decide to go walking in the Oasis. But first I am tempted to ride a camel. There are about four of them sitting down outside the temple with their owners closeby. It is a very touristy thing to do, but something I had never done and the only opportunity you really get to ride them in short distances is as a tourist and so I feel to give it a go! Besides, even the somewhat dour Diana Darke, who writes the Bradt guide to Syria, says riding the camel from outside the temple from the reluctant camels is "rather fun"(!)

A young bedouin shows me his white camel and asks 2000 pounds for one hour. (about $50 Australian), which is really an enormous amount of money for Syria. I tell him that and he says they have to pay taxes and so on to the government which seems unlikely but plausable.

I bargain him down to 1800 pounds and say I want to take a tour of the Oasis. I try to pat the camel before getting on, but the beast is obviously quite misanthropic in nature and growls and then lunges at me! This doesn't really deter me, as I hear that camels are just typically bad tempered in nature!

After I get on the camel, hold on as it gets up in a rocking motion, and the beast growls and moans as I am led toward the oasis and the palms.

He keeps growing and grunting for about 15 minutes until he finally stops. I am led through lanes where there are stone walls and olive and pomegranate orchards over the walls.

The bedouin boy, whose name is Hane (pronounced Han-knee) shows me the pumps and spring where the water is pumped up from. The water is literally silver in colour and Hane says it is because there is actually silver in the water and it is very good for the human body to drink it. I tell him we have collodial silver in Australia, which can kill viruses and so on and he says, yes, it is the same with this water!

We go back through the windy lanes and then go to Hane's friends place, which is kind of like a little camping ground, swimming pool and restaurant. I take a swim in the swimming pool which is right behind the temple of Baal and then eat some food which is very, very good... but very, very overpriced!

Hane says he can take me out to see some springs, the desert and also the bedouin if I want. I ask him his price and he says, you decide how much you want to pay. I say okay and so we go to my car and we got into town to pick up his cousin who wants to come with us too.

Soon we are zooming across a dry sandy road, with Palmyra behind us, and just salt flats surrounding us. After about half an hour we arrive at this tacky looking touristy building in the middle of the desert. It looks like some kind of hotel.

Inside, I am shown these big bathing pools which they begin to fill up with water... which is from the spring and is apparently some kind of health giving sulphuric water. I am not really sure about it... I have done lots of these spring waters and never really gotten much from them. But decided to do it anyway... the water is naturally hot and the bath is in this multilayered square bath made from slate.

The water is good and relaxing, but nothing too special. I get out, dry myself and over drinks I ask Hane what we should do next. He says we should go see the camel racing. He says it is about an hours drive from here. I say I am not too keen on that and maybe we should go back to Palmyra now. I was actually quite keen to see the bedouin, but as Hane isn't mentioning it now, I don't mention it - as I suspect he is not as tight with the bedouin as he has claimed!

Then, we go outside and look in this cheesy, touristy bedouin tent! Hane and his cousin are almost surprised there are not any Bedioun in there, in this conveniantly located tent for the tourists! So at that point I drop the bedouin idea altogether.

So off we go, back down the desert track we come from, until Hane's cousin says we can go see some baby camels, which are only a few kilometers away.

Soon, I can see herds of camels in the distance, quite a lot of them! Including baby camels. We get to the road and then I get out and go and take some photos of the baby camels, which are very cute!

As the car is a couple of hundred meters back on the road, Hane's cousin asks if he can drive the car into the desert, so we can see the more distant herds and visit his relatives... I say, "what the hey!" looking at the desert, it is really quite flat and it looks like the car will be fine on this surface.

Soon, we are all in the car, the boys are really joyous, driving the car in the desert, zooming towards more herds of camels and we come across some of ther friends, who seem to be out there herding the camels.

They all have a cigarette and chat excitedly while I take some more photos of the camels. (and them)

Hane says that his friends over there can offer some tea... and points at more herds of camels in the distance, and also that he wants to drive. He says he can drive, but he has never driven an automatic before, so I have to teach him how it works. When we stop after a few minutes, he puts it into reverse while we are moving and the car complains quite loudly!

Soon, we are in front of a big tent, in front of a family, an old man, a middle aged man, a few children, and two women.

So! These are the bedouin!

As we get out Hane seems like he doesn't know quite what to say! And they are clearly quite shy people. We are all in "looking at shoes" mode, until I say how I am enjoying taking photos of the camels. And I am wondering where is this famous bedouin hospitality!

I ask Hane if he can ask them if I can take a photo of them all in front of their tent. The middle aged man, says, it is better if we go to the other tent.

So he comes into the car, with Hane driving and me and him and his three or four year old girl in the back with him.

He looks different to the other Syrian people I have met, the way he moves is less pretentious and more still. There are no airs whatsoever in this man.

His child (I presume), stares at me curiously, sitting in her dad's lap. Some of her hair is pulled into a tie with a kind of sparkly piece of jewelery, they themselves have obviously made. I recognise this, because I have seen the kind of tools and artifacts the bedoiun make in the shops the night before.

When we get to what appears to be main camp, we see about half a dozen camels tied up, various bits of clutter around the three tents and a few women sitting outside the tent, dressed in black, staring at us, not in any suspicious way, but in a kind of distant way.

As tea is being made in another tent, me, hane and his cousin, sit down with the elder of the camp (whose name I cannot remember!) and who I will call "He" or "the bedouin" for now!

We go inside the tent and it is completely empty, but on the sides of the walls are these most incredible wall hangings, pictorial wall hangings depicting Bedouin life - sewn in with different colours of clothe. They really were very impressive and had a vibrancy and spirit about them that reminded me of aboridginal art.

I ask if I can take photos of the textiles and say I would be very interested to buy one if it were offered.

Hane says the bedouin says, people have come and wanted to buy these textiles, but they have never wanted to sell them, even when 500 euros was offered for each piece.

Once they were offered a very large amount of money to just have the textiles shown in a film, as a backdrop, but they refused. He said the film people looked around at other bedouin camps and didn't find anything nearly as interesting as these textiles.

He said at night, they would all make these textiles, and that it would take months to finish each one... and that for now, they were happy just keeping them for themselves!

Soon, tea is served. It is very strong here, always in little glass cups, usually with white sugar, no milk! It is quite good like this, but part of the ceremony involves waiting for it to cool down so you can even pick up the glass! This means quite some time is present for talking. And people here seem to have a better sense that the tea is really just an excuse to hang out with other people.

The bedouin tells of us that a french woman comes and lives with the group for months at a time... I get the impression she becomes one of his wives for this time! (but I could be wrong about this)

Soon, he picks up this bedouin instrument (the name of which I never really registered!), which only has one string, and begins to play it with a kind of bow. This version had a big olive oil sized tin as a resonator and main body, rather than the wooden one's shown to me in the shops in the night before. The olive oil tin version actually sounded a lot brighter and interesting, and the Bedouin man actually plays it very well. The sound is very soothing and calming. Hane says it is very much designed to be a relaxing experience.

He passes the instrument to me and says I should play it now! with a sudden gentle cheekiness in his eyes. I actually manage to play some interesting stuff on it... like see saw David Bowie violin I'm sure!

Then Hane, who is of Bedouin stock, plays the instrument - quite well too!

I give the Bedouin some gifts - some kooky Australian tea and also some special incence which I burn for them.

At this time, the man's son comes in and talks to us, as well as an old man who checks out the incense I am burning.

Then, after some time, of more chatter and jokes, I say it is time for us to leave.

As we leave, the Bedouin asks me when I am coming back to this part of the world. I say I don't know, which Hane tells him. He says, well, if come back, be sure to come and visit us and stay some time if you want.

I say, that is extremely kind of him and thank him for his hospitality and we exchange good byes and get back into the car.

What impressed me about them is how natural they are, nothing is forced or put on. I am reminded of Osho strangely enough, when he talked about friendliness being one of the most important qualities to have. What I quite briefly experienced was such natural and true friendliness.

They reminded me of some of the tribal people I spent time with in the Amazon... everything is quite matter of fact, especially human relationships and present time dynamics which are recognised for what they are.

There is certain sort of grace in being with all in immediate directness, which is childlike, gentle and endearing. Whereas, western people in comparison (especially the rich!) seem to cultivate a kind of self importance, haughtiness, indirect distance as being worthy of respect - a perspective removed from the earth, from the natural, and what the majority ofl NDE survivors understand to be the most important thing in life - human relationships.

The simple, the direct, the matter of fact is often not valued in our world of compromise, complexity and sophistry.

However, more and more people are becoming attracted to the Bedouin because of what they have kept intact in themselves and as a lifestyle. Sadly though, this lifestyle is being compromised, like that of pretty much all of the people over the world, who have traditioanlly lived close to the land. I have read that such camel herds are becoming rarer and rarer, less and less needed and that the desert cannot support many grazing animals. (which is how the Bedouin largely make a living)

Strangely enough (or not so strangely), the group I visited are more aligned with a traditional lifestyle... while even the majority in this day and age are turning to the luxuries of television, motor vehicles and electricity - and therefore more and more becoming assimilated into the modern way of the world.

On the way back to Palmyra, we find a dead camel on the side of the road. Hane says this camel was in the enclosure with us while we are having lunch! I am not sure whether to believe Hane about this... as it seems unlikely, but he tells me he is for real, this was a very sick camel.

Hane and I drop off his cousin in Palmyra, then go to check out the citadel, to watch the sun go down and have a good view over all of Palmyra. Then we go back to his cousins place to look at the baby camels... one of them is 10 days old. It is grey and very cute and come up to us and whinnys when we pat it. Then the baby camel suckles on one of the goats!

Hane's cousin milks one of the big old camels and I am given some warm camel milk! It is clearly very nutricious going by its taste, which is very rich and somewhat sickly.The cheese and yoghurt I was given for lunch today was also from the camel, and was of very good quality indeed.

Then I say good-bye to Hane's cousin and go drop of Hane to his house. His family are all there, sitting outside the house on plastic chairs. Lots of brothers and sisters, mum and dad.

It is getting dark, and they offer me coffee, which I am reticent to accept this time of night, but which it would be rude of me to not accept! Hane's older spectacled, respectably looking brother says that the deal camel I saw, indeed did die today! And that its owner was now at home crying... and that this camel had actually won many races as well!

As I leave, I give Hane 50 euros, he seems disappointed... but I know it is a huge amount of money in his world... and I will let the Japanese tourists who can afford to give him excessive amounts, who are impressed with his Japanese, to give him more money to stroke his ego and bank balance! The boys had great fun driving the car, and had as much of a good time as I did.

So I drive back to my hotel and go to bed, grateful for a very full day of richness.