This was taken, oh, I don’t know, back in 1992 perhaps? This is my motorbike, propped up against a rather sinister wall in Syria on the road between Damascus and Aleppo. Both beautiful cities, full of beautiful people, where I enjoyed myself very much. Now it makes me desperately sad. This is a purely personal post, as I try and wrap my head around a place that I know quite well, being torn asunder. Syria is/was a fabulous place to visit, although of course even then, especially then perhaps, it was under the shadow of all sorts of unseen horrors that as a tourist you just wouldn’t see. The kindness of the people I met is the thing I remember the most. Just normal people, with kids, with family trying to make a living and have a good time along the way. Should one visit such places as a tourist…I don’t know, I was young, I wanted an adventure, I wanted to see castles, deserts and the place where TE Lawrence used to hang out.
On a lighter note, the bike was Suzuki DR350 – a fabulous bike that carried me all the way from Manchester UK, through Europe, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Jordan – then back again. No problems encountered. The camera? Erm, I ‘think’ it was some sort of 35mm super zoom thing, long since dead and buried.
80:8 Moving | Still | Blog 