Yesterday at the castle in Kahramanmaraş, Emine and I ran into a crew interviewing locals for a German radio station. They were gathering local opinions on the deployment of German troops to support Patriot missiles that will be placed in Maraş and aimed at Syria....
“The secret of the region’s new strength lies in its ancient links with Syria and Iraq. Antep is on the old silk road that leads to Aleppo.” –from The Economist Here’s the rest of the article…...
Today was a rest day, no walking, so today’s "Today is for…" photo is a little different than most. I toured around Gaziantep with my fellow couchsurfer Thomas. I got to play tour guide, even though I’m more of a newbie in this city than...
My couchsurfing host in Gaziantep is hosting another traveler too. His name is Thomas. He hitchhiked here from Italy. His sleeping bag is a little chilly, so he was happy to see the heater this morning.
The main drag into and out of Gaziantep is nicknamed "The Silk Road." There are statues of two Silk Road caravans along that street, one leaving the city, the other entering it. This is the one leaving the city, heading west.
Gaziantep makes 61% of the country walked across. That’s 1280 kilometers; 795 miles; 4-1/2 months. When I got to Konya, which was 30% of the trip done, I only had the physical and mental strength to load myself into a bus and wash up on someone’s doorstep....
Today my mom goes in for knee replacement surgery (she had the other knee replaced last year). Good luck on the surgery Mom, hope you enjoy your new (second) knee! This is a set of statues of a Silk Road caravan leaving Gaziantep. Thought it might inspire you to get...
For months I’ve been walking by these things wondering why people were filling water bottles with apple juice and then throwing them out onto the shoulder. Yesterday I finally realized, "Oh, hey, I’ll bet that’s not apple juice." I...
After I boarded the minibus for my commute to work this morning, a Syrian truck driver from Aleppo, Syria, tried to board, too. He was heading back to the border. He only had Syrian currency with him. The driver would not accept it, and he told the Syrian guy to get...
