A little bit of internet digging turned up an excellent collection of images of Ottoman sabils on Archnet.org. Here are a few of my favorite photographs:

This is the Birkat al-Sultan Sulaiman Sabil, on Hebron Road just outside the Old City.

The Bab al-Silsila Sabil is in a small plaza just outside the Gate of the Chain.

We finally got to Damascus about two weeks ago, in the middle of the night, from Hama. Damascus was cool, far less touristy than some other places we’d been in Syria and like any other city. Our accomodation at the Al-Rabie Hotel was very good. It was an old courtyard house, since the Ottomans liked to build their houses around a central courtyard, which was overgrown with trees and vines, with large, clean rooms and some crazy woman downstairs who made breakfast.

We got lost the first day (because Damascus taxi drivers are some of the stupidest people I’ve ever met and just say yes when they don’t know where it is you want to go and drive around for a bit), but finally ended up at the National Museum, which was very extensive (slightly tiring, I think I’m museumed out) and had a cool collection of Byzantine coins as well as some glassware and the like. The best part were all the colonial photos and documents from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We then tried to go to the Ummayid Mosque, the biggest in the country but it was getting late so we just ate for hours instead.

The next few days we spent exploring the Damascus old city, which is a maze of thousands of corridors and cheap eateries and shops. Once we stumbled upon the hipster-ville of gallery/cafe’s etc so we went the other way. There was an excellent pizza/zaatar place that cost like 50 cents for a meal. We did our secret santa shopping for Christmas. We finally made it to the Ummayid Mosque which was enormous, it looked like an airport arrival hall, and we had to go and get Lee some special clothes to enter, which turned out to be an enormous grey poncho, even though she had a scarf etc. Another place in the old city was the Azem Palace, the Ottoman Palace there, which was interesting, but the best part was the garden and the hilarious displays there with fake people imitating daily life.

One thing about Damascus was most of the food was atrocious. We made the mistake of getting some pizza, where the man told us we could have it any way we liked, so someone mentions vegetables and a bit of meat, so we get a pizza with cream and peas (!) and cauliflower, which was revolting. It also seems that some Syrians see us as nothing but walking dollar signs and try and overcharge us for everything. Once in a restaurant we queried why the bill was high as we had remembered our meal costs, only for the waiter to blatantly change the menu in front of us by pen; but we managed to embarass him sufficiently for him to reduce our meal cost somewhat…

We also went to the visa office because our stamps on the passport (which there are about 500 Syrian stamps, I think the more stamps they put the more important (and impoverished) the country is) said it was valid 15 days. After we find the office, we are told by the man at the desk he doesn’t stamp after 1pm (the time being 1.15pm) and to come back tomorrow, after which he won’t answer any questions about opening hours, and when we return to the hotel we are told we don’t actually need the stamp because the old stamp is out of date and really means 30 days…

We finally leave Damascus by bus heading for Beirut a few days before Christmas. We’re now in Amman, so I’ll fill in the Beirut part in a few days. Oh and Lee finally got a doctor because her cough wouldn’t go away and she had had it since the middle of Turkey, and so we found out she had Bronchitis and Farengitis and something else and had to take about 7 different medications… (but she’s fine now).

Damascus Downtown and some huge unfinished building that looks like it’s been there for a while.

The Ummayid Mosque wall, completely gold fresco’d.

The ‘Putting On Special Clothes Room’

The Minaret of the Ummayid Mosque, complete with loudspeaker system. In Turkey the clerics are banned from playing prerecorded prayers, but not in Syria. I was told they do it because they are scared of making mistakes, but I think it’s because they don’t want to wake up at 5am.

A residential street in the Old Town. I think in the building opposite I saw a sign for a neurosurgeon..

An older part of the old town, where things were falling down continously, but rich Europeans move in, take a lease and as part of it have to renovate the building.

Not many photos of Damascus, it wasn’t the prettiest place, but more of Beirut soon…

On the road for over three months now and not a peep on this blog. Not to site any poor excuses, but Xinjiang had a communication blackout: no internet, no international phone calls and no text messages, and before that, my time in the rest of China wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped for it to be; some ideas and stories just fell through. But here I am now, after almost two weeks in Kashgar, then a month in Pakistan, with many photos and a whole lot of inspiration and travel stories at hand.

I refresh this blog starting in Kashgar, an old Silk Road city located on the western edges of the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. Kashgar a thousand plus years ago was a bustling place, a trading hub, where  merchants brought their goods ranging from spices to silk. Walking through the Old City today, the streets are lined with hundreds of stores and artisans. It’s like being thrown right back to a time long past. The sound of clang clang clang, hammers coming down on copper and tin wares, fill the narrow streets; wood shavings spill out onto the sidewalks from the tiny shops selling candle holders, while hawkers push along donkey carts topped with vegetables and fruits.

Xinjiang province with a population of about 3.5 million people, is inhabited by a majority of ethnically Turkic people– Uighurs– though numbers of Han Chinese have steadily increased to over 40 percent in the last 60 years. The province’s abundance of rare earth, oil, and natural gas reserves have drawn many Han Chinese to the area for employment and has prompted the Chinese government to rapidly transform the region with modern facilities and residential areas. Kashgar is, in short, on its way to being a typical modern Chinese city. An estimated 85 percent of the Old City is planned to be demolished under the premise of creating more fire and earthquake-safe houses, while other less-mentioned reasons include the Chinese government’s fear of separatist movement activities, some of which the Chinese government claims to have ties with jihadists internationally. New brightly colored housing estates are shooting up all over the city, while the old two-storey houses are bulldozed over. Officials have claimed to have consulted Uighurs in residence there about new projects and continue to do so throughout their developments. From what I could see though, the mood there in Kasghar was one of helplessness and the feeling that the Uighurs themselves needed to concede to the changes, perhaps because of inevitability, or for fear of retribution if they don’t.

Here’s a look into the old, changing, and new Kasghar.

Kashgar – Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China

Doing homework in the Old City

The occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the PRC’s founding (October 1) made sure that no efforts were spared for celebration

at the Id Kah Mosque, China’s largest mosque

——————————————————————————————————————

Old Kashgar

A scene in the Old City

A baker and his family

Children watch television outside a store

Women sit in a doorway talking and knitting

One of the hundreds of meat shops around Kashgar

A tailor shop in the Old City

A workshop making bamboo steaming baskets

——————————————————————————————————————

Changing Kashgar

Old houses are torn down and then rebuilt. This one family was responsible for the construction of their new home.

more construction
A neighborhood mosque at sunset

Uighur men walk past boards displayed outside the main mosque in Kashgar. The boards show plans for the construction of new residential buildings, Uighurs fervently holding Chinese flags in ‘appreciation’ of the Chinese government’s efforts, as well as pictures of Chinese officials touring Kashgar’s Old City.

A Uighur man walks out of one of the hundreds of construction sites around the city

Boys play football in a pit where new residential buildings will be built

After-school football. Uighur children are now required to attend classes taught in Mandarin

A Uighur woman walks amidst the construction

A glimpse into the courtyard of a traditional uighur house

A Uighur worker pulls up dirt from a pit as new tunnel ways are made for pipes and other small infrastructure

A bridge connecting to the Old City under construction

Food stalls opened by Han Chinese serving up other fellow Han have become a common sight around Kasghar

The People’s Square with a statue of Chairman Mao standing at 59 ft. tall

The Old City by night

——————————————————————————————————————

New Kashgar

PLA soldiers on duty in the People’s Square outside the Renmin Park (The People’s Park)

On the south east side of the city is Dong Lake, a place that has been transformed into a modern park, not short of neon lights at night, with a vast amount of recreational space

A part of the Old City, which is being preserved mostly for tourism, is lit up at night

—————————————————————————————————————–
The Last of the Kashgar tea houses

The rapid changes in Kashgar are sweeping both landmarks and pastimes away. One in particular is the habit of men sitting in teahouses, which fill up in the late afternoon with retired folks who sit and chat, sometimes in to the early evening sipping on flower tea. Nondescript from the outside, the moment you walk into this one teahouse I frequented, is like a moment of finding some treasure.

—————————————————————————————————————–

The Sunday Crush

Scenes from Kasghar’s livestock and Sunday markets.

**Dalam rangka Natal… 25 Desember 2009
Selamat Natal…..

Natal telah menjadi hari raya global, tanpa memandang agama ataupun lokasi. Panduan wisata terkemuka Lonely Planet meranking 10 tempat terbaik untuk menikmati libur Natal…..

Bethlehem di Tepi Barat:
Komersialisme kini kian menggusur makna sebenarnya dari Natal. Maka untuk kembali pada akar dari Natal, tak ada yang bisa mengalahkan perziarahan ke tempat kelahiran Yesus. Manger Square (Pelataran Palungan) di bagian Old City, Bethlehem, pada malam Natal dipenuhi pohon Natal. Dan puncak perayaan bisa ditemukan pada misa tengah malam di gereja St. Catherine, persis ketika lonceng berbunyi pukul 24.00… Teng…

Desa Santa Claus, Finlandia:
Kalau tak puas dengan banyaknya Santa Claus di mal, berkemaslah dan terbang ke lingkaran artik Finlandia. St. Nicholas alias Santa Claus merupakan warga kehormatan di Desa Santa Claus ini. Walau terletak di daerah bersalju, di pedalaman hutan yang dihuni rusa, tapi para turis malah makin tertarik mengunjungi desa ini. Tak jauh dari desa itu juga terdapat taman ria Santa Park. Agak mahal mengunjungi tempat ini, tapi kamu dijamin puas…..

The Nutcracker – New York, Amerika:
Cukup banyak film yang menampilkan semaraknya New York di waktu Natal (Masih ingat Home Alone 2 kan….??). Lampu Natal di mana-mana, semoga ada sedikit salju turun, lalu Anda bisa melihat gemerlapnya pohon Natal terbesar di Rockefeller Center yang sudah dipasang dari awal Desember, ice-skating di sekitar pohon Natal itu, lalu berbelanja di toko-toko mewah di New York. Dan di penghujung acara ada pertunjukkan “The Nutcracker” oleh New York City Ballet… Humm…

Pantai Bondi, Australia:
Kebalikan dari semua klise Natal di bagian utara dunia, di pantai ini kamu tak akan menemukan salju atau lampu Natal. Tanggal 25 Desember pantai ini akan penuh oleh backpacker, dan digoncang oleh pertunjukan DJ dan band. Ini tempatnya untuk cuci mata…

Misa Tengah Malam, Vatikan, Itali:
Pastinya pusat dari gereja Katolik ini akan merayakan Natal dengan besar-besaran. Kota Vatikan memuat daya tarik spiritual secara umum, tapi waktu Natal atmosfernya lebih kental lagi. Aroma kacang chestnut panggang harum di jalanan dan seluruh kota dipenuhi presepi (adegan kelahiran Yesus). Tempat-tempat yang wajib disinggahi: Pelataran St. Peter, Piazza Navona, dan gereja Santa Maria di Aracoeli pada Bukit Capitoline. Vatikan merupakan tempat yang paling banyak menarik peziarah. Misa Natal tengah malam di Basilika St. Peter, atau di tengah hari pada 25 Desember, merupakan acara-acara tak terlupakan…

Dublin, Irlandia:
Umat Katolik di Irlandia merayakan Natal dengan rasa humor. Acara yang paling menarik adalah renang pada pagi 25 Desember, di kolam air asin 12 meter. Menjelang Natal jalanan kota Dublin selalu ramai, ada Pasar 12 Hari Natal di Docklands, pertunjukkan pantomim, lampu-lampu Natal, ice-skating, beserta bazar dan perayaan di Temple Bar. Jangan lupakan juga nyanyian Natal (Christmas Carol) di Katedral St. Patrick…

Nuremberg, Jerman:
Membeli hadiah Natal tak selamanya di pertokoan atau mal, cobalah mengunjungi Christkindlesmarkt (Pasar Natal), di Hauptmarkt, Nuremberg. Di sini sekitar 180 kios tenda menawarkan mainan, pernak-pernik, lilin, roti jahe, dan permen bagi para pengunjung…

Sambil berkeliling anda bisa menikmati bratwurst (sosis khas Jerman) dan anggur hangat yang dicampur jus atau rempah-rempahan seperti kayu manis, cengkeh, atau jahe. Setelah senja dan semua lampu Natal dinyalakan, tempat ini berubah seperti negeri dongeng. Ini tempat belanja Natal paling romantis… Aiiyyhh…..

Zurich, Swiss:
Terkenal akan coklat, pegunungan, dan salju, Swiss juga cocok untuk liburan Natal, terutama di kota Zurich, karena banyaknya pasar Natal (bahkan di dalam stasiun keretanya…), dan juga ada tur keliling kota dengan tema Natal. Juga ada pohon Natal ‘bernyanyi’ di Werdmuhleplatz, yaitu koor pada panggung segitiga yang disusun sehingga mirip pohon Natal, lengkap dengan nuansa hijau dan lampu kelap-kelipnya…

Tokyo, Jepang:
Natal di Tokyo selalu gemerlap.., tapi tak bernuansa agama. Tradisi Jepang lebih heboh merayakan Tahun Baru daripada Natal, tapi inilah cara umat non-Kristiani mencoba merayakan Natal. Harus diakui semangatnya.., dengan semua lampu dan dekorasi menakjubkannya… Tapi sayangnya Natal di Jepang bukanlah hari libur… Jadi ada sedikit anti-klimaks…
Malam Natal dirayakan meriah, dan mirip perayaan Valentine, karena inilah kesempatan pasangan muda-mudi menyatakan cinta… Tradisi perayaan Natal di Jepang adalah dengan memasak ayam goreng, lalu diikuti dengan kue taart dengan krim dan stroberi… Humm…

San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Pulau ini kecil tapi kepribadiannya mendalam… Puerto Rico merayakan Natal tanpa salju.., dengan irama salsa dan babi panggang… Perayaan berlangsung dari tengah Desember hingga peringatan Tiga Raja pada 6 Januari. Sejak pertengahan Desember gereja-gereja di Puerto Rico menampilkan nyanyian Natal di setiap misa.., dan kelompok-kelompok pengamen Natal alias Christmas Caroler juga mampir dari rumah ke rumah untuk menyebarkan keceriaan. Puncak perayaan adalah pada malam Natal, pada misa tengah malam… Singgahlah juga di Balai Kota, di Plaza de Armas untuk melihat dekorasi Natal dan juga ke pelataran Paseo de la Princesa…

Selamat Natal – bagi Temans yang Merayakannya…..
Salam dalam Berkat dan Damai…..

(Sumber : REUTERS, kompas.com)

Artikel terkait kLik disini…

Here are a few pictures from my maternity session with Aline and Wes yesterday in downtown Knoxville. Enjoy!

I love this last series. The man in the coffee shop was trying hard to get out of the picture. haha

The Second International Festival of Light will take place from June 6-19, 2010 at the Old City basin in Jerusalem. The Festival of Light is an event where local and foreign artists use light to create breathtaking statues, art installations, exhibits and works of art that will be situated in the Old City’s unique sites and squares. In addition to the light works, workshops and activities will take place during the six nights of the Festival, which is open to the public free of charge. For more information click here.

I recently found work. I’m not going to say what, I’m just going to say that it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Plus the fact that it required me to see more of Tripoli, getting me off my butt, forcing me to get in cabs (all by myself), and meeting interesting people.

The truth is, the job is not practical at all for me because I agreed to do it with minimal pay. Being the bad-in-math that I am, I only realized today that my salary will mostly go to the driver I hired to take me everyday. JG has pointed this out before, being the smarty-pants that he is, but I told him that I’d rather do this than get stuck in the house all day.

Nevertheless, I love how I am finally able to walk around the Tripoli and see more of it. A new friend took me to see the Medina and walk around the Old City a couple of weeks ago. The streets were bustling with people crowding the streets with the vendors, selling everything from socks to hair products, some as low as a dinar. It reminded of Divisoria from the Philippines, where millions of Pinoys go to for bargain shopping. At the Medina, I bought two kinds of scarves and trinkets for my family back home. I was supposed to buy boots but one of the vendors was honest enough to say that I will probably find it hard to find shoes for my tiny feet.

My new friend is also my first female Libyan acquaintance. She speaks perfect English and happily answers my questions regarding their culture especially about the women in this country. Sometimes she teaches me Arabic phrases, like the other day, she taught me “Shinyalgo” (hope I spelled that right) when asking a friend “How are you”. But forewarned me that I only use that among friends, explaining that it’s slang here in Libya and saying it elders and others I don’t know is a bit disrespectful.

My driver friend has also been helping me get familiar with the city, teaching me location names. At first I wasn’t really paying attention, until he suddenly asked me one morning where we were, probably noticing that I was dozing off in the car. The pop quiz got me and I answered the only road I knew. “Gargaresh?”I said. My friend goes, “No! You are not listening; I don’t talk to you anymore.” He eventually forgave me, and started teaching me again. I in turn wrote down what he said, placing landmarks in my head. I still haven’t perfected it, still consulting my list from time to time; but at least I now know where Gargaresh actually begins and ends.

Hopefully things work out for me, it’s still hard, especially since I don’t speak Arabic, but I will do something about that. Still if it doesn’t work out whatever brief experiences I gain from this work, I will be grateful for. So here’s to hoping, I’d hate to miss out on anything else I can learn.

Outing to Franklin Fountain

I lived in central part of the old city at that time….in a congested, cozy neighborhood…where everyone knows everyone, with all their past histories and extended families too….

There was a mad woman….roaming out on roads…with no house…no shelter…..no whereabouts of any sort…. She was mentally disturbed beyond repair…She was unkempt but a very beautiful woman. Fair, tall and with a proud erect posture…she used to walk with grace not conceivable to any ordinary woman….her cloths were torn and patched…but she wore them well….there was an air of dignity around her…. her stark white hair were tangled but she kept them rolled in…what used to be an elegant roll.

Even through those disoriented eyes I always saw a glint of energy…..

In crowds of dead hearted men and women living lives equivalent to rats breeding in dingy holes….she looked like a ray of undaunted hope… though she was labeled a hopeless case, and I was warned to run home whenever she entered our lane…

People teased her…..and she used to get angry…lose her mind….she looked like a lost doe in the middle of hunters…..so helpless…. Those dignified elegant eyes used to shed tears…it wasn’t pain though…..it was anger…pure hot anger pouring down from her heart….

But in such old rickety neighborhoods people are very closely knitted to each other…. She had a few well-wishers too…..who saved her from those scavenging beast like men…..

I remember an old lady, who used to sit in the parlour of her house, watching the street, while her fingers ran on a rosary, singing god’s name….. She used to call this mad woman in her quivering voice….to come and sit with her for a minute or two…. I have seen the mad woman sipping tea with the old lady…..like a married daughter had come to her maiden home….to chat with her mother…. Those old cataract eyes showered her with love! They did not care about her mental disorders, did not care about the dangerous anger of the mad mind….they only knew simple innocent love!

That day the old lady called out to me while I played on the road, in front of her parlour… we never used to talk much…but she often gave me a sweet from a glittering jewelled box on her shelf. That was all the communication that was needed between us. In return she would get a hard unsmiling stare of five year old me! I hardly smiled at anyone…..but still the old lady knew that I appreciated her sweet very much…and that I liked her wrinkled toothless smile more than the sweet! But our custom of wordless speech was broken one day…. The lady told me to sit with her….on the clean daubed parlour floor of hers…. And I sat silently…we were at ease….homely….

She suddenly spoke to me…. A conversation that had started in her mind I guess….

It was the story of the mad woman….told to me without asking for it…..

A story that stayed buried in my heart….forgotten for all these years….

“Once upon a time….the mad woman was not mad….she was an only daughter of her parents, and only sister of her brother. The family was respectable middleclass household….known for a generous hand and kind heart. The daughter so beautiful was also a girl of good “samskara”, a well- behaved intelligent kid, she was delight to all…..

In her teens she met a boy who liked her very much…..pursued her till she too fell in love with him…..

A silent love story was taking shape in that neighborhood….where everyone watched it….and smiled naughtily! Love is a wonderful power that binds two hearts together….”

I was watching the old lady….her eyes were lost in the rosy memories of past!

She kept continuing the story though…

“Of course a long family drama took place as a prelude to that legendary love marriage! But the girl was not just well educated but also wise…..she took us elders of the neighbourhood to her parents…. Our eyes had seen so many seasons…..we knew that this man who loved her so much was the right partner for her… he wasn’t as educated as she was….he was not of her cast…..but you see, once in a while god makes a match like that…to show the real fabric of love to entire world!”

The old lady winked at me with a childlike laughter as her shaky voice narrated on….

“so finally the marriage was agreed upon…..

The bride was ready in a traditional red outfit….clad in jewellery from head to foot….yet she glowed in a light that was coming from a lovely smile of hers!

What a marriage it was! Whole lane was decorated with flower streamers! not just her house….! There was music and sweetmeats and kids danced around in the crowd…..

And who knows whose jealous ill gaze fell on her….. Police took away the groom, under the crime of murder of a well known industrialist in the city….

Everyone was aghast…. He never looked like a murder to me… I always thought he wouldn’t even hurt a fly!”

The old lady was still resolving the puzzle of human mind while telling me the story…

“Who knows what happened of that boy….nobody saw him after that night….. this girl went mad slowly….waiting for his return….. her family took care of her for a while…tried many psychiatrists…but she was not cured…. After few years, her brother got married. I always told his father that the girl was not right for him….but he did not listen to me….. He said, with your consent I agreed to marry my daughter…and see what happened of her…. I need no more suggestion from you” Right he was….

I could do nothing…but watch the family going to pieces in front of my eyes…. The new bride that entered the house changed not just the furniture, but the soul of that house….

Now the parents are sent to an old age home. The brother and his wife have put a fat lock on the door….they now stay abroad. And this girl….roams around in the lane….coping with her own lost mind….”

“Was it destiny….was it the law of karma….who knows what ruled the whim of that almighty?!”

“I am past age of a hundred now…. I am watching his world sitting right here in this parlour that he gave me….. I have fulfilled the role I was given responsibility of…. Now all I look forward to is the tryst with the almighty god himself!”

She remained silent now…..

The old lady was a simple common neighbourhood granny….who was talking to one tiny me…. She never doubted if I understood her well…. Or may be she did not care that much?!

I remember her parlour growing dark…as the twilight faded off the sky…..a skinny wrinkled old lady sitting with another skinny five year old… and then there was the mad woman in the story….sitting next to me…. And I was not going to run home because she was here….

We were three generations….three women of different age and time….three people marked as mad somewhat! We were in one time and space gathered together fetched from three different worlds…. We were wise….carefree….and unaware of the world of other humans that bustled in front of that parlour….

Dear Santa, if you want to get me something awesome, might I suggest David Shrigley’s Brass Tooth at Ceralart? That’s right, it’s a giant solid Brass polished tooth….and I want one! One of my favorite places to hit up is always Cerealart at 149 North 3rd in Philly. Known for their limited edition 3Dimensional Contemporary Designs and Sculptures.

This particular one was created by Glasgow Artist David Shrigley and is only available in an edition of 80 pieces. Each one comes with a hand drawn illustration. Want one? Check out Cerealart to get your Brass Tooth before they’re all gone.

We’re now in Latakia, finally having left the dreadful world of Turkish kebaps and returning to some real food.

We arrived in Goreme, Cappadocia a week or so ago, where it was absolutely freezing, staying in the Flinstones Hostel. The owner refused to turn the heating on for more than a few hours a day. We went for a few walks around the valley’s, where Travers got us lost several times. There is wild fruit growing everywhere and it’s extremely pretty. We also took a short tour that went past the underground cities built by the Hittites, then to an old church in a cave, and then to the tour guide’s cousins Onyx shop.

Finally we left the freezing cold, only after making friends with two girls from Melbourne and some random guy from Canada, and journeyed to Syria, where Lee lost her passport somehow and we all waited as it arrived by taxi.

Syria is amazing. We have been to Aleppo, staying in a place called the Tourist Hotel, which apart from the name was sensational so anyone going that way should definately stay there. It was clean, attractive and interesting and cheap too. We met some acquaintances Ani and her friend who organised the room for us. The first day we walked about the city’s souq’s (markets) and had loads of really cheap street food like a sweet that came in a pancake and was pastry with white cream cheese of some sort in the middle which was delicious.

The next day Ani drove us out to a citadel somewhere near the town which had the famous St. Simeon’s post, then to eat some fuul, which was great although she said she doesn’t like it at all. We visited the Christian quarter after Travers got us very lost again. We went to the Armenian Cathedral where a scary intense man just talked to me and questioned me on everything as I tried to reply in broken Armenian (which I’m slowly improving).

We have been eating a serious amount of food lately, the table is completely covered with mezze of all variety before we eat, and it’s so much better than Turkish food. We also visited the Baron Hotel which is an old 1900’s hotel where TE Lawrence went. I’ve read there are a whole bunch of hotels from that era scattered around the middle east so I intend to visit many of them.

Right now we are in Latakia, which is a seaside town and is very pretty. We took a train here at some early hour of the morning yesterday. Tomorrow we leave back for Dar el-Zur via Aleppo, then Palmyra and into Hama then Beirut. Ciao.

Capadocia, Pigeon Valley

I guess it wasn’t too bad getting lost here just cold.

The Souq at Aleppo.

Aleppo’s Old City.

Aleppo once again…

St. Simeon’s Church

View of Latakia from our hostel.

Old City, Lahore, Pakistan
Hasselblad 500CM/80mm 2.8
Kodak Pro Image 100 – Expired 2003
: the lab is getting worse and worse at scanning.

Delta Zeta Date Party

Right before Christmas Break every year my sorority has a “date party”. This is a formal event that would kind of be like the equivalent of homecoming in highschool. We have a date party before winter break, a crush party before spring break and then our HUGE formal event, “formal” in the spring. Last year our formal was held in the Union League, a really old historic building right in Center City!! One of my favorite parts about being in Greek Life is all of the formal events I get to attend ( and wear dresses to ) Anyway,we had our date party this year at a venue in Old City, and it was really pretty. Everything was decorated for the holidays and we all had a blast!! I absolutely hated the few pictures I was in so here are some of my sisters looking much cuter lol. The picture above is my little, Shelby ( left) and Natalie (Tres as I like to call her) another recent initiate from Fall ‘09. My boyfriend is in Kappa Sigma and this week is his date party so I’m getting excited to get to dress up all over again!!! : ) Alright, well since finals are drawing nearer I am busier ad busier : / Sooo off to write 5 gabillion papers.

Knoxville Tennessee is known as one of the most beautiful and scenic cities in the United States. It has access to majestic mountain top views from the Smoky Mountains, along with an abundance of scenic waterways and rivers.

The city of Knoxville is situated at the headwaters of the Tennessee River where the French Broad and the Holston Rivers converge, and lies in a scenic valley in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Cumberlands.

It has a humid subtropical climate zone although it is not quite as hot as areas to the south and west due to the higher elevations. Summers are hot and very humid, with July highs averaging 88 and lows averaging 69.Winters are generally cool with snow not an uncommon occurrence, with January averaging a high of 47 and a low of 30, although low temperatures in the teens and single digits are an annual occurrence. Annual rainfall averages 48 inches and average winter snowfall in 10 inches.

The main tourist information centre in the city is the Knoxville Visitor Centre along One Vision Plaza. Here you can get tourism brochures, leaflets, travel timetables, booking services and all the information youll need to visit attractions in and around downtown Knoxville, the Old City, Worlds Fair Park and the University of Tennessee.

Popular tourist attractions include James Whites Fort the historic fort once home of Knoxvilles founder, General James White. Blount Mansion National Historical Landmark, containing exquisite furnishings and antiques. Ramsey House Plantation, reputed to be Tennessees first stone house. Alex Haley Statue an eye catching giant bronze statue of Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Haley. Crescent Bend an 18th century farm, with landscaped Italian gardens and fountains.

Outdoor recreational activities including hiking, boating, camping and cycling.

On the first Friday of each month, shops and art galleries in the downtown area keep their doors open to the public until late in the evening, offering complimentary food and entertainment, as well as the chance for those who work until 5 pm to come explore downtown.

The economy is largely fuelled by the regional location of the main campus of the University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other Department of Energy facilities in nearby Oak Ridge, the National Transportation Research Centre, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Due to its central location in the eastern half of the United States and proximity to two major Interstate highways, many warehousing and distribution companies operate in and around Knoxville. The Old City is home to most of Knoxvilles historic warehouses and factories.

The image appearing at the top of these pages was used on the cover of Biblical Archaeology Review’s special 200th issue (2009). It captures an unusual view of the Old City — and beyond — looking southeast, showing Damascus Gate, Jerusalem’s “front door” since the time of Hadrian, and the Dome of the Rock, the city’s chief visual trademark for the past 1300 years; ascending to the left are the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives.

However, when I climbed to my vantage point to get this shot (the roof of a hostel on Prophets’ Street) I was completely surprised by the dramatic backdrop that appeared as an “extra”:  It was the mountains of Moab, some 30 miles distant in modern-day Jordan, glowing pinkish-purple in the late afternoon sun of what I recall was an unusually fine November day! Despite having lived here for a number of years, I had simply never seen the Holy City — and the world beyond – from that perspective…

I am indebted to my friend Todd Bolen of www.BiblePlaces.com for enhancing the image a bit and licensing it to BAR. By the way, the BAR caption writer identified the mountains as “the auburn hills of the Judean Desert” — They should have asked!

In the 16th century, Cartagena was a prominent Spanish port and was the principal storage depot for precious treasure plundered by the Spanish from the Indians of Central and South America. Treasure was stored in Cartagena until it could be transported back to Spain. As a result, Cartagena was regularly attacked by hordes of pirates operating throughout the Caribbean. Such prominent buccaneers as Sir Francis Drake and Edward Vernon sacked it repeatedly. To defend against such attacks, the Spaniards built a series of fortresses and walls around the city. The walls required almost two centuries to complete and were finished a mere 25 years before the Spanish were first expelled from the city. Today Cartagena’s old town remains surrounded by the battle-scarred Las Murallas (the walls).

But even in modern times, every year, thousands of visitors still storm the walls of old Cartegena in search of treasure. In this case, its treasure lied in its many cobbled streets, charming cafes, plazas of cascading bouganvilla, and its historical sites. This treasure offers the visitor an experience unparalleled along the Caribbean coastline.

The old city is in two parts the inner walled town featuring most of the colonial buildings and plazas and the outer walled town of Getsemani. Getsemani, originally, was the area where African slaves were housed. Now it features Cartagena’s Convention Center, several historical churches, and the Parque Centenario.

Some of the old city’s most notable offerings to visitors include the following:

Plazas: Some of the more colorful include Plaza de los Coches, Plaza de la Aduana, Plaza Santa Teresa, Plaza de Bolivar, and Plaza de San Pedro Claver.

Palacio de la Inquisicion: Not only a grand example of colonial architecture, it was here that the heretics were accused and punished by the Punishment Tribunal of the Holy Office.

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas: Just outside the old city, this was reputed to be the largest and strongest fortress ever built by the Spanish. It is a remarkable structure and well worth the visit.

Las Bovedas: This is a complex of 23 dungeons built first to story military munitions but later used as a jail. It was featured in the movie Romancing the Stone (Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner).

No matter if you go to Cartagena just to see the old city or to search for one of the Galeones near the mediterrean cost you can be sure that there is a lot of nice things to see and do.

Dont forget that many decades ago Spain was one of the most rich and powerful countries in the mediterrenian therefore the architecture and the culture are very spectacular.

Our very talented team just had to share some memories from the day. Cristina, Kim and Bryan’s videographer, had a great time documenting their wedding. Here is what she had to say:

What an absolutely adorable couple to work with! I touched base with Kim a few days prior to the big day… I swear, I’ve never spoken to such a calm girl days out from her wedding! They had a gorgeous ceremony at St. Mary’s in Conshohoken filled with pink and white roses. So cute! We headed downtown to the Sheraton in Society Hill in style with a stretch Range Rover limo… Oh yeah! Kim and Bryan danced all night surrounded by the beautifully decorated room with uplighting throughout, exquisite flowers, and delicious Moet champagne!
Thanks so much Kim & Bryan! You two were amazing!

Check out some of Gary’s photographs:

Don’t forget to watch Kim & Bryan’s trailer that Cristina shot and edited:

Click here to learn more about weddings at The Sheraton in Society Hill.

Here I have a map I created of my outing last evening. I’m new to the world of Google Maps, so I hope this will suffice. I took the PATCO train to the 8th and Market stop. From there, I walked to Old City, right by Chestnut Street and chose several bars that I thought seemed interesting. Follow my journey virtually, but also give it a shot one night. I had a great time. And feel free to leave me comments on other bars around the area that I should have checked out. There were definitely a lot of options. I think it will take me a while to hit them all.

View Larger Map

We are thrilled to announce that we recently won 1st place at The Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association annual Film Festival!
Check out the award winning Trash The Dress

The Team:
Videographers & Editors ~ Cristina and Jon
Photographers ~ Rich, Amy, and Gary

Can you imagine living on the edge of a reservoir? This turn-of-the-century photograph of the Pool of Hezekiah proves that it’s possible…

Image from the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress.