| In the morning our cab driver-turned-host dropped us off at the bus station and took his kids, dressed in military uniforms, to school. We left Deir ez-Zur and rode a bus to Aleppo. There we met a Swiss traveler, Ivan, and booked a triple room to keep costs low - a reasonable hotel room costs $6 US dollars. Aleppo is the 'other city' on the average tourist agenda. Like Damascus, Aleppo keeps your eyes occupied with bustling souqs, Ottoman khans, and soaring minarets.
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| Our hotel balcony gave us a great view of Aleppo's clock tower - a useful landmark.
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| The president's picture adorns every major roadway, intersection, and alleyway wall - no graffiti ever besmirches his image, a testament to the power of the secret police. Syria's president uses propaganda and a ruthless security police to stay in power. He's from a minority Muslim religious group, the Alewites, and he 'inherited' the presidency from his father, Assad, even though the people officially 'elected' him in an unopposed political campaign. |
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| They love America around here. |
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