Boarder Crossing

Crossing the boarder to and from Lebanon/Syria, I was lead to believe it would be a madhouse of people everywhere and it would take a few hours. It must have been the time of day that we crossed, as we got though all of the various check points in about an hour, hour and half, max. As well as the usual immigration in and out of each country and customs, there are also checks for the car you’re driving though. Correct paper work is essential, the car needs to be signed in and out of each country. There were different lanes for normal cars, taxis, diplomatic vehicle, didn’t make a difference, there is only one booth where all the drivers crowd round the one guy who is signing and stamping the books. 

Everyone's a Diplomat

There’s no real order to any of the places where we had to stop, people parked their cars anywhere, queues at immigration were more small bundles of people huddled around an open window. So I could imagine how crazy it would have been had there been more than a few hundred people trying to cross. The first thing you see on the Syrian side of the boarder is a massive Dunkin’ Doughnuts sign and an entrance into a plush, shiny new and slightly out of place, duty free store selling anything from a Rolex watch to Toberlone.Going into Syria, Paul and I exchanged money with a guy in an office with no exchange rates. Leaving Syria, we stopped at the duty free shop for a little browse, while I was looking at the wines, a shop assistant came over.
‘’Are you OK there?’’
‘’Yes thanks, I’m just looking at the wines, do you only accept US dollars?’’
‘’Yes, that’s right.’’
‘’Do you know where I can change my money?’’
‘’I can change it for you, how much do you have?’’
‘’About five hundred Syrian pounds.’’
‘’I can give you eleven US dollars.’’
‘’Ahh, OK, I’ll think about it and come back.’’


Went to lunch in a surprisingly tasty Italian restaurant where the waiter took ages to clear the table and only gave a menu to Paul, fine, I was getting used to this by the time we were leaving Syria. After lunch, went back into the duty free shop to change my Syrian pounds, as I could see an exchange board up on display. I was told, ‘’There is no money exchange in the duty free shop, those rates on display are information only.’’
Went back to the wine section, caught the eye of the assistant who approached me before. He pulled someone over, no idea if he knew the guy or not, this guy pulled out a wedge of notes and I gave him my Syrian pounds and he gave me back the quoted amount in US dollars. A quick ‘thank you’ and we all parted ways.
On leaving Syria there is also a leaving tax which is five hundred Syrian pounds each, the officer charged us one thousand one hundred Syrian pounds for two people. My mental maths isn’t that great, but reckon he must have added on a tiny tourist tax as well.