Road to Damascus

Had the same trouble with the VISA card here in Syria. The hotel took me to the International bank and it was no problem. I now know that VISA does not work in all the ATM and EXPOS machines in Syria and Turkey.
I got a Taxi from Aleppo to Damascus. It is a 3 ½ hour drive. The taxi was one of the porters from the Hotel I was staying at with the Hotel car, a Mitsubishi Lancer. It is a common trip for them. The guys at the hotel have been amazed at the little computer I carry in my backpack and were looking at it whilst I was with them. The Porter/Driver can not speak English and pulls out the USB drive from the car Bluetooth and points to my laptop. He wants me to load some English songs onto the USB for us to play. I indicate that it is ok and I am happy to listen to Ali Baba and the Wailers. He is insistent he wants English songs to listen too. Those who know me know that I am a Dinosaur when it comes to music I like. So I load some albums from The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, The Doors and others. First song that comes on is Tusk by Fleetwood Mac. He cranks it up to distortion levels and that is where the Stereo stayed for the next 3 Hours. It was very funny soaring down the Road to Damascus listening to Bruce singing Born in the USA. The driver was tapping away to Jimmy Morrison and the Doors which was very pleasing. I skipped one song on The Doors album call “The End.” I just didn’t think it was appropriate under the circumstances.