After driving through the lovely Turkish countryside I now know that

- Tangerines are in season
- Massey Ferguson is the dominant brand of tractors on the market in Turkey
- Dur means stop
- The majority of Turkish farmers have a mustache
- Bay means gentlemen and bayna means ladies
- The ongoing price for citrus fruit at a road-side stall is 1 lira per kg (that's about 46 ISK)
- No, you don't get sick after eating a whole bag of oranges in one day
- Even though it's winter it doesn't mean you can't get sunburned
- In Turkey the woman's place is not only in the kitchen - it is also on the field

I went to Cappadocia, hiked in amazing landscape and went ballooning (yes, as in flying in a hot-air balloon), then headed to Syria where I am now. I've looked at crusader castles, temples and ruins, markets and camels. A few days ago we camped in the desert close to Palmyra, about 120 km from the borders to Iraq, it was a beautiful starry night but very very cold, layering is the name of the game when camping in the desert. And now I'm in Damascus, which is claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world An amazing place, vibrant and chaotic and wonderful. After Damascus we go to Jordan, I'll be in Petra the 24th and in the desert by Wadi Rum the 25th, don't know when or where I'll be able to use the internet next.