A final farewell to the Arab world

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Trip Start Feb 22, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Jul 19, 2008

  Damascus, Syria
Saturday, July 19, 2008

In some ways I feel the moment has passed to try to write a concluding entry to 'My Arabian Odyssey', and that anything I write will fail in any case to do justice to the region and its impact upon me. I failed miserably to conclude in words my Yemen adventure perhaps for this very reason. So the following I present as a conclusion to both blogs, which I see very much as one journey. This entry is dated the 19th July 2008, in accordance with my final departure from Syria, so as to provide continuity in the blog. It is now November, however, some five months since I left Damascus, and ten months since I felt inspired to add to my blog (despite a trip all around Jordan, which I still harbour ambitions of blogging about in retrospect). I have since left the Middle East, left the people and the language where I found them, and set on a new path that has begun here in Madrid from where I sit writing. Yet, whilst time has faded my memories somewhat, so too has it reinvigorated my passion and feeling for the region.  
 
In my final stint in Syria, I fell out of love with the people, with the culture, with the region. This was more by virtue of staying too long, allowing a lazy routine to drain all romance and intrigue from a world that had for so long captivated me. I can recall vividly now my feelings on that blisteringly hot day as I rode the bus to the airport in the sure knowledge I would not see these roads, these people, this bustling chaos again for a long time. It was a feeling of utter apathy proceeded quickly by sadness; sadness not of leaving it all behind, but of feeling so indifferent toward this enchanting world that had once so inspired me.
 
Now, as I sit at my desk in an affluent neighbourhood of Madrid, and think about how easy and comfortable life is here - current language barrier and 'proper job' aside - I find myself once more missing the Middle East, and Yemen in particular - the daily disconnect between my English sensibilities and the world around me, the drawing of peculiar comfort from the discomfort and uncertainty of an alien world. Now I yearn regularly for the sights, sounds and smells of Old Sana'a, the veiled faces of women and the swollen, qat-filled cheeks of men, the haunting cry of the call-to-prayer echoing inside the narrow streets of a perfect, walled city. I yearn too for the rich, hot sands of Yemen's Hadhramaut desert where I felt for a brief moment the utter contentment of life stripped bare. So too do I now miss Damascus - though with less intensity - its strange mix of Arab and Western cultures, of the ugly buildings of the new city and the endlessly charming houses of the old city; the vibrant streets abuzz with the chatter of locals and the clatter of backgammon boards, a haze of argileh smoke framing every scene, its floral aromas staining memories and clothes alike.   
 
It is only now that I fully appreciate the privilege I had of living among such cultures, receiving the unbounded hospitality of their people, incorporating as much of it as possible into my daily life and, in the case of Yemen, being given the opportunity to view life through a prism untainted by material wealth, by Western influence, or oil-rich greed. I do not wish to romanticise the region, however, and there are many attitudes, bound by fervent, unyielding and, in my mind, anachronistic religious beliefs, that I found irreconcilable. And though such views are by no means shared by all in the region, they do prevail over many of its societies and show little sign of dissipating. Yet, from this same source come the kindness, warmth and generosity to all strangers that personify the culture.    
 
After a period stretching almost three years, I regrettably left the region with a feeling of apathy, but so too did I leave having dismantled and reassembled all preconceptions and misconceptions of a misunderstood region, and having enriched myself, my views, knowledge and outlook. And now, looking back, I am forever indebted to the people, cultures and places I visited and lived among during my time in the Arab world.
 
If in the course of retelling my travels I have provided even a little entertainment, insight, or vicarious pleasure/suffering, I consider that a tremendous fillip, as it has been a pleasure to write about my experiences. And if anyone is inspired enough to visit any of the places they have read about, that would be the greatest gift by which to repay my gratitude to the people and places I visited. Thank you for reading.

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