Damascus again

Well we are still here, last days,
Praveen finally got enough pieces of paper to make the paper pushers at the Indian side of the airport happy and we have been having a great [and exhausting!] time busily at work.
Sorting out a tour demands a lot of details. all the hard things like is this hammam good?
what about the food here or is there better?
sightseeing- which things to see, this means we have to see the lot, then balance out a goodly amount to present on tour. Praveen is good here as a moderating force- I love everything!! and can be sooooooo interested in everything!!! I am sure he is sick of me saying WWWOOOWWWW!!!! this is wonderful. He put his foot down with me earlydays in our tours business -there are just so many temples a person can absorb and they do like time to shop???
What? really I never see around enough corners and shopping is the last thing on my mind- I like to travel light.
Upon observation of clients he is quiet right, so we have the agonizing task of editing the list....

Then there are the 'fun' office jobs like looking at hotels- weighing up service, location and PRICE, it is a hard call, some places though lovely are outrageously expensive...we have to work so hard to keep an ambience but also a realistic cost happening....
finding a good travel agent to work with in this country...lots of emails before we go, lots of sticking out nose into travel offices and eyeballing them and then taking the plunge on who 'feels' good.
Here you hear 'en'shallah' a lot and we have come to love the expression- it is Arabic and means 'as God wills it'....to me God could be any of the Gods and there is definietely luck, good chance or a bit of help from above that has helped us- we have always seemed to come across the right person to work with and watching us work on this research I can see we both trust that we will make good choices....and it will all be fabuluos.
Henry Ford, I think, said "if you believe it will work or if you believe it won't work - you are probably right"....think about it!
Your beliefs lead you along.

Pictures of amazing places will follow when I can upload...I am still a bit in overwhelm in the eyes department- Roman Ruins, fragments of 83 AD textiles, crusader castles and Saladin's Castle, wonderful souqs, great food, delightful gentle friendly people....off for one last meeting before
Ho Chi Minh City and a family holiday very soon....
whew!
still it is a good job we have.