Going on holidays

I am actually starting a holiay today!!
Praveen and I arrange holidays for other people and I get to travel to some really amazing places through teaching and our tour business but it is all work; pleasurable but very focused.
I have been in Ho Chi Minh City 3 days and all I have seen is the two views shown here and the computer screen in my hotel room.
The street scene as I go out to eat and the hotel lobby as I return to my room, the rest of the time has been in 'the office' [located where ever I can set up the laptop].
I have been working flat out to do the details and write up the itineraries on our Moroccan and Syrian tours for next year, catching up on emails and the thousand and one other things on the 'to do' list.
I must admit I took a few minutes out to daydream and so clicked on Dijanne's blog. I always enjoy seeing what she is up to and lo and behold there she is showing images of work she has done relating to St Serge Convent in Maalula Syria. I am so envious...yes I have just been there and the icons in the church are so richly in my heart but I have had no time to explore that artisically. We have been chatting regularly as I put the final touches on our tour for next year and I am sure she would say she is envious because I was actually there!
Note to Fiona- appreciate where you are and what you are doing!! waste of time and energy wanting what you don't have at the moment, you will get the chance when the time is ripe. embrace it then and fully appreciate it!
Praveen arrives in 2 hours and we have a few things to do on the website for our hotel
relating to the Pushkar Camel Fair this year and then we are officially on holidays until 26 July!!
The Australian part of our family arrive in the evening- my 3 boys, our daughter-in-law and my best mate and we have time to hang out together.
I am so excited I have not been able to sleep and my stomach hurts!!


ohh for happy holidays!
may each day feel that way to you.

Some of the people who made Syria special

Samer, I really do believe 'the Gods' look after you, someone or something certainly helped me run into this young man.
One of the nicest people you could meet and so generous with his time and knowledge. I don't think it would be much of an exageration to say he really knows and cares a lot about Syria's textile heritage.

Three gentleman who are working together to restart handloom brocade in Damascus- all the very fine work around at the moment is machine produced. Left and right is MrAyoubi [not related except by a common family background in weaving] and in the centre sits a young man who represents the future, he has set his life's work in the direction of handloom, is learning the tradition and will then teach in our parts.

The father of this Mr Ayoubi hand-wove this lovely gold fabric as a gift from Syria to Queen Elizabeth- there she is in the dress! Some of the looms they are using in the new enterprise have been used in his family for the last 250 years.

The threads are silk and gold thread [14 carat gold wrapped onto a thread] the fabric is breath taking in its richness.

Mr Ahmed one of the few remaining Syrians producing felt rugs.

The family of Mahamed, the last family producing silk, about 150 kg per year in an area that 20 years ago produced 10,000kg per year.

A really warm and entusiastic family, whose big teenage boys are determined to keep up the family heritage.

View from their front verandahOne of their mulberry trees
Unravelling the silk coccons.

Mr Mohamed gave me a few as souveniers and I popped them in my jewellery box.

Next day as i was getting dressed there was this horrible smell of dirty socks, I accused Praveen of being a smelly old man, which he really didn't appreciate....it was not until the next morning when I went to get my earrings that I realised the smell was from the cocoons! Needless to say I apologized to Praveen, he already thinks I am a little crazy and it seems I sometimes confirm that theory but when I had explained everything he did agree the cocoons do smell like sweaty nylon socks -yuk!! yet when washed and unravelled become so beautiful as silk.

Ain't life like that?

Damascus

Damascus and her souqs, cool and shaded, waonderful to wander and look...look at people, architecture, shops, water sellers, so many things. I am fascinated by the ladies and the way they dress, I am sure I saw one of the most sexy women ever and all I could see was her eyes through a narrow slit in her veil. The abiya does cover everything and is modest but good posture, an elegant carriage and beauty shine through any where. In India I stayed away from the salwar chemise [pyjama suit] for ages thinking all those layers would be so hot yet wearing one given as a gift I discovered how comfortable they really are.
I have not worn the viei but I suspect it would have a number of advantages- never having a bad hair day for one, not needing to decide what to wear and some how a type of power "I am a lady- step aside Mr. " This is a balanced community not one of the fundamentalist minorities.

Everywhere has a feel, a theme, a colour, I think Syria's is to do with understated elegance and harmony, look at the colour tones in the buildings

What stories have passed over these ancient stone floor pavers? We were sitting at the base of one of these Roman pillars watching people go by, when the lady sitting next to me out of the blue offered me a lovely cheese filled freshly baked bread. We had no common language but she was making it obvious she was offering us Arab hospitality, welcoming us to her home city. So kind and thoughtful, I felt alraedy like I had freinds in the place.

Part of Syria's charm is the juxtaposition of layers of history all tumbled to gether; 2000 + year
old Roman Temple to Apollo backing onto one of the major souqs, just behind me is the 1300 yearold Umayyad Mosque- a pool of tranquility welcoming one to enter, sit a while and contemplate things profound.

head up this souq for the icecream heaven I mentioned earlier.

a lovely diversion now back to office work before the gang arrive!

whew!!

My head is in a bit of a whirl!

I have been to so many great places just lately my shadow has yet to catch up!!

I am stepping back in time to a few short weeks ago and going to work my way through some wonderful experiences.

Salisbury cathedral, one of the most lovely in England I think [York Minster is also up there and Litchfield]

the structure is delicate, the integration of ancient and modern is superb, the first pic is of their new font a rimless pool, perfectly reflecting the ceiling

the cloisters,

with the enclosed garden lead to a copy od the Magna Carter- the document that lead to what we now call democartic government, the first agreement in the modern wester era to recognize the rights of all citizens [well really those with the money] in their land and not the arbitary rule of whom ever is top of the pile.

a wonderful collection of old and modern textiles as well- the church has ever been a great consumer of textiles especially embroidery, there are some great pices scattered throught out along modern sculpture and ancient tombs.

cushions for the comfort of the faithful....

The windows had the richness of ancient diamond necklaces such as the ones in the Nizam of Hydrabad's collection

just found this link- interesting it tells a little more of his history- he had enough pearls to fill an Olympic swimming pool!

hard to get a good image with my little camera, but this certainly gives the feel of them

I am inHo Chi Minh City, in 2 days my family and best friend arrive for a holiday.

Praveen and I and the gang!! Yippee!!

I am so excitd I could not sleep last night [OK a little jet lag and exhaustion are in the mix] so am a bit vagues today, need to get stuck into some office work as I have a lot to do before the holiday, but i might use blog writing to daydream amongst it all...we'll see

bye

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.