Quite possibly the most charming boutique hotel…

May 15th, 2007 by Pink Cloud of Death

 

Lunch in the courtyard of Dwarikas is the perfect way to enjoy Kathmandu. This lovely hotel has been famously built from the wood carvings found in the Kathmandy Valley since 1975 and today is possibly the most charming hotel around…

On the road in Syria

Well , I haven’t found the spot to write about our recent trip but here’s some of it. This is on the way to Palmyra on our 2nd day. We found Damascus to be too big to enjoy on our first day in and by the next day we’d hired a car and were on the road… This is the highwy that can take you to Jordon, Iraq or if you looked behind us, into Lebanon. I hadn’t realised that the distances were so small in the region – which makes for the perfect road trip if you after some ideas – even with a baby.

The special quality of Syria for visitors comes alive for a few weeks in spring when the country lights up in flower blossoms. The landscape is lined with rolling hills that eventually break out into mountains, deserts and rivers. Every Syrian rich or poor can watch olive groves wildly dancing under the gentle evening winds. Apple and pistachio blossoms crown the skies and Syrian homes will birth a single proud lemon tree. The Euphrates rivers snakes its way from the north to eventually slide into Iraq. Syria might have been the inspiration for some of Calvino’s Invisible Cities when he was depicting Marco Polo’s travels on the old silk-road. It is easy to see why.