Photos: Wandering around Qamishli, Syria
Above: A side street in downtown Qamishli (also spelled Kameshli, Kamishli, Qamishle, and so on). Qamishli is a city in northeastern corner of Syria -- a 10-hour bus ride from Damascus (as I discovered from personal experience). It is very near the Turkey border in the region known as Al Jezirah (meaning the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers). The city lies on the Jaghjaghah River, a tributary of the Khabur River, which flows into the Euphrates. The population (somewhere between 90,000 and 140,000 people) has blossomed in the last three decades due to exploitation of the Karatchok oilfield as well as the immigration of Turkish, Armenian, Assyrian, and Iraqi refugees.
Below: Looking east down Hafez al-Assad Street, the main street in Qamishli, named for the late Syrian president. This is Thursday evening, the start of the weekend, so people are out and about. The sunset is low in the sky, so the air is staring to cool off into the low 100s. The shops are still open, but most of them will be closed all Friday for the weekend and will not open again until Saturday. This is also an evening when people, especially young men, from surrounding villages and farmers will come to Qamishli and socialize with friends, the Syrian national pastime.
Below: The sun setting behind a mosque on the corner of Hafez al-Assad and Al Kouwatli Streets. I don't know the name of this mosque, but it is so centrally located that I think it must be the primary mosque in this part of Qamishli. There is a Catholic church one block east of here, and the two clearly coexist. This mosque isn't nearly as old as many of those around Damascus, but its recent origin means modern architecture with a flavor unique to this region. The mosque is diamond-shaped, and the sun is shining through large windows on both sides of the building.
Below: I think that this was Al Wahda al-Arabia Street -- sometimes finding a street sign was quite difficult. You can see numerous room air conditioners hanging out of windows and bolted to the side of every building. I imagine that the air conditioner repairmen must do good business throughout Syria in summer. You will also notice that many apartments have balconies, and some people in the red building are using heavy tarps keep the heat out.
Below: A yellow taxi speeds down Al Kouwatli Street. There is park and soccer field just across the street. I had a surprising experience while walking along this street. As I was walking, I heard "Ellery?" called out behind me. Who would know my name? People had already walked up to me and started speaking in English, so I knew that I didn't blend in very well, but this was still a surprise. I didn't recognize the voice, which had a local accent, so it wasn't anyone from the expedition. Could it be someone I met two weeks earlier when I was taken in overnight by a family in Qamishli? I turned around, and it was Sawar, one of the pickmen for my part of the site! He had come in from his village for the start of the weekend. We chatted for a bit before I had to head back to catch a bus back to the site.
Below: Another photo of, I think, Al Wahda al-Arabia Street. Signs are everywhere, and I could figure out only a few of them. Nearly every building in this area has stores on the ground level. You can see a familiar DHL sign on the right, so now you know how to ship packages to Qamishli. Other familiar signs advertise American or European brands of clothing, shoes, and other products. Advertisements for electronics, especially cell phones, are all over -- you can see a Nokia sign here. Many signs for doctors, pharmacies, and other professional services are also in English.
Friday, September 7, 2007
