I think I heard Phe murmur “I don’t think we are on the right road Grae.” Then another man on a motor bike came to meet me from one of the farm houses and recognised the town as I pronounced it and told me, by sign, to drive “Towards those trees (a picture in the air of a tree) but don’t turn left, (and pointed to the left and then chopped his hand off) but when as far as those houses (a picture in the air of a house) then turn left!” I then got a “boop, boop” – that’s the train line! Such a nice guy. First of all he wanted some American dollars and I said ‘not American – Australian and no US dollars in Australia’, so he gave up and then he invited me in for something to eat. Twice he did this. Should I have accepted? I don’t know. It gets terribly strained having tea in a room where no conversation is possible. Wonderful and no words that either of us could understand. I followed the instructions exactly as he had given them and it worked out perfectly. From the time we crossed under the train line, it became easy because I could see vehicles moving on the highway maybe 3 kms away so it was only a matter of following a track leading in that direction. We were back on the first class sealed road all the way to Deir Ezzor. How the hell I lost it in the first place I will never know and I was not going back to find out. It is 180 kms from Hasakah to Deir Ezzor and the road has been flat, straight and true for all of those 180 kms except for that itchy, titchy, little bit in the middle where we managed to lose our way. When we arrive at Deir Ezzor there was a hotel that looked okay from the outside and stood up alright on the inside but the price was 1600 pounds – makes the last two nights at 500 per night look pretty good. (But this one comes with a toilet seat and a roll of toilet paper). I was tempted to try somewhere else I must be getting old because I couldn’t be bothered. Instead I found an ATM, a car wash inside and out for Phe and a fill of diesel – A price I couldn’t believe, just 20 pounds a litre. That’s even cheaper than Tunisia and about a quarter the price of Europe.
Hear more about Graemes’ travels at http://robingrahamtravel.blogspot.com