This was posted three days ago, but disappeared from my site. So here I write it again:

It was absolutely impossible for me to leave Syria today

First of all, I am really sick. I slept 8 days on a cold floor and caught a bad cold and a very painful cough. So, the first thing this morning was to get medication. I asked for something strong and feel quite dizzy now. Maybe that is also because I did not sleep for some 33 hours till now, and I will not go to bed before another few hours.

Then I met Mr Kalpakji, our honorary consul in Syria. I had a few questions to ask him, and his answers confirmed what I suspected already. Later his chauffeur took me for a visit of Damascus’s old town. Tonight we will have dinner together.

Meantime it became impossible for me to finish my project in time, my visas are expiring. But tomorrow I will cycle a last stage from here to Beirut. Why? I could stop right here, in Damascus,  but I do not: This last stage is important for me. It is personnel: They can impeach me to finish my travel, but it will be ME and only me who decides where and when I finish.