I was a bit excited before the border crossing Turkey-Syria, as I had heard too many stories, maybe untrue, about how the customs people don’t speak English and all documents have to be written in Arabice, from right to left. None of it was true and we got through in two hours. The only problem is I have to convince the Swedish tax authorities that it isn’t always possible to get a receipt. I will write my own, over 355 US dollars, including diesel road-tax, insurance and the register fee for the carnet, which I find cheap for five vehicles, three of them rolling on their wheels.

Syrian motorways were a new experience, practically all vehicles are trucks, but their philosophy for loading cargo leaves a lot to be desired. Wonder what European police would say about this load.