Middle East Photo Advice

Jimbojack

I just bought my initial ticket for a trip to the Middle East.
I'll be leaving in a little less then two week and will be flying into Jordan. Right away I will probably get a connecting flight to go to Kuwait for a few days to visit a freind of mine. Does anyone know what's interesting there to photograph? I know about the Kuwait towers and the various museums. Anything else that might be interesting? I was thinking about maybe going to the camel races, but I'm not sure if they will have them at the time.

Afterwards I was thinking about going to Qatar for 3 days or so to visit another friend of mine, and to Bahrain for 2-3 days. Does anyone have any advice about interesting things to photograph there?

Another option I was thinking of was to skip Qatar and Bahrain and fly to Oman for a week. (I'm not interested in going back to the Emirates at this time)

From either Qatar or Bahrain I plan on flying to Alepo (Northern Syria). I will spend two weeks in Syria, and have a pretty good idea of what I will do. (Aleppo, the dead cities, krak the chevaliers, palmyra, bosra, and of course Damascus.) It's very difficult to find anyone who's travelled to Syria, but has anyone been able to photograph the sufi dancing ceremony/prayer? I know it's possible in Turkey, but I would like to try and photograph one in Damascus.

Afterwards I'll go overland to Jordan for a few days and to Palestine for a couple before I fly back home. I know Jordan pretty well, but some suggestions for Palestine would be welcome.

I know this is not a travel forum, but I thought someone here might have been there and could give me some ideas,

Thanks

Richard

Sounds like a great trip. You mentioned that you know Jordan well, so perhaps you have done this already, but Petra is the most amazing place I have ever seen. Sadly, I was not into photography at the time. As you probably know, it was recently voted among the new seven wonders of the world. Also well worth a stop are the well-preserved Roman ruins at Jerash.

Have a great time and don't forget to post some pics when you get back.

Jimbojack

rsinmadrid wrote:

Sounds like a great trip. You mentioned that you know Jordan well, so perhaps you have done this already, but Petra is the most amazing place I have ever seen. Sadly, I was not into photography at the time. As you probably know, it was recently voted among the new seven wonders of the world. Also well worth a stop are the well-preserved Roman ruins at Jerash.

Have a great time and don't forget to post some pics when you get back.

I've been to Petra and Jerash two years ago when I was in Jordan. I got to see Jerash during the summer concert/festival time. It was amazing, there were music groups from all over the Middle East and I got to see a parade that went right through the ruins.

My wife will actually be joining me im Jordan once I finish with Syria, so I plan on going back to Petra and Jerash (also Dana, Karak and Wadi Rum) again with her since she hasn't seen them.

I have tons of photos from the trip, but haven't posted them on my website. I'll go through them and the new ones when I get back from this trip and will definatly post them here.

Jimbojack

Alright, so I got the rest of my tickets and am all set for my trip.

I'm starting by flying from Los Angeles to Amman (Jordan) through New York. The next day I'm flying to Kuwati City for a few days to hang out with a very good friend of mine. From Kuwait I'm flying to Bahrain for a couple of days. From Bahrain I'll be flying to Aleppo in northern Syria, but the flight goes through Sharjah (One of the Emirates in the U.A.E., right next to Dubai) so I have 2 days there. When I get to Aleppo, I will have a little over 2 weeks in Syria. From Syria I'll be going back to Amman for a few days for some sightseeing and a wedding of a very good friend of mine. I'll probably take a short trip to Jerusalem and a couple of cities in the Palestinian territories, and then fly back home.

I'll be leaving in less then 3 days, if anyone has any suggestions for photos in any of those places I'd love to hear them. I'll try to post some photos from the trip while I'm there.

Izpipo

While in Syria, you might want to pass by Lebanon and Visit Beirut.

If you have the chance, go to Harissa (its a huge statue of Mary), go to the top and you will have breath taking pictures of the mediteranian coast.

Jimbojack

Izpipo wrote:

While in Syria, you might want to pass by Lebanon and Visit Beirut.

If you have the chance, go to Harissa (its a huge statue of Mary), go to the top and you will have breath taking pictures of the mediteranian coast.

I was in Lebanon 2 years ago, and got a chance to see most of the country. I decided to skip it this time, and spend more time in Syria. I also unfortunatly have only a single entry Syrian visa, so I would have to fly to Amman from Beirut (that's what I did last time).

Lebanon is a great place though, I really liked it. When I get back from this trip, I'll post some photos I took when I was there.