Curry for dinner- Palmayra

Palmayra known as the 'desert bride' is a naturally beautiful place which is situated in the desert ,it is not far from the Euphratus river, it use to be a stop point for those travelling from Iraq to Turkey. It has a rich history indeed. It is a quite town with not as much traffic or tourists besides in the morning or evening when tourist buses come for sight seeing , when I asked the taxi driver to take me to the nearest hotel I was expecting all things to be the same as the past few days in Syria. Palmayra did come with suprises indeed, firstly my hotel room was at the perfect location, the view from my window was to the ruins of the old city magnificant view indeed. My room was ensuit ( with a normal toilet not a squating toilet) ; TV which besides Abu dabbi TV,Kuwait TV it had BBC and other English channels.These luxuries means alot when you've been sleeping in dorms with 10 people and sharing a bathroom with ten other people. There is just as much snorring,smelling feet and nudity (since it was hot some guys thought it was best to sleep without any cloths) and getting into a bathroom with your flipflops you can take its all worth it but sometimes you want a break and this was my break . After taking a nice,long well deserved clean shower I decided to flick my TV remote control and I ended up watching a few chick-flicks movies. In the evening I decided to leave my room because I was hungry. I asked the hotel owner for resturant sugestions of wich his response was:'dinner will be served at 20:00'. hmmm there's something desturbing when you are vegeterian and you have to have dinner without knowing whats on the menu,as much as I love labner (Syrian vegetable salad) sometimes I just wanted a nice hot meal importantly if I have to pay for a meal I want it to be what I want not something someone thought of last minute.Funny enough I decided to comply of which I rarely did, I gues I didn't have the energy for disagreeing and walking around looking for a resturant. When dinner time came I was seating outside watching the stars, I was offered briyani with mango sauce and nan bread. I looked at the hotel owner with a confused look , I wondered to myself when did I arrive in New Dehli or Mumbai. I couldn't contain my suprise and I asked the hotel owner why am I having Briyani instead of Kebab or falafel with humous. He then informed me that he rents part of his hotel to an Indian company which is doing some gas work around Palmayra due to this they have an Indian chef residing in the hotel who prepares all the meals. Ohhhh wow wow ! I was excited hmm does this mean I will be having Indian meals all the time,yes it did and all the meals were on the house yeeppy.I had a chat with the chef and when he realised that I am familar with the Indian cusine he was impresed he then asked what I wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day. My wishes were obliged to top it up with a variety of Indian tea(s) the whole day. I think I forgot to mention that I don't like onion bhaji's because that is what he put in my picnic basket as I went for sunset view on top of the Castle.

While in Palmayra I visited the Babel temple and the tombs beautiful indeed, by midday (due to the desert heat) I was so tired I decided to return to my hotel, I took another long shower,plastered myself with more sunscreen and watched TV. In the evening I was invited for a Bodouns buffet and dancing. It was a wonderful experience the food was fab and I had a chance to dance, the rythm of the music has an african beat with it so I showed off a skill or two. The next morning I was offered a lift from Palmayra to my next destination Homs, can it live up to Palmayra's standards hmmmmmm ...