Syria, a pleasant drive over

I had arranged for a taxi to take me across the Boarder to Damascus. I was waiting for a friend in Hamra st. the day before I was planning to leave, where a cab was parked and I chatted with him about making this arrangement. I guess he most probably thought I was just talking, especially that I had to bail abruptly when my friend came. However, when I returned to talk to him he was sure I was making an arrangement. He came in the morning, and only to my surprise (and it falls in line with the service they provide here and the details in doing it well) he was not planning to drive me there. He usually works nights and all he did was take me to another taxi whom he made an arrangement to provide the lift. He had slept at 6am, yet came to me at the 9am time we agreed upon. I guess just this gesture will make me call him if I am again in Beirut. I had driven through most of the road in Lebanon myself on my way to Baalbaek. He continued towards Damascus in the old American taxi car. It seemed to be the most popular type of car on this road. They just trust them; just like in Egypt we like Peugeot 405 cabs. It was close too, with all the formalities of crossing the boarder it took me short of 2 hours to be in central Damascus.