Odds & Ends about Damascus

Haven't seen too much yet but here are a couple of curious points:

There is a satellite station called Melody Hits where across the bottom of the screen is a ticker. Rather than news or info, it's a place where people can post SMS Chat messages in Arabic or English letters. Most of it is from kids of about 14, it seems.

Beggars come ring your doorbell here.

Some cars play music when they go in reverse, like the familiar beep-beep-beep of trucks, only Omar tells me it's the Lambada. (?!)

Men walking down the street together often hold hands.