Azaz

Azaz or A'zāz (Arabic: أعزاز) is a small town in Syria, around 50 km north-northwest of Aleppo.

You have to cross this town when hitchhiking towards Kilis, Turkey.

Read the experience below this article before traveling along this way, or stopping in Azaz. It's considered to be one of the few dangerous places in Syria for foreigners.

North (Turkey)
In the city center, a place where you find several restaurants and the main mosque, walk along the mosque to the right, cross the place and go into the street in the upper left corner. Walk along this street for around 1 km and start hitchhiking if a car might pass. Stay walking until the end of town, from there it's another ~10 km towards the border checkpoint.

Experiences
Platschi traveled through A'zaz in August 2008, together with a Lebanese woman. Several drivers and people along the way before warned us to take the Kilis checkpoint and go through A'zaz. People are extremely conservative here, and every Western looking foreigner might fast be considered as a spy, or in their eyes even worse, as an American, especially because of the near distance to the border. While in the city, the common Syrian hospitality we've been used to before was in fact not present, and many children started to scream Arabic swear words towards my female companion. In the end nothing happened, but a bad feeling followed us until we crossed the border. It's recommended for everyone just to take a lot of care here. platschi site, wikitalk 19:11, 2 September 2008 (CEST)