If you are a fan of roller coasters, head for Syria and sit in front in a microbus.

Today is our eighth day in Syria and we feel qualified to introduce you to a mode of transport here equivalent to the dolmuş. They are called microbuses and are actually vans with sliding doors mostly of Japanese manufacture.

Whilst there can be variations on the arrangements of seats, the most common is three double bench seats in the back (6 passengers) plus a long back seat on which four people squash (ten passengers).

Then each double seat has a folding single seat fixed on its end (another three passengers) and, of course, two can sit next to the driver – total 15 – and there is no luggage space so bags are jammed in between people's legs.

The picture above is the view from the third row of bench seats in one we took recently.

Not only is there no leg room, there is precious little head room too. And there are other complications.

They don't run to any form of timetable, they go when they are full. The drivers are into speed with a vengeance. On our second microbus trip we thought there would be more legroom in the front next to the driver. Not only was there no extra room, but a combination of the driver's foot jammed to the floor and a winding road full of potholes made for a major white knuckle experience. If you are a fan of roller coasters, head for Syria and sit in front in a microbus.

They are also all very old. The Government is now trying to replace them with sturdier, bigger minibuses but there are tens of thousands of microbuses with owner/drivers who still want to make a living. So minibuses leave from different garages to microbuses, presumably to avoid driver conflict. The microbuses still seem to have the favourite terminus location, adjacent or at least very close to the garage the big buses (called 'Pullman' here) use.

Today we wanted to get back to Homs from Crac de Chevalier, and waited around twenty minutes till a microbus driver, with only one passenger, picked us up. We found a fourth passenger and the driver offered to take the four of us if we split 600 SP (Syrian Pounds: think 30 to 1TL) between us. The individual fare is 50SP so he was already knocking 100SP off his earnings and we quickly agreed.

Just before we joined the main highway to Homs he stopped at a coffee stall, bought us all a coffee and then offered his cigarettes around.

We like microbuses (except for the front seats) and leave you with a photo of the interior of a beloved, aged example.