Tiberius (Lake of Galilee) - Nazareth - Acre - Tel Aviv
Shalom!
So, left Jerusalem after parting company with Richard, who went back into Jordan to meet a friend. It feels weird travelling alone again...
Headed for Tiberius, which is a town on the Sea of Galilee, which is where Jesus did most of his preaching and miracles such as walk on water, and multiply the fish and bread etc...
THE SEA OF GALLILEE
For some reason I thought it would be a wonderful idea to cycle around the Sea (57km), and visit the sites along the lakeside. Should have done my research. First of all, it's extremely hot and humid at the lake. Secondly, there is no lakeside path, you ride on the main road, which involves lots of traffic and uphill riding. So I only made it 20km to the main holy sights to the north of the lake, which of course were all marked with a church being built on top of it. I was only able to wade in the water at one point near a church marking Jesus handing his ministry to Peter, where small fish swim all around you, and very happy Christians sing and clap out of tune along the waters edge.
Ate a fish from the Sea of Galilee for dinner. Because It's what you do.
NAZARETH
Nazareth is a large predominantly Arab town with many hills and panoramic views. But the real attraction is the basilica of the Annunciation, where Mary accepted to receive Jesus, in her house (which is a grotto actually). Also on the location is Josephs carpentry shop (another grotto), and the Synagogue where Jesus went as a youngster (still a Synagogue). The basilica is impressive, it's exterior bland but the interior decorated with colourful sculptures and artwork from all over the world, and constructed to look like the inside of a barn, even with horizontal beams holding the roof up, except concrete is used to imitate wood...
Stayed the night at a convent across the road, which unfortunately locks you in a 9:30pm so I couldn't really explore the town at night. Not that you need to, as the city shuts down after 7pm!
ACRE
Went to the historic Crusader town of Acre. 5000 years of history, conquest, and reconquest have left this town with an ancient souk, solid fort walls with moat, an underground Crusader city and water tunnels (lots of fun exploring), all picturesquely set on the sea peninsula. Amazing stuff!
TEL AVIV
I went to Tel Aviv for two reasons: Beaches, and Nightlife. And I'm happy to say I got both in abundance, which is why I am writing this with only 4 hours of sleep and a lighter wallet. The nightlife doesn't compare to Beirut (nor do the girls - though, and many travellers agree on this, the Israeli women soldiers in their fitted uniforms are hot! Though being armed with huge heavy machine guns, one does not feel compelled to approach, lest they say the wrong thing or offend. Speaking of which, it takes a while to get used to the high number of young soldiers on national service on public transport, their machine guns hanging casually on their backs or on their laps pointed disconcertingly right at you.
Kept meeting people from Australia who are in Israel on some free Jewish programs, some involving a free 10 day tour of Israel! In fact, being a Jew in Israel, one gets many free things, such as free accommodation, food and drink in certain places. Was wondering if I could fake being a Jew for the freebies...hmm somehow I don't think I could pull it off..
Now I’m about to head for the Israel/Jordan border, to get into Jordan, so I can fly to Turkey at 4:30am tomorrow morning... looks like I won't be getting any sleep tonight either!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories
Jerusalem - Masada - Dead Sea - Qumran - Jericho - Bethlehem - Hebron
Shalom!
Having reluctantly left Mar Musa monastery with Richard, we left Syria and headed into Amman in Jordan for the night, before leaving for Israel the next morning. Destination: Jerusalem, the third holiest city for muslims (after Mecca and Medina), and the holiest city for Christians and Jews...
We got to the border as early as possible because we knew that having entered Syria twice and Lebanon, we would have trouble getting into Israel. We were expecting interrogation in a bunker while they search our luggage sort of thing.
In actuality it wasn't as bad as we expected. After getting to the border, we had to catch a special bus across the bridge into Israel, stopping every 5 seconds for security checks. Then we arrived at a huge complex, where we had
baggage and ourselves scanned, then directed to the passport check area.
It is usually an unwritten law not to chat up border officials, and me and Richard struggled to resist the urge to do so, when we were interrogated at the passport check counter by two very pretty girls in the following manner. Read the following interrogation and see how easily you could take it out of context:
Girl: So James, what is your work?
Me: Computers
Girl: Are you married?
Me: No (so what about you?)
Girl: Can you write your phone number on this (unofficial looking)
scrap of paper please?
Me: OK (but can you write yours down as well?)
The interrogation was not bad. I've heard other travellers being asked questions like "So why you visit Syria, do you like Arabs?" and other dumb things like that.
Then they take your passport away somewhere and ask you to sit and wait till they call you. So you sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And 4 hours later, just when you're slowly fuming with impatience and concerned with
worry that something has gone wrong, they come up and hand you your passport, with the Israeli stamp on a piece of paper (which was considerate of them since they know that any evidence of visiting Israel on your passport means you can't visit many other countries, like Syria and Jordan - hence why I visited those countries first).
After that, more security checks, baggage checks, and then you find yourself in Israel trying to find a minibus to Jerusalem that won't rip you off.
JERUSALEM
Jerusalem, when you disregard the crazy people (i.e the majority), is a very nice city. Remarkably clean in the old town, the streets are all paved in yellow sandstone, the souks and shops all orderly and neat, many areas looking rebuilt in more yellow sandstone into churches, buildings etc... all surrounded by a huge wonderfully preserved defensive wall with several gates. Jerusalem is split up in four quarters: Armenian, Moslem, Jewish and Christian.
Went to see the 12 stations of the cross, the room where Jesus had the last supper, Gethsemane garden where he prayed before the arrest, the tomb of the Virgin Mary (in a cool grotto), the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and tomb (in the Holy Sepulchre, remarkable frescos and stuff), the place of his ascension... All these places of course having a chapel or church built on or near it's location... The view from the Mount of Olives of Jerusalem is magnificent,
with Jewish tombs coming down the hill to the walls of Jerusalem, where church spires abound, though the thing that catches your eyes the most is the gold domed stunningly decorated Islamic dome of the rock (which only women Moslems can enter unfortunately - the men worship at a less grand but larger mosque within the temple walls. Oh of course, there is the western (Wailing) wall, which is the only remaining wall of the Temple of Solomon, that the Jews worship at.
IS IT SOMETHING IN THE WATER?
I don't know what it is, but it seems like everyone we meet starts off seemingly normal, but end up being really weird. For example, we met this American girl in the street, who turned out to be a Jewish Zionist and insisted that we not stay where we were (near the Moslem quarter outside the walls) because suicide terrorists live there, and
there was a bomb that went off there a few days ago. Research proved however that this was not the case. There is a nice old man at the hostel who turned out to be a Christian trying to buy land at the Mount of Olives so he could live close by when Jesus rockets back in his return, the proximity covering him with saturated holy spirit. Uh huh.
So far, the only normal people seem to be the Arabs, and in fact they recognise the difference between American tourists and government, happy to welcome Richard and ask questions about it, just like most places in the middle east.
DISCUSSING THEOLOGY WITH A RABBI
At the wailing wall, we decided to ask a Rabbi some questions regarding the Jewish faith. Particularly, why they wear strings from their belts (because one of the 613 laws of God is to wear fringes on their clothes), why the hat and coats (because they want to be dressed when the Messiah comes), and why the long sideburns but the rest of
the head being shaved (because of another law in the 613). He then started to exchange questions on theology and philosophy with us, but we were no match for him. His answers always made us feel stupid, his questions had us always stumped. Then again, he's had years of practice, and we suffered the "nuts I wish I thought of that comeback when I was there" hours after we left him.
His theory on why the Holocaust happened? "Because the European Jews did not come to the Holy Land (Israel) after the Beaufort Agreement in WWI allowed them to, as well as not following the Jewish laws properly, so God punished them." Interesting take.
Read some of the Jewish code of Laws, fascinating reading, but sounds like an obsessive compulsive's book of etiquette! 613 laws telling you things from how to rise up in the morning, to how to wash your hands, to what to wear and say and do etc. Some examples: you must wear 8 strings on your belt, with 5 knots, to remind you of God. If a
garment catches on fire, you are not allowed to put it out. Instead, you can pour water around the garment so nothing else gets burnt! On Sabbath you are not allowed to sing, hum, clap or hit anything that can be construed as music. If your wife is having her period, you are not allowed to touch, share a table or bed, you can't pass things to
one another, or sleep facing each other... ... the laws are endless!
SUNRISE IN MASADA AND A SWIM IN THE DEAD SEA
Signed up for a day tour which involved sunrise in Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, then visiting Qumran and Jericho.
Because the tour driver was late in picking us up, we were late in arriving at Masada, as a result catching the sunrise two-thirds the way up the 350m high fortress on a outcrop of rock surrounded by salt plains in the Jordan valley. Still, the views from the top were extraordinary, some Americans claimed the views are better than from
the Grand Canyon.
The fortress on top was the fortress of some Jewish rebels who were fighting against the Romans. The only way the Romans were able to conquer them was to build a huge ramp up to the fortress, which took about 2 years! By the time the Romans reached the top however, they discovered that the 200+ Jews, rather than surrender, had all
committed suicide!
Next was the Dead Sea. A huge salt lake of turquoise blue like the Mediterranean. 400m below sea level in the Jordan valley, it is so briny and saturated with salt that nothing lives in it, salt crystals form at the bottom and you can't drown or sink in it, only float.
Swimming in it was like swimming in warm olive oil. Not very pleasant, and the salt burns you in cuts you never knew existed on your body!
Next was Qumran, the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. However, due to the cost of entrance and the fact you couldn't even go in just look at it from a distance from above, meant that we didn't bother going in.
Finally, we went to Jericho and the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Unfortunately, Jericho, even though it is mentioned many times in the Bible and history, is a disappointingly uninteresting dull place.
BETHLEHEM
Went to Bethlehem to see the manger where Jesus was born. The problem with travelling in the West bank is that transport consists of catching an Israeli bus to the checkpoint, crossing by foot, then catching a Palestinian bus the rest of the way. No direct public transport.
Bethlehem was also not very exciting and overly touristed. The manger is actually in a grotto under a church, where a marble floor with a silver star of David marks the spot where it was located.
HEBRON AND THE JEWISH SETTLERS
We continued to Hebron through it's wonderful souks and friendly people to find Abraham’s tomb (which was also ordinary, holy places are not very exciting really, but you go there just to see it anyway). On route however, we saw some Jewish settlers from their apartments above throwing sandbags, garbage and toilet water onto the Palestinian souks below - luckily it's covered with a strong metal mesh for that purpose, but the Arabs shake their heads sadly and say it's a common occurrence, and they tell the police/army, but they never do anything about it...
SOME PALESTINIAN JOKES:
A Russian, American, and Israeli were in a supermarket, where they saw a sign saying "Sorry, We Have No Meat!"
The Russian goes "No Meat? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Russians always have meat)
The American goes "We Have No? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Americans have everything)
The Israeli goes "Sorry? What is that? I do not understand..."
Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat find a Genie, who gives them a wish each.
Ariel Sharon goes "I want a big strong wall around my country to protect us from our enemies!" The Genie grants the wish.
Yasser Arafat asks the Genie "So, tell me about this wall"
The Genie goes "It's several metres tall, several metres thick, barbed wire on top, very strong indeed"
Yasser Arafat goes "Great, fill it all up with water!"
JAMES' INTERPRETATION OF THE ISRAEL SITUATION
Before I entered the Middle East, I admit I was not familiar with what the situation was with Israel. Having now seen it for myself, I have never felt so angry, and so much contempt for what the Israelis are doing here and have done...
Basically, Israel was the creation and problem of the Brits, Soviets, UN, and America with their own agendas.
First it was the Arabs being lied to after WWI, when Laurence of Arabia lead the Arabs to drive out the Ottoman Turks from the Middle East for the British in French in return for being a recognised unified Arab nation.
Instead, the British and French carved up the Middle East between themselves. There was also an agreement I think called the Belfort agreement that Britain signed with Zionists saying it would look favourably in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.
After WWII, with the memory of the Holocaust still in peoples minds, the UN voted in favor of creating the Jewish state, (supported strongly by the Soviet Union, who at the time thought it would be a great location for fighting against the British, who they wrongly assumed was a great superpower at the time. Interestingly, America was
apprehensive, and even initially had embargos on the new State of Israel. In fact, it's interesting how the Soviets have done more bloodshed, government manipulation and control over the Arab world than America, yet America is seen in radical fundamentalist eyes as "The Great Satan". But I digress).
The Arabs were not impressed by this decision, and as soon as Israel was declared a country, war broke out between Israel (supplied with Soviet and French weapons), and the Arab world.
Israel won, and after several wars, ended up also taking the Sinai peninsula (which it has given back to Egypt sorta), and the Golan Heights from Syria (which Syria still want back).
I cannot comprehend how anyone has the right to take land from someone else, on the basis of their religion and origin of their ancestors, and decided by other nations without their consent! It's like me going into your home and telling you to get out because my God tells me this was my land, and because my ancestors were born there so we were there first!
The Palestinians have lived there for hundreds of years, and are now being not only forced from their homes and moved about, but also walled up. They also have identity cards which they must show whenever they want to visit another town, even Jerusalem. They are essentially not free to move around their own country! The Israeli army are
completely biased and basically the Palestinians are treated like scum. I tell you, finally being here witnessing it all instead of watching the news on TV I feel nothing but great anger and sadness. It looks like the persecuted have become the persecutors. Truly tragic indeed.
Rant over.
NOW WHAT?
Anyway, next stop is partying and beaching in Tel Aviv, and holy site visiting in Nazareth, Armageddon (yes it's a place, battleground for final war between good and evil on judgement day), Lake of Galilee, then off to Turkey!
Shalom!
Having reluctantly left Mar Musa monastery with Richard, we left Syria and headed into Amman in Jordan for the night, before leaving for Israel the next morning. Destination: Jerusalem, the third holiest city for muslims (after Mecca and Medina), and the holiest city for Christians and Jews...
We got to the border as early as possible because we knew that having entered Syria twice and Lebanon, we would have trouble getting into Israel. We were expecting interrogation in a bunker while they search our luggage sort of thing.
In actuality it wasn't as bad as we expected. After getting to the border, we had to catch a special bus across the bridge into Israel, stopping every 5 seconds for security checks. Then we arrived at a huge complex, where we had
baggage and ourselves scanned, then directed to the passport check area.
It is usually an unwritten law not to chat up border officials, and me and Richard struggled to resist the urge to do so, when we were interrogated at the passport check counter by two very pretty girls in the following manner. Read the following interrogation and see how easily you could take it out of context:
Girl: So James, what is your work?
Me: Computers
Girl: Are you married?
Me: No (so what about you?)
Girl: Can you write your phone number on this (unofficial looking)
scrap of paper please?
Me: OK (but can you write yours down as well?)
The interrogation was not bad. I've heard other travellers being asked questions like "So why you visit Syria, do you like Arabs?" and other dumb things like that.
Then they take your passport away somewhere and ask you to sit and wait till they call you. So you sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And 4 hours later, just when you're slowly fuming with impatience and concerned with
worry that something has gone wrong, they come up and hand you your passport, with the Israeli stamp on a piece of paper (which was considerate of them since they know that any evidence of visiting Israel on your passport means you can't visit many other countries, like Syria and Jordan - hence why I visited those countries first).
After that, more security checks, baggage checks, and then you find yourself in Israel trying to find a minibus to Jerusalem that won't rip you off.
JERUSALEM
Jerusalem, when you disregard the crazy people (i.e the majority), is a very nice city. Remarkably clean in the old town, the streets are all paved in yellow sandstone, the souks and shops all orderly and neat, many areas looking rebuilt in more yellow sandstone into churches, buildings etc... all surrounded by a huge wonderfully preserved defensive wall with several gates. Jerusalem is split up in four quarters: Armenian, Moslem, Jewish and Christian.
Went to see the 12 stations of the cross, the room where Jesus had the last supper, Gethsemane garden where he prayed before the arrest, the tomb of the Virgin Mary (in a cool grotto), the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and tomb (in the Holy Sepulchre, remarkable frescos and stuff), the place of his ascension... All these places of course having a chapel or church built on or near it's location... The view from the Mount of Olives of Jerusalem is magnificent,
with Jewish tombs coming down the hill to the walls of Jerusalem, where church spires abound, though the thing that catches your eyes the most is the gold domed stunningly decorated Islamic dome of the rock (which only women Moslems can enter unfortunately - the men worship at a less grand but larger mosque within the temple walls. Oh of course, there is the western (Wailing) wall, which is the only remaining wall of the Temple of Solomon, that the Jews worship at.
IS IT SOMETHING IN THE WATER?
I don't know what it is, but it seems like everyone we meet starts off seemingly normal, but end up being really weird. For example, we met this American girl in the street, who turned out to be a Jewish Zionist and insisted that we not stay where we were (near the Moslem quarter outside the walls) because suicide terrorists live there, and
there was a bomb that went off there a few days ago. Research proved however that this was not the case. There is a nice old man at the hostel who turned out to be a Christian trying to buy land at the Mount of Olives so he could live close by when Jesus rockets back in his return, the proximity covering him with saturated holy spirit. Uh huh.
So far, the only normal people seem to be the Arabs, and in fact they recognise the difference between American tourists and government, happy to welcome Richard and ask questions about it, just like most places in the middle east.
DISCUSSING THEOLOGY WITH A RABBI
At the wailing wall, we decided to ask a Rabbi some questions regarding the Jewish faith. Particularly, why they wear strings from their belts (because one of the 613 laws of God is to wear fringes on their clothes), why the hat and coats (because they want to be dressed when the Messiah comes), and why the long sideburns but the rest of
the head being shaved (because of another law in the 613). He then started to exchange questions on theology and philosophy with us, but we were no match for him. His answers always made us feel stupid, his questions had us always stumped. Then again, he's had years of practice, and we suffered the "nuts I wish I thought of that comeback when I was there" hours after we left him.
His theory on why the Holocaust happened? "Because the European Jews did not come to the Holy Land (Israel) after the Beaufort Agreement in WWI allowed them to, as well as not following the Jewish laws properly, so God punished them." Interesting take.
Read some of the Jewish code of Laws, fascinating reading, but sounds like an obsessive compulsive's book of etiquette! 613 laws telling you things from how to rise up in the morning, to how to wash your hands, to what to wear and say and do etc. Some examples: you must wear 8 strings on your belt, with 5 knots, to remind you of God. If a
garment catches on fire, you are not allowed to put it out. Instead, you can pour water around the garment so nothing else gets burnt! On Sabbath you are not allowed to sing, hum, clap or hit anything that can be construed as music. If your wife is having her period, you are not allowed to touch, share a table or bed, you can't pass things to
one another, or sleep facing each other... ... the laws are endless!
SUNRISE IN MASADA AND A SWIM IN THE DEAD SEA
Signed up for a day tour which involved sunrise in Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, then visiting Qumran and Jericho.
Because the tour driver was late in picking us up, we were late in arriving at Masada, as a result catching the sunrise two-thirds the way up the 350m high fortress on a outcrop of rock surrounded by salt plains in the Jordan valley. Still, the views from the top were extraordinary, some Americans claimed the views are better than from
the Grand Canyon.
The fortress on top was the fortress of some Jewish rebels who were fighting against the Romans. The only way the Romans were able to conquer them was to build a huge ramp up to the fortress, which took about 2 years! By the time the Romans reached the top however, they discovered that the 200+ Jews, rather than surrender, had all
committed suicide!
Next was the Dead Sea. A huge salt lake of turquoise blue like the Mediterranean. 400m below sea level in the Jordan valley, it is so briny and saturated with salt that nothing lives in it, salt crystals form at the bottom and you can't drown or sink in it, only float.
Swimming in it was like swimming in warm olive oil. Not very pleasant, and the salt burns you in cuts you never knew existed on your body!
Next was Qumran, the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. However, due to the cost of entrance and the fact you couldn't even go in just look at it from a distance from above, meant that we didn't bother going in.
Finally, we went to Jericho and the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Unfortunately, Jericho, even though it is mentioned many times in the Bible and history, is a disappointingly uninteresting dull place.
BETHLEHEM
Went to Bethlehem to see the manger where Jesus was born. The problem with travelling in the West bank is that transport consists of catching an Israeli bus to the checkpoint, crossing by foot, then catching a Palestinian bus the rest of the way. No direct public transport.
Bethlehem was also not very exciting and overly touristed. The manger is actually in a grotto under a church, where a marble floor with a silver star of David marks the spot where it was located.
HEBRON AND THE JEWISH SETTLERS
We continued to Hebron through it's wonderful souks and friendly people to find Abraham’s tomb (which was also ordinary, holy places are not very exciting really, but you go there just to see it anyway). On route however, we saw some Jewish settlers from their apartments above throwing sandbags, garbage and toilet water onto the Palestinian souks below - luckily it's covered with a strong metal mesh for that purpose, but the Arabs shake their heads sadly and say it's a common occurrence, and they tell the police/army, but they never do anything about it...
SOME PALESTINIAN JOKES:
A Russian, American, and Israeli were in a supermarket, where they saw a sign saying "Sorry, We Have No Meat!"
The Russian goes "No Meat? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Russians always have meat)
The American goes "We Have No? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Americans have everything)
The Israeli goes "Sorry? What is that? I do not understand..."
Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat find a Genie, who gives them a wish each.
Ariel Sharon goes "I want a big strong wall around my country to protect us from our enemies!" The Genie grants the wish.
Yasser Arafat asks the Genie "So, tell me about this wall"
The Genie goes "It's several metres tall, several metres thick, barbed wire on top, very strong indeed"
Yasser Arafat goes "Great, fill it all up with water!"
JAMES' INTERPRETATION OF THE ISRAEL SITUATION
Before I entered the Middle East, I admit I was not familiar with what the situation was with Israel. Having now seen it for myself, I have never felt so angry, and so much contempt for what the Israelis are doing here and have done...
Basically, Israel was the creation and problem of the Brits, Soviets, UN, and America with their own agendas.
First it was the Arabs being lied to after WWI, when Laurence of Arabia lead the Arabs to drive out the Ottoman Turks from the Middle East for the British in French in return for being a recognised unified Arab nation.
Instead, the British and French carved up the Middle East between themselves. There was also an agreement I think called the Belfort agreement that Britain signed with Zionists saying it would look favourably in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.
After WWII, with the memory of the Holocaust still in peoples minds, the UN voted in favor of creating the Jewish state, (supported strongly by the Soviet Union, who at the time thought it would be a great location for fighting against the British, who they wrongly assumed was a great superpower at the time. Interestingly, America was
apprehensive, and even initially had embargos on the new State of Israel. In fact, it's interesting how the Soviets have done more bloodshed, government manipulation and control over the Arab world than America, yet America is seen in radical fundamentalist eyes as "The Great Satan". But I digress).
The Arabs were not impressed by this decision, and as soon as Israel was declared a country, war broke out between Israel (supplied with Soviet and French weapons), and the Arab world.
Israel won, and after several wars, ended up also taking the Sinai peninsula (which it has given back to Egypt sorta), and the Golan Heights from Syria (which Syria still want back).
I cannot comprehend how anyone has the right to take land from someone else, on the basis of their religion and origin of their ancestors, and decided by other nations without their consent! It's like me going into your home and telling you to get out because my God tells me this was my land, and because my ancestors were born there so we were there first!
The Palestinians have lived there for hundreds of years, and are now being not only forced from their homes and moved about, but also walled up. They also have identity cards which they must show whenever they want to visit another town, even Jerusalem. They are essentially not free to move around their own country! The Israeli army are
completely biased and basically the Palestinians are treated like scum. I tell you, finally being here witnessing it all instead of watching the news on TV I feel nothing but great anger and sadness. It looks like the persecuted have become the persecutors. Truly tragic indeed.
Rant over.
NOW WHAT?
Anyway, next stop is partying and beaching in Tel Aviv, and holy site visiting in Nazareth, Armageddon (yes it's a place, battleground for final war between good and evil on judgement day), Lake of Galilee, then off to Turkey!
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Living in a remote Syrian Monastery
Beirut - Tripoli - Mar Musa Monastery - Amman
Salaam Aluykum habibi!
Last time I left you I was in Beirut, Lebanon with Richard, a guy from the US doing some travelling with me.
There is something about the Middle East, in that everything is so laid back, and you really get into the whole lazing around doing nothing and taking it easy. "Sha'allah, Sha'allah" (God Willing) is often a phrase heard as an answer to anything in regards to time. "When will the bus leave?" "Sha'allah." "Where is the shai (tea) we ordered?" "Sha'allah." Even I’ve started using it in response to questions, though I prefer to use the cool sounding "mish mush kila" (no worries).
BTW, you may have heard of the car bomb that killed a prominent anti-Syrian journalist recently, well I’m safe and well, it was as most car bombs, targeted, and it was several blocks away. Mish mush kila.
Anyway, we reluctantly left Beirut (especially after I met two lovely Lebanese girls - one the receptionist at the nightclub with great knowledge of middle east politics, the other a sweet girl and a wonderful dancer. The problem though is that when you try to meet girls, you have to meet their male chaperone/family/friends first. If they perceive you as not a threat then you are free to pursue the girl. Unfortunately I only just got welcomed into their group and
invited to come out with them just when I had to leave the next day. Sigh. Problem with travelling is that you can't form relationships or deep attachments with people because you have to move on. Only flings. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
TRIPOLI
Right, so, we went to Tripoli the next day, and regretted it. Tripoli is pretty much a dump, the "best souk in Lebanon" was average, the castle was small and plain, and all the streets were covered with dirt, dust, and rubbish. At least the people were very nice, and the pastries were delicious (being famous for it and all).
We left Tripoli the next day, heading for the Mar Musa Monastery in central Syria. I was planning to go on my own, but Richard decided in the last minute to tag along instead of heading for the Syrian coast as he planned.
It was quite interesting to see our driver bribe the border guards with a loaf of bread, which instantly disappeared into the hands of a passing guard before we were waved through with minimal bag and passenger searches. A smooth operation indeed.
MAR MUSA MONASTERY
Faux Pas of the day: "Jesus Christ! We're in a monastery, we shouldn't be talking about girls!"
Often heard saying: "We are so going to hell after saying that!"
Mar Musa Monastery is situated 1300m on a mountain hidden in a valley in the desert, somewhere between Damascus and Homs. Our driver had trouble finding it, since you end up driving into the middle of nowhere, along a mountainside, until you turn a corner and lo and behold it appears magically in front of you high above.
It was built in the 6th Century by Orthodox monks, the church within bearing faded earthen paintings from 11th Century. The Monastery was then taken over by Syrian Catholic monks, the church now containing colourful 13th century paintings of Saints, Judgement day, and the Virgin Mary. Later, it was abandoned (not sure why), and was
rediscovered over 100 years ago. Now it is populated with 4 monks, a couple of day-trippers, some volunteers helping clean and cook, and a hermit who lives in a cave higher up and comes down every Sunday for supplies before disappearing for the week. There is also a mule, some dogs, a few always hungry cats, and a turtle named "turtle" that wonders around the courtyard, sometimes coming over to share meals with us where we feed it slivers of cucumber.
(Speaking of which, me and Richard did buy another turtle as a companion gift, but the turtle ran away and we can't find it. How do you lose a turtle!?!!!)
We climbed up the 1.5km of stone steps with our heavy backpacks, and then entered the monastery through a small door 1m high. We were immediately given food and water and were able to enjoy the beautiful views below.
We were welcomed to stay, receiving free meals and accommodation in return for helping clean, cook and do some work. I only intended to stay for 2 days, but have ended up staying for over 10 days!
There are usually 2 church sessions, before breakfast, and before dinner. Each session begins with 1hr meditation in the church among candlelight, then 1hr singing, playing music, reading and sermoning in Arabic and occasionally French.
The church is quite unconventional. For one thing, you sit on the floor on laid out rugs and carpets, much like an Islamic mosque. Candles are lit, instruments are played, and meditation is done, much like Hindu or Buddhist. The sermons are all Catholic, but are done in arabic. All this is related to the intercommunion aspect of the monastery (see further below).
Meals are fairly basic but delicious, often consisting of a mezze of tomato, cucumber, olive oil, spices, cream cheeses, and some pita bread. Hot sweet tea (black or herbal) is usually consumed with the meal. Lunches are more varied, with a huge pot of rice mixed with meat or vegetables covered with yogurt, or pasta served for the people in the monastery, and any day trippers who happen to be around.
The monastery is well equipped, with a fantastic library in multiple languages, telephone, even internet access, though I denied myself to use it as I wanted to shut myself from the outside world for a while. Women and men would sleep in different quarters outside of the monastery on opposite sides of the mountains.
It is alot of fun being one of the people welcoming visitors (mainly French or arabic), offering them water and finding out about them. Many afternoons are spent napping or quiet contemplation on the mountain, monastery courtyard overlooking the views, or in the church itself.
THE 3 PRINCIPLES OF MAR MUSA
The monks focus of 3 principles:
1. Hospitality - "Hospitality is the highest virtue" This is emphasised by the way we greet people with water, tea and conversation when they arrive, and allow them to stay and share meals with us.
2. Meditation - An end to itself, important for reflection and pondering the mysteries of the world, and of your own self.
3. Intercommunion with other religions, races and creeds. By uniting people and religions by focusing on the similarities, many muslims, Hindus and Catholics come to visit and are inspired as a result. It is a overwhelming and inspirational idea, trying to bring the religions closer so that we all can share the messages within and be at peace
with one another.
BUILDING A CAVE
One of the monks (Frederick) had recently been given permission to build a cave higher up in the mountains for him to have some more peace and quiet from the monastery which can get quite busy with visitors - in other words somewhere more remote than remote. We had volunteered ourselves to the task.
Frederick didn't want just an ordinary cave. No, he wanted a double story cave, the second floor of wood being his bed and study. On top of that he wanted a perplex see-through roof so see the stars through at night.
First we had to lug heavy wooden beams, sand, concrete and gallons of water 500m up the mountain, through rugged terrain, a couple of cliff faces and beaten gravel paths, before we found the cave, 5m up on a narrow ledge above us. I'm surprised none of us fell with our burdens! We also had to dig out and carry/roll huge stones down the steep slope near the cave entrance to the cave, which was to be used with concrete to build the entrance (the front of the cave was wide open).
LEARNING ABOUT MYSELF IN THE MONASTERY
Through discussions with the monks and through quite contemplation and solitude up in the mountains, I’ve learnt alot about myself and what I’m missing in my life.
My 3 motives in my life are:
1.To live life to the fullest, and to assist others to do the same. I have a burning desire to help people enrich their lives, to teach, to inspire, to assist in the fulfilment of their dreams.
2. To find a place where I could really belong in the world. I've always felt that I’ve never truly belonged anywhere. Being born in Australia with an Asian background, I’ve felt that I’ve never quite fit in with the Australian nor Asian way of life. My existence is quite a lonely one, deepened with the tragic death of my best friend last year. My need to travel is sparked by the need to find a place that I truly feel I belong in and be comfortable spending my life,
spiritually and physically.
3. To find a soul mate in the world who truly loves and understands me, and vice versa, to share my life with, so that I no longer feel alone in the world.
I am not a religious person. If there is a God, I don't believe he is the vengeful God as written in the bibles. The way I view Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc, is not ordained by God, but in essence people look up to them because they are in fact, heroes. They stood up for a belief of being true and good to themselves and to others, and never
faltered in the face of oppression, suffering and death.
I could very well see myself in future living my life there. I would spend years learning French and Arabic, and pouring over the many intriguing tomes in the library. I've even been offered by the monks to remain in a cave of my own! But now is not the right time for me to do so. I still have a voracious appetite for visiting and understanding
the many cultures around the world, deepening my understanding and education of the mysteries of life and myself.
NOW WHAT?
Reluctantly, we left Mar Musa monetary, and headed straight to Amman, Jordan. Tomorrow we will head towards West Palestine - I mean Israel, and Jerusalem.
Till next time,
Ma salaama,
Salaam Aluykum habibi!
Last time I left you I was in Beirut, Lebanon with Richard, a guy from the US doing some travelling with me.
There is something about the Middle East, in that everything is so laid back, and you really get into the whole lazing around doing nothing and taking it easy. "Sha'allah, Sha'allah" (God Willing) is often a phrase heard as an answer to anything in regards to time. "When will the bus leave?" "Sha'allah." "Where is the shai (tea) we ordered?" "Sha'allah." Even I’ve started using it in response to questions, though I prefer to use the cool sounding "mish mush kila" (no worries).
BTW, you may have heard of the car bomb that killed a prominent anti-Syrian journalist recently, well I’m safe and well, it was as most car bombs, targeted, and it was several blocks away. Mish mush kila.
Anyway, we reluctantly left Beirut (especially after I met two lovely Lebanese girls - one the receptionist at the nightclub with great knowledge of middle east politics, the other a sweet girl and a wonderful dancer. The problem though is that when you try to meet girls, you have to meet their male chaperone/family/friends first. If they perceive you as not a threat then you are free to pursue the girl. Unfortunately I only just got welcomed into their group and
invited to come out with them just when I had to leave the next day. Sigh. Problem with travelling is that you can't form relationships or deep attachments with people because you have to move on. Only flings. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
TRIPOLI
Right, so, we went to Tripoli the next day, and regretted it. Tripoli is pretty much a dump, the "best souk in Lebanon" was average, the castle was small and plain, and all the streets were covered with dirt, dust, and rubbish. At least the people were very nice, and the pastries were delicious (being famous for it and all).
We left Tripoli the next day, heading for the Mar Musa Monastery in central Syria. I was planning to go on my own, but Richard decided in the last minute to tag along instead of heading for the Syrian coast as he planned.
It was quite interesting to see our driver bribe the border guards with a loaf of bread, which instantly disappeared into the hands of a passing guard before we were waved through with minimal bag and passenger searches. A smooth operation indeed.
MAR MUSA MONASTERY
Faux Pas of the day: "Jesus Christ! We're in a monastery, we shouldn't be talking about girls!"
Often heard saying: "We are so going to hell after saying that!"
Mar Musa Monastery is situated 1300m on a mountain hidden in a valley in the desert, somewhere between Damascus and Homs. Our driver had trouble finding it, since you end up driving into the middle of nowhere, along a mountainside, until you turn a corner and lo and behold it appears magically in front of you high above.
It was built in the 6th Century by Orthodox monks, the church within bearing faded earthen paintings from 11th Century. The Monastery was then taken over by Syrian Catholic monks, the church now containing colourful 13th century paintings of Saints, Judgement day, and the Virgin Mary. Later, it was abandoned (not sure why), and was
rediscovered over 100 years ago. Now it is populated with 4 monks, a couple of day-trippers, some volunteers helping clean and cook, and a hermit who lives in a cave higher up and comes down every Sunday for supplies before disappearing for the week. There is also a mule, some dogs, a few always hungry cats, and a turtle named "turtle" that wonders around the courtyard, sometimes coming over to share meals with us where we feed it slivers of cucumber.
(Speaking of which, me and Richard did buy another turtle as a companion gift, but the turtle ran away and we can't find it. How do you lose a turtle!?!!!)
We climbed up the 1.5km of stone steps with our heavy backpacks, and then entered the monastery through a small door 1m high. We were immediately given food and water and were able to enjoy the beautiful views below.
We were welcomed to stay, receiving free meals and accommodation in return for helping clean, cook and do some work. I only intended to stay for 2 days, but have ended up staying for over 10 days!
There are usually 2 church sessions, before breakfast, and before dinner. Each session begins with 1hr meditation in the church among candlelight, then 1hr singing, playing music, reading and sermoning in Arabic and occasionally French.
The church is quite unconventional. For one thing, you sit on the floor on laid out rugs and carpets, much like an Islamic mosque. Candles are lit, instruments are played, and meditation is done, much like Hindu or Buddhist. The sermons are all Catholic, but are done in arabic. All this is related to the intercommunion aspect of the monastery (see further below).
Meals are fairly basic but delicious, often consisting of a mezze of tomato, cucumber, olive oil, spices, cream cheeses, and some pita bread. Hot sweet tea (black or herbal) is usually consumed with the meal. Lunches are more varied, with a huge pot of rice mixed with meat or vegetables covered with yogurt, or pasta served for the people in the monastery, and any day trippers who happen to be around.
The monastery is well equipped, with a fantastic library in multiple languages, telephone, even internet access, though I denied myself to use it as I wanted to shut myself from the outside world for a while. Women and men would sleep in different quarters outside of the monastery on opposite sides of the mountains.
It is alot of fun being one of the people welcoming visitors (mainly French or arabic), offering them water and finding out about them. Many afternoons are spent napping or quiet contemplation on the mountain, monastery courtyard overlooking the views, or in the church itself.
THE 3 PRINCIPLES OF MAR MUSA
The monks focus of 3 principles:
1. Hospitality - "Hospitality is the highest virtue" This is emphasised by the way we greet people with water, tea and conversation when they arrive, and allow them to stay and share meals with us.
2. Meditation - An end to itself, important for reflection and pondering the mysteries of the world, and of your own self.
3. Intercommunion with other religions, races and creeds. By uniting people and religions by focusing on the similarities, many muslims, Hindus and Catholics come to visit and are inspired as a result. It is a overwhelming and inspirational idea, trying to bring the religions closer so that we all can share the messages within and be at peace
with one another.
BUILDING A CAVE
One of the monks (Frederick) had recently been given permission to build a cave higher up in the mountains for him to have some more peace and quiet from the monastery which can get quite busy with visitors - in other words somewhere more remote than remote. We had volunteered ourselves to the task.
Frederick didn't want just an ordinary cave. No, he wanted a double story cave, the second floor of wood being his bed and study. On top of that he wanted a perplex see-through roof so see the stars through at night.
First we had to lug heavy wooden beams, sand, concrete and gallons of water 500m up the mountain, through rugged terrain, a couple of cliff faces and beaten gravel paths, before we found the cave, 5m up on a narrow ledge above us. I'm surprised none of us fell with our burdens! We also had to dig out and carry/roll huge stones down the steep slope near the cave entrance to the cave, which was to be used with concrete to build the entrance (the front of the cave was wide open).
LEARNING ABOUT MYSELF IN THE MONASTERY
Through discussions with the monks and through quite contemplation and solitude up in the mountains, I’ve learnt alot about myself and what I’m missing in my life.
My 3 motives in my life are:
1.To live life to the fullest, and to assist others to do the same. I have a burning desire to help people enrich their lives, to teach, to inspire, to assist in the fulfilment of their dreams.
2. To find a place where I could really belong in the world. I've always felt that I’ve never truly belonged anywhere. Being born in Australia with an Asian background, I’ve felt that I’ve never quite fit in with the Australian nor Asian way of life. My existence is quite a lonely one, deepened with the tragic death of my best friend last year. My need to travel is sparked by the need to find a place that I truly feel I belong in and be comfortable spending my life,
spiritually and physically.
3. To find a soul mate in the world who truly loves and understands me, and vice versa, to share my life with, so that I no longer feel alone in the world.
I am not a religious person. If there is a God, I don't believe he is the vengeful God as written in the bibles. The way I view Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc, is not ordained by God, but in essence people look up to them because they are in fact, heroes. They stood up for a belief of being true and good to themselves and to others, and never
faltered in the face of oppression, suffering and death.
I could very well see myself in future living my life there. I would spend years learning French and Arabic, and pouring over the many intriguing tomes in the library. I've even been offered by the monks to remain in a cave of my own! But now is not the right time for me to do so. I still have a voracious appetite for visiting and understanding
the many cultures around the world, deepening my understanding and education of the mysteries of life and myself.
NOW WHAT?
Reluctantly, we left Mar Musa monetary, and headed straight to Amman, Jordan. Tomorrow we will head towards West Palestine - I mean Israel, and Jerusalem.
Till next time,
Ma salaama,
Friday, June 3, 2005
Lebanon
Aleppo - Damascus - Beirut - Sidon - Byblos - Baalbek
Salaam Aluykum!
I tell you, I’m falling in love with the middle east. I was supposed to be in Turkey a month ago and yet I am still stuck here enjoying the sights, the hospitable friendly people, the good food (though am getting sick of schwarma and felafel so have started eating out more in style)...
So, when I last left you* I had arrived in Aleppo, Syria, with Richard, my US travelling companion I met in Jordan... Speaking of which, people in the middle east find it amusing that a Vietnamese is travelling with an American, but they do also realise that travellers/people in America do not represent their government. They all believe that we are all the same, but our governments are all pretty much screwed up.
ALEPPO
Aleppo is Syria's second last city. Travellers tell you that Aleppo has a way of keeping you there longer than planned. And indeed they were right, for I did stay a few days longer, just chilling out, sitting in the cafes in the romantic Christian quarter with it's narrow crooked cobbled grey streets and old houses, exploring the covered stone arched souks and the ruined citadel with beautiful views over the city. Aleppo is over 5000 years old, and competes with Damascus as the oldest inhabited city in the whole world! Aleppo also has a wonderful selection of beautiful elegant restaurants in courtyard settings complete with lemon trees and fountains and waiters dressed to the nines. I had the best steak I’ve ever eaten in one of these places. I also did an impromptu palm reading session for some curious waiters, the maitre-de, and other customers the maitre-de introduced me to after he saw me doing it to some friends for amusement.
THE HAMMAN
Tried a Hamman (Turkish bath) in Aleppo, in style in one of the most famous and oldest (800 years old) hammans in the world. I was a bit nervous before I started, but turned out to be one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever done.
First I was given a locker to lock my valuables, then asked to strip and come out wearing only a towel into the luxuriously decorated main hall. I was then handed a bar of famed Aleppo Olive Oil soap and sponge and lead into one of the many steam room chambers. Sweated it out in the steam room where steam was forced out of an old rusty worryingly fragile looking pipe. Then I was directed to another room, where an attendant was waiting for me.
Motioning me to sit on the floor beside him next to a water fountain, he then proceeded to pour hot water all over me, then using a rough loofah, started scrubbing hard all over my body. It's amazing what stuff gets scrubbed out of you! Then, using the soap and sponge, he washed and massaged my whole body, finishing off with more hot water.
I then glided dreamily back to the steam room where I could finish washing myself, then back to the main hall where another attendant draped hot towels all around me and then served me tea as I lay on one of the many couches
relaxing, positively glowing, and feeling cleaner than I’ve ever felt in my life! It is definitely an experience everyone should try!
THE DECISION TO GO TO LEBANON
We decided on the spur of the moment to go to Lebanon. Not just because of the famous Beirut nightlife mind you, or the food, or beautiful girls. No, for a reason more lamer than that. It was to see Star Wars III! (Which was pretty well done I thought, though some scenes were too computerized and dialogue a bit dodgy).
When you think about it, it's quite amusing having decided to go to another country to see a movie...
Well, I suppose we were also curious to witness history in the making, as Lebanon were about to have their first election without Syrian influence...
A SHORT HISTORY ON LEBANON AND SOME POLITICAL STUFF
Basically, there were some civil war and unrest, which the Syrians were called to by the UN to enter Lebanon and act as peacekeepers. After the civil war, Syria remained as a dominant influence in the political and economical spheres. Lebanon however wanted to stand on their own without Syrian influence. A leader called Harira was well loved by the people and was vying for Lebanon independence without Syria. However, a massive
car bomb killed him and devastated a huge area around it (I saw the crime scene, pretty shocking how big that bomb must have been), and it was of course blamed on the Syrians. This put the spotlight on the situation and the
UN and George Bush have pressured Syria to leave. Which they have. And now the new elections have taken place, peacefully, and with great joy but also uncertainty in the country.
The Syrian's I’ve talked to tell me that they don't know why the Lebanese were so anti-Syrian, since they helped preserve peace in the country.
The Lebanese I’ve talked to tell me that the Syrian's influenced the economical and political situation to their favor, gave Syrians jobs in Lebanon, and took advantage of many things, including a commodity Syria is
lacking - water. Of course, if only Israel would give the Syrians back their beloved Golan Heights, then all would be well, but of course that's not going to happen.
Personally, I think the Lebanese should be grateful for Syria for protecting them, but their stay had certainly been long overdue.
The elections were quite interesting to see. The days before, little rallies and protests consisting of cars with stickers, lots of booming (almost Russian/communist style) music coming out of boom boxes, people waving flags and pictures of their chosen political leader or (usually Christian) militant leader, all driving around the city, chanting,
honking horns, etc. Very peaceful too, with no altercations between opposing rallies, just respect. Many military soldiers with machine guns hanging back watching the scene unfold. And on the night of election day, a huge fireworks display in the city was put up to celebrate!
I was very touched seeing the shrine of Hariri in the main square, with posters of him graffitied over with peoples comments such as "we will never forget you" and "you are our hero" and other notes expressing great loss and respect for their much loved leader.
BEIRUT
Paris of the Middle East? With the great food (expensive but well worth it), great arabic music, the crazy nightlife and the *gasp* unbelievably hot hot women (no exaggeration here - even the Lebanese agree), and I think it should be more called the Spain of the Middle East instead!
Quite a large city, a massively sprawled out, where new French pristine style areas of cafes, bars and restaurants mingle with decaying old buildings clearly showing signs of the last civil war with it's bullet holes, bomb blasts, missing walls and collapsed rooftops.. lots of reconstruction work, and a beautiful waterfront where people swim, fish, rollerblade, and in the late afternoon when the sun sets, people walk down it all dressed to the nines (a great
place to check out gorgeous girls - a welcome respite after traversing through countries for so long where all the women are generally covered up (ok, so I’m a typical hot blooded male, alright? )
NIGHTLIFE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
There is limited nightlife in the middle east, and where it exists, it is usually in the Christian quarter (because Muslims don't drink or go clubbing).
I've been to the nightlife in Damascus, which was alright, but if there was a center of nightlife in the Middle East, it would be Beirut. Here, expensive cars would cruise with guys and girls in them checking the crowds at the pubs and nightclubs, girls would flaunt their bodies with high heels and the bare minimum of clothing - all of this to get people to notice them, and notice them people do. (Melbournites this may sound quite familiar with Chapel St, Lygon St etc).
It is quite hard to get into a nightclub unless you make a reservation, and are accompanied with girls. When you do go in though they are often small, hip and expensive. One must also be aware of the prostitutes (usually Russian) prowling the club. But the rich and famous come and the music, ranging usually from trance to Arabic music, is pretty good.
We were lucky to have a club open up near our hostel, as they had free entrance and free drinks for the first couple of nights. So guess where I ended up every night?
SIDON
Sidon is a lovely small port town south of Beirut, with a disappointingly small sea crusader castle accessible only via a bridge, but a wonderful small yellow stoned covered souk where I bought some new clothes (Lebanon is quite a European city, and the clothes are very cool indeed - if I weren't travelling I’d buy a whole new wardrobe!)
BYBLOS
Another beautiful sea port town, with old ruins from all periods, from the bronze age to Hellenistic, Roman, Ottoman and Malmuk ages. The most picturesque ruins I’ve ever seen, set on a peninsula, with pink blossoms and green vines and vegetation growing over the sand coloured ruins and crusader castle, the blue Mediterranean and green mountains speckled with white holiday apartments into the clouds providing a pretty backdrop to the whole scene.
BAALBEK - THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ROMAN RUIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST
It was quite a scenic drive to Baalbek, via the huge mountain ranges, their tops hidden in the clouds which we actually drove through. Every guard post and road barrier you pass is covered with the Lebanese flag of a green cedar tree on white with a red strip on top and below it. It was a little unnerving though driving through the
Hezbollah (Army of God militant group) areas with their yellow flags with some green machine gun on tree design to get to what is considered the most impressive roman ruin in the middle east. And it did not fail to disappoint. Even though it consists of a few grand temples, the state of preservation and the size of the temples leaves one at awe. You can spend hours trying to picture it in it's glory days, when the now sand coloured ruins used to be white marble facades with gold and bronze columns, colourful painted friezes, statues, people worshiping and sacrificing animals on the huge altars.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The plan is to go to Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, then I will go back into Syria to live in solitude in a remote monastery called Mar Musa for a few days. As you do. If I can find it that is...
Afterwards, I’ll head to Israel and the Palestinian territories...
Salaam Aluykum!
I tell you, I’m falling in love with the middle east. I was supposed to be in Turkey a month ago and yet I am still stuck here enjoying the sights, the hospitable friendly people, the good food (though am getting sick of schwarma and felafel so have started eating out more in style)...
So, when I last left you* I had arrived in Aleppo, Syria, with Richard, my US travelling companion I met in Jordan... Speaking of which, people in the middle east find it amusing that a Vietnamese is travelling with an American, but they do also realise that travellers/people in America do not represent their government. They all believe that we are all the same, but our governments are all pretty much screwed up.
ALEPPO
Aleppo is Syria's second last city. Travellers tell you that Aleppo has a way of keeping you there longer than planned. And indeed they were right, for I did stay a few days longer, just chilling out, sitting in the cafes in the romantic Christian quarter with it's narrow crooked cobbled grey streets and old houses, exploring the covered stone arched souks and the ruined citadel with beautiful views over the city. Aleppo is over 5000 years old, and competes with Damascus as the oldest inhabited city in the whole world! Aleppo also has a wonderful selection of beautiful elegant restaurants in courtyard settings complete with lemon trees and fountains and waiters dressed to the nines. I had the best steak I’ve ever eaten in one of these places. I also did an impromptu palm reading session for some curious waiters, the maitre-de, and other customers the maitre-de introduced me to after he saw me doing it to some friends for amusement.
THE HAMMAN
Tried a Hamman (Turkish bath) in Aleppo, in style in one of the most famous and oldest (800 years old) hammans in the world. I was a bit nervous before I started, but turned out to be one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever done.
First I was given a locker to lock my valuables, then asked to strip and come out wearing only a towel into the luxuriously decorated main hall. I was then handed a bar of famed Aleppo Olive Oil soap and sponge and lead into one of the many steam room chambers. Sweated it out in the steam room where steam was forced out of an old rusty worryingly fragile looking pipe. Then I was directed to another room, where an attendant was waiting for me.
Motioning me to sit on the floor beside him next to a water fountain, he then proceeded to pour hot water all over me, then using a rough loofah, started scrubbing hard all over my body. It's amazing what stuff gets scrubbed out of you! Then, using the soap and sponge, he washed and massaged my whole body, finishing off with more hot water.
I then glided dreamily back to the steam room where I could finish washing myself, then back to the main hall where another attendant draped hot towels all around me and then served me tea as I lay on one of the many couches
relaxing, positively glowing, and feeling cleaner than I’ve ever felt in my life! It is definitely an experience everyone should try!
THE DECISION TO GO TO LEBANON
We decided on the spur of the moment to go to Lebanon. Not just because of the famous Beirut nightlife mind you, or the food, or beautiful girls. No, for a reason more lamer than that. It was to see Star Wars III! (Which was pretty well done I thought, though some scenes were too computerized and dialogue a bit dodgy).
When you think about it, it's quite amusing having decided to go to another country to see a movie...
Well, I suppose we were also curious to witness history in the making, as Lebanon were about to have their first election without Syrian influence...
A SHORT HISTORY ON LEBANON AND SOME POLITICAL STUFF
Basically, there were some civil war and unrest, which the Syrians were called to by the UN to enter Lebanon and act as peacekeepers. After the civil war, Syria remained as a dominant influence in the political and economical spheres. Lebanon however wanted to stand on their own without Syrian influence. A leader called Harira was well loved by the people and was vying for Lebanon independence without Syria. However, a massive
car bomb killed him and devastated a huge area around it (I saw the crime scene, pretty shocking how big that bomb must have been), and it was of course blamed on the Syrians. This put the spotlight on the situation and the
UN and George Bush have pressured Syria to leave. Which they have. And now the new elections have taken place, peacefully, and with great joy but also uncertainty in the country.
The Syrian's I’ve talked to tell me that they don't know why the Lebanese were so anti-Syrian, since they helped preserve peace in the country.
The Lebanese I’ve talked to tell me that the Syrian's influenced the economical and political situation to their favor, gave Syrians jobs in Lebanon, and took advantage of many things, including a commodity Syria is
lacking - water. Of course, if only Israel would give the Syrians back their beloved Golan Heights, then all would be well, but of course that's not going to happen.
Personally, I think the Lebanese should be grateful for Syria for protecting them, but their stay had certainly been long overdue.
The elections were quite interesting to see. The days before, little rallies and protests consisting of cars with stickers, lots of booming (almost Russian/communist style) music coming out of boom boxes, people waving flags and pictures of their chosen political leader or (usually Christian) militant leader, all driving around the city, chanting,
honking horns, etc. Very peaceful too, with no altercations between opposing rallies, just respect. Many military soldiers with machine guns hanging back watching the scene unfold. And on the night of election day, a huge fireworks display in the city was put up to celebrate!
I was very touched seeing the shrine of Hariri in the main square, with posters of him graffitied over with peoples comments such as "we will never forget you" and "you are our hero" and other notes expressing great loss and respect for their much loved leader.
BEIRUT
Paris of the Middle East? With the great food (expensive but well worth it), great arabic music, the crazy nightlife and the *gasp* unbelievably hot hot women (no exaggeration here - even the Lebanese agree), and I think it should be more called the Spain of the Middle East instead!
Quite a large city, a massively sprawled out, where new French pristine style areas of cafes, bars and restaurants mingle with decaying old buildings clearly showing signs of the last civil war with it's bullet holes, bomb blasts, missing walls and collapsed rooftops.. lots of reconstruction work, and a beautiful waterfront where people swim, fish, rollerblade, and in the late afternoon when the sun sets, people walk down it all dressed to the nines (a great
place to check out gorgeous girls - a welcome respite after traversing through countries for so long where all the women are generally covered up (ok, so I’m a typical hot blooded male, alright? )
NIGHTLIFE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
There is limited nightlife in the middle east, and where it exists, it is usually in the Christian quarter (because Muslims don't drink or go clubbing).
I've been to the nightlife in Damascus, which was alright, but if there was a center of nightlife in the Middle East, it would be Beirut. Here, expensive cars would cruise with guys and girls in them checking the crowds at the pubs and nightclubs, girls would flaunt their bodies with high heels and the bare minimum of clothing - all of this to get people to notice them, and notice them people do. (Melbournites this may sound quite familiar with Chapel St, Lygon St etc).
It is quite hard to get into a nightclub unless you make a reservation, and are accompanied with girls. When you do go in though they are often small, hip and expensive. One must also be aware of the prostitutes (usually Russian) prowling the club. But the rich and famous come and the music, ranging usually from trance to Arabic music, is pretty good.
We were lucky to have a club open up near our hostel, as they had free entrance and free drinks for the first couple of nights. So guess where I ended up every night?
SIDON
Sidon is a lovely small port town south of Beirut, with a disappointingly small sea crusader castle accessible only via a bridge, but a wonderful small yellow stoned covered souk where I bought some new clothes (Lebanon is quite a European city, and the clothes are very cool indeed - if I weren't travelling I’d buy a whole new wardrobe!)
BYBLOS
Another beautiful sea port town, with old ruins from all periods, from the bronze age to Hellenistic, Roman, Ottoman and Malmuk ages. The most picturesque ruins I’ve ever seen, set on a peninsula, with pink blossoms and green vines and vegetation growing over the sand coloured ruins and crusader castle, the blue Mediterranean and green mountains speckled with white holiday apartments into the clouds providing a pretty backdrop to the whole scene.
BAALBEK - THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ROMAN RUIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST
It was quite a scenic drive to Baalbek, via the huge mountain ranges, their tops hidden in the clouds which we actually drove through. Every guard post and road barrier you pass is covered with the Lebanese flag of a green cedar tree on white with a red strip on top and below it. It was a little unnerving though driving through the
Hezbollah (Army of God militant group) areas with their yellow flags with some green machine gun on tree design to get to what is considered the most impressive roman ruin in the middle east. And it did not fail to disappoint. Even though it consists of a few grand temples, the state of preservation and the size of the temples leaves one at awe. You can spend hours trying to picture it in it's glory days, when the now sand coloured ruins used to be white marble facades with gold and bronze columns, colourful painted friezes, statues, people worshiping and sacrificing animals on the huge altars.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The plan is to go to Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, then I will go back into Syria to live in solitude in a remote monastery called Mar Musa for a few days. As you do. If I can find it that is...
Afterwards, I’ll head to Israel and the Palestinian territories...
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Syria
Bosra - Damascus - Palmyra - Hama - Apamea - Qala'at Marqab - Crac de Chevaliers - Beehive Houses - Qasr-ibn-Wardan - Rassafeh - Qal-aat-Jaabar - Euphrates River - Serjilla - Al Bara - Ruweiha - Jerada - Aleppo
Salaam alaykum!
QUESTION POSED BY CURIOUS SYRIAN:
"So, do you all go to school and learn kung fu?" (thinking I’m from Japan as all middle easterners do)
LAST THINGS ON JORDAN
- Jordan food isn't exactly inspirational. Basically the only foods you can get is either a Falafel (mashed fried chickpeas) or schwarma (chicken or beef or "mystery meat" roasted rotating on large skewers) sandwich. Or you can try the Bedouin speciality of “Mensaf”. which is basically boiled sheep or goat meat pieces piled on top of a
huge platter of rice. A hot yogurt soup is poured steaming hot on top of all this, and sprinkled with nuts and herbs. Guests of honour usually get the whole goats head, especially the eyes or tongue!
- Got a pack of playing cards featuring the 52 most wanted Iraqis that that US were handing out to soldiers (the one with Saddam as the ace of spades). Also picked up some cool Iraqi money with Saddam on it!
ENTRY INTO SYRIA
Caught a bus from Irbid to the Jordan border town of Ramtha, where the friendly bus driver took me by the arm and led me to the service taxi office (which you catch to go through the border into Syria). Here I was treated to free tea and coffee while I waited for 3 other people to fill the taxi with before we could leave (it took 2 hours).
Finally, we took off to the border, where we had to pay departure tax. Then I was in duty-free land....
No turning back now. If I get rejected at the Syrian side then I have to re-enter Jordan again with a new visa, and then work out how to get to Israel from there. The official law is that if your country does not have a Syrian embassy, you can get your visa at the border. Australia DOES have one, but there have been reports of Aussies
getting in anyway, and all the locals told me it would be ok.
So, took a deep breath, and walked into the Arrivals/Visa office.
I tried every trick in the book. I smiled, tried to speak in Arabic, and mentioned my family was from Vietnam*. It worked. After a quick word to the superior officer, they asked me to get 30US worth of Syrian pounds from the exchange office on the Syrian side for the visa. In other words, they let me into Syria WITHOUT a visa, to get
money, then come back to pay for the visa and re-enter with it.
So, after filling in a short form (which I didn't even need to complete - which is a far contrast from other people who get asked for all sorts of details, permission letters etc), I got my visa and I was in! Hurrah!
*Telling people I’m Vietnamese instead of Australian elicits a more welcoming response and more favours, particularly overlooking the fact that I’m not a student when I present them my youth card. This is because Vietnam defeated the Americans in the Vietnam war which they are happy to hear about.
SYRIA - THE FRIENDLIEST PLACE ON EARTH
Forget Axis of Evil, the threat of Terrorists and a nation of people wanting to destroy America - Syria is nothing like the way it is depicted in our often biased media. In fact, Syria is one of the most friendliest and hospitable places in the middle east if not the world. These people welcome you with open arms and bend over backwards to make your stay a pleasant one. Yep, Syria is definitely on my list of favourite countries along with Portugal and Morocco.
One thing I noticed in Syria - these people are fanatical on adding lights and all sorts of adornments on their cars. It is very common to see taxis driving past with neon flashing lights all over it. Also, trucks reversing (as with Jordan) do not make the standard beeping noise. No, they play this musical tune which is the same everywhere that really gets into your head and is really annoying after awhile, but you can't help and laugh at the same time when you
witness a macho guy in a big truck reversing to this happy cheerful tune!
BOSRA
Not Basra as in Iraq - Bosra, which is almost a black basalt version of the pink pale limestone roman ruins of Jeresh. What also made Bosra striking was the huge complete amphitheatre, modified into a fortress with huge walls enclosing it and citadels - one which used to contain a hostel but is now unfortunately closed.
I was lucky to get here from the border as I had no other Syrian money to pay for the bus to Bosra, but one friendly guy I met on the street offered to exchange a Jordan Dinar for 75 Syrian pounds (which is the correct exchange I found later on, so he didn't even try to rip me off). What a great group of people.
I then caught a luxury bus to Damascus. Luxury buses are quite cheap despite the name, and they serve free ice cold water and sweets as well!
DAMASCUS
Damascus is awesome! With a stunning labyrinth of covered souks snaking around the Great mosque with it's amazing nature influenced mosaics, the cheap greasy schwarmas and felafel stands amongst delicious ice drinks, ice creams and pastries (no one makes desserts as good as the Arabs), and a general chilled out environment, Damascus is definitely one of my favourite cities. Met up with Richard, an American who I have ended up travelling through Syria with. We explored Damascus and chilled out with a group of locals checking out the beautiful girls walking past their antiquities shop.
PALMYRA
Palmyra is a spectacular ruined city in a desert, featuring a huge temple dedicated to Baal, a series of colonnades, a well preserved amphitheatre, a scattering of pyramid shaped funerary tombs and a stunning Arab castle perched high up on a steep hill overlooking the ruins, which was a great place to witness the sunset. Palmyra is a great place to get good quality dates, and also dodgy fake student cards (which Richard bought as Student cards get 90% off entrance fees!)
THE CHILLED OUT TOWN OF HAMA
We caught a dodgy local bus to Hama, which is a chilled out little town famous for its gigantic wooden water wheels on the river, very picturesque though they make a sound similar to a cross between a lawn mower and a vacuum cleaner. Hama was where we stayed while we negotiated 3 days of tours for $62US each! Not a bad price to see half of Syria....
CASTLES, DEAD CITIES, AND SWIMMING IN THE EUPHRATES RIVER
Day 1 tour was with a driver driving us around in a '74 Mercedes. He took us to Apamea, which is one of the dead cities in Syria. A dead city is one which was suddenly abandoned and left to ruin after a earthquake or unknown circumstances. A great place to pretend to be Indiana Jones and climb over the ruins. Amongst the ruins you would
find Bedouins who have modified some of the ruins into homes for themselves and their goats. Apamea is quite a stunning dead city in a picturesque location amongst red poppy flowers and wheat fields with mountains in the background.
A drive through these mountains took us to Qala'at Margab, which is a small castle on a hill with overgrown vegetation crawling over it's ruins. More driving through the mountains which the driver pointed out stuff
to us in Arabic, to which with our limited knowledge could only reply "Khamila" (beautiful), "hellowa" (pretty), "kwayis" (good), and "muntaz" (excellent). Which is pretty much how I’d describe Syria.
We ended up at Crac des Chevaliers, the most complete and spectacular medieval castle I have been to. This place is huge, and all the vaulted passageways, dark tunnels, towers and battlements that you would imagine in a castle. It even had a secret tunnel which we sneaked into when no one was looking. It was fun exploring this castle perched high up on a hill overlooking the town below and the green valleys and mountains with fig and apple trees growing on them.
Day 2 tour was with a driver driving us around in a 51' Pontiac. He took us into the desert, starting off with the famous beehive houses. These houses are cone shaped mud brick houses which look like beehives and are inhabited by Bedouins. Next was to Qasr-ibn-Wardan, which was a striped Byzantine castle of basalt and brick in the middle of a plain. The ruins taking a rather desolate beautiful surrealistic Dali-like appearance.
Then to Rassafeh, a stunning dead city in that it is really in the middle of nowhere in the desert, consisting of a wall surrounding what is now mounds of dirt hiding collapsed ruins, in the centre a ruined church and palace the only thing standing in the desolate landscape. Very picturesque indeed.
Finally, we made it to the Euphrates river, which is what I’ve always wanted to see since it is the beginning of Mesopotamia, i.e cradle of civilisation. We visited Qal-at-Jaabar which is a citadel overlooking the turquoise coloured Euphrates. A class of school kids on camp found me more interesting than the citadel themselves, swamping me and getting me to pose in photos with them. Clearly they've never seen an Asian before or something - I felt like such a celebrity!
Afterwards, we swam in the cool crystal clear waters of the Euphrates, which was what we needed after a long day in the desert.
Day 3 tour was in an ordinary taxi. Oh well, can't have it all.
Anyway, we spent the day touring other dead cities. First was Serjilla, which was an eerie grey ghost town, very cool. Then we saw the pyramid tombs of Al bara. Ruweiha was next, set in a lunar like landscape. And finally Jerada, a red Byzantine city overgrown with thistles.
We ended up being dropped off in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, which is where I am now...
WHAT'S NEXT?
I'm gonna hang out a few days here, then head along the coast back to Damascus, into Jordan, and then go into Israel. After that I fly to Turkey...
Stay tuned..
Salaam alaykum!
QUESTION POSED BY CURIOUS SYRIAN:
"So, do you all go to school and learn kung fu?" (thinking I’m from Japan as all middle easterners do)
LAST THINGS ON JORDAN
- Jordan food isn't exactly inspirational. Basically the only foods you can get is either a Falafel (mashed fried chickpeas) or schwarma (chicken or beef or "mystery meat" roasted rotating on large skewers) sandwich. Or you can try the Bedouin speciality of “Mensaf”. which is basically boiled sheep or goat meat pieces piled on top of a
huge platter of rice. A hot yogurt soup is poured steaming hot on top of all this, and sprinkled with nuts and herbs. Guests of honour usually get the whole goats head, especially the eyes or tongue!
- Got a pack of playing cards featuring the 52 most wanted Iraqis that that US were handing out to soldiers (the one with Saddam as the ace of spades). Also picked up some cool Iraqi money with Saddam on it!
ENTRY INTO SYRIA
Caught a bus from Irbid to the Jordan border town of Ramtha, where the friendly bus driver took me by the arm and led me to the service taxi office (which you catch to go through the border into Syria). Here I was treated to free tea and coffee while I waited for 3 other people to fill the taxi with before we could leave (it took 2 hours).
Finally, we took off to the border, where we had to pay departure tax. Then I was in duty-free land....
No turning back now. If I get rejected at the Syrian side then I have to re-enter Jordan again with a new visa, and then work out how to get to Israel from there. The official law is that if your country does not have a Syrian embassy, you can get your visa at the border. Australia DOES have one, but there have been reports of Aussies
getting in anyway, and all the locals told me it would be ok.
So, took a deep breath, and walked into the Arrivals/Visa office.
I tried every trick in the book. I smiled, tried to speak in Arabic, and mentioned my family was from Vietnam*. It worked. After a quick word to the superior officer, they asked me to get 30US worth of Syrian pounds from the exchange office on the Syrian side for the visa. In other words, they let me into Syria WITHOUT a visa, to get
money, then come back to pay for the visa and re-enter with it.
So, after filling in a short form (which I didn't even need to complete - which is a far contrast from other people who get asked for all sorts of details, permission letters etc), I got my visa and I was in! Hurrah!
*Telling people I’m Vietnamese instead of Australian elicits a more welcoming response and more favours, particularly overlooking the fact that I’m not a student when I present them my youth card. This is because Vietnam defeated the Americans in the Vietnam war which they are happy to hear about.
SYRIA - THE FRIENDLIEST PLACE ON EARTH
Forget Axis of Evil, the threat of Terrorists and a nation of people wanting to destroy America - Syria is nothing like the way it is depicted in our often biased media. In fact, Syria is one of the most friendliest and hospitable places in the middle east if not the world. These people welcome you with open arms and bend over backwards to make your stay a pleasant one. Yep, Syria is definitely on my list of favourite countries along with Portugal and Morocco.
One thing I noticed in Syria - these people are fanatical on adding lights and all sorts of adornments on their cars. It is very common to see taxis driving past with neon flashing lights all over it. Also, trucks reversing (as with Jordan) do not make the standard beeping noise. No, they play this musical tune which is the same everywhere that really gets into your head and is really annoying after awhile, but you can't help and laugh at the same time when you
witness a macho guy in a big truck reversing to this happy cheerful tune!
BOSRA
Not Basra as in Iraq - Bosra, which is almost a black basalt version of the pink pale limestone roman ruins of Jeresh. What also made Bosra striking was the huge complete amphitheatre, modified into a fortress with huge walls enclosing it and citadels - one which used to contain a hostel but is now unfortunately closed.
I was lucky to get here from the border as I had no other Syrian money to pay for the bus to Bosra, but one friendly guy I met on the street offered to exchange a Jordan Dinar for 75 Syrian pounds (which is the correct exchange I found later on, so he didn't even try to rip me off). What a great group of people.
I then caught a luxury bus to Damascus. Luxury buses are quite cheap despite the name, and they serve free ice cold water and sweets as well!
DAMASCUS
Damascus is awesome! With a stunning labyrinth of covered souks snaking around the Great mosque with it's amazing nature influenced mosaics, the cheap greasy schwarmas and felafel stands amongst delicious ice drinks, ice creams and pastries (no one makes desserts as good as the Arabs), and a general chilled out environment, Damascus is definitely one of my favourite cities. Met up with Richard, an American who I have ended up travelling through Syria with. We explored Damascus and chilled out with a group of locals checking out the beautiful girls walking past their antiquities shop.
PALMYRA
Palmyra is a spectacular ruined city in a desert, featuring a huge temple dedicated to Baal, a series of colonnades, a well preserved amphitheatre, a scattering of pyramid shaped funerary tombs and a stunning Arab castle perched high up on a steep hill overlooking the ruins, which was a great place to witness the sunset. Palmyra is a great place to get good quality dates, and also dodgy fake student cards (which Richard bought as Student cards get 90% off entrance fees!)
THE CHILLED OUT TOWN OF HAMA
We caught a dodgy local bus to Hama, which is a chilled out little town famous for its gigantic wooden water wheels on the river, very picturesque though they make a sound similar to a cross between a lawn mower and a vacuum cleaner. Hama was where we stayed while we negotiated 3 days of tours for $62US each! Not a bad price to see half of Syria....
CASTLES, DEAD CITIES, AND SWIMMING IN THE EUPHRATES RIVER
Day 1 tour was with a driver driving us around in a '74 Mercedes. He took us to Apamea, which is one of the dead cities in Syria. A dead city is one which was suddenly abandoned and left to ruin after a earthquake or unknown circumstances. A great place to pretend to be Indiana Jones and climb over the ruins. Amongst the ruins you would
find Bedouins who have modified some of the ruins into homes for themselves and their goats. Apamea is quite a stunning dead city in a picturesque location amongst red poppy flowers and wheat fields with mountains in the background.
A drive through these mountains took us to Qala'at Margab, which is a small castle on a hill with overgrown vegetation crawling over it's ruins. More driving through the mountains which the driver pointed out stuff
to us in Arabic, to which with our limited knowledge could only reply "Khamila" (beautiful), "hellowa" (pretty), "kwayis" (good), and "muntaz" (excellent). Which is pretty much how I’d describe Syria.
We ended up at Crac des Chevaliers, the most complete and spectacular medieval castle I have been to. This place is huge, and all the vaulted passageways, dark tunnels, towers and battlements that you would imagine in a castle. It even had a secret tunnel which we sneaked into when no one was looking. It was fun exploring this castle perched high up on a hill overlooking the town below and the green valleys and mountains with fig and apple trees growing on them.
Day 2 tour was with a driver driving us around in a 51' Pontiac. He took us into the desert, starting off with the famous beehive houses. These houses are cone shaped mud brick houses which look like beehives and are inhabited by Bedouins. Next was to Qasr-ibn-Wardan, which was a striped Byzantine castle of basalt and brick in the middle of a plain. The ruins taking a rather desolate beautiful surrealistic Dali-like appearance.
Then to Rassafeh, a stunning dead city in that it is really in the middle of nowhere in the desert, consisting of a wall surrounding what is now mounds of dirt hiding collapsed ruins, in the centre a ruined church and palace the only thing standing in the desolate landscape. Very picturesque indeed.
Finally, we made it to the Euphrates river, which is what I’ve always wanted to see since it is the beginning of Mesopotamia, i.e cradle of civilisation. We visited Qal-at-Jaabar which is a citadel overlooking the turquoise coloured Euphrates. A class of school kids on camp found me more interesting than the citadel themselves, swamping me and getting me to pose in photos with them. Clearly they've never seen an Asian before or something - I felt like such a celebrity!
Afterwards, we swam in the cool crystal clear waters of the Euphrates, which was what we needed after a long day in the desert.
Day 3 tour was in an ordinary taxi. Oh well, can't have it all.
Anyway, we spent the day touring other dead cities. First was Serjilla, which was an eerie grey ghost town, very cool. Then we saw the pyramid tombs of Al bara. Ruweiha was next, set in a lunar like landscape. And finally Jerada, a red Byzantine city overgrown with thistles.
We ended up being dropped off in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, which is where I am now...
WHAT'S NEXT?
I'm gonna hang out a few days here, then head along the coast back to Damascus, into Jordan, and then go into Israel. After that I fly to Turkey...
Stay tuned..
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Jordan
Wadi Rum – Petra – Karak – Amman – Madaba - Mt Nebo – Jeresh - Irbid
Hi all,
MORE THINGS ABOUT EGYPT
-Egypt has some good beer - Not surprising since they invented the stuff!. Their beers are Stella (not Stella Artois), and Sakkara.
-Egyptians like to offer you presents, then ask for money in return. It's a dishonest way of trying to sell you something. In fact I got fed up with the dishonesty of Egyptians who try to rip you off and charge outrageous prices. Heres a difference - When a Jordanian tells you an outrageous price, he is always joking - When an Egyptian tells you an outrageous price, they actually mean it!
-Although I never witnessed a belly dance, I did get to see a Sufi dance in Cairo, which consists of a person (usually a women) brightly dressed, with layers of coloured stiff cloth disks (usually 3 tied to their waist like a skirt. They would spin around in a circle non stop for almost an hour, leaving a whirl of colours to the sound of musicians playing their instruments. At certain periods in the dance, the Sufi dancer would loosen the topmost disk and spin it up over their body over their head, adding to the effect, before discarding it. The dance ends when all disks are removed. It is definitely something one must go see.
ARRIVAL IN AQABA
To get to Jordan from Egypt, I had to catch the slow ferry across the red sea from Nuweiba to Aqaba. On the way I talked to an Iraqi from Tikrit on holiday, who told me that with the war in Iraq, things are good and things are bad, but at least things are better than before. I suppose even though the reasons for going to war were suspicious and illegal, luckily for the US the result has come out in the positive. But does the end justify the means?
Anyway, getting a visa into Jordan was a bit odd. On the ferry we had to fill in a green form and hand it in with our card to the visa desk. The officer would then rip your card in two pieces and hand you one half back, telling you to pick up your passport at Aqaba port once we arrive.
Having an Australian passport is useful because while other nationalities got crosschecked and baggage searched, all I got was a smile, a "welcome to Jordan" and an automatic wave though!
So, having arrived in Aqaba (to which stands the largest flag I have ever seen, must be at least 20m wide on a flag pole the width of a small office building - probably just to make their point clear that this is Jordan?), I went to Wadi Rum.
BEING NURSED TO HEALTH BY BEDOUINS IN WADI RUM
Wadi Rum is a national park, a wilderness of desert sands with huge jebels AKA rock pillars and formations shaped by the sands, wind and water (when it was under water a billion so years ago), creating fantastic rock formations with ripples, bridges and mushroom shapes - narrow at the base and wide a the top. The colours of the sands and rocks would change colour throughout the day, turning from blue to yellow in the morning, to a soft orange to red at sunset.
It was unfortunate that during my visit I had come down with a nasty stomach bug called Giardiasis. It was also unfortunate that it had reached it's worst when I was 7km away from camp after walking down to check out a beautiful canyon. Luckily there was a Bedouin tent nearby. I quickly made my way up to the tent to find a couple Bedouins, and asked them if they could take me by their jeep to the medical center nearby.
I was taken to the medical center, which was shut as the doctor had decided to go for a walk. So after a bit of driving around the streets we finally found him sitting in a shop talking with the owner.
The doctor was a gentle old man, with a deep slow voice and looked like Count Dooku from Star Wars Attack of the Clones (forgive my movie reference). After administering me a can of 7UP (good for the stomach he said), we drove down together to the medical center where he gave me an injection (for my fever), rehydration tablets and a prescription.
The driver of the Jeep, who was a local Bedouin called Eid, offered that I stay with him and his family for a few days to recover after seeing the doctor. I gratefully accepted.
The Jordan government provides free education and housing for the Bedouins, though not all accept it, preferring their old ways. Some however, such as Eid, amalgamate both. Eid has a house but with a large Bedouin tent of goat hair and plastic lining for reinforcement in the front yard. Here the family congregate around a campfire talking and relaxing - they use the houses mainly to sleep and store equipment. Upon arrival I was directed to the left inside the entrance - this area being the traditional guest area, where I had luckily read up on and knew that I could not venture into the other family or womens areas of the tent. Not that I had plans to, as I was quite happy to stay in bed recovering, while the family (30 in all) went about their normal life around me, tending the goats, going to school, talking and watching cable TV. I enjoyed my stay there talking to the kids, teaching each other English and arabic and showing them origami. My prescription (and money) I had given to a minibus driver to pick up for me in Aqaba, which I received later that day. It's such a nice contrast being among friendly hospitable people after the hassling in Egypt! The only annoying thing was sleeping outside where mosquitos would swam like war planes above me, seeking out and dive bombing into exposed areas of my body when I was asleep.
I was soon strong enough to leave. So I sadly farewelled my Bedouin family and left for Petra...
PETRA - A CITY CARVED INTO A VALLEY
Petra is an amazing place. A whole city carved into the valley walls of pink, purple, black, white and yellow stone, with heaps of amazing views and walking trails around the valleys and mountains. Entering via a long narrow canyon, you emerge into the famous Treasury - a temple with it's pillars, pediments, ornaments all carved from the pink cliff face. People might recognise it as the Temple of the Holy Grail from the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Continuing along, huge royal tombs follow into the valley, also carved into the cliff faces, as well as houses and shops, all leading up a mountain to the monastery at the top (which is also carved in the rock) amongst spectacular views. As the day goes on the sun continually changes the colour and the effect of the stone city, which makes it look different every time you walk past the same place.
It was amusing having good humoured vendors walking by you pointing to their donkeys (or camels or horses) and yelling out "taxi?"
Stayed at a hotel called Cleo..(sigh)..PETRA (yeah I know such a tacky name), with a Swedish guy called Jacob who I’m travelling through Jordan with. Nice guy but I’m feeling a little uncomfortable about it because I’m not used to travelling with someone else and compromising all the time. But it does make things cheaper, since we both pay less for a double room than a single each, and can also share costs of taxis etc...
KARAK - A CRUSADER CASTLE
Next stop was Karak, which was a bit of an adventure to get to. We caught a service taxi to a town near Karak (as public transport is minimal in Jordan), where we were told we could catch a bus the rest of the way to our destination. Where we were dropped off was actually in the middle of the desert along the highway near a turnoff to Karak. We were told to hail any bus (or in fact any vehicle) that came that way which would offer to drive us to Karak. In other words we found ourselves unexpectedly hitching. We finally found a van that would transport us (and two police officers who were also hitching) and we made it to Karak.
Karak is a crusader desert castle nestled 900m above sea level. It boasts spectacular views, and also contains many dark rooms and tunnels, mostly underground, which you can explore with a flashlight. It became more interesting when a sandstorm covered the sky with a yellow haze which blocked the sun and bathed everything in an yellow hue, which made everything eerie and quiet, and changed any ordinary and mundane thing like the falling of leaves into a mysterious and alien experience.
AMMAN - CAPITAL OF JORDAN
The problem with buses in Jordan is that there is no fixed time for buses to leave and arrive. They will leave once the bus is completely full. Because we did not know this beforehand, we ended up waiting on the bus for 2 hours before it finally left the bus station at Karak to get to Amman (which only took 1 hour)!
Anyway, Amman is the capital of Jordan, a spread out heaving mass of dusty concrete blocks upon 7 hills. There are actually two sides to Amman: The central downtown poorer conservative Islamic areas, and the more affluent modern liberal areas where a plethora of chic European bars, cafes, clubs abound; where girls don't wear the traditional head coverings and veils.
Amman (and in fact most cities in Jordan) have pictures of their royal family members plastered all over the city walls and hanging in peoples homes and cafes. it seems the people of Jordan are proud of their royal family. Could you imagine people in England hanging pictures of Charles and Camilla* in their homes?
*Interesting thought: the sound of the name "Camilla" sounds like the arabic word for "beautiful"!!
MADABA AND MT NEBO
Did a day trip to Madaba, which has some pretty spectacular mosaics, the most famous being a map of the whole holy land, spread out on the floor of one of the churches.
Also went to Mt Nebo, which is the mountain that Moses is said to have looked over at the promised land (Israel), and also died on (though no grave exists). The views from Mt Nebo of Israel is stunning as you can see the whole Jordan valley, dead sea and beyond into the lands of Israel. Moses must have been impressed.
JERESH
Jeresh is a remarkable place. an astonishingly well preserved photogenic roman ruin, with a colonnade of columns scattered all over the place, many still standing, to enclose a large forum in the shape of an oval; huge temples dedicated to various gods still imposing themselves over the town; and the best persevered amphitheatre I’ve ever seen...
SYRIA OR ISRAEL?
I'm currently staying in Irbid, which is Jordan’s second largest city and a heaving university town. This town is near the border crossings to both Syria and Israel. What I hope to do tomorrow is cross into the border of Syria, applying for my visa there. Although I have no recommendation letter or prearranged visas, I've been told my chances are dependant on the moods of the border guards, who might be nice enough to let me in anyway.
But, failing that, I will simply go into Israel instead. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow...
Hi all,
MORE THINGS ABOUT EGYPT
-Egypt has some good beer - Not surprising since they invented the stuff!. Their beers are Stella (not Stella Artois), and Sakkara.
-Egyptians like to offer you presents, then ask for money in return. It's a dishonest way of trying to sell you something. In fact I got fed up with the dishonesty of Egyptians who try to rip you off and charge outrageous prices. Heres a difference - When a Jordanian tells you an outrageous price, he is always joking - When an Egyptian tells you an outrageous price, they actually mean it!
-Although I never witnessed a belly dance, I did get to see a Sufi dance in Cairo, which consists of a person (usually a women) brightly dressed, with layers of coloured stiff cloth disks (usually 3 tied to their waist like a skirt. They would spin around in a circle non stop for almost an hour, leaving a whirl of colours to the sound of musicians playing their instruments. At certain periods in the dance, the Sufi dancer would loosen the topmost disk and spin it up over their body over their head, adding to the effect, before discarding it. The dance ends when all disks are removed. It is definitely something one must go see.
ARRIVAL IN AQABA
To get to Jordan from Egypt, I had to catch the slow ferry across the red sea from Nuweiba to Aqaba. On the way I talked to an Iraqi from Tikrit on holiday, who told me that with the war in Iraq, things are good and things are bad, but at least things are better than before. I suppose even though the reasons for going to war were suspicious and illegal, luckily for the US the result has come out in the positive. But does the end justify the means?
Anyway, getting a visa into Jordan was a bit odd. On the ferry we had to fill in a green form and hand it in with our card to the visa desk. The officer would then rip your card in two pieces and hand you one half back, telling you to pick up your passport at Aqaba port once we arrive.
Having an Australian passport is useful because while other nationalities got crosschecked and baggage searched, all I got was a smile, a "welcome to Jordan" and an automatic wave though!
So, having arrived in Aqaba (to which stands the largest flag I have ever seen, must be at least 20m wide on a flag pole the width of a small office building - probably just to make their point clear that this is Jordan?), I went to Wadi Rum.
BEING NURSED TO HEALTH BY BEDOUINS IN WADI RUM
Wadi Rum is a national park, a wilderness of desert sands with huge jebels AKA rock pillars and formations shaped by the sands, wind and water (when it was under water a billion so years ago), creating fantastic rock formations with ripples, bridges and mushroom shapes - narrow at the base and wide a the top. The colours of the sands and rocks would change colour throughout the day, turning from blue to yellow in the morning, to a soft orange to red at sunset.
It was unfortunate that during my visit I had come down with a nasty stomach bug called Giardiasis. It was also unfortunate that it had reached it's worst when I was 7km away from camp after walking down to check out a beautiful canyon. Luckily there was a Bedouin tent nearby. I quickly made my way up to the tent to find a couple Bedouins, and asked them if they could take me by their jeep to the medical center nearby.
I was taken to the medical center, which was shut as the doctor had decided to go for a walk. So after a bit of driving around the streets we finally found him sitting in a shop talking with the owner.
The doctor was a gentle old man, with a deep slow voice and looked like Count Dooku from Star Wars Attack of the Clones (forgive my movie reference). After administering me a can of 7UP (good for the stomach he said), we drove down together to the medical center where he gave me an injection (for my fever), rehydration tablets and a prescription.
The driver of the Jeep, who was a local Bedouin called Eid, offered that I stay with him and his family for a few days to recover after seeing the doctor. I gratefully accepted.
The Jordan government provides free education and housing for the Bedouins, though not all accept it, preferring their old ways. Some however, such as Eid, amalgamate both. Eid has a house but with a large Bedouin tent of goat hair and plastic lining for reinforcement in the front yard. Here the family congregate around a campfire talking and relaxing - they use the houses mainly to sleep and store equipment. Upon arrival I was directed to the left inside the entrance - this area being the traditional guest area, where I had luckily read up on and knew that I could not venture into the other family or womens areas of the tent. Not that I had plans to, as I was quite happy to stay in bed recovering, while the family (30 in all) went about their normal life around me, tending the goats, going to school, talking and watching cable TV. I enjoyed my stay there talking to the kids, teaching each other English and arabic and showing them origami. My prescription (and money) I had given to a minibus driver to pick up for me in Aqaba, which I received later that day. It's such a nice contrast being among friendly hospitable people after the hassling in Egypt! The only annoying thing was sleeping outside where mosquitos would swam like war planes above me, seeking out and dive bombing into exposed areas of my body when I was asleep.
I was soon strong enough to leave. So I sadly farewelled my Bedouin family and left for Petra...
PETRA - A CITY CARVED INTO A VALLEY
Petra is an amazing place. A whole city carved into the valley walls of pink, purple, black, white and yellow stone, with heaps of amazing views and walking trails around the valleys and mountains. Entering via a long narrow canyon, you emerge into the famous Treasury - a temple with it's pillars, pediments, ornaments all carved from the pink cliff face. People might recognise it as the Temple of the Holy Grail from the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Continuing along, huge royal tombs follow into the valley, also carved into the cliff faces, as well as houses and shops, all leading up a mountain to the monastery at the top (which is also carved in the rock) amongst spectacular views. As the day goes on the sun continually changes the colour and the effect of the stone city, which makes it look different every time you walk past the same place.
It was amusing having good humoured vendors walking by you pointing to their donkeys (or camels or horses) and yelling out "taxi?"
Stayed at a hotel called Cleo..(sigh)..PETRA (yeah I know such a tacky name), with a Swedish guy called Jacob who I’m travelling through Jordan with. Nice guy but I’m feeling a little uncomfortable about it because I’m not used to travelling with someone else and compromising all the time. But it does make things cheaper, since we both pay less for a double room than a single each, and can also share costs of taxis etc...
KARAK - A CRUSADER CASTLE
Next stop was Karak, which was a bit of an adventure to get to. We caught a service taxi to a town near Karak (as public transport is minimal in Jordan), where we were told we could catch a bus the rest of the way to our destination. Where we were dropped off was actually in the middle of the desert along the highway near a turnoff to Karak. We were told to hail any bus (or in fact any vehicle) that came that way which would offer to drive us to Karak. In other words we found ourselves unexpectedly hitching. We finally found a van that would transport us (and two police officers who were also hitching) and we made it to Karak.
Karak is a crusader desert castle nestled 900m above sea level. It boasts spectacular views, and also contains many dark rooms and tunnels, mostly underground, which you can explore with a flashlight. It became more interesting when a sandstorm covered the sky with a yellow haze which blocked the sun and bathed everything in an yellow hue, which made everything eerie and quiet, and changed any ordinary and mundane thing like the falling of leaves into a mysterious and alien experience.
AMMAN - CAPITAL OF JORDAN
The problem with buses in Jordan is that there is no fixed time for buses to leave and arrive. They will leave once the bus is completely full. Because we did not know this beforehand, we ended up waiting on the bus for 2 hours before it finally left the bus station at Karak to get to Amman (which only took 1 hour)!
Anyway, Amman is the capital of Jordan, a spread out heaving mass of dusty concrete blocks upon 7 hills. There are actually two sides to Amman: The central downtown poorer conservative Islamic areas, and the more affluent modern liberal areas where a plethora of chic European bars, cafes, clubs abound; where girls don't wear the traditional head coverings and veils.
Amman (and in fact most cities in Jordan) have pictures of their royal family members plastered all over the city walls and hanging in peoples homes and cafes. it seems the people of Jordan are proud of their royal family. Could you imagine people in England hanging pictures of Charles and Camilla* in their homes?
*Interesting thought: the sound of the name "Camilla" sounds like the arabic word for "beautiful"!!
MADABA AND MT NEBO
Did a day trip to Madaba, which has some pretty spectacular mosaics, the most famous being a map of the whole holy land, spread out on the floor of one of the churches.
Also went to Mt Nebo, which is the mountain that Moses is said to have looked over at the promised land (Israel), and also died on (though no grave exists). The views from Mt Nebo of Israel is stunning as you can see the whole Jordan valley, dead sea and beyond into the lands of Israel. Moses must have been impressed.
JERESH
Jeresh is a remarkable place. an astonishingly well preserved photogenic roman ruin, with a colonnade of columns scattered all over the place, many still standing, to enclose a large forum in the shape of an oval; huge temples dedicated to various gods still imposing themselves over the town; and the best persevered amphitheatre I’ve ever seen...
SYRIA OR ISRAEL?
I'm currently staying in Irbid, which is Jordan’s second largest city and a heaving university town. This town is near the border crossings to both Syria and Israel. What I hope to do tomorrow is cross into the border of Syria, applying for my visa there. Although I have no recommendation letter or prearranged visas, I've been told my chances are dependant on the moods of the border guards, who might be nice enough to let me in anyway.
But, failing that, I will simply go into Israel instead. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow...
Monday, May 9, 2005
Egypt
Cairo - Giza - Sakkara - Memphis - Aswan - Abu Simbel - Kom Ombo - Edfu - Luxor - Karnak - Valley of the Kings/Queens - Dahab - Mt Sinai
Salaama! Kef Halak? Fursa Sai'da! (Arabic for hello, how are you, pleased to meet you)
Sorry if this email sounds stilted and disjointed - I’m trying to cram as much as I can in as short an email in as short a time as possible!
My arrival in Cairo at 2am in the morning did not go as smoothly as one hoped (but whenever I enter a new country I always initially seem to have bad luck). The taxi driver mistakenly took me to the wrong street in the north of the city, and I mistakenly thought I was in the right place till I found myself in a dark alley. Eventually I worked out my way to the right hostel, (Dahab Hotel), which is up 7 flights of stairs, or a antiquated creaky elevator of scraps of metal and wires that looked like it's about to fall apart (the security guard had to hold part of the electronics together to get it moving!). In fact it did break down a couple of times during my stay there (thankfully with no one in it)
Cairo is quite a large city, with a Islamic quarter to the right containing a famous souk (but nothing compares to the souks in morocco), some extraordinary Islamic mosques (one I went in resembled something like a Persian palace with the huge marbled courtyard, minarets and domes), the Coptic Catholic quarter with beautiful churches - the first time I’ve seen a church with Islamic designs, built before the Islam religion existed (Coptic, which predates Islam and existing predominantly in Egypt, is an older version of Christian Orthodox, and different in that it believes Jesus was completely divine with no human element whatsoever). Cairo is also full of crazy traffic where there are always near death experiences and near accidents (some encountered by me personally), but surprisingly I haven't actually seen an accident...
Went to the Egyptian museum which contains pretty much most of the relics, mummies and stuff that were found in the tombs and pyramids. Saw the famed mask of Tutankamen, a stunning death mask of gold, as well as his 5 gold sarcophaguses (one inside the other) and 5 gold containers (one inside the other, the smallest containing the sarcophaguses. Obviously the dude was paranoid about being robbed or something I guess ) Also saw heaps of cool things like huge statues of Gods and Pharaohs, mini pyramids, alabaster jars where they keep the pharaoh's innards, and mummified animals such as crocodiles!
(Of course, there is still the terrorist threat lurking in the shadows. There is lots of police around, places south of Luxor you need a police escort to go anywhere. In fact two days after I went to the museum I heard that there was a terrorist attack at the museum resulting in two tourists getting shot.)
Shared a taxi for a day with some Israeli friends at the hostel to see the Pyramids and other places. There are quite alot of Israelis at the hostel, all of them unusually nice (I’ve been told Israelis are horrible people), and all pretending to be from somewhere else because they fear reprisal by the Arabs. One of them pretended to be South African, but was surprised when the hustler started talking to him in Afrikaans! It's amazing the languages they learn to speak to tourists...
Anyway, having been slightly disappointed in the size of other monuments (Piza, Stonehenge, Colosseum), I was bracing myself for being disappointed with the Pyramids. But, seeing them emerge from the distance overlooking the town I felt a sense of awe. The Pyramids were as alien, dramatic and surreal as I was hoping them to be. I went into the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which involved going up a narrow tunnel sloping upwards into the Kings chamber.
I had always wanted to go into the Kings Chamber since I was little, so I was overwhelmed with a great sense of awe and achievement knowing that I was finally there! It seemed the Pyramids knew it - as I was lucky to have the whole chamber to myself for a minute, to contemplate it's simplistic beauty, before it was overrun by the constant French and Spanish tourists (grr, but the gals are stunning ) and their chatter which echoed off the walls.
Anyway, the Kings Chamber is just a simple rectangular chamber of black walls of massive stone blocks - it's incredible to comprend how they got it up there, and on top of that, the joints are so straight and perfectly connected, it's no wonder people have alien conspiracy theories... In the end of the chamber is the huge black sarcophagus of the king, but of course the mummy and all the treasures have been stolen or put in a museum.
Next we went to Saqqara, where the oldest stone monument in existence stands - the step pyramid of Zoser. It's amazing how all these pyramids (for there are probably hundreds scattered about) are still standing after 5000 years! And it's amazing to be standing in front of it also!
Memphis is the original capital of Egypt, though there is nothing to see there apart from the open museum of statues and other monuments...
Went to Aswan via overnight train on a second class seat (the recommended first class was booked out). It wasn't that bad as people say it is though, it's actually quite clean and comfortable. The local people were nice enough also, I tried to learn some arabic from them. Kwayyis!
Aswan is a small town south of Egypt with picturesque feluccas (a type of boat with curved sail used on the Nile) sailing around the islands in the middle of the Nile, and young Nubian dark skinned boys paddling in tiny boats singing out loud in their beautiful voices. In the islands are the Nubian villages, the original inhabitants of Aswan and south. The villages are all mud bricked houses and walls, where kids and black goats roam free, old women smile at you from their houses, and I met the village elder, a very educated guy, where we had a good chat about life and history. The Nubians claim to be the real cradle of civilisation, inventing astronomy and chemistry, before moving up into Egypt and the middle east to Mesopotamia, currently Iraq. The Nubians are simple happy relaxed poor people on a quiet island surrounded by the dust, hustle and bustle of modern touristique Aswan.
Went on a convoy of minibuses escorted by police to Abu Simbel, a great temple south near the border of Sudan. The temples are impressive, great statues and hieroglyphics, many retaining their original colours. What makes the temple more amazing was that it was recently cut up, moved and rebuilt 20m up the valley from it's original location, because the original location is now filled with water from the Aswan Dam.
Also went to Phillae temple, which was also moved, onto an island in the middle of the dam, a picturesque island reminiscent of a Mediterranean island.
Saw the high dam itself, the source of electricity and all the trouble of moving temples and covering original Nubian settlements, but despite it's worldwide fame as a technological masterpiece, it's not very impressive.
Went on a Felucca trip up the Nile from Aswan to Kom Ombo with some friends which involved a day of floating, relaxing, swimming in the Nile, eating, and then sleeping on the boat under the stars. Quite a fantastic experience!
Kom Ombo is a temple dedicated to the local crocodile and falcon gods. Next, I stopped at Edfu is a grandeur temple dedicated to Osiris, with heavily Greek influenced architecture. Apart from that it's just temples, and I was pretty much templed out by this stage...
Arrived in Luxor, aka touristville. Visited the spectacular Karnak Temple. Actually 3 temples in the one location, with an avenue of sphinxes, a massive ruined hall with nearly 100 columns towering in the sky, definitely a temple above the others. But I preferred the smaller Luxor temple, with a nicer preserved avenue of sphinxes leading to the temple entrance. Visiting it at night when it's illuminated is extremely beautiful. Though when I was there the power suddenly cut out and I was left standing in front of a eerily bathed moonlit temple with the wind howling in the sand and trees, which added to the feeling of desolation and wonder, knowing how these temples have withstood the test of time and still remain standing after everything around it has turned to dust..
Ventured into the Valley of the Kings, a valley of dust and sand and tombs amongst mountains, where I saw the well preserved tombs of Rameses IV, I and IX, the colourful paint on the tombs which shows how the carvings and hieroglyphics are supposed to look like, not like the sand coloured plain ones we're used to seeing. Same with the Valley of the Queens, though I was very disappointed to learn that Queen Nefertiri's tomb - the best preserved and most famous tomb in the valley after Tutankamen (which is actually quite ordinary) was closed permanently! This was the prime reason for me visiting the valley in the first place. But never mind. Also saw the massive Temple of Hatshepsut carved into the mountain face, Hatshepsut being is the only pharaoh that was a woman (go girl power - though she dressed up as a man by wearing a beard).
From Luxor I went by overnight bus to Dahab, which was 15 hours of gruelling being woken up every hour so they can check our tickets or our passports at the frequent police checks.
Dahab. What a chilled out place. Dahab is a coastal town on the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula famous for its snorkelling and lounging about. If you want a place where you can sleep, eat, chill out on the beach all day or swim or snorkel or dive in the nearby coral reefs all for under 5 pounds a day, this is the place to be (Cheryl, forget the Bahamas - come here instead! ).
Went to Mt Sinai with a couple of people at midnight, to climb the popular strenuous walk up the mountain to the top to watch the sunrise. It is bitterly cold up there (0 temperatures plus wind chill), and I did not enjoy myself as I had just come down with a bit of a fever that night. Bad timing indeed. Still, I resolved to see it, so, feeling cold, weak and tired, I finally reached the top (2580m). The sunrise? It was nice, though the bitter cold, me being ill, and the crowds of people coming to see it sort of ruined the effect for me. The walk back down the 3000+ steps wasn't pleasant either in my condition. But these steps of penitence were built by one monk, so if he can build it with his limited resources, then I have no right to complain walking down them!
We quickly visited St Catherine’s monastery, which contains the burning bush that Moses talked to God from. Though there is no burning bush there but an old tree surrounded by a brick wall, on a site claimed to be where the burning bush was found. Hmmm. Must have burnt down I suppose.
Tried snorkelling for the first time. The first time was disastrous, because it was early morning, cold, windy, and heaps of jellyfish abound! But the second time was amazing, in a better location with the sun high up, I snorkelled past beautiful coloured reefs with beautiful coloured fish swimming about. Also some larger fish deep down and in the distance.
I thought I’d try to learn to dive as it is very cheap here compared to other places in the world to do so ($30US for introductory session). I was given a good brief on the equipment, the safety stuff etc, then put on the suit and practised in the water before venturing to the reef and below. But I found that having no experience at diving, I couldn't get used to breathing through the mouthpiece and being under so much water that I started to panic. So, disappointly, I decided to give it up and go back to shore.
It wasn't a complete failure though. I learnt heaps about diving, and I definitely want to try it again. And, even though I didn't succeed at it, I’m happy to know that at least I tried, which is better than not doing it at all and regretting it.
Some thoughts on Egypt:
- Egypt is very cheap! You can easily live on less than 5 British pounds a day! In fact you never see any coins because the currency is so poor (but they do exist somewhere)
- Oil is cheaper than water! (1 litre of each would cost about 7-10 British pence)
- Kushary is an Egyptian staple of rice, noodles, beans and onions mixed together, with tomato and chill sauce on top. It's very cheap (20 British pence), quite filling and delicious, and less likely to make you sick. Basically I lived off the stuff.
- Hustlers and touts can be quite aggressive and unpleasant here. There is a lot of lying and broken promises with what is offered and you actually receive, and more than once I’ve made the point of complaining quite vocally! And then they expect a tip! People here are also less hospitable than their neighbours. However, I was told by a local who thought the same way that sadly enough, Egypt never used to be like this. 20 years ago it used to be quite pleasant, friendly, like the other Arab nations. But tourism and money has changed the people to what they are like today. I sincerely hope that, as tourism increases in the ever developing Arab nations. that it will not go the same way.
There's more I can say about Egypt, but I’m out of time, and you're probably asleep reading this by now.
So, tomorrow I head of to Jordan, and I’m considering going into Israel instead of flying directly to Turkey...shall keep you posted...
Salaama! Kef Halak? Fursa Sai'da! (Arabic for hello, how are you, pleased to meet you)
Sorry if this email sounds stilted and disjointed - I’m trying to cram as much as I can in as short an email in as short a time as possible!
My arrival in Cairo at 2am in the morning did not go as smoothly as one hoped (but whenever I enter a new country I always initially seem to have bad luck). The taxi driver mistakenly took me to the wrong street in the north of the city, and I mistakenly thought I was in the right place till I found myself in a dark alley. Eventually I worked out my way to the right hostel, (Dahab Hotel), which is up 7 flights of stairs, or a antiquated creaky elevator of scraps of metal and wires that looked like it's about to fall apart (the security guard had to hold part of the electronics together to get it moving!). In fact it did break down a couple of times during my stay there (thankfully with no one in it)
Cairo is quite a large city, with a Islamic quarter to the right containing a famous souk (but nothing compares to the souks in morocco), some extraordinary Islamic mosques (one I went in resembled something like a Persian palace with the huge marbled courtyard, minarets and domes), the Coptic Catholic quarter with beautiful churches - the first time I’ve seen a church with Islamic designs, built before the Islam religion existed (Coptic, which predates Islam and existing predominantly in Egypt, is an older version of Christian Orthodox, and different in that it believes Jesus was completely divine with no human element whatsoever). Cairo is also full of crazy traffic where there are always near death experiences and near accidents (some encountered by me personally), but surprisingly I haven't actually seen an accident...
Went to the Egyptian museum which contains pretty much most of the relics, mummies and stuff that were found in the tombs and pyramids. Saw the famed mask of Tutankamen, a stunning death mask of gold, as well as his 5 gold sarcophaguses (one inside the other) and 5 gold containers (one inside the other, the smallest containing the sarcophaguses. Obviously the dude was paranoid about being robbed or something I guess ) Also saw heaps of cool things like huge statues of Gods and Pharaohs, mini pyramids, alabaster jars where they keep the pharaoh's innards, and mummified animals such as crocodiles!
(Of course, there is still the terrorist threat lurking in the shadows. There is lots of police around, places south of Luxor you need a police escort to go anywhere. In fact two days after I went to the museum I heard that there was a terrorist attack at the museum resulting in two tourists getting shot.)
Shared a taxi for a day with some Israeli friends at the hostel to see the Pyramids and other places. There are quite alot of Israelis at the hostel, all of them unusually nice (I’ve been told Israelis are horrible people), and all pretending to be from somewhere else because they fear reprisal by the Arabs. One of them pretended to be South African, but was surprised when the hustler started talking to him in Afrikaans! It's amazing the languages they learn to speak to tourists...
Anyway, having been slightly disappointed in the size of other monuments (Piza, Stonehenge, Colosseum), I was bracing myself for being disappointed with the Pyramids. But, seeing them emerge from the distance overlooking the town I felt a sense of awe. The Pyramids were as alien, dramatic and surreal as I was hoping them to be. I went into the Great Pyramid of Khufu, which involved going up a narrow tunnel sloping upwards into the Kings chamber.
I had always wanted to go into the Kings Chamber since I was little, so I was overwhelmed with a great sense of awe and achievement knowing that I was finally there! It seemed the Pyramids knew it - as I was lucky to have the whole chamber to myself for a minute, to contemplate it's simplistic beauty, before it was overrun by the constant French and Spanish tourists (grr, but the gals are stunning ) and their chatter which echoed off the walls.
Anyway, the Kings Chamber is just a simple rectangular chamber of black walls of massive stone blocks - it's incredible to comprend how they got it up there, and on top of that, the joints are so straight and perfectly connected, it's no wonder people have alien conspiracy theories... In the end of the chamber is the huge black sarcophagus of the king, but of course the mummy and all the treasures have been stolen or put in a museum.
Next we went to Saqqara, where the oldest stone monument in existence stands - the step pyramid of Zoser. It's amazing how all these pyramids (for there are probably hundreds scattered about) are still standing after 5000 years! And it's amazing to be standing in front of it also!
Memphis is the original capital of Egypt, though there is nothing to see there apart from the open museum of statues and other monuments...
Went to Aswan via overnight train on a second class seat (the recommended first class was booked out). It wasn't that bad as people say it is though, it's actually quite clean and comfortable. The local people were nice enough also, I tried to learn some arabic from them. Kwayyis!
Aswan is a small town south of Egypt with picturesque feluccas (a type of boat with curved sail used on the Nile) sailing around the islands in the middle of the Nile, and young Nubian dark skinned boys paddling in tiny boats singing out loud in their beautiful voices. In the islands are the Nubian villages, the original inhabitants of Aswan and south. The villages are all mud bricked houses and walls, where kids and black goats roam free, old women smile at you from their houses, and I met the village elder, a very educated guy, where we had a good chat about life and history. The Nubians claim to be the real cradle of civilisation, inventing astronomy and chemistry, before moving up into Egypt and the middle east to Mesopotamia, currently Iraq. The Nubians are simple happy relaxed poor people on a quiet island surrounded by the dust, hustle and bustle of modern touristique Aswan.
Went on a convoy of minibuses escorted by police to Abu Simbel, a great temple south near the border of Sudan. The temples are impressive, great statues and hieroglyphics, many retaining their original colours. What makes the temple more amazing was that it was recently cut up, moved and rebuilt 20m up the valley from it's original location, because the original location is now filled with water from the Aswan Dam.
Also went to Phillae temple, which was also moved, onto an island in the middle of the dam, a picturesque island reminiscent of a Mediterranean island.
Saw the high dam itself, the source of electricity and all the trouble of moving temples and covering original Nubian settlements, but despite it's worldwide fame as a technological masterpiece, it's not very impressive.
Went on a Felucca trip up the Nile from Aswan to Kom Ombo with some friends which involved a day of floating, relaxing, swimming in the Nile, eating, and then sleeping on the boat under the stars. Quite a fantastic experience!
Kom Ombo is a temple dedicated to the local crocodile and falcon gods. Next, I stopped at Edfu is a grandeur temple dedicated to Osiris, with heavily Greek influenced architecture. Apart from that it's just temples, and I was pretty much templed out by this stage...
Arrived in Luxor, aka touristville. Visited the spectacular Karnak Temple. Actually 3 temples in the one location, with an avenue of sphinxes, a massive ruined hall with nearly 100 columns towering in the sky, definitely a temple above the others. But I preferred the smaller Luxor temple, with a nicer preserved avenue of sphinxes leading to the temple entrance. Visiting it at night when it's illuminated is extremely beautiful. Though when I was there the power suddenly cut out and I was left standing in front of a eerily bathed moonlit temple with the wind howling in the sand and trees, which added to the feeling of desolation and wonder, knowing how these temples have withstood the test of time and still remain standing after everything around it has turned to dust..
Ventured into the Valley of the Kings, a valley of dust and sand and tombs amongst mountains, where I saw the well preserved tombs of Rameses IV, I and IX, the colourful paint on the tombs which shows how the carvings and hieroglyphics are supposed to look like, not like the sand coloured plain ones we're used to seeing. Same with the Valley of the Queens, though I was very disappointed to learn that Queen Nefertiri's tomb - the best preserved and most famous tomb in the valley after Tutankamen (which is actually quite ordinary) was closed permanently! This was the prime reason for me visiting the valley in the first place. But never mind. Also saw the massive Temple of Hatshepsut carved into the mountain face, Hatshepsut being is the only pharaoh that was a woman (go girl power - though she dressed up as a man by wearing a beard).
From Luxor I went by overnight bus to Dahab, which was 15 hours of gruelling being woken up every hour so they can check our tickets or our passports at the frequent police checks.
Dahab. What a chilled out place. Dahab is a coastal town on the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula famous for its snorkelling and lounging about. If you want a place where you can sleep, eat, chill out on the beach all day or swim or snorkel or dive in the nearby coral reefs all for under 5 pounds a day, this is the place to be (Cheryl, forget the Bahamas - come here instead! ).
Went to Mt Sinai with a couple of people at midnight, to climb the popular strenuous walk up the mountain to the top to watch the sunrise. It is bitterly cold up there (0 temperatures plus wind chill), and I did not enjoy myself as I had just come down with a bit of a fever that night. Bad timing indeed. Still, I resolved to see it, so, feeling cold, weak and tired, I finally reached the top (2580m). The sunrise? It was nice, though the bitter cold, me being ill, and the crowds of people coming to see it sort of ruined the effect for me. The walk back down the 3000+ steps wasn't pleasant either in my condition. But these steps of penitence were built by one monk, so if he can build it with his limited resources, then I have no right to complain walking down them!
We quickly visited St Catherine’s monastery, which contains the burning bush that Moses talked to God from. Though there is no burning bush there but an old tree surrounded by a brick wall, on a site claimed to be where the burning bush was found. Hmmm. Must have burnt down I suppose.
Tried snorkelling for the first time. The first time was disastrous, because it was early morning, cold, windy, and heaps of jellyfish abound! But the second time was amazing, in a better location with the sun high up, I snorkelled past beautiful coloured reefs with beautiful coloured fish swimming about. Also some larger fish deep down and in the distance.
I thought I’d try to learn to dive as it is very cheap here compared to other places in the world to do so ($30US for introductory session). I was given a good brief on the equipment, the safety stuff etc, then put on the suit and practised in the water before venturing to the reef and below. But I found that having no experience at diving, I couldn't get used to breathing through the mouthpiece and being under so much water that I started to panic. So, disappointly, I decided to give it up and go back to shore.
It wasn't a complete failure though. I learnt heaps about diving, and I definitely want to try it again. And, even though I didn't succeed at it, I’m happy to know that at least I tried, which is better than not doing it at all and regretting it.
Some thoughts on Egypt:
- Egypt is very cheap! You can easily live on less than 5 British pounds a day! In fact you never see any coins because the currency is so poor (but they do exist somewhere)
- Oil is cheaper than water! (1 litre of each would cost about 7-10 British pence)
- Kushary is an Egyptian staple of rice, noodles, beans and onions mixed together, with tomato and chill sauce on top. It's very cheap (20 British pence), quite filling and delicious, and less likely to make you sick. Basically I lived off the stuff.
- Hustlers and touts can be quite aggressive and unpleasant here. There is a lot of lying and broken promises with what is offered and you actually receive, and more than once I’ve made the point of complaining quite vocally! And then they expect a tip! People here are also less hospitable than their neighbours. However, I was told by a local who thought the same way that sadly enough, Egypt never used to be like this. 20 years ago it used to be quite pleasant, friendly, like the other Arab nations. But tourism and money has changed the people to what they are like today. I sincerely hope that, as tourism increases in the ever developing Arab nations. that it will not go the same way.
There's more I can say about Egypt, but I’m out of time, and you're probably asleep reading this by now.
So, tomorrow I head of to Jordan, and I’m considering going into Israel instead of flying directly to Turkey...shall keep you posted...
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