...and spending everything i've saved for the last two and a half years on all seven continents!

24 December 2011

13 December 2011

The Holy Land

Catch Up #2: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth



I remember feeling really excited when the bus pulled into the main station in Jerusalem. Just looking out of the window I could see it was so different from the parts of Israel I had visited already. Compared to bare-legged and tube-top wearing girls in Eilat, many of the girls here dressed conservatively with long sleeves and long skirts. I was most struck by how adorable the little Jewish boys were with their long locks framing their faces. I’m not sure if I’d ever seen religious Jewish people before I got to Jerusalem but it was very refreshing to see after being in the jalabiya and burqa filled Arab world.

Jerusalem is something of a religious man’s playground with very important places of worship for Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The Old City, in fact, has a section dedicated to each group in addition to an Armenian Quarter; it is also yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site I have happened upon. I did my best to visit as many sites as possible but not being religious or all that interested in history, I skipped anything I had to pay for or that required extra effort to visit.


*You could see graffiti/artwork like this all over the Muslim Quarter; they were celebrations for those who had journeyed to Mecca

In the Old City, I saw Temple Mount (one of the most important Jewish holy places), the Al-Aqsa Mosque (from whence the prophet Mohammed is said to have risen to heaven), and the Dome of the Rock (iconic symbol of Jerusalem), but only from afar. You cannot access the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock unless you are Muslim and you have to pay to enter the Temple Mount.


I did get to see and touch the Wailing Wall which, despite 2000 years of history, is still standing and forms the outer wall of the Temple Mount. The wall has separate sections for men and women but oddly enough, the male section is twice the size of the female section, but with less than half the patrons. Some women were very emotional as they stuffed written prayers in the wall’s crevices…. I wish there was a place like that for me – with just my presence somewhere being enough to make me feel so overcome with emotion.

In the Christian Quarter of the Old City, I made sure to stop in at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of two places Jesus is believed to have died, been buried, and resurrected.


I did not, however wait in the ridiculously long line to see the actual spot.


I had just come from the Garden Tomb, the other place where Jesus may have been crucified; I felt that the guide’s evidence was pretty compelling and I had seen enough. Whether I believe Christ was crucified at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Garden Tomb, I still walked the 14 “stations” along the Via Dolorosa (way of grief) starting with where he was condemned and continuing the path where he fell or prayed en route to his death.

Jerusalem is a place that evokes a lot of emotions from people and can even inflict what is referred to as the “Jerusalem Syndrome.” Affecting Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike, people visit Jerusalem and sometimes believe that they are the next prophet or make outrageous claims based on grand ideas or delusions. I myself did not fall victim to the Jerusalem Syndrome or know of anyone who has, but I remember feeling a bit awkward at times. For example, when I was visiting the Garden Tomb, the guide was saying it didn’t matter where Christ died because he is not in either the Garden Tomb or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; “he has risen.” After he said that (and at other times during the tour), most people would chime in with “Amen!” or “Praise His Name!” Not being religious, it was like I showed up without the script that everyone else had memorized…


The last two things I remember about my brief stay in Jerusalem were the expensive ice cream (~$5/scoop) and Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial. The museum was incredible; it told the story in a beautiful and captivating way and I ended up spending hours in the museum and walking the gardens. I think Yad Vashem was the most meaningful place for me in all of Jerusalem.


From Jerusalem, I took a day trip to Bethlehem. Upon entering Palestinian territory there was a warning sign that Israelis are prohibited from entering – no checkpoint though.


*One of the most famous graphic representations of the Palestinians struggle for freedom

There was not much I wanted to see in Bethlehem except the Church of the Nativity, the site of Christ’s birth.


I pushed and shoved along with all the other people to get into the cave where a star marks the spot of Christ’s birth.


I also visited the Milk Grotto where a drop of Mary’s milk is said to have fallen upon a stone. That place definitely had no significance for me. Anyway, last on the Bethlehem agenda was a cafĂ© stop to try Palestinian food.


Unfortunately it was nothing exciting, just regular chicken, rice, and yogurt as far as I’m concerned.

The last holy place I visited was Nazareth but I pretty much saw nothing of the city. The bus from Jerusalem arrived as it was growing dark and I left on an 8am bus to Jordan the next morning.


The ambitious traveler in me wanted to wake up at 6am or so to see some of the sights – at least from the outside. But, proof of how tired of traveling I was by then, I elected to sleep that extra hour instead.

Having visited the sites where Jesus was born, lived his life, walked on water, and died, I was ready to hop on a bus to Amman, Jordan.

Up Next: One Day in Amman!

01 December 2011

The Kindness of Strangers

Catch Up #1: Haifa, Akko, The Golan Heights, and Tel Aviv

I’m still amazed by how well I was treated in Israel! Nowhere else would a hotel security guard offer to take me to a restaurant I was looking for and also offer me the Penthouse Suite free if I happened to be staying another night in town! People often ask me what my favorite country is and Israel is pretty much at the top; it’s certainly the favorite of the last few months :)

Immediately after my Dead Sea float, I bussed myself to Haifa in Northern Israel. I had a reservation at the Haifa Youth Hostel and had no idea how to get there. The directions said, “ask the bus driver, he’ll know where to drop you off.” He didn’t, of course, but he called the hostel and dropped me off practically at the entrance. Really nice :) I got a six-bed dorm to myself when I got there - especially nice! (I really lucked out on accommodation in Israel actually….Did I mention that the previous night in Masada, I had shown up without a reservation asking for a dorm bed? The man said they didn’t have any but would give me a private room at the dorm price. I had a Hosteling International card and got a discount on top of that! A friend who checked in at the same time paid More for his Dorm bed than I did for my private ensuite room! I think the guy at reception was definitely not supposed to be so nice since I got an e-mail saying dorm accommodation was full and I’d have to pay full price for a single...)


I honestly did not have time to see much of Haifa other than the beach and the Baha’i Gardens.


The holiest place in the world for people of the Baha’i faith, the Gardens are incredibly beautiful! I lucked out in that there was a free English tour departing 45 minutes after I arrived; you cannot enter the gardens except on a tour.

I had read about the Eshkol Tower at the Haifa University where you can go up to the 30th floor observation deck for free. I got on a very crowded bus and managed to solicit the help of a young girl who helped me get off at the right stop. Unfortunately, it was after 2pm and everything was closed! Friday afternoon in Israel – not the time to try to do much of anything! I thought I had another hour before closing time but there were maybe two people in sight. I waited at a bus stop and asked the driver if he was going my way. He started giving me directions to hop on a bus going the other way and make X and Y transfers. Then he seemed to have changed his mind and gestured me to come on board. Turns out, he was off duty and was so kind as to drive me to the bus station. I definitely couldn’t thank him enough, knowing that he’d saved me a good two hours or so of public transport.


Back at the hostel, Elinor’s friend Koby picked me up. This person who had never met me before took me all around the North of Israel, gave me a place to stay, and made me feel so lucky and just happy to be in Israel. Thank you Koby!!! We started with sunset at the “student beach” in Haifa, and then tried burekas (croissant-like pastries with different savory fillings).


We talked for hours and I feel like I learned so much from him about Israel…Judaism…the IDF…the world! I met his mother who, the next morning, made us sandwiches for our day in the Golan. :)


First stop, a look where, on a clear day, you can see Syria or Lebanon – I forget which. Next, we went on a mostly beautiful drive past vineyards and through the Golan. (“Mostly” because in some areas, there were “Danger, Mine!” signs in very close proximity to the road…Hmm.)


We arrived at the super cool Hexagon Pool in the early afternoon for a hike and a swim. I felt leader-of-the-pack in shape for the first time in forever.. maybe because you first hike down, and then up on the way out :)


At my not-so-great suggestion, we drove the full circle around the Sea of Galilee and I fell asleep. Oops! I woke up as we arrived in Tiberius – the major city along the sea. We ended up not wanting to pay the $15+ entry fee for the private beaches and accessed the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) from the side of a hotel.


*So this is where Jesus walked on water!

I got to have “Israeli” food consisting of hummus, hummus with meat, and coffee for dessert. After meeting Koby’s super adorable nephew and getting a quick tour of Akko, he helped me pick out some wine :)


On “Israeli” Food: I learned that Israel is a fairly new country and therefore doesn’t really have its own foods. Hummus, schwarma, and other typical Middle Eastern fare are very common. I did learn though that Ben Gurion (whose name I remember because they named the airport after him) wanted an Israeli staple that would be affordable enough for students. He (or someone he talks to) came up with ptitim. I think it’s basically pasta in the shape of balls the size of dippin’ dots ice cream. Elinor cooked this “student food” for me and it was great to try :)


Koby went off to work on Sunday morning (the weekend is Friday and Saturday in Israel) and I set off on the hunt for Hummus Said, supposedly one of the most famous hummus places in all of Israel. It was decent, but then again, you probably won’t ever find me raving about a strictly vegetarian meal :) I boarded a train in Akko alongside a ton of soldiers heading back to their bases.


*Akko by night

Two hours later, my friend Eyal picked me up. We had met in Antarctica :) (That has a nice ring to it lol) We didn’t talk much on the trip but Eyal was yet another Israeli who was really kind to me – letting me stay with him and showing me the sights of Tel Aviv.


One of our stops was at a local market to buy the best figs I’ve ever tasted!


(Claudia, I meant to compare to the figs you brought into the office but it got all smashed and gross in my purse so I had to throw it out!)

Eyal and I covered a lot of ground including the beach, cool buildings, random graffiti, and the main street where tents are still set up from the massive protests that had just taken place.


Randomly, we ended up having dinner at a Mexican restaurant with really good fajitas! I spent the rest of the evening with Eyal’s friends. Five of us circulating four guitars and a hookah = Amazing! I’m seriously not cool enough to have ever just hung out in such a relaxed way. I don’t spend time fiddling with a guitar and I don’t know people who can do their own hookah blends. It was definitely one of my favorite nights of my whole trip so far.


*Random graffiti in Tel Aviv. It says "No Turtles" lol

My time in Tel Aviv was much, much too short but I was in a rush to get to Jerusalem!

Up Next: The Holy Land

22 November 2011

Here I Go Again On My Own

I haven't thought about that Whitesnake song in ages, but it has been in my head since I left LA a little over a week ago :)

Hello!

I am currently in Jakarta, Indonesia. So far, I've eaten a lot of seafood and attended another Indonesian wedding. I planned to stay here about two months shadowing a pharmacist in my uncle's hospital, but it looks like I might do a lot more relaxing than shadowing. I'm definitely okay with that :)

I was home for a little less than two months and it was pretty amazing! I spent most of my time in super cold-but surprisingly not very rainy-Seattle, loving it of course. The rest of the time, I was in Diamond Bar with Mom. (I loved it there too :P) I did make one trip to the Bay Area and it was one of the best weekends I could have had. I hadn't realized how much I missed my life there; it also felt really good to be among friends again and people who really knew me. I was pretty sad when I left for Singapore... to have to face the hassles of traveling again... to be without my family and friends again... to have to eat a lot of crackers since I spent way too much on Travel Part I, etc.

But here I am, with Travel Part II well under way! I still have some of Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates to catch you all up on - I'm working on it!

For now, greetings from Indonesia! To those of you I got to see when I came home and those of you that I unfortunately missed, thank you so much for keeping up with the blog. I got excited thinking about traveling again only after talking to some of you! Please feel free to hit "Reply" when the update comes - I will be very happy to hear from you.

02 October 2011

A Crazy Day In Petra


The pictures describe it better than I can, but Petra is cool! It is this massive city with incredible rock-hewn structures and I wish I had had more than a day to spend there. Petra is a must-see if you’re ever in Jordan, even though they have raised the price to 50 Euro for single-day admission!


Rather than talk about the history of Petra (since I don’t remember it), I will detail the fairly crazy day I had getting and being there. Feel free to skip and just look at pictures instead :)


Getting to Petra was a long and exhausting process that started for me at 5:30am. I was staying in Aqaba (Jordanian city on the border with Eilat) and had to bus from there to Wadi Mousa (Petra). You’re supposed to take the first bus out because it might be the only one. You also have to show up early because the minibuses leave when full, or whenever they feel like it. I got one that left at 6am and rode for about two hours before getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I learned I was in Ma’an and needed to transfer buses to get to Wadi Mousa. Once I got to the bus station (aka random parking lot), the Wadi Mousa bus had not arrived yet and I ended up sitting on curbside couches with a bunch of old jelabiya-dressed Arab men while they smoked and had coffee. Surreal. :)

They eventually directed me to an empty minibus and the driver and I sat in silence for a while wondering if other people were going to fill the bus up. No one was coming and I was getting worried that we’d wait all day for people to show up – I had Petra to see! The driver said that if I paid him 5 JOD, we would leave right away. The normal price for the journey is 1 JOD (~$1.4) but I figured paying about $7 for a private 24-seater air-conditioned coach to drop me at my hostel door (45 minutes away) was totally worth it!


I arrived at the Orient Gate Hotel where I had a $7 16-bed dorm reservation. Right when I arrived, the receptionist grabbed a key (before asking me anything about the accommodation I had booked) and led me to a double room. He asked that I pull up my reservation on the computer and show him. He kept telling me to sit and I told him “I’m pretty sure this is not a room I can afford so I’d rather not touch anything.” We went back downstairs and another man said “this is not the room you booked” - I knew that already! I received a key for another room though and it turned out to be a single! This wasn’t the room I booked either, but okay! Basically I got a single room paying dorm prices :)


I set off for Petra after dropping my bags and while I was walking, this 18 year old Bedouin boy started walking with me. I was immediately wary as he showed me where to go. Having come from Egypt, I just kept wondering when he was going to ask me for money for being shown the way. I’m not sure why, but we went this roundabout way and then the guy introduced me to his mother(?). We parted ways at the visitors center and he didn’t ask me for a thing!


I bought bananas and set off to see the sights. Right when you pass through the gates, people offer you overpriced horse-drawn carriage rides that I later learned can earn them 30,000 JOD in only six months! Walking further, men start to offer you horse rides and say to you “it’s included in the price of your ticket.” I had actually read that online so I accepted my third offer but told the guy I had no money for tips. He said that that was fine and took me a couple kilometers on a very nice horse named Russia. He then offered to take me the “Indiana Jones Trail” to get a view of the Treasury from the top, for a small price. I repeated that I had no money and then he offered to take me for free. Hmm...


I said no many many times with excuses about not being that comfortable on a horse... feeling bad about not having money to pay for a guide, etc. But eventually I said yes. I ended up following this guy, Barak, basically up a cliff and on an unmarked trail (on foot). Pause for thought there. As we continued hiking he kept offering to carry my purse for me because he saw that it was both weighing and slowing me down. Naturally, I refused, especially since I had everything in my purse at the time: Passport, money, camera, etc. At one point I needed help up a boulder - he took my purse from me, helped me up, and then we continued hiking. Yes, the warning bells were going off. There I was following a stranger who hikes a lot faster than me. There was no one else around and he was carrying my purse.

We walked for a while until I heard footsteps behind me. I’ll admit I was a little worried at first, but it turned out to be this Israeli guy that Barak immediately hated. Barak apparently had parents from Palestine and wanted nothing to do with this Israeli guy. The Israeli guy made some feeble attempts at peace talking and then eventually left.


After seeing a view of the treasury from the top (shown above), Barak took me to see some other views and then showed me a path I could take back down. He handed my purse back to me and didn’t ask me for anything except that 1) I tell people I paid 20-25 JOD for the private tour and 2) that I let him take me out to a Bedouin BBQ dinner in the desert. I agreed to 1 and told him I’d have to ask my ‘husband’ for permission to say yes to 2. He wasn’t so happy about that but then again, I'm sure he completely understood the whole submissive-wife thing :)


I parted ways with Barak and then another Bedouin boy, Yassir, invited me for tea. I met his mother too...(?) I left soon after having tea, but ran into Yassir later that day and he ended up giving me a free donkey ride. He also invited me to a Bedouin BBQ dinner. :) Then on my way out of Petra, another Bedouin dude offered me a free camel ride, and though I Really wanted to ride a camel, I said no because a free horse ride, private tour, cup of tea, donkey ride, And camel ride seemed excessive :)


At one point, Yassir asked me if I'd been to Egypt and I said I had been the week before. He said "Oh, that's why you keep saying no. When we say free here, we mean free!" lol So I learned that Jordanian hospitality is beyond anything I'm remotely used to and that Bedouins like to offer me free stuff :)

It was a really good day. I ended up walking/hiking about seven hours having eaten only two bananas and two crackers. But, I got to devour a half chicken with rice and then spent the rest of the evening recuperating in my single room :)


Up Next: Back to Israel!

30 September 2011

Israel Is Awesome!

Basically, I loved Israel! I had such an amazing time there both on my own and with friends who were so unbelievably kind to me. Apart from how nice people were, I think one of the things that struck me most was that I was in the first world again! It was so nice not to be harangued by shopkeepers, nice not to have to cover up my scandalous shoulders, and nice to be in a place where things simply work the way they are supposed to! Unfortunately, first world “luxuries” come with first world prices and Israel was really quite expensive! For the first time since I started traveling, I had set a reasonable-to-high budget for myself ($50/day); it was pretty much impossible to stick to it most days. Had I not arrived a day too late, I probably would have joined my friends in their protests against the ultra-high (and rising) costs of living in Israel!

From the little news I got wind of, I understand that there were issues with the Egypt-Israel border and possibly even with the Israel-Jordan borders. Luckily, I had no issues whatsoever. I crossed the border from Taba (Egypt) into Eilat (Israel) without issue, though on the Israel side, I had to show my passport to enter the immigration area, then show it again before security scanned my bags, then again to an officer asking preliminary “are you carrying a weapon” questions, then to another officer asking about my visit, and then one last officer upon exiting. Good thing I didn’t have anything shady planned :)

I started in Eilat which is your basic resort town, except it “comes” with more Russians than I could have possibly imagined! I stayed with Elinor, a young woman my age who I had met when traveling in South America.


We met at the border crossing from Bariloche (Argentina) to Osorno (Chile) and again on a bus from Salta (Argentina) to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). I traded my alfajor (chocolate dipped cookie sandwich) for her ham/cheese sandwich; we both thought we got the better deal :) I really am so so lucky to have met her because not only did she show me around Eilat, take me snorkeling, buy me fat pants, and introduce me to an amazing schwarma place, but she also set me up with some really great people in Israel.


*Snorkeling the Red Sea and seeing my first octopus!

*Immediately after Eilat, I actually went to Jordan, but more on that later... Next (Israel) stop: Masada!


The thing to do in Masada is a sunrise hike up to the palace/fortifications that were solidified in the 1st Century CE during Herod the Great's time. The hike was really cool and very worthwhile because the higher you climbed, the better the view you got of sunrise over the Dead Sea.


The history of this place is pretty amazing too and you definitely get a sense of that when you’re up there. During the Jewish-Roman War (The Great Revolt), the approximately 960 people living up there committed mass suicide.


*The diamonds mark the spots of Roman encampments

Ten soldiers killed everyone up top and after one of the soldiers killed the remaining soldiers, he fell on his own sword. They left food stores to show that the people of Masada had not starved to death. When the Romans arrived, all they found were dead bodies. Two women and five children had hidden from the slaughter and lived to share the story of the people of Masada. Groups of IDF soldiers will come to Masada after they complete basic training and can be heard shouting either "Israel shall not fall again" or "Masada shall not fall again."



On Soldiers and Security: Israel is developed and “Western,” but the security and military presence is different from anything I’ve ever seen. You go through a metal detector and your bag is searched when you enter a mall for instance. My friend said to me, “this happens in America, right?” … Um, no. There are young soldiers everywhere too, and many of them carry their guns. I’m pretty much never around military personnel and the rare times I am, they are not carrying M16s. It was definitely a bit startling at first but I guess I appreciate the military presence – it was, after all, an off-duty soldier who thwarted an attack on the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem :)


Ein Gedi: Located approximately 20 minutes from Masada is the town of Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi is right on the Dead Sea! I was able to visit a Nature Reserve with waterfalls(?!) and then do my much anticipated float in the Dead Sea.


Ever since my high school freshman year history teacher talked about her visit to the Middle East, I’ve wanted to go – I think it’s the only place I’ve ever definitely wanted to visit, and for 10 years! I was advised to walk straight into the sea until I couldn’t walk anymore.... I walked maybe 2-3 steps and I felt myself buoyed up and pitched forward. I turned over onto my back immediately (because all the drowning warning signs scared me) and had an awesome float! It feels like you're laying on one of those inflatable lounges meant for the pool. Definitely do not go if you've just shaved or if you have any cuts because it stings really bad. Although there are a few drawbacks (I had an open blister on my hand that stung for a good two hours after I got out, the water feels very oily, and even after I showered, I still got salt stains all over my dress...), I'd recommend it to anyone because it was one of my trip highlights!



Adventures in Israel will be continued, but up next: A quick stop in Jordan to see Petra!

23 September 2011

"Ahh Home, Let Me Go Home"

(For days, Edward Sharpe and the Magentic Zeros' "Home" was stuck in my head...)

After about 20 hours of flying time (14 hours DXB-IAD, 5 hours IAD-LAX), I'm finally home! Mom was waiting for me at the airport and I think we were both so happy we almost cried. Good thing the luggage carousel was there to distract us :)

I had dim sum for my first meal back and it was incredible; Oceanstar in Monterey Park is pretty much the best place ever! I am now getting used to a few weeks of cushy living - it's definitely an adjustment: My first night back, I woke up thinking I was either late for something or trapped somewhere - I simply didn't know where I was. In the dark, I groped for my purse and started trying to find a way out. Luckily, I chanced upon the light switch and realized I was home. Really weird!

Anyway, I've got Israel, Jordan, Dubai, and The Kindness of Strangers to update you all on and then I'll give the blog a rest for a bit since life in the US isn't all that interesting :)

Thank you so much for following me in my travels so far!

18 September 2011

Mt. Sinai


I hiked Mt. Sinai! I left on an 11pm bus from Dahab, got no sleep because of loud, drunk, and singing Russians, and grumpily side-stepped camel poo on my way to the top. It was about 2.5 hours up and me and my friends didn't appreciate our guide who seemed to be rushing us to the top. He was moderately entertaining in that he named our group "Jimmy" (or maybe that was his name?) and he'd yell "JIMMY!" every twenty minutes or so. Like someone with turrets :)




The starry sky was incredible! The views were spectacular as the sun was rising! Great topography! Altitude made it cold though and my friends and I sat there freezing at the top until the sun came up. We didn't even bother with the St. Katherine monastery on the way down - too tired. The Russians were already passed out in our transport van when we got down :)