Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece in a paragraph

We are still in Greece for a couple more days.

It's been a while since I've posted. Mostly because I forgot my password and I'm too lazy to look it up. Don't judge. The rest of Israel we did our obligatory float in the Dead Sea, went to Eilat, and crossed over in to Jordan. This whole part of my trip I like to call "let's get out of here". Mainly because every place we went we would get frustrated and overwhelmed. Egypt, I have to be honest, was a very stressful place for me. I stick out like a sore thumb. And having a 5'10'' half asian as my traveling partner didn't help. Although I did enjoy when people would yell "NE HOW" at Sumi. Either that, or they would say "You look Egyptian!" like it was a compliment (it wasn't). And also enjoyed seeing weird things like 3 year old children buying balloons on the street, no parent in sight. But in general, I felt like a walking dollar sign. Hence, let's get out of here.

So in Jordan we went to see Petra which is like an ancient theme park. I was like...wow, this where Indian Jones was...even though I've never actually seen the movie. Lame. I bought a bracelet from a lady who lives in a cave. And we met Bedouin boys who tried to woo us with their donkeys and camels. Got out of that sitation and headed to Dahab Egypt. I have to say, Arab culture is VERY different from what I know and understand. Some of the most polite people and rudest people I met on my trip, I met in Egypt. The problem is, you can never tell who you are going to get when you meet someone. In Cairo we would ask for directions and get led in the complete opposite direction. I think we were led to three, maybe four perfume stores when all we wanted was a cup of coffee. The worst offense was if we refused to have tea with someone. Egyptians would get so mad at us if we didn't want their stupid tea.

Dahab was a nice little hippie town. We just rested a couple days there, I went scuba diving in the famous blue hole. We met some guys we THOUGHT were gay, but turned out they weren't. Look guys, if you wear a pink button down shirt and do feminine hand gestures, I'm gonna think you are gay. Sorry. Got out of there, and took a 20 hour bus ride to Luxor. I enjoyed Luxor a lot actually. Sumi and I rented bikes and went to the valley of the kings. Sumi almost got married to a 17 year old who sells postcards. We met his family and everything. This is how it happened. We rode all the way up to the valley of the kings where this kid tried to sell us postcards. Later, we found out that my bike had a flat tire...and we were about 20-30 km away from our hotel. Luckily, this kid sees us and decides he will help us out. He takes us back to his home where we meet his family, have dinner and he fixes our bikes. All this without any of us being able to speak to each other. He gave Sumi his addidas ring, a photo, and promised his love for her always. Then we got out of there.

Cairo I think is the biggest city I've ever been to. 8 million people. It's such a congested, chaotic city too. Crossing the street takes some serious guts. We spent most of our time there doing the usual tourist things: the Egyptian museum, the pyramids, warding off child beggars and strange men, etc. The Egyptian museum was kind of a disppointment for me. It was so antiquated but there were so many people there so you would think they had money to keep it updated. But it looked like the descriptions of the artifacts were written on kleenex. And some didn't have descriptions at all. The pyramids though were amazing. So incredible. Sumi and I got horses and just galloped around for an hour. Our guide was like...uh, do you want to touch the pyramids or go inside one? We were like, nope, we just want to go fast. The only bad part was that my camera fell out of my pocket, lost somewhere among the pyramids. Then we got out of there.

Greece was such a sigh of relief after Egypt. We flew in to Athens Mar.3. Our first couple days was just traveling: train, other train, bus, ferry boat. Our destination was Corfu. We arrived in Corfu and met Madalena and Spiro. I told her we were looking for jobs, and right away she said she was looking for volunteers. So Sumi and I decided to work for accommodation while we looked for jobs....little did we know...The hostel, Sunrock, is located on Pelekas beach. It's probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It's on the beach with mountains behind and a gorgeous sunset. This is where we spent our first month in Greece. Adventures were had. More later...

Man, it's been a long while since Israel. So much has happened I can't even remember. But I'll try my best. The next day Sumi and I decided to tour the Golan Heights. We are really bad at touring though because we don't have a guide book so wherever we go we are like "meh, let's get out of here". The Golan heights are really beautiful though. We ended up in Tiberias and we drove around the sea of galilee and had coffee. Then we ended up back at Aliza's apartment and made pita pizzas. The next day we packed up all our stuff. We had an issue though. The day before, I had dropped off my laundry. I thought they said it would be done in a couple hours, which made sense, but when we came back later that night, the shop was closed. And the next day was the election, so the shop was closed yet again. The connection between why a laundry shop would be closed on election day is still unclear to me. So we decided to go to Nazereth for the day and then come back to Zefat at night. It was pouring raining in Nazereth. We went on a walk through the town, went to some significant churches and sites like where the angel Gabriel came to Mary. Our problem came at the night time. We had no place to stay, and we didn't want to pay for a room for the night since we had the car. But we had to go to Zefat to get my clothes back....so we went back and spent the night in Zefat. BAD IDEA. Zefat is in the mountain and it just happened to be freezing cold and hailing that night. It hailed pretty much the whole night and it was the worst night of our lives. We almost died. The next day was even crazier. After the worst night ever, we wanted to get the hell out of Zefat. I went to the laundry place, and the girl there was like "sorry, clothes aren't done, come back tomorrow." And I was like no no no. You don't understand, we have to get out of this place. But of course the girl didn't speak English, so I had to pull someone off the street to translate that I needed my clothes whether they were done or not. Laundry places are strange in Israel. They apparently don't do the laundry in the shop. They send the clothes to some laundry factory outside of town. So I had to get the address from this girl and then we had to find a taxi driver to follow around for an hour to find this laundry factory. The taxi driver didn't even know where to go. We went down the mountain, past the plastic chair factory, past the car factory, past the soda factory, over some bridge, in to the magical forest, past the unicorns and we were still lost. Eventually we made it to a laundry factory, but it was the wrong one. So we had to fine the OTHER laundry factory. This whole wild goose chase took about two hours and I was not in the mood after almost freezing to death the night before. But finally I found my dirty laundry, and we hit the road to Jerusalem. Thank the lord. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for the part where we almost drove in to the West Bank. We were just driving along when all of a sudden there were fences and barbed wire everywhere. I felt like there were 100 guns pointed at me. So we made a quick backtrack and went around the West Bank. Scary. Later we returned the car, and we got to our new hostel in the old city: the Citadel. This hostel was really strange. It was like staying in a cave. Jerusalem was not at all how I pictured it. I thought it was supposed to be really biblical with donkeys and stuff. Jerusalem is divided in to three parts: the old city, the new city, and some other part I forget. The old city is where all the really touristy biblical stuff happened and where a lot of famous sites are such as the dome of the rock, the place where jesus was supposedly crucified, buried, and resurrected, the western wall, and other countless religious places. I think every rock had a history there. The old city itself walled in and is divided in to quarters: the armenian, jewish, christian, and muslim quarter. The next day Sumi and I toured the old city by walking along the wall of the old city. It really made me appreciate what a beautiful city Jerusalem actually is. Sumi and I also found our favorite kebab place. I think we at there every day we were in Jerusalem. Dang, I wish I had some kebab right now.

Haifa, Akko

Haifa. Left Tel Aviv. Israel is more expensive that I had planned. It's about 4 Shekel to the Dollar. A night in a hostel is like 50-70 Shekel. But food prices and public transportation is cheap. We got on the train. So many soldiers with guns. And not just handguns. Like machine guns. And the soldiers are 18-20ish years old. I would never give Jamey a machine gun. That's just bad news for everyone. We got to Haifa, north of Tel Aviv. Ba'Hai central. Then we had pizza on the main street. Crazy how we come to Israel and eat pizza. What a universal food. Then we walked to Elijah's cave. I don't really know what that was. I wish I had read the bible or paid attention in CCD. It would be really useful right about now. I accidentally went on the "men's side" of the cave. Oops. How can there be a men's side of a cave anyways? That was embarrassing. Then we took the gondola up the hill to see a church. Not that exciting but a really good view of Haifa. Then we walked down the hill to go to the grocery store. Afterwards we got lectured by an Israeli behind us in line that we shouldn't buy hummus from the store. I dunno, I thought it was pretty good. That night we met a muralist at the hostel who was from Holland who bonded with Sumi. He just loved her painting of a donkey. Our roommates were lame. A Canadian on birthright and a condescending Californian who seemed to have an answer for everything. Sumi got along great with him. I think they talked about Macs for an hour. Then they had a competition to see who is more pretentious. I think Sumi won although I tried really hard to block out what they were saying. Then we ran in to Tom again. He seems to be enjoying himself.

Next day: The Ba'Hai gardens. We had to go to the top of the hill again and took a tour from the top down. It was so beautiful. Almost too perfect. I can't really remember what we did for the rest of the day...I think we took a nap, had coffee and played Scrabble.

Next day: Left Haifa to go north to Akko. This is where Ayelet is from, so we were going to try and stay with her parents on the Kibbutz. Only problem...I tried to call her dad, Doron, but I don't think he really understood me and I didn't understand him. We got off the train in Akko, and all I understood was he was leaving the kibbutz and couldn't pick us up. We had to take a taxi but we weren't sure where. Sumi's french skills came in handy because she got a taxi driver to call Doron and get directions. So the driver dropped us off at the Kibbutz. We decided to wait until maybe Doron drove by and saw us. We waited in that spot for 4 hours. Then we finally accepted the fact that no one was going to find us in that spot, so we started asking around. Eventually we found the house, and Sally, Ayelet's mom welcomed us in. She was astounded that we had waited that long in one spot, which we later found out was a cemetary. So was I. Doron gave us a tour of old Akko. It's a really old city...like 5000 years old. My brain can't even comprehend that. Sally made us dinner, which was really good after eating pita and hummus for a couple days straight. It was good to meet Ayelet's family. I can see where her mannerisms come from. Her brother looks eerily similar to her.

Next day: We got dropped off in the old town and saw some ancient sites: the Knight's Hall, a Turkish bath, a mosque, some museums. It was all very cool to see. Then we went and got some "real hummus" then took a nap on the city wall. Basically we will take a nap wherever it looks comfortable. We started walking back to the kibbutz and ran in to Tom again. I think he's following us. We shamelessly stopped at McD's on the way back. The man at the door asked me if I had a gun. I told him I forgot it at home today. Or at least that what I wanted to tell him...

Next day: Tried to leave but the puppy (Tooti) followed us all the way out of the hostel. So we walked back and Doron kindly gave us a ride to the train station. Today was the day we were going to rent a car! I was so excited. I'm happy everyone drives on the right side of the road again. Although my brain is still adjusting. We had to go back to Haifa to get the car, a little Hyundai Getz aka box on wheels. Freedom! Then we drove to Zefat, a really Jewish town in the Golan heights. So, Sumi and I are kind of cheapskates. We decided that because we had a car, we could just sleep in it and save money by not sleeping in a hostel. So we were driving around, trying to find something to do, and we see a girl out in the cold trying to hitchhike. So we pick her up because we were like...well what else are we gonna do? This girl turned out to be a life saver. Her name was Aliza and literally like a minute after meeting her, she invites us to stay in her house. Turns out her two roommates were away and there were two empty beds in her house. How convenient. And who were we to refuse? She made us tea and gave us cookies and a warm bed. What an awesome girl. We were so lucky.

Transit from Thailand to India to Turkey to Israel was long. Most of my time was spent watching movies and sleeping. I regret that now because I "suffered" pretty bad jet lag. 9 pm comes around and I'm out like a light. But I guess that is unavoidable when you travel several time zones over 48 hours. I'm getting better though. After so many airports, I now think that you can tell a lot about a country even if you have never left the airport. New Zealand's was surprisingly small, Thailand had a huge new airport (but everything was overpriced and somewhat disorganized). India's airport was terrible. Holes in the ground for a toilet with "bathroom attendants" who think that giving you a paper towel is somehow a service, people shouting over the PA announcing flights like every 10 seconds, uncomfortable waiting areas that kind of smelled like farm animals, and boarding the plane was chaotic. I almost got trampled. But the amazing thing is I still want to go back. Turkey was cold and no one smiled. But at least they were efficient. And finally Israel where they did a thorough check of my bag while I wasn't even there. I found half my bag contents spilled all over the carousel. And I got grilled about what my business in Israel was. But everything was at least rational and very well laid out. That helped me meet up with Sumi who was in her boot because she broke her foot from walking. But seriously, how do you break your foot from walking? Anyways, Sumi and I made our way to the hostel in Tel Aviv. We met Tom Owenby on the way, and American from Arizona. He looks like Clark Kent. He was there because he is a Ba'Hai which is a relatively new religion based in Haifa. I had never heard of this religion before but I really like it. Basically they believe in one God, all the prophets (Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham, etc) and the coming of a new prophet for each era, equality for men and women, tolerance, some other things I forget, and my favorite part you don't have to go to church. Sorry mom and dad. So anyways, we got on the train, then took the bus. Israelis are rude, but they like to help too. I think they are just happy people are still visiting their country. And most of them speak decent English so it's fairly easy to get around. So we got to the hostel-pretty nice place. Free breakfast, always a bonus. We ate schwarma for dinner. It feels so late here because it gets dark at like 6 whereas New Zealand was like 10. I'm so confused.

The next day we went sightseeing around the beach. It's warm for winter here. Alot of random Israelis come up and start talking to us. We met Itay who worked at the first aid place on the beach. He gave me his number on a band-aid. I didn't call him though. He obviously thinks of himself as a playa. I wouldn't call any guy who hits on me within 5 minutes of meeting him. He told us a joke though, that was nice. Then we found a cafe-our favorite pastime. Sumi attracts so much attention with her boot. It's such a good conversation piece. Israelis are mesmerized by it and they aren't shy about staring either. Then we went to the Carmel market. It had the standard made in china fare but it also had some of the best looking produce I've ever seen. The apples were the size of my head. We got strawberries and gummies. The rest of the day we just walked around. We thought about going out but Sumi and I just aren't party girls. We just have to face that.

Next day: We decided to go to Jaffa, the old part of Tel Aviv where some biblical things happened. Something about a whale. We walked along the beach. Sumi is pretty fast with her boot. She's like a robot. We had to stop several times though because we didn't have our coffee and we are addicts. I think it's just that New Zealand coffee was so strong, I definitely went though some withdrawal. So we walked around in Jaffa and it was really pretty. Then we started petting a dog, who belonged to an Israeli named Leo. He was there with his wife and was telling us how they wanted to move to Florida. He really wanted to show us the gated community he lives in so he gave us a tour. It was really nice, he must be loaded. Later we got gelato, then went to the gypsy market. So many gypsies. They all hound you too. They got me to buy a skirt that I didn't even really want. Later Sumi and I watched the sunset and had a "date night". Which is basically just a night where we eat out...which we do most nights, but this is more special. One thing I don't really like about Israelis is that they don't understand the word "no", and they are somewhat pushy. We refused dessert several times, but the waiter gave it to us anyway. And we had to pay for it. At least the food was really good. Israel has good hummus. Although now I'm all hummused out. More later...

I'm in Bangkok Thailand right now, and I've never felt more lost and confused in my whole life. I'm sure I've gotten ripped off a billion times, but I have no idea so I guess it doesn't really matter. Well, it's not that bad. I arrived last night at around 9 pm and got in an illegal taxi. I attempted to speak thai, and my driver attempted to speak english. We didn't get much further than "how are you?" He dropped me off somewhere around Ko San Rd. You could tell because that's where the white people are. I am staying at Peachy Guest House. It's really nice for 200 baht (about 6 dollars). The bed was hard as a rock though. I think it was actually just a board with a sheet over it. I got up early this morning and took a walk around. The food here is so good and cheap. I think it's the main reason why I wanted to go to Thailand in the first place. First I had iced coffee, then a watermelon smoothie, then some honey roasted seasame nuts, the some spicy green beans and chicken, then some fresh orange juice. The orange juice is probably the best I've ever had. I did some shopping in between and got a massage. I think that's pretty good for one day in Thailand. I'll have to come back here one day. Who's coming with me?

Well part 1 of my trip is coming to an end. Part 2 is about to begin. I'm back in Auckland, and it's like a dream. Or maybe I have entered a timewarp, I dunno. It's like it's October again and I have just arrived to New Zealand. Nothing has changed, but everything has changed. I feel a mixed bag of emotions. Anticipation for what is to come, regret for what I didn't see, and fulfillment for the way everything turned out.

It's hard to believe four months have gone by. That's 1/3 of my trip. It's also funny how I remember my life very clearly in these months. the places I've been, the people I've met are still very fresh in my mind. I remember the American poker boys who came to Auckland to compete and blew 10,000 dollars at the Sky Casino in one night. They brushed it off by calling it a "disappointing night." Leoni, the lady who walked with me in Napier on her lunch break for a total of 10 minutes to show me the way to the top of the hill. Mika, the Japanese girl in Queenstown who I met on top of a 1500m mountain. Louie, the yacht owner who invited us on to his boat that came from Washington D.C. where we drank cheap wine. And so many more characters. This proves that I really had to get out of DC. where everything was a blur and my life was becoming to comfortable. I was like a cat nestled by the fire. So comfortable that I would probably never have left. Not that I don't miss home or don't want to come back. I do. But now is not the time. When it's time, I'll know. It might coincide with the downward slope of my bank account.

A really disappointing thing that happened was when Jota and I tried to copy pictures from my camera a couple days ago. Half my pictures were deleted which, to put it midly, was frustrating. But I have salvaged some and I will post what I have left on facebook.

Today I take the train to Waitakere to meet Phillip and chill on the beach. My last full day in New Zealand.

Wow, this is why you should never plan anything more than a couple days when you travel. We ended up spending the next week at Paradiso. Ayelet left on Wednesday because she was tired of waiting for the car to be fixed. Understandable. But it was still sad to see her go. I hate goodbyes. Sometimes I don't even say goodbye to people just to avoid it. I spent most of my days lounging around by the pool. Nights were spent meeting more characters. Sebastian G. was one of them. (I originally had his full name, but I feel like he is the type of guy to google himself). He was a large German man who referred to himself as Sea Bass. He even put "sea bass" on all his belongings, just like my mother did on my tupperware for summer camp. He wanted to apply to the Department of Conservation in NZ and forced me to read his hand written cover letter. Ugh. Then he arrogantly self-proclaimed himself as the "Indiana Jones of the forest" (whatever that means). What a nerd.


Anyways, Paradiso is always nice, but enough is enough. After the Saturday market in Nelson, we all got in the supposedly fixed car, and headed for Christchurch. We didn't make it much further than Blenheim when the water pump blew. Unfortunately I had already booked my flight from Christchurch to Auckland, so I had to get to Christchurch somehow in a couple days. I unexpectedly had to say goodbye to Diego because he wanted to stay in Blenheim to pick grapes and Jota and I wanted to go to Picton. I am going to miss Diego more than I thought. He's a good friend with an extreme love for Borat, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and cigarettes. And he thinks my accent is really funny. Imagine that.

So Jota and I went to Picton and stayed at a really nice hostel called the villa. We just spent our last couple days relaxing, selling hammocks, mountain biking (which I am terrible at. and by terrible I mean i fell in to several thorn bushes), and eating subway. It's strange how I really love subway now. No wait, I always loved subway. I just never had anyone to go with me as much as people do here. There are a lot of things here in NZ that I will miss though: Tim tams, being able to walk around barefoot in stores, flat whites, i'm sure there is more. I will make a list.

Today I said goodbye to Jota. It was unbelievably hard. On a good note, he has asked me to come to Brazil in May, so I think I will spend less time in Greece than originally planned, but I will still be gone for a year. Right now I am in Christchurch. It's my last day and night in the south island. I have a flight to Auckland tomorrow. It's getting tough now. I've just realized how comfortable I am in New Zealand. A little too comfortable...