Mount Sinai

This mountain bears the same name as the hospital where I was born. Figure I'd give 'er a chance. Additional similarities may be drawn. Uncomfortable, dark, cold, no more decent food source, conditions were ripe for a minor struggle. 2am ascent = no light, new moon = no light, Dom didn't think to bring a torch = no damn light! Did Moses have a light, probably? Only two torn up ankle incidences in 4 1/2hours climb. Lefty loosy.

5:49am. 1 minute till the heat. Smile for the camera.

I'm above the clouds now and I can't wait for the sunrise. Soon as I see a glimmer of orange over the horizon, the 50 plus trekkers/pilgrims on a ridge behind me start cheering and clapping. Its as if they'd just experienced a perfect landing on a jetliner…they're probably also freezing to shit!

Interior design

Paradise

Here we are, Dahab. There really isn’t anything all that special about the place. Just a stretch of beach with dive shops and restaurants (as usual even the Chinese, Italian and Egyptian specialty joints are all serving the same fare. Its as if there's one master menu that all restaurants using as reference). Dahab's grown up a little from being a backpacker spot yet hasn't reached the same mass as its counterpart to the south, Sharm El-Sheik. It’s that 'chill' feeling that’s making me kick back and no, the air is not full of smoke around here :), its all about the diving!

I guess its only natural that I'd slow down after last months frenzied pace but this is getting a little ridiculous. The ink hasn't even dried on my open water diving cert. and I've decided it was time to enroll in an advance diving course. This from a hardcore land lover!

The course requires a combination of drift diving, deep diving and night diving (this one freaks me out a little). "if am injured as a result of panic, hyperventilation, drowning or any other cause, bla bla, expressly assume risk of said injured bla released parties bla responsible." Sign here and here and here and done! On we go!

Petra & Aqaba!

I'm not a big fan of backtracking but this was a necessary. We came back through Jerusalem to the King Hussein crossing. Most other Arab nations, with the exception of Egypt and Jordan, wont allow you entry with evidence of Israeli travel i.e. stamp. Due to a bureaucratic grey zone in Jordan, the authorities will not give you an exit stamp as the west bank was formally theirs. Israel on the other hand is sensitive to the needs of tourists traveling the middle east so they'll stamp on a separate sheet of paper. This, technically, meant I never left Jordan (although the guards did hassle me on the way to Hebron).

We decided to rent a car for the scenic drive on the Kings highway. Madaba and Karak was the first stop on our way to Petra.

Good ol Petra! Spice route/crossing for most of the middle east until the city state of Palmyra took over. This city was the only way through the mountains. The Siq got so narrow at some points that the Nabateans had to widen the road.Sniffin' at my bag of chocolatesThe colours of the rock face where stunnin'
Sheund!

On top of the monastery.

Chris kept telling me to take a few steps back for the "perfect shot". I didn't believe him so I kept feeling for an edge with my right foot...what are friends for eh?Who doesn't love looking at a shitty bridge? If you had the minerals to cross, the sights were worth it!

Back to Egypt in search of paradise....

The Jordanian Lonely Planet offers the following advise "Only use public Jordanian washrooms in an absolute Emergency! Worse ever" Obviously, they've never been to Egypt...


Up next: Dahab in the Sinai

Tel-Aviv

After all the non stop travel, we decided to kick back and do absolutely nada for a few days! I made it a point to see nothing of interest and only walk from the beach and back. Its way more metropolitan here than the rest of Israel. Kinda nice to have a Paulaner and a slice of pizza again :) Great Mexican restaurants on Rehov Ben-Yehuda!

Beach bar complete with cool lighting.

The med was perfect temp!

No burning this time.

Next: The ancient city of Petra, carved right into the mountain!

The West Bank

We've reached the occupied Palestinian territories. The birthplace of Jesus lies beyond the security fence in Bethlehem. It took 6 different service taxis in order to see Hebron as the taxis will not cross checkpoint zones. The Security fence, either a Berlin wall or a Great Wall of China, depending on your own outlook is fairly imposing. Huge slabs of concrete were pounded into the earth with concrete silos serving as guard posts. The wall is so high that even if you managed to scale it to the top, you'd break your legs on the multi story fall. To top it off, they've added a nice set of barbwire as icing....seemed a little redundant to me.
We came to Hebron to check out a mosque but got stuck in a few tunnels. The Isreali checkpoint was closed so we headed back to Bethlehem. I met a young Palestinian named Mohammad on the way back. He studies engineering at the University in Jerusalem. When I told him I was Canadian he laughed and told me he was offered a full scolarship to a Canadian university. I asked why he declined the offer and he said that he could not survive on textbooks alone. The grant, unfortunately, did not cover any living expenses. The convesation naturally veered towards the current political situation and as a side note Mohammad metioned that he'd just been released from prison in the negev desert for a small infraction. He wouldn't tell me exactly why he spent that year in jail but it had to do with the isreali military. I didn't pursue further.
Chirs pausing for a moment
Lots of fixer uppers in the area. Its a buyers market from the looks of it.

Jerusalem

We've finally made it to Isreal. the border crossing was as pleasant as it could be. The church of the Sepulchre was pretty sweet. Its believed to be the place were Jesus met his fate. The wailing wall, the holiest place for the Jews, was also pretty impressive. I thought it might've been just a small torn off section of the first temple, but It was large and in charge. Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock cuts through the old city skyline as its tiles are all golden.

Cool little Armenian tavern

We've had great weather up until J-town. we'll see what happens on the med.

Dead Sea

Jordan Border crossing. We just arrived at the King Hussein bridge into Palestine. The cab driver decided to shut the meter off halfway to set his own fare. The guard at the border turns us away. It happens to be a holiday in Israel. "closed, closed, come back tomorrow!" We decided to make the best of it and head towards the Dead Sea for the day.

The water here is so buoyant! You can just sit/float here and it takes some effort to get your head under water. Any open wounds or cuts and you'll be in pain. Chris had a couple small cuts that started killing in the water. Thankfully, I sliced my toe open in the pool after jumping into the dead sea.... close call. The border re-opens at 7 am tomorrow so we'll pull an allnighter to pass on the $250 lux suites in the area(damn monopolies).

I'll up-load some cool floating pics once I get my SD card working again :)

Avoid all non-essential travel

I'm sitting here in a Ramada suite downtown Beirut watching the world stock markets meltdown. Thailand, Indonesia, Ukraine, Austria, Iceland, Russia have halted trading. The North American markets are set to open lower in a half hour. This is shaping up to be the worst weekly drop since 1933. FDR here we come! Chris has fallen ill with a fever so I've got an excuse to sit in front of the T.V. Morgan Stanley $11, Merrill Lynch 13, Ford 2.50, GM 4.50, Goldman 95, Intel 15, Cisco 16, Mircosoft 21, Citibank 14, DOW 8400, Gold 925, Silver 11.50 Everything is tanking except the US crosses.

I'm a little unfazed watching all all of this unfold as my little fund has already been taken to the cleaners a few weeks ago. 6 Trillion dollars instantly wiped out. The market is just playing catchup here.

Its funny...Here I am in a country that just came out of civil war, was invaded about 2 years ago and where Canadians are cautioned not to enter and I feel safer here while the rest of the world seems to be collapsing.... It'll pass I'm sure!

Beirut

Oh Beirut! 3 soldiers per tourist. $100 SIM cards. Hotel openings every day(ours was today). 34 Cranes per 5 blocks sq (I counted). Bullet hole buildings, Big Emirate spenders. Qatar camel race victors. Best and most dangerous drivers to date (worse than Cairo, Naples or Rome). Head on collision seekers. They know all the lyrics to all the western dance songs. Lebanese blonds. Tanks. 5km border crossings. Automatic machine guns. KFC. Bag check. Hotel security is better than Steven Harper's security detail. Border guards that make you crap your pants, then personally escort you to the next booth, joke with you, talk about their stay in Montreal and then shake your hand and wish you the best of luck. Great Promenade. Amazing Mediterranean air counteracts all the massive construction pollution. One out of 2 buildings in the downtown core were unfinished and 1 in four were construction sites. Those U.A.E. oil barrons are spending money here like its going out of style!

You know those Isrealies, if you don't join their party, they'll come getcha! :)

This is what the taxi rally ride felt like. I think we won the race. We tipped the driver some prize money. We didn't have any dinner before hopping in....thank god

Ya seen one, ya seen em all

Palmyra

One of Alexander the great's generals founded this city. It rose to greatness when the Roman Empire let it become a free city. With taxing powers and a crucial link between Persia and Mediterranean port, serious bling started flowing their way. Zenobia, queen at the time, poisoned her husband and let her son assume the purple(Augustus status!) She rebelled and got as far as Egypt. Aurelian, emperor at the time, pulled out the big guns and shut her down at Antioch. She was defeated and brought back to Rome in Gold chains as a prisoner of war (better than water boarding).

Palmyra was subsequently shut down and turned into a military port. As you can see, its seen better days. Chris and I got a little crispy so I got a little bit of baseball hat tan.

Stone Ridge!

Big daddy!

Left or Right? the driver wanted an extra 20USD to drive us to the border but we rejected his offer...way too pricey

Temple of Bel. An Uber Babylonian god, later assimilated into the Roman mythology as almighty Jupiter or Zeus(Greco)

Damascus

Damascus is an awesome city. The bazaars and Markets are amazing here. The people are just so friendly. I walked into a small bakery and asked for a pistachio treat. When I came to pay, the vendor motions "don't worry about it" Naturally most westerners would then insist on paying for what they bought, so I try again. Nope. My cash is no good here. The very next store I fill up a small bottle of olive oil and the merchant gives me the same routine! The shop keepers and street vendors will actually let you shop in peace and the food is amazing here.

We were so close to buying a guitar here. 60 bucks for a semi piece of junk. With some bargaining I'm thinking 40 would have been good. I think I'll wait till we get to Lebanon.

Mother of pearl inlay sofas, chairs and backgammon sets. This stuff would make any apartment look like a royal palace.

I'm coming back for this one

Al-Assad, why wont you let me use Facebook, Blogger and other freedom loving sites? It took us two web technicians to fool the servers into giving us access to dangerous sites like CNN etc. The Internet here is pretty controlled. This guy has more posters around town than Saddam had back in the day.

Off next to Palmyra