All good stories start in Bethlehem
For the eight-and-a-half-hour middle-seat adventure to Hong Kong, I had "thimble-bladder" next to me against the window, which at least forced me to stretch my legs every hour or so. This nuisance was well off-set by her gluten intolerance, which allowed me to inherit half of every "gluten-free" meal she couldn't eat. The relationship with my other neighbour was equally as balanced: repeated requests for technological assistance were paid for with the entirety of the meal(s) that she didn't touch. Winning.
I was hoping to slip into a food coma and get some rest, but instead was too captivated by Battle of the Sexes (Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, about the story of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs). It's great, and you should watch it.
We stayed in Hong Kong for a few hours, with our next flight taking off from Gate 71, right at the end of one of the terminals. To kill time, I made it my mission to find Gate 1 and get there and back. Hopefully the 6000 steps it took went some way to digesting the four meals I had just eaten on the plane.
I got a few hours of shut-eye on the next leg (only after the first meal, naturally), because I don't remember seeing the climax of Home Alone 2. We landed in Tel Aviv a little early, around 05:30.
Considering the ever-present geopolitical tension in this part of the world, I expected the presence of some military personnel throughout the building, but in truth, Ben Gurion Airport was just as sleepy as any other place early on a Sunday morning. Even passport control was uncharacteristically low-tech with a few boxed booths, but I'm sure the real teeth were well-hidden.
So, to get an initial impression of the acrimony between the Arab states and Israel, one cannot catch a flight between them (why we flew through Hong Kong instead of somewhere a little more direct, like Dubai). Also, if one plans to travel to an Arab state with an Israeli stamp in one's passport, they would most likely be refused entry (but it's ok the other way around). Knowing this, Israel passport control issues a barcoded Stay Permit on a separate slip of paper, rather than stamping.
After a couple of long flights, the group was keen to get coffee before we hopped on the bus, so we descended upon the hapless airport cafe. 40 people ordered coffee and were charged 40 different prices, even for the same drink. Apparently, this is not uncommon, and the record price for a regular latte that day was US$12. Most places in Israel accept USD, but give change in Israel New Shekels (ILS). The exchange rate is fairly fluid from store to store, too, so that's another way to get ripped off.
Enough preamble! Welcome to Israel.
Our tour guide, Sayeed and our bus driver, Hussein, met us at the airport and piled us and our luggage into a large touring coach, which will be our chariot for the rest of the tour.
The first stop was Jaffa/Joffa/Joppa, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv, which was a fortified port for the Assyrians/Babylonians/Egyptians/Arabs/Turks/British. In the early 20th century, a group of Zionist Jewish families bought land to the north of the village and settled there. After a couple of Arab riots in Jaffa, the remaining Jews moved north as well, and created their own port city of Tel Aviv, which now dwarfs the old quarter.
In Jaffa, we saw the Catholic Church of St Peter, which unlike most churches (which face East), faces West, toward the sea where Peter had his vision.
I walked past Simon the Tanner's house - which was not accessible to the public due to an ownership feud between a couple of families who claim it - and along the docks, where I encountered a peculiar sign (ed: the first of many). We didn't really get to see much of Tel Aviv as we were driving through, but managed to get a glimpse of the skyline from Jaffa.
After Joppa, we returned to the bus for our journey to Bethlehem. This took us out of Tel Aviv and through the outskirts of Jerusalem, before reaching the West Bank Barrier and our first Israeli checkpoint of the trip. The Palestinian Territory is marked by a humungous concrete-panel wall separating it from Israel, which severely restricts passage between the two areas. Palestinians are only allowed to pass through the checkpoints on foot, through a long series of wire passageways and security checks, under the ever-watchful eyes of Israeli Border Control. Tourist buses and Israeli-plated passenger vehicles are pretty much waved through. As we were heading into Palestine, we didn't even need to stop for a check.
The West Bank is a very dry, rocky, hilly area, where not much grows except the boxy limestone and concrete buildings that sprout in clusters along the slopes, some inhabited, others abandoned, or in a prolonged state of construction limbo. Streets are narrow and winding, but drivers are quite civil and co-operative when a tour coach needs to monopolise the road. On this particular day, it was Orthodox Christmas, so most of the shops were closed, and the roads empty, compounding the desolation.
For lunch, we were told that we were stopping "for sandwiches". Expecting some dainty cucumber or curried egg triangles, I was pleasantly surprised when the restaurant served pita pockets with falafel (there was also a chicken option) and slaw. After a good Middle Eastern feed, we were bussed to our hotel (via curious sign #2) and given the afternoon off. I lay on the bed to consider my options. Then woke for dinner.
I was hoping to slip into a food coma and get some rest, but instead was too captivated by Battle of the Sexes (Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, about the story of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs). It's great, and you should watch it.
We stayed in Hong Kong for a few hours, with our next flight taking off from Gate 71, right at the end of one of the terminals. To kill time, I made it my mission to find Gate 1 and get there and back. Hopefully the 6000 steps it took went some way to digesting the four meals I had just eaten on the plane.
I got a few hours of shut-eye on the next leg (only after the first meal, naturally), because I don't remember seeing the climax of Home Alone 2. We landed in Tel Aviv a little early, around 05:30.
Considering the ever-present geopolitical tension in this part of the world, I expected the presence of some military personnel throughout the building, but in truth, Ben Gurion Airport was just as sleepy as any other place early on a Sunday morning. Even passport control was uncharacteristically low-tech with a few boxed booths, but I'm sure the real teeth were well-hidden.
So, to get an initial impression of the acrimony between the Arab states and Israel, one cannot catch a flight between them (why we flew through Hong Kong instead of somewhere a little more direct, like Dubai). Also, if one plans to travel to an Arab state with an Israeli stamp in one's passport, they would most likely be refused entry (but it's ok the other way around). Knowing this, Israel passport control issues a barcoded Stay Permit on a separate slip of paper, rather than stamping.
After a couple of long flights, the group was keen to get coffee before we hopped on the bus, so we descended upon the hapless airport cafe. 40 people ordered coffee and were charged 40 different prices, even for the same drink. Apparently, this is not uncommon, and the record price for a regular latte that day was US$12. Most places in Israel accept USD, but give change in Israel New Shekels (ILS). The exchange rate is fairly fluid from store to store, too, so that's another way to get ripped off.
Enough preamble! Welcome to Israel.
Our tour guide, Sayeed and our bus driver, Hussein, met us at the airport and piled us and our luggage into a large touring coach, which will be our chariot for the rest of the tour.
The first stop was Jaffa/Joffa/Joppa, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv, which was a fortified port for the Assyrians/Babylonians/Egyptians/Arabs/Turks/British. In the early 20th century, a group of Zionist Jewish families bought land to the north of the village and settled there. After a couple of Arab riots in Jaffa, the remaining Jews moved north as well, and created their own port city of Tel Aviv, which now dwarfs the old quarter.
In Jaffa, we saw the Catholic Church of St Peter, which unlike most churches (which face East), faces West, toward the sea where Peter had his vision.
I walked past Simon the Tanner's house - which was not accessible to the public due to an ownership feud between a couple of families who claim it - and along the docks, where I encountered a peculiar sign (ed: the first of many). We didn't really get to see much of Tel Aviv as we were driving through, but managed to get a glimpse of the skyline from Jaffa.
After Joppa, we returned to the bus for our journey to Bethlehem. This took us out of Tel Aviv and through the outskirts of Jerusalem, before reaching the West Bank Barrier and our first Israeli checkpoint of the trip. The Palestinian Territory is marked by a humungous concrete-panel wall separating it from Israel, which severely restricts passage between the two areas. Palestinians are only allowed to pass through the checkpoints on foot, through a long series of wire passageways and security checks, under the ever-watchful eyes of Israeli Border Control. Tourist buses and Israeli-plated passenger vehicles are pretty much waved through. As we were heading into Palestine, we didn't even need to stop for a check.The West Bank is a very dry, rocky, hilly area, where not much grows except the boxy limestone and concrete buildings that sprout in clusters along the slopes, some inhabited, others abandoned, or in a prolonged state of construction limbo. Streets are narrow and winding, but drivers are quite civil and co-operative when a tour coach needs to monopolise the road. On this particular day, it was Orthodox Christmas, so most of the shops were closed, and the roads empty, compounding the desolation.
For lunch, we were told that we were stopping "for sandwiches". Expecting some dainty cucumber or curried egg triangles, I was pleasantly surprised when the restaurant served pita pockets with falafel (there was also a chicken option) and slaw. After a good Middle Eastern feed, we were bussed to our hotel (via curious sign #2) and given the afternoon off. I lay on the bed to consider my options. Then woke for dinner.
Great commentary... interesting photos of the VW up the tree and the Nazi Dental Laboratory!
ReplyDelete