new
posted by rachel at 7:25 AM
|
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Part III
I can't sleep, so I will update again. I think the couch I am sitting on is infected with fleas or something, because I have all these little bites on me.
Let me think about where I left off... Oh yeah, coming back from Sinai. On our return, we rented a car in Eilat (after spending the afternoon snorkeling in Eilat), and then drove up that night to the base of Masada, by the Dead Sea.
The three of us, (Lauren, Zach, and me), planned on waking up at 4:30 am to hike to the top of Masada to watch the sunrise (it's the thing to do...), but as you can see from the picture, someone decided to sleep in instead.
I still had my cold, which I am going to blame for my slowness in getting up the mountain. Lauren sped right up, though. Luckily I was not as sick as the American we saw at the top, puking in the ruins...
After a leisurely Israeli breakfast back out our hotel/hostel (which was really nice, btw), we headed over to the Dead Sea. The temperature must have been over 100 degrees, and the Dead Sea is really warm, too.
Don't worry, our faces are not burnt to a crisp, we have the dead sea mud on.
We took off from the Dead Sea and headed back to Tel Aviv. We stopped at Cesaria, and then had dinner in Netanya, which was very nice. The town was overrun with Frenchies! The menus there are offered in Hebrew and French (which was nice for Lauren).
THe next part of Lauren's stay was centered more around Tel Aviv, because I had to work that week. It was also Nicole's last days in Israel. We had a going away dinner at Nanunchka, a cool Georgian restaurant.
(PIC TO COME)
What should I have to drink? To find out, go here
(PIC TO COME_)
Goodbye, Nicole.
Near the trendy port area of Tel Aviv, there is this thing called the slingshot. It's a ball attached to bungee cords - you get in the ball and get flung in the air.
Lauren and I did it.
Fun, but tame compared to what we did that next weekend. At first we were going to go to the Sea of Galilee. On the bus there, I called a sky-diving place near Haifa to see what the deal was, and they told us they had availibilty that afternoon. So, we got on the bus and hopped on another one, toward Haifa. The sky-diving place was near this beach called Habonim, some of the nicest beaches in Israel.
(PICK TO COME)
My internet access is sketchy right now, so I will finish this up and upload the photos later. Goodnight.
Let me think about where I left off... Oh yeah, coming back from Sinai. On our return, we rented a car in Eilat (after spending the afternoon snorkeling in Eilat), and then drove up that night to the base of Masada, by the Dead Sea.
The three of us, (Lauren, Zach, and me), planned on waking up at 4:30 am to hike to the top of Masada to watch the sunrise (it's the thing to do...), but as you can see from the picture, someone decided to sleep in instead.
I still had my cold, which I am going to blame for my slowness in getting up the mountain. Lauren sped right up, though. Luckily I was not as sick as the American we saw at the top, puking in the ruins...
After a leisurely Israeli breakfast back out our hotel/hostel (which was really nice, btw), we headed over to the Dead Sea. The temperature must have been over 100 degrees, and the Dead Sea is really warm, too.
Don't worry, our faces are not burnt to a crisp, we have the dead sea mud on.
We took off from the Dead Sea and headed back to Tel Aviv. We stopped at Cesaria, and then had dinner in Netanya, which was very nice. The town was overrun with Frenchies! The menus there are offered in Hebrew and French (which was nice for Lauren).
THe next part of Lauren's stay was centered more around Tel Aviv, because I had to work that week. It was also Nicole's last days in Israel. We had a going away dinner at Nanunchka, a cool Georgian restaurant.
(PIC TO COME)
What should I have to drink? To find out, go here
(PIC TO COME_)
Goodbye, Nicole.
Near the trendy port area of Tel Aviv, there is this thing called the slingshot. It's a ball attached to bungee cords - you get in the ball and get flung in the air.
Lauren and I did it.
Fun, but tame compared to what we did that next weekend. At first we were going to go to the Sea of Galilee. On the bus there, I called a sky-diving place near Haifa to see what the deal was, and they told us they had availibilty that afternoon. So, we got on the bus and hopped on another one, toward Haifa. The sky-diving place was near this beach called Habonim, some of the nicest beaches in Israel.
(PICK TO COME)
My internet access is sketchy right now, so I will finish this up and upload the photos later. Goodnight.
posted by rachel at 3:04 PM
|
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Part II
After our delayed stopover in Eilat, we hopped in a cab to Taba, the border down. We payed our exit taxes and entered into Sinai.
I was relieved to realize that what I had thought were allergies was actually a cold. (A relief because I knew I wouldn't be feeling that bad for the whole season.) But, it is no fun having a fever in 105 degree weather. I did not enjoy the four hour ride from Taba to Dahab in an non-airconditioned bus, sitting on a temporary pop-up seat, listening to staticky Arabic radio.
Our driver made sure to slow down for the camels.
But he didn't make sure to turn off the engine and extinguish his cigarette when we stopped for gas.
We arrived in Dahab at nightfall, and after some asking around, found our "hotel," little cement huts with cots. About 5 bucks a night. You know, it was my second time in Sinai sleeping in huts, and I don't even think twice about it, but you couldn't pay me to sleep in accomodations like that in the states. Of course, I took the Halzel precautions as much as possible: I folded a clean shirt over the pillowcase and slept on my back, straight as a board the whole night.
We took one of the huts with A/C, there is no way with my cold in that heat I was going to deal with anythign less. Plus, there is nothing worse then sweating on disgusting mattresses.
Before we went to sleep, we went out to dinner.
We were tired, ok?
All I wanted to do was pass out and sleep through my cold, so I decided to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a little sleeping aid, some tylenol PM or something. So, I walk in and ask the pharmacist for something to help me sleep, and he says. "Ok, would you like valium or Zanax?" I was shocked! I didn't realize that you didn't need a prescription for drugs in Egypt. And they were cheap, too. So, I bought some tablets of both.
I think they were expired or insignificant doses, because they didnt really give me the effect I was looking for. Or maybe I was just expecting too much.
So this Egpytian pharmacist had long pinky nails, like cokeheads. Not as long as this guy's, http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/16503/pinky1.jpg, but still pretty long. He didn't look like a illegal substance type though, so I figured it was for playing the guitar or something. (I didn't really think about it that much, just in the back of my head.) THen, when Lauren and I went back to the pharmacy the next day, she noticed it and pointed out that that is probably how he cut the drugs at the pharmacy! Instead of sterilized scales and and spoons and knives (or whatever it is you use, mom), he just does it all with his nasty pinky nail.
In the morning when we woke up, we got a better view of our surroundings.
The beaches in Dahab are pretty to look at, but are rocky and small. We heard that the Hilton had nice beaches, so we decided to check those out.
Not only were their beaches beautiful, they also had this pool that went on forever:
But it was all a tease! There was a big sign next to it that said "no swimming," and it was only about 6 inches deep. Their real pool was just your standard sized one, a major disappointment!
There were only two families, British, around the pool (this was a week after the Sharm bombings), and I played water polo with their kids until we got kicked out.
So basically, our time in Dahab consisted of eating and spending time in the sun.
Stay tuned for Part III of Lauren and Rachel's adventures!
I was relieved to realize that what I had thought were allergies was actually a cold. (A relief because I knew I wouldn't be feeling that bad for the whole season.) But, it is no fun having a fever in 105 degree weather. I did not enjoy the four hour ride from Taba to Dahab in an non-airconditioned bus, sitting on a temporary pop-up seat, listening to staticky Arabic radio.
Our driver made sure to slow down for the camels.
But he didn't make sure to turn off the engine and extinguish his cigarette when we stopped for gas.
We arrived in Dahab at nightfall, and after some asking around, found our "hotel," little cement huts with cots. About 5 bucks a night. You know, it was my second time in Sinai sleeping in huts, and I don't even think twice about it, but you couldn't pay me to sleep in accomodations like that in the states. Of course, I took the Halzel precautions as much as possible: I folded a clean shirt over the pillowcase and slept on my back, straight as a board the whole night.
We took one of the huts with A/C, there is no way with my cold in that heat I was going to deal with anythign less. Plus, there is nothing worse then sweating on disgusting mattresses.
Before we went to sleep, we went out to dinner.
We were tired, ok?
All I wanted to do was pass out and sleep through my cold, so I decided to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a little sleeping aid, some tylenol PM or something. So, I walk in and ask the pharmacist for something to help me sleep, and he says. "Ok, would you like valium or Zanax?" I was shocked! I didn't realize that you didn't need a prescription for drugs in Egypt. And they were cheap, too. So, I bought some tablets of both.
I think they were expired or insignificant doses, because they didnt really give me the effect I was looking for. Or maybe I was just expecting too much.
So this Egpytian pharmacist had long pinky nails, like cokeheads. Not as long as this guy's, http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/16503/pinky1.jpg, but still pretty long. He didn't look like a illegal substance type though, so I figured it was for playing the guitar or something. (I didn't really think about it that much, just in the back of my head.) THen, when Lauren and I went back to the pharmacy the next day, she noticed it and pointed out that that is probably how he cut the drugs at the pharmacy! Instead of sterilized scales and and spoons and knives (or whatever it is you use, mom), he just does it all with his nasty pinky nail.
In the morning when we woke up, we got a better view of our surroundings.
The beaches in Dahab are pretty to look at, but are rocky and small. We heard that the Hilton had nice beaches, so we decided to check those out.
Not only were their beaches beautiful, they also had this pool that went on forever:
But it was all a tease! There was a big sign next to it that said "no swimming," and it was only about 6 inches deep. Their real pool was just your standard sized one, a major disappointment!
There were only two families, British, around the pool (this was a week after the Sharm bombings), and I played water polo with their kids until we got kicked out.
So basically, our time in Dahab consisted of eating and spending time in the sun.
Stay tuned for Part III of Lauren and Rachel's adventures!
posted by rachel at 2:27 AM
|
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Part I
I just spent two weeks (plus an extra day, haha) hanging out with Lauren S., a friend since elementary school.
Her bags were a couple days late in arriving, so we hung out in Tel Aviv until they did. One of her friends is really into sport bikes, so we took some photos with some just for fun:
Her bags arrived at 11 pm on Tuesday, with a little note from El Al attached that said, "All's well that ends well." Isn't that obnoxious? What if she had all her meds in that lost bag and she died while waiting for them?
Anyway, baggage in hand, we decided to get out of Tel Aviv. Wednesday we spent the whole day walking around Jerusalem. We decided to go to the Tower of David museum, because we figured museum meant an air-conditioned room. Nope, this museum entailed walking the walls of the old city in the scorching sun:
After walking around the whole day, we went to a street festival on Ben Yehuda street, where we met Zach who was also staying at our hostel:
Late that night we were hanging out at the hostel talking about what we were going to do during her trip. Originally, Lauren and I had discussed going to Sinai, but the bombing in Sharm el Sheik that happened the day before she came out put a damper on those plans.
At 2 am in the morning, nothing seems like a bad idea, though, and we made the decision to go to Dahab, in Sinai, for a couple of days starting that next morning. Unwisely, I had told Lauren to leave her passport in my apt. in Tel Aviv (about an hour away), and to have enough time in Sinai we really needed to leave early that morning.
So, I left for Tel Aviv at 5 am (we didn't go to sleep that night) where I picked up her passport and then caught the next bus back to Jerusalem. From there it was a four and a half hour trip to Eilat, right on the border with Sinai.
I wanted to rest my head on the window to sleep, but some Israeli's hairy feet were in my way.
At Eilat we had a little action in the bus station. There was an abandoned suitcase. The station was evacuated and we all had to go stand outside while they blew it up. That was an hour delay. Here is the crowd all standing around near the suitcase. That crowd is about 200 ft away from the suitcase, we stood further back.
For the record, it was really *(&8&*( hot in Eilat.
Next up, Egypt!
Her bags were a couple days late in arriving, so we hung out in Tel Aviv until they did. One of her friends is really into sport bikes, so we took some photos with some just for fun:
Her bags arrived at 11 pm on Tuesday, with a little note from El Al attached that said, "All's well that ends well." Isn't that obnoxious? What if she had all her meds in that lost bag and she died while waiting for them?
Anyway, baggage in hand, we decided to get out of Tel Aviv. Wednesday we spent the whole day walking around Jerusalem. We decided to go to the Tower of David museum, because we figured museum meant an air-conditioned room. Nope, this museum entailed walking the walls of the old city in the scorching sun:
After walking around the whole day, we went to a street festival on Ben Yehuda street, where we met Zach who was also staying at our hostel:
Late that night we were hanging out at the hostel talking about what we were going to do during her trip. Originally, Lauren and I had discussed going to Sinai, but the bombing in Sharm el Sheik that happened the day before she came out put a damper on those plans.
At 2 am in the morning, nothing seems like a bad idea, though, and we made the decision to go to Dahab, in Sinai, for a couple of days starting that next morning. Unwisely, I had told Lauren to leave her passport in my apt. in Tel Aviv (about an hour away), and to have enough time in Sinai we really needed to leave early that morning.
So, I left for Tel Aviv at 5 am (we didn't go to sleep that night) where I picked up her passport and then caught the next bus back to Jerusalem. From there it was a four and a half hour trip to Eilat, right on the border with Sinai.
I wanted to rest my head on the window to sleep, but some Israeli's hairy feet were in my way.
At Eilat we had a little action in the bus station. There was an abandoned suitcase. The station was evacuated and we all had to go stand outside while they blew it up. That was an hour delay. Here is the crowd all standing around near the suitcase. That crowd is about 200 ft away from the suitcase, we stood further back.
For the record, it was really *(&8&*( hot in Eilat.
Next up, Egypt!
posted by rachel at 3:08 AM
|
