All good things must come to an end sometime...

Alas, our Middle East adventure is just about over. I have parted ways with Dominik.... I left him in the seaside paradise that is Dahab in order to make my way back to Cairo and catch my flight home to Canada. I will make a few more updates to this blog when I get back to Toronto, including some videos (which I have been waiting to upload when I am at home with access to my wonderful broadband, high-speed internet connection from Rogers® Cable), but for now, here is an interactive map of everywhere we've been:


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Dahab, Egypt - Part I

At last.... we reach the Sinai Penninsula in Egypt and the town of Dahab! A super-chill hippe & backpacker paradise, and one of the world's premiere scuba diving spots! I wasted no time in booking myself a dive excursion for the morning after we arrived.



Lookin' sexy in my scuba gear. Oh yeah baby!



This is what the entry point at our dive site looked like. Quite picturesque!



Scuba convoy!!!



PRETTY!!!!!!



A sweet "bowl" of coral that I encountered.



Quit clowning around.



Look under that rock.... it's the elusive blue spotted stingray! Crocodile hunters beware! (Too soon??)



Oh yeah, work it baby!



Fearsome beasts of the Red Sea!! The Lionfish... an absolutely gorgeous but highly dangerous fish. One prick from any of those beautiful "feathery" fins, and you could be a gonner!



A view from the backseat of our brand-new, fully loaded luxury Jeep that transported us to the dive site and back. The driver was an offroading madman!


Are you experiencing symptoms of "the itis?" Tired from a long day of scuba diving? Try new and improved POWER HORSE!!!!! YA, POWER HORSE!!! FUCKIN' POWER HORSE MOTHERFUCKER!!!

Petra

This is me standing in the "Siq" -- a mile long pathway through a very narrow canyon that leads to the central part of the ancient city of Petra. When entering Petra via the Siq, the pathway has an ever so slight downslope... almost unnoticeable, as you can see in the picture above. But for the entire length of the Siq, the elevation change is something like 40 stories!! Crazy. This was VERY noticable on the walk back at the end of the day!



This is the exit from the Siq pathway / the entrance to Petra. Just thought this was a cool view, as it shows how tall and narroy the pathway is. As soon as you reach the end of the Siq pathway, you inevitably are left speechless as THIS comes into view....... (scroll down silly!!!)



A 2000+ YEAR OLD CITY CARVED OUT OF MOUNTAINS?!?!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Just a cool shot of some galloping horses... with some ancient shit in the background. No big deal.


The camel in the background is like "I'm thirsty" and the other one is just like "EFFFFF."




Camels aside, I have made many furry, four-legged friends on this trip. This particular donkey wandered up behind me while I was taking a break in the shade. Soon afterwards, his young owner came over and started chit-chatting with me.... a boy by the name of Ibrahim, probably about 13 years old. He told me the donkey's name was Jack. I chuckled. Jack ass. Then the boy asked me for a smoke. That would mark the 5th or 6th time a child under the age of 16 has asked me for a cigarette on this trip. Naturally I gave him an entire pack.


One of the epic canyon views that can be seen while ascending the mountains of Petra.



A photo from the summit of the highest peak within Petra.



The Monestary at the Petra summit. The hike up there takes over half an hour and involves climbing over 800 rocky, uneven steps under the grueling midday sun. Some of the fatass lazy tourists rode donkeys up to the top, but we hoofed it. I nearly had a coronary. What the hell is a coronary anyway? Is it some kind of Mexican beer? (ehhh....I got nothing....)



Ahhhh.... nothing better than administering the proverbial "smell test" on one's own socks after having hiked in the hot desert for 6 hours. Dirty Dom at his finest.

Just a sweet-ass Jordanian military copter we saw on the roadside as we left Petra.

Jordan: King's Highway, Madaba, Karak

After a lovely time in Israel, we doubled back across the Israeli border into Jordam again. We picked up a rental car just inside the Jordanian border and headed south on the King's Highway....



Our sweet-ass baller pimpin' ride!! It's a Chevy something. I never even bothered to observe what model of car it was. "I can get 60 miles to the gallon on this hog!"



Here we see the rare Jordanian DomTron standing in the middle of the road. This is the point where we got on the King's Highway. Observe the vast, mountainous, desert expanse that lay ahead of us. We made sure to have a full tank of gas and a few emergency water bottles on hand. Note: shortly after I took this photo, I jumped back in the car and took off on the DomTron. I drove a little ways down the road before reversing to pick him up. The poor little DomTron....he was so scared that I was going to leave him in the desert. Then he almost left his hat at the side of the road.



A look back from from upon high at some of the road we covered. The entire King's Highway was like that....and we drove it for over 300 km! Good times!



Our first sight seeing stop off the King's Highway was the peak of Mount Nebo. In the context of the Bible, this is said to be the location where Moses finally got to have his first gaze upon the promised land.... then he died upon the mountain before actually making it to the promised land. Man, what a bummer. Anyway, it is said that he's buried somewhere in the area, though that is the subject of some debate between Muslims, Jews, Christians, and me.



Next stop was the town of Madaba, which is home to some of the most beautiful Byzantine mosaics in the world. Pictured above is one such mosaic that I found to be quite lovely.



After a long day of driving, we stopped in the town of Karak to find a place to stay. Shown above is an example of how our hotel and hostel rooms typically looked during the trip. Mmmmm....fresh laundry, hand-washed in a dirty Arab sink.


The next morning we visited Karak's massive castle dating back to 1140 in the time of the Crusaders. It sits at the top of the town, high above the surrounding desert valleys. Magnificent views!

More of Karak Castle.

Tel Aviv

On our first night in Tel Aviv, we encountered these nice young ladies who are in the Israeli Defence Forces, and we did a little bar hopping with them. WATCH OUT HEZBOLLAH....THESE GIRLS ARE HUNTING FOR YOU!!!!!!! Oh man....you do NOT want to mess with the IDF. Look at the powerful, brute soldiers under their employ! I thought they were going to kick my ass when they noticed the Palestinian flag bracelet I was wearing on my wrist. They did not like that one bit.



The lovely beaches of Tel Aviv. We're here to relax.... no sightseeing... no history.... just relaxation. So, basically all we have done while in Tel Aviv is spend the day at the beach and spend the night at the bars. Good times. The weather has been great!


What, me worry?



A little Mediterranean fish action. I wonder if these fish are Jewish?



Dusk. Almost beer time!!!

One of the baddest motherfuckers of all time.

This little guy was takin' a cat nap behind us at a restaurant where we enjoyed some nice brunch. There really is a disproportionate ratio of cats to dogs in the Middle East. I think this may be at the root of any socio-economic development issues that any of these countries struggle with. One must assume that the people of the Middle East, by and large, are "cat people" and..... well, nevermind. Cat people.

The West Bank, Palestine

Before hopping the bus to Tel Aviv, we made our way to the entry checkpoint into the West Bank, with the intention of visiting the towns of Bethlehem and Hebron.



I think, for me, the most surreal/profound/moving part of the whole trip so far was when we rounded a corner in the mini-bus and the infamous Israeli "Security Fence" came into view. This is a 20 ft high concrete wall separating Israel from the Palestinian Territories. I believe it stretches some 700+ km around the West Bank. Construction of this wall began after the commencement of the Second Intifada in 2000, in order to stop the almost-daily infiltration of Palestinian suicide bombers into Jerusalem. It's a terrible shame that this wall even exists.... but let's not get political now. Suffice to say that seeing the wall in person generated many strong and mixed emotions within me.



This is part of the elaborate system of long, enclosed corridors and secured areas one must pass through in order to travel to/from the West Bank. The security was much tighter than that of most international airports.



Here is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem.... with the DomTron bending over to give it a rub. Moments later, he burst into a hellish, scorching fireball and died soon thereafter. Such dirty, heathenous infidels are not meant to go near sites of such divine holiness.

After visiting the Church of the Nativity, we went to the Milk Grotto Church. The story here is that after giving birth to Jesus, the Virgin Mary nursed him in the Grotto, and a few drops of her breast milk spilled to the ground and turned all the stone white and caused other miracles too. It's all quite erotic, really. (Too soon??)

After Bethlehem, we hopped in a shared taxi to the West Bank town of Hebron. This town has long been a major hot-spot and flashpoint in the Arab-Israeli conflict. You could definitely feel some tension in the air. Above is a picture of an Israeli security checkpoint and blockade separating Hebron from the Jewish settlement next door. One of the reasons for our visit to Hebron was to see the burial site of Abraham (of biblical fame) at the Ibrahimi Mosque... but because it was a Jewish holiday, the Israelis had closed off access to the area where the mosque is located, and we could not get in there from the Palestinian side.

One of the dusty and deserted streets of Hebron.

Jerusalem - Part II

On our last day in Jerusalem, I woke up early in the morning to go take in a few more sights before departing for Tel Aviv. I visited the Western Wall again, to see it in the daylight.

Just above the Western Wall is the Temple Mount, upon which sits the Dome of the Rock -- which I mentioned in a previous post. It was breathtaking to see up close.... OOOOH IT'S SO SHINY AND COLOURFUL. I wish I could have gone inside, but it's for Muslims only.

This is the tomb of King David.

And this is the room where the Last Supper for Jesus was held. Not much inside the room these days, but of course it was really cool to visit this important site. NEATO!!!!

Just a little snapshot of the CAVE we slept in at the "New Swedish Hostel" in Jerusalem. These accomodations are not for the claustrophobic.... or Barb Hackett.

Jerusalem - Part I

After a failed attempt the previous day, we finally made it into Israel. The border crossing wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories I had heard (involving extremely long waits, hour long interrogations, etc). Dom and I did, however, each receive a private interrogation from Israeli customs officers due to the fact that we had just visited Syria and Lebanon. The Israeli officials were nice, though, and they understood that we were just simple tourists. Dom kindly requested that the Israelis not stamp his passport, to which they complied. Then they turned to me and said "you as well?" to which I loudly proclaimed "I would be HONOURED to have the stamp of Israel in my passport!!!". This was much to their great enjoyment, as they smiled and giggled, and gave me the stamp.


The Western Wall of the Second Temple.... the holiest site in the Jewish religion. Seeing this in person was undescribable. The site was very crowded this evening as it is the end of the Jewish holiday Sukkoth.


Looking across the Citadel of Old Jerusalem at David's Tower. The Citadel contains structures and cultural relics of many different eras and civilisations from ancient past to present.


A view of the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock (the third holiest site in Islam) from atop the Citadel in Old Jerusalem. In Islam, the Dome of the Rock is said to be the location where Mohammed dreamed of ascending to heaven on a winged horse to take his place alongside Allah.


A shrine inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre... but not just any shrine. Right below it is said to be the spot where Jesus Christ died on the cross. I am not a religious man, but seeing and touching something of such great historical and religious significance was a surreal experience that I will remember forever.


Here, my hands are placed upon the stone where they laid Christ's body and prepared Him for burial, after He was removed from the cross.


This mass of earth and rock sat right below the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. The stains of His blood still remain.


The Holy Sepulchre itself. Inside is said to be the place where Jesus' body was laid to rest after He died, and it is also where He was resurrected.


A view from just inside the Jaffa Gate of Old Jerusalem, near our hostel. Bustling with activity in the early evening.



A view of tonight's full moon from just outside the Old City walls.