So here it is, my final blog of Kevin's Middle East Vacation 2006, summarizing my time in the fabulous town of Dahab, on the Egyption Sinai coastline. This is actually the second time I've been here, the first being last year, as part of my three week trip through Egypt. The main reason I came back is becuase the first time around I was not a good enough diver to do any of the really good diving sites, but this year I am. As such, this final portion of my trip was intended primarily as a diving vacation to Dahab and [View Full Entry]

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So this is sort of a blog within a blog, as it details my daytrip into Bethlehem from Jerusalem, however I figured that since my last blog dealt with Israel, and Bethlehem is clearly not an Israeli city, I should do it separately. I was somewhat nervous about going into the West Bank, given the political situation in the Palestinian territories, however the security situation was stable at the time that I was there, and given that this was probably the best chance I would ever have in my life of seeing Bethlehem, I decided to go for it. Anyway, for [View Full Entry]

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OK, yes I'm aware this blog is a little late, but I was busy actually doing travelling, as opposed to sitting in front of a computer, so hence the delay. Sorry to all the people who thought I died since my travelblogs just ended abruptly. Anyway, regarding Israel. My first stop in Israel was Eilat, subsequent to crossing the land border from Jordan, which in itself was quite an interesting experience. Exiting Jordan was routine, afterwards I was required to walk down across the no-mans land through a narrow corridor with barbed wire fence on either side of me and completely [View Full Entry]

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New blog, this time from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I'm writing this blog from Aqaba, which is Jordan's only port city at the southernmost tip of the country. This is my last stop in Jordan, as I will shortly be leaving Jordan and entering Israel, hopefully. It still remains to be seen what the Israeli border guards will think of my Syrian visa and border stamps, but I'm hopeful they will let me in, although probably not without some sort of search. But, with regards to Jordan, I've been in the country for about 5 days. As with all the [View Full Entry]

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Second blog from Syria. Coincidentally, also from Damascus, however in the intervening time I have been all over Syria. No pictures as yet, those will have to wait until I can get to a country that does not have internet censoring. It's very annoying. So anyway, cities I have been to include Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and Palmyra. This was with a tour group, and while travelling around Syria I am sure would be quite possible as an independant traveller, I think it would also be very lonely. In my week in Syria I have seen almost no other travellers, despite the [View Full Entry]

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My first blog from the Syrian Arab Republic! The good news is that I am here and established in Damascus. The bad news is that I don't seem to be able to access my hotmail account. I am unclear if it's just a local problem with this cafe, or if access to the hotmail website is blocked across Syria. We shall see. In the meantime, I can't get to my e-mails, so anyone who is trying to contact me may have troubles for the next week until I get to Jordan. So, to pick up from the last blog, I was [View Full Entry]

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Hello agaın. Latest and last blog postıng from Turkey for thıs trıp. At the moment I am in Antalya, on my way to getting to Damascus by Saturday. Which means the Turkey portion of my vacation is effectively over. So, to bring things up to date, for most of the last five days I was on a cruise through the southern Mediteranian going from Fethiye to Olympos. The ship we were on had 16 passengers (sort of 18 but I’ll get to that in a sec) and three crew members. Nationalities consisted of one Canadian (myself) one Swede, and the rest [View Full Entry]

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Hello agaın. So thıs ıs me typıng from Fethıye thıs tıme, and agaın from a Turkısh keyboard, so the I 's wıll agaın be wonky. I thınk sınce my last blog I've been to Selcuk, Bodrum and here, so takıng them one at a tıme, here goes: So after my last blog I was ın Selcuk, whıch lıke Canakkale ıs a crap town, notable maınly for the thıngs surroundıng ıt. Those are the Temple of Artemıs and the ancıent Roman cıty of Ephesus. The Temple of Artemıs was actually one of the seven wonders of the ancıent world, however ıt now [View Full Entry]

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Second blog postıng of my travels. Sorry by the way for the letter I's ın thıs blog, sınce thıs ıs a screwed up Turkısh keyboard. I believe when I left off I was still ın Istanbul. Well, I spent one more night there, having dinner with this very nice couple from France, where we spent a good chunk of the meal dıscussıng Quebec, and their strangeness. Even the French think they're overly defensıve about their language, whıch I fınd amusing. So yeah, that was Istanbul. I proceeded to take an early mornıng bus to Canakkale, which is about a 6 hour [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so this is my first REAL travel blog, written from someplace other than Calgary. I arrived in Istanbul with no issues, proceeded to check in, and went right to the rooftop patio of my hostel to take in the most georgous view of Istanbul that you will ever see (see posted photos for verification). After having a shower, I went out and had a fabulous meal of beef kabobs, tomato sauce, yogurt, and 2 cokes (I tend to drink even more coke while travelling than I do at home. I know many people may find that hard to imagine). After [View Full Entry]

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