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Published: January 3rd 2009
Walls of Old City
The Walls of the Old City of JerusalemI arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel at 7 in the morning on Friday. The airport is by far the nicest I have been to, very open and fresh - a start comparison to my early impressions of Israel. Why you may ask?
1. At Bangkok airport - I arrive at the check in, greeted by some Israeli representatives who asked me a series of questions: Why are you going to Israel, do you speak Hebrew, where are you staying, why is your passport new, why does it only have one stamp in it, what is your purpose in Israel, why don't you speak Hebrew? etc etc. I was reasonably calm though, and he took some strips and attached them to my luggage. He then said I could go on the the check in, but they'd ask further questions at the gate. And question me further they did! At the boarding gate I was asked to follow a man down into the basement where I was patted down and asked more questions. They then took my hand luggage into another room for testing, and did the bomb sediment test on me and my shoes. Finally I was let go, and discovered
Kebabs
Me, Michelle, Rachel and Julie eating Kebabs at Ben Yehuda St that of the entire boeing 777, only 4 people were tested in this manner. I must just look really really evil!!!
2. Anyway, I got onto a share bus to Jerusalem, and at the check point our bus was stopped and an armed soldier with his gun slung over his shoulder stepped onto the bus. He argued with the bus driver in Hebrew, then all of a sudden EVERYONE on the bus turner round to look at me!! The bus driver yelled some more and forced him off the bus and sped off :S
But once in Jerusalem I met up with Michelle and Julie. We set ourselves up in our rooms, then Michelle and I did a free tour of the Old City, briefly visiting the Jewish, Arab and Christian Quarters, and the Wailing Wall (which will all be further explored in detail later). We then headed back to the hotel for a sleep, and grabbed some dinner at the hotel.
This morning we met up with Rachel (from Melbourne) and wandered the City a bit more. At 12 we met up with another dozen people from the conference and had lunch at an Arab restaurant. We then went our separate ways, Rachel, Michelle, Julie, Nigel and I found a good coffee then headed back to the hotel for a nanny nap (after being told by a man in the Arab quarter that he'd give me a free tshirt because he liked me a lot, and running for my life after the look he gave me... ewwwwww!!!!)
We're going to try to go to Bethlehem tomorrow, but our seminars start tomorrow night. We'll eventually go though. We are planning to go to Egypt as well.. so Ads, let me know when and where you'll be in the next few weeks so we can try and meet up there!
Israel has great sites and great shopping, and there are photos on the way. Love you all!! xoxo Lex
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Hayley
non-member comment
Glad you made it!
Yeah I forgot to debrief you on Israeli border security before you left! I was asked similar questions but was let go pretty quickly when I declared my heritage (the yid nose actually helped for once!) I am really glad all is going well so far and hope you enjoy the conference. Make sure you get yourself a Shwarma (kebab type thing) and the Irish pub is great if you can find it- close to the shops/ food places up the road from the Kings.