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Published: June 22nd 2011
November 2010
Dimpy "Mei, I'm moving to Israel, come visit me"
Mei "I can't, I have no more vacation left"
May 2011
Dimpy "Mei, I'm leaving Israel in 4 weeks, you have to come visit me"
Mei "I can't, I have no more vacation left, but let me see what I can do!"
Three weeks later I hopped on a plane to spend 9 awesome days in Israel with Dimpy and Manu. I wasn’t arriving in Israel completely ignorant of the customs and cultural differences, after all, I grew up surrounded by Jews, saw men with fur hats and long curly sideburns walking down Bathurst street, and I even got all the holy days off at school. What I wasn’t expecting was the beautiful sites along the Mediterranean coast, the endless hiking trails, the mysticism of Jerusalem or the amazing sensation of floating on the Dead Sea. Here are some highlights:
Staying in Kibbutz Kfar Haruv with Matan. Eating balls of
labneh soaked in olive oil.
Hiking trails. When hiking in 40'C heat, it is essential to have a body of water at the end point. Seeing the hexagonal basalt rocks at
Meshushim.
Celebrating Shavuot dinner with
Yoav and his family, eating copious amounts of vegetarian salads, homemade breads and ice-cream; it was a perfect ending to our day hike to Montfort and Nahal Kziv.
The Mediterranean Coast. We drove from Rosh Hanikra at the Lebanon border down to Tel Aviv. We stopped in Akko for the best hummus in the country (many restaurants in this country seem to advertise this), Nahariya for some quieter beach time, Haifa to see the Baha’i gardens (which is randomly closed on Wednesdays), and Caesarea just in time to see the sunset on the Roman ruins.
The Dead Sea. We hiked up to Masada (the same Masada as the
movie with Peter O’Toole) and I got my first glimpse of the Dead Sea. It was hazy, so it looked like a mere smudge of blue in the distance. When we arrived at Mineral Beach, I cautiously stepped into the water. It felt like normal water. Then I laid back, and my legs moved effortlessly from beneath me, and floated to the surface of the water! It was so cool!
Driving into a gated Israeli community in search of Magnum ice cream bars, walking into the store and seeing Thai flags, a
poster of the Thai king, and 10 sets of Thai eyes staring at us.
Jerusalem. A truly magical place. No where else in the world can you walk through narrow streets amongst Jews, Muslims and Christians completely devoted to their faiths. As we meandered through the Old Town alleys, we saw Shabbat at the Western Wall, Arabs playing backgammon in the crowded market streets, and pilgrims at the Stone of Unction.
Celebrating Manu’s dinner at
Chakra in Jerusalem. We had the tasting menu which included carpaccio, ceviche, zucchini tartar, mushroom risotto, roasted okra and the best panna cotta outside of Italy!
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sunil
non-member comment
Hi
Love the photos! Great stuff.