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http://www.travelblog.org// Travel adventures in journals and photos from en-us Tue, 01 Dec 09 18:59:43 +0000 Tue, 01 Dec 09 18:59:43 +0000 The past ten days have been truly amazing for me. I finally got to see my girl after 3 months of travelling and it was a much needed rejuvenation. Irsquove been happy throughout my travels but Maggz is able to take me to the next level of happiness that nobody else is able to do. We met up at the midpoint of the world between Boston and Nepal which is apparently Turkiye This is an amazing coun http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-457403.html I'm back from my trip to Anatalya on the Mediterranean coast. I've only been in Turkey for 2 weeks and didn't expect to have a 5 day weekend so soon. Dreading feeling lonely and homesick over the Thanksgiving holiday I pulled out my Rough Guide for Turkey and decided to take a short trip to the Mediterranean Coast. With a little help from my Turkish colleagues I went online and booked a fligh http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Ankara/blog-457171.html Well itrsquos been a couple of months since I have blogged so I am trying to think of what needs mentioning to update everyone.I suppose one of the key things to mention is the continuing wonderful weather. There has been the odd spell of cooler times and we have seen some rain but the average daytime temperature at the moment is about 22C. Sitting in direct sunlight on the patio the temper http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Cyprus/Paphos/blog-456851.html CyprusLeaking water pumps motorbike crashes. hospitals and dental surgery behind me I hope I finally set off from Nicosia on Sunday 22nd November for a short first leg over to Northern Cyprus planning to stay with friends and try and chill out a bit before catching the ferry to Turkey on Monday morning. I wasn't only leaving all that negative trip delaying crap behind either... 5 years of l http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/West/Hama/blog-456533.html Finally in Turkey the flight was fine. Turkish Airlines with the compulsory delay and the blunt staff. My seat wouldn't stay upright so I had to hold onto the chair infront and sort of lean in the crash position when we were taking off. This time the flight was delayed for only 20 minutes so I can't complain yipee. I don't know if it was the faulty chair but by the time I got to Istanbul by b http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-456282.html We arrived early in the morning in the commercial Port city of Asdod Israel. The Israeli's customs had already boarded the ship the day before to do face to face interviews ours lasted 20 seconds I would guess with each visitor and give us our visa they didn't stamp our passport. They double checked our passport again as we left the ship we were one of the first to disembark to meet our tour http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-455563.html Well I think I've broken my personal record for length of time between blog posts.It's been a bit rough lately in terms of my tolerance for the annoying little things that happen every day although it is getting better with the idea of a short break for Eid alAdha the feast that celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God. We actually watched a video of the Quranic story toda http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-455470.html So after my opulent dinner I left the next day for Petra. Again bypassing all the taxidrivers for one of those adventurous minivans. Actually I wanted to take the real bus from Jett which is supposed to be very comfortable and fast but I missed that one by 15 minutes. S off I went to the normal busstation. Is cheaper as well and more authentic. The Jordanians do it like this as well. In the bus http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-455420.html I landed in Amman on Monday evening. During the flight I sat next to a lady from Palestine who told me a lot about Amman and the rest of the country. Together with her friend we shared a taxi to the city where I checked in my hotel. The hotel looked like it was built in the sixties and not maintained since then. Well what the heck I was tired and I couldn't care to find another hotel for the t http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-455419.html 1502149714911506 14941492 149914931495 149315081492 149214931488 148914971491149714971501 1513150014991501 14891504149315131488 1510149715021512 1489151215021514 14921490149315001503151015121497149914971501 1500151014881514 151115101 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/blog-455269.html Ephesus once a Greek port town on the Aegean sea now lies several kilometers inland so our tour started at the port city of Kusadasi Bird Island. Kusadasi 25 years ago we were told was a small fishing village but with the number of tourist the city is much larger and busier.This was our second of two tours with the group of twenty. After another day at sea our tour guide Levent was originally s http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Ephesus/blog-455175.html I woke when the hot sun leapt the balcony and splayed over the floor of my hotel room. I opened the glass door and for a while watched this part of Dubai Deira the markety bustling part wake up. My priority for the day as it is most days was to arrange my next travelling leg. After some quick research on the web I caught an airconditioned bus to find the main Emirates Airlines building wh http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-454788.html NOT A BIRTHRIGHT AN OBLIGATIONCHARLIE WOODIt is quite proper to resist and attack a system but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. M.K. Ghandi Sixmonths after leaving the Middle East nightmares keep my memories fresh. Growing up religion served as a supportive community and moral compass in a world that many times seems to be spinning in all direct http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/West-Bank/blog-454774.html Istanbul is big much bigger than I imagined. I should have figured a city that was once the eastern capital of the Roman Empire a city that is in both Asia and Europe would be big but the part we toured was only the Old City where everything was surprisingly compact and if we had been on our own would have easily walked to all the places we went. On this trip and the next Ephesus our group jo http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-454725.html We had a fab time exploring this incredible city managing to pack in quite a bit without feeling at all rushed. Checked out Aya Sofya Blue Mosque Hippodrome Basilica Cistern Topkapi Palace Great Palace Mosaic Museum Beyoglu district Bazaars and just generally soaked up the atmosphere of life in Istanbul.Especially enjoyed the stories of time spoken by the layers types and states of arch http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-454570.html Hi I just came back from Istanbul Sep 1723 2009 and was really pleased with all the travel arrangement made by my travel agent ONE NATION TRAVEL AGENCY.Mr. Bilal the manager personally talks to you over the phone replies your emails. If you don't have time to scout around for transfers hotels tours then don't go any further One Nation Travel Agency is your choice...Their office is http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-453919.html After running around Jerusalem and various other parts of Israel for a few days it was time for me to get down to the main reason for my trip visiting my friend Jess. Jess like me is taking a year off from the real world and is volunteering at Yemin Orde. A youth village outside of Haifa Yemin Orde is home or at least a temporary or parttime home to about five hundred kids mostly high sc http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/North-District/Acre/blog-453584.html