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Middle East » Israel » Jerusalem District » Jerusalem June 21st 2007

The build-up to Jerusalem’s Gay Pride Parade has been gaining momentum for weeks, covering the full emotional spectrum from condemnation to outrage to cold, blind fury. A full 70% of the local population has come out (so to speak) against the march - their point being, perhaps, that Jerusalem wants its gays the way the rest of us want our cole slaw (on the side, and preferably out of sight). Orthodox Jews and Muslims alike have howled their opposition, causing one friend to quip that it’s about the only thing the two sides can agree on. In Mea Shearim - a neighborhood that is to Orthodox Judaism what Cuba is to the Big Leagues - they’ve been protesting all week: burning tires, hurling bottles, and taking to the streets in the sorts of numbers not ... read more
Don't ask, don't tell
Gays on parade
And there's no shame in pride, buddy!

Middle East » Syria » East » Palmyra June 21st 2007

pics added in turkey. Rousted by the Syrian Army So we leave Palymera to find a camp site for the night. Usually Oasis camps right at Palymera in the ancient ruins, but we were a bit ahead of schedule, and Allepo is a long drive, so we decided to drive for a while. It was also really hot and no one was particularly excited about putting up a tent in the desert heat of the late afternoon. We drove for a couple of hours, and our driver pulled off, heading across the desert looking for some shelter from the wind and away from the road for a bit of privacy. We quickly encountered tank tracks in the desert, and then realized that we were next to two big pipelines, so we headed back to the ... read more
Camping at the gas station
Cooking dinner at the gas station

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Edirne June 20th 2007

url='/Videos/3974.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3974.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Turkish Babushkas heading home from work Last roads in Turkey There are 4 easy steps for paving a road in Turkey: 1. Knock down trees, villages, etc 2) Spread Tar 3) Find the biggest rocks in your regions and drop them on said tar 4) Open road to traffic As cyclists, we like to be as helpful as the next person, but we're not really into spreading out the loose rocks out for the big rigs that ride next to our heads. First, I don't think that they appreciate our work. Not to mention, we end up feeling like we''re being dragged by horses when we ride over this stuff. Still our last days riding in Turkey were beautiful. Riding through orchard-covered valley floors... looking up at roman tombs carved into cliff, looking down ... read more
Day 14
Day 14
Day 15

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai June 20th 2007

DUBAI CITY - Sat 16/06 to Wed 20/06 We had an uneventful flight from Hong Kong - 9 hours or so & arrived in Dubai at about 8 PM on Saturday evening. We were met by my cousin Yvonne who has been living in Dubai for nearly 2 years & had very kindly offered for us to stay with her. She also informed us on arrival that we had missed the weekend & that Saturday night was just like a Sunday night at home which was just as well cause we were wrecked after the flight and wouldn't have been up to much!! When we stepped outside the terminal we were met by an unmerciful blast of heat - Yvonne explained that this was the norm & that in June even at night the temperatures remained ... read more
Burj Al Arab Hotel Dubai
Yvonne & Siobhan at Dubai City Museum
Local lad at Dubai City Museum

Middle East » Iran June 20th 2007

First I want to say, i am currenly in Usbekistan and I left Iran one week ago. During this week I crossed Turkmenistan and visited the deserted Aral Sea. But this will be in the next topic :-) I didn't write for such a long time, because in Iran, like in China and some other totalitarian states, internet is censored and I couldn't access the travelblog site. ... read more

Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra June 20th 2007

Petra. Wow. Zweifellos die Touristenattraktion Nr. 1 in Jordanien und wahrscheinlich die besten 2000 Jahre alten Ruinen, die man so finden kann. Eigentlich will ich dazu nicht allzu viele Worte verlieren, da man Petra kaum in Worte fassen kann. Es ist einfach nur grossartig. Ich verweise an dieser Stelle mal auf den Wikipedia-Artikel darueber, da es hier im Hostel keinen Kartenleser gibt :) Petra Der an Petra angeschlossene Ort ist, logischwerweise sehr gut an Touris angepasst: Ergo wird man an jeder Ecke abgezockt. Da trifft es sich ganz gut, dass mir eh nicht gross nach Essen steht und ich mich den ganzen Tag, der lieben Gesundheit halber, nur von Brot und Wasser ernaehre, um nicht staendig nach einem Klo Aussschau halten zu muessen :) In Petra wurde uebrigens die Schlussszene von Indiana Jones III ... read more

Middle East » Jordan » West » Madaba June 20th 2007

Each moring we get up at 5am to be on site at 5:30am. We start out by going over the goals for the day. To get into my square we travel down some stone steps and then down across three suporting walls. It is around 6 metres into the ground. We haul rocks and take soil samples for each new level we uncover. Today we came down on an almost intacted vase from the Iron Age. Pretty amazing. However while cleaning around the vase and other pottery sherds I dropped a rock on my pinky finger, and automatically pulled it out. When I took it out it was bleeding pretty bad and as my team lead was wrapping it up she let me know that it might be broken. The pain was acute. So now ... read more
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Middle East » Iraq June 19th 2007

Just got back from Al Taji. Spend the 17th to the morning of the 19th there. Al Taji Army Airfield is located approximately 27 kilometers Northwest of downtown Baghdad, at the town of Taji. There is a lot of enermy activit outside the wire. The first night there mortors were coming in and going out. The facility is massive as you see in the photos there is also a grave yard for hundreds of Iraqi takes and Artillery from Saudams regime. On the way back from Taji I got to see some of the country side from a Blackhawk. I hope you enjoy the pictures.... read more
The bone yard
Mercenaries
Eye in the sky

Middle East » Israel » South District » Eilat June 19th 2007

So here is what we have been up to for the week following birthright. We stayed in tel aviv for the next couple of days and spent the days at the beach and partied hardcore at night. From Tel Aviv we rented a car and went north up to Katzrin, stopping overnight in Tiberius where we partied with other birthright participants. There, Mike exchanged his bottle of wine and then we headed down south to Eilat stopping in Be'ersheva for 2 nights. 1 night they had a huge party called student night (5000 people) and the second night because mike came down with a case of food poisining. From Be'ersheva we drove down to Eilat and registered for a scuba course. Unfortunately, yesterday (the 18th of june) as we went down for a dive mike's ear ... read more

Middle East » Jordan » North » Jerash June 19th 2007

Heute hat es mich nach Jerash verschlagen. Dieser schnucklige (naja, der Ort ist eigentlich stockhaesslich) Ort liegt ca. 50 km noerdlich von Amman und hat eine der groessten Ausgrabungsstaetten zu bieten: das alte roemische Gerasa. Hier konnte man in relativer (wenig Verkaeufer, wenig Touris) Ruhe durch alte Tempel wandern. War ganz nett, umgehauen hats mich jetzt aber nicht. Lustiger war da, wieder mal, die Anfahrt. Hinwaerts ging es noch verhaeltnismaessig einfach: Am Abdali-Busbahnhof stand ein Bus, und der fuhr dann auch dorthin :) Rueckzu gab es jedoch gerade keinen Bus, sondern nur Mikrobusse und Servicetaxis. Ich entschied mich fuer letzteres. Ein Servicetaxi ist ein weissbepinseltes Taxi, dass dann auf seiner Route losfaehrt, wenn es voll ist. Das ist dann etwas teurer (wir reden ueber 10-20 cent) als der Bus, geht aber auch schneller. Man sollte ... read more
Am Artemis-Tempel




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