Blogs from Middle East - page 1199

Advertisement

Middle East » Iran September 26th 2005

The next part of my journey took me through the southern part of Iran with is mainly a desert. I had only a short stop in Zahedan before I made my way to the border of Pakistan. It was time to say good bye to Iran and all it's kind and friendly people. The last ones I met in Zahedan, a local english teacher sent two of his pupils to show me the way to the border.... read more

Middle East » Iran » West » Esfahan September 24th 2005

No one should leave Iran without a visit to Esfahan. I took the bus in the evening and since it's only six hour from Tehran to Esfahan I arrived in the middle of the night. Everything was very quiet and the streets were empty. After walking the silent city a bit I found a soup corner that was open all night, the owner was friendly, he gave me a tea and some bread for free. Together with the leftover cheese from the mountain that was almost a nice breakfast. When the sun finally came up I found a good backpacker hotel. Cheap, a courtyard with some plants in the center, and an Australian who told me how to play backgammon. Here I also met a German who had been studying psychology in Marburg, Germany. How small ... read more
Ceeling of the Women's Mosque
Women's Mosque at Night
Aladdin's World

Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Antalya September 24th 2005

My teaching career took me as far afield as central Japan, but back in the mid-1990's, the very first piece of the teaching career jigsaw came in the shape of a very short-term teaching post in Izmir in Turkey. I was intrigued by the mysticism surrounding Turkey back then, and I vowed to return, so in late September 1995, a trip to Antalya seemed like a fitting way to pay a '10 years on' return visit, and see another area of a country which I really had not seen enough of first time around. Antalya is a sizeable place for sure, a sprawling city which seemed to be in a fairly constant state of outgrowth, from modern out-of-town shopping malls to densely-packed commercial areas in the city centre. The hotel Adonis was located about 40 or ... read more
Bay View
Pamukkale
Mosque

Middle East » Israel » Haifa District » Haifa September 21st 2005

Hello all! After all of our orientations, tours, and introductions, the semester officially began Sunday. I have registered for Hebrew, Modern Standard Arabic, Rabbinic Literature, and Contemporary Israeli History and Society. I have the option to change my schedule around during the next week, but after going through almost a week of classes, I find myself very satisfied and excited. My Hebrew class is intense and very challenging. It meets eight hours per week, but the teacher seems great. Rabbinic Literature is dynamic and has an extra two hour lab section in addition to the regular course in which we work through texts in pairs. Contemporary Israeli History and Society starts off as being not so contemporary at all and we went over two thousand years back into history during the first class. The teacher is ... read more
Dorm Room
Dorm Room
Night

Middle East » Iran September 20th 2005

When I arrived in the lower shelter (3050m) I was very tiered. The altitude sickness had disappeared at about 3500m and I was disappointed to be able to stay at 4100m even. How can I go to Karakorum and Himalaya like this? But I just had been to impatient... I sleept a god night in the lower shelter and the next morning I woke up next to Hussein, Machmud, and Jamshit. These three mountainers from south Iran convinced me to share tea and bread with them and to try again by joining their group. On the way up we met a very exhausted Nick and we agreed to meet back at the guesthouse in Tehran. This time I was a lot better at 4100m. The heart rate was lower, I could breath more freely, and most ... read more
Mount Damavand
My Three Friend
View from 5100m

Middle East » Saudi Arabia » Dammam » Hofuf September 20th 2005

Oil and Sand. Great Recipe to get rich! Middle East » Saudi Arabia » Dammam » Hofuf By YathiSeptember 20th 2005Yathi A really old trip. Though I'd put up the few pics I have left of it. Was carrying a shitty film cam which had me pulling my hair every now and then. Anyways here we go.... read more
Some corner of Hofuf..
Erosion
Hill

Middle East » Israel » North District » Ein Gev September 17th 2005

I am now back at the dorms at Haifa University, but I spent last week north of Haifa at a Kibbutz called Ein Gev. From there, we traveled around a lot in the region of Israel called the Golan Heights. On the first day of the trip, we visited a community called Har Khalutz, which means in English, Pioneer Mountain. It is a pluralistic community founded in the 1980s by upper middle class folks from around the world but mostly North America who were looking to settle in Israel--it was very pretty. In the following few days, we did a lot of hiking. We hiked up a mountain called Gamlah, derived from the Hebrew word for camel because it looks like a camel's hump. Gamlah is home to one of the oldest synagogue's. Historians say it ... read more
The Golan Heights
The Golan Heights
The Golan Heights

Middle East » Iran September 16th 2005

On last Friday Nick and me finally started. We had bought food for six days, two types of bread, oats, raisins, dried apricot, cookies, spread cheese, jam, and honey. We left some luggage at the guest house, packed all nessesary cloth, Nick's tent, the sleeping bag, and a new bought wolly hat. Our first night we sleept in the tent near the lowest shelter which is a mosque at 3050m. It was not to cold and the next morning we freshly started climbing to the next shelter. The next and also final shelter is at 4100m which is quite high already. We tried to find a place to put up our tent on the way, but there was no good location, everything to steep. So we sleept the second night at 4100m already. That was to ... read more
Self-Suficient Camping
View from Shelter at 4100m
Sunset in Alborz Mountains

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul September 16th 2005

So I finally got off of the islands, which i don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I was having so much fun but i think that it was time to leave. Not sure if my liver could take anymore abuse. So in other words, I loved Ios!!! Pretty much hungout on the beach for a few days and went to a few clubs at night. Hopped on a ferry to Naxos a few nights ago and then took an overnight ferry to Samos, From there I made a mad dash to get on the ferry to Kudurasi (I think thats how you spell it) where I spent a few days wondering the bazaars and eating kebaps. It was nice to relax on the beach and catch up on some sleep. Took ... read more
Me and Bre
Me Elijah
Athens

Middle East » Iran » North » Tehran September 14th 2005

Back in Tehran I waited some days for Nick. Everything is very noisy and poluted here. The guest house is a real cheap and dirty one. One day I saw a mouse or baby rat just dying in the middle of a room.... read more
Opposite the Embassy
Street Scene
New Companion




Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 15; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0507s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb