Hate and Love in the Promised Land

At the moment I'm already spending my last hours in one of the most religious cities in the world; Jeruzalem. And in this last week of this trip I have seen some amazing sites and experienced some interresting things.
On friday the 17th I arrived back in the West; Israel through the south at a city called Eilat. We (still travelling with Neil and Tom) took a direct bus to Tel Aviv where I met Yair a friend I met in Bolivia 2 years ago. The next 3 days I stayed at his place and met up with Avi and Yaki 2 other guys from Bolivia. Went out a few times and chilled at the nice beaches of Tel Aviv. It was good seeing them again. Yair helped me with finding a flight to Europe on an Israely last minute website.
Tel Aviv is a very modern city with nice beaches. In jordan and syria I heard from several travellers that the security in Israel is pretty tight, and at every busstation, big shoppingmall, club, museum or holy site you have to open your bag or put it through a Xray machine. On monday I met up with Tom and Neil who where staying in a hostel and we took the bus to Jeruzalem. Jeruzalem finally... In this trip I had 4 things I really wanted to see; Istanbul, Syria, Petra and Jeruzalem. Isreal is not a huge country and the busride only took about an hour.
We found a nice hostel in the old city with a great panoramic view on the roof, for 30 shegel (about 6 euro) we had a nice bed on the roof.
The old city of Jeruzalem is not extremely big and all the holy sites are only a few 100 metre from each other. In the next few days saw the the Western (Wailing) Wall, the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We couldn't enter the mosque because we are not muslims; we found it pretty strange because we could enter the big mosques in Istanbul and Damascus, later on we found out it was because of political reasons. Visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre build on the location where Jesus was ''crucified'' and ''buried'' which is suprisely near to each other (about 20 meters).
The old city of Jeruzalem is divided in 4 quarters; the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarter. Many people say it's an international city but it's still completely controlled by Israel. In the old town on many corners you see heavely armed IDFers (Israely Defense Force) and many of the Muslim and Jewish holy sites have check points where bags are checked for bombs or weapons. You can feel the tension is this city.
On thuesday we took a bus to the border with Palestine (West Bank) and saw the other wall the infamous "Peace" wall according to Israel. A huge 6 meter high concrete wall with guard towers on the corners, it reminded me of something I saw last year somewhere in Poland.
In Palestine I visite Bethlehem, the church build on te location where Jesus was 'born' and we took a taxi to Ramalah the capital of Palestine where we saw Arafats tomb and by accident president Abbas in a long row of cars and heavely guarded vehicles. Saw allot of gravity on the wall and some swastikas aswell. Walking to the streets of the West Bank we feld the friendliness of the Muslim population again which we recognized from our amazing time in Syria. I imagined that the Bethlehem and Ramalah would be more poor and dirty but actually it's not. A very interresting place to see and good to see and hear both sides of the story. In this last week I talked to many people who life here of have an opinion about the conflict between the Palestinians and Israely. Many people do want peace but you also hear so much hate from both sides for example few days ago I talked to an American
who moved here and had interresting opinions about that Muslims can't vote if they live in the 'Jewish' state. And yesterday talked to an ozzie guy named Lucas where I smoked a few Shisha (waterpipe) with, he went to Hebron and talked to a Palestinian guy who lost some family members in several fightings/wars with Israelies. I experienced many more of these interresting stories but I think I can better explain them in person.
Went to the Holocaust museum which was pretty impressive and saw some very touching photo's and video material. On thursday Tom and Neil went to Tel Aviv to make their way to the airport for their flight back to England, I had a great time travelling with them.
The last few days I went to the Mount of Olives (visited another church, build on the location where Jesus was ''betrayed and ''arrested'') and took some nice photos of Jerusalem. Bought allot of souvenirs and ate many good felafel sandwitches.
After sleeping for 6 nights on the roof waken by the muslim praying at 4:30 and the many churchbells every half an hour starting at 6 in the morning I had a great time here in this Holy city.
Monday morning at 5:45 I have a flight to Berlin (Berlin?!? but I thought Joost lived in the great nation we call The Kingdom of the Netherlands.....), right... Berlin. This was the cheapest flight I could find costing only 220 US dollar, flights to Amsterdam were more then 400. I started my trip hitchhiking so I want to end it hitchhiking aswell... and Berlin is only a small 600 km from Groningen so I think I can reach it in a day.
Because my flight is so early tomorrow morning and I have to check in 3 hours before flight I will head to the airport in a few hours and look for someone who want to play some frisbee with me across the terminal. I hope checking in will go smoothly if they see that I visited the ''great'' enemy of Isreal; Syria.
My next post will probably be from my own Peacefull Greenroom.
Shalom/Salaam.

Some info about the photo's; A tourist with a God save the Beach t-shirt touching the holy stone, where Jesus was put on when he came of the cross; the ''Peace'' Wall; the Western Wall; Some IDFers eating icecreams and your favorite traveller Joost himself enjoying some amazingly good Jelly Beans infront of the Grotto where Jesus was "buried" and "resurected"

5 Days in Jordan is 3 days to long

Our last 2 days in Damascus, Syria on saturday and sunday we (me, Tom and Neil) spend buying some souvenirs and going to a syrian bathhouse. This was quite an experience; for 400 syrian pounds about 7 euro we got a rough massage from a big arabic dude and a good scrub from another, and we sat in a big sauna which was pretty nice.
On sunday we bought our ticket out of Syria for a busride to Amman, Jordan. Left beautiful Damascus the next day pretty early for the 7:30 bus. After 2 hours we got to the border where we received a pretty cool visa for 10 JD (about 11 euro).
Made it to Amman few hours later and hassling allot with money hungry cabdrivers to get a ride to a cheap hostel. The same day we chartered a taxi to the dead sea, and took a dive. The temperature was over 40 degrees which felt insanely hot coming from an aircon cab. You can really float in the dead sea believe me, the photos will proof it. On thuesday after fighting with some annoying cabdrivers we made it to the minibus station to get a ride to Wadi Musa a small town close to Petra.
Checked in a cheap hostel (we thought) for 2,5 Jordanian Dinnar per person for a matress on the roof. The people in this hostel (Valentine Inn) were really rude and I can highly recommend not to stay in this hostel if you are ever planning to visit Petra.
In the morning we got up at 6:00 to be the first at the gate to the ruines. After walking to the Siq (a long passage between to cliffs) of about a kilometer we made it to the amazing Treasury (the first temple you see used in the Indiana Jones movie The last crusade); Amazing. That morning walked around the main temples and saw some stunning views over the mountains of Jordan and the dessert. Really an amazing experience. At the end of the Petra trip I called my good friend Dutch-formerly-known-as-Dennis the biggest Indiana Jones fan of Western Europe to tell him that I was standing at (for him) a holy site; the Treasury.
In the afternoon chilled at the hostel and booked a desert tour through Wadi Rum, a national park. The following day left by minibus to Wadi Rum with 4 others to do a 1 day 4wd trip.
That thursday saw some amazing locations in the desert of Wadi Rum and the beautifull mountains around it. Running down a big sanddune I destroyed my sandals (for the people who I've travelled with know that my sandals are holy for me) but one of the drivers fixed them with metal wires. Visited some Lawrence of Arabia sites (for the people who have seen the movie) and relaxed at our Beduan camp to see the nice sunset. The chicken in our dinner was specially prepared in a hole in the ground and grilled that way, which made it delicious. At night the sky was amazing, full of stars and you could see the milkyway very clear. Everybody slept outside and this night was one of my best nights of this trip. But before I went to bed did a bit of streaking into the desert; great feeling! 'one with nature'.

Left the next day after breakfest to the taxi in the village of Wadi Rum and to the border with Israel. After being scammed again in the Jordanian taxi we finally reached the promised land. Jordan never again! What a rats, everybody is after your money and we noticed it so clearly because we just came from Syria (one of the friendliest countries in the world) The Israely people working at the border were suprisely friendly, we still had to wait more then an hour for our stamp and were questioned about why we went to Syria, what's you grandpa's name, what is your email adress and have you met anyone in Syria and what are their names bla bla bla. But of us 5 waiting for our stamp I got my passport back first after being questioned last maybe because of the Lion of Zion tshirt I was wearing of the biggest Dub artist in Holland; SlimmahSound.

We finally entered the country and changed our busticket to an earlier time.

Back in the west; western prices, seeing drunken bums again and girls wearing only hotpants and tiny shirts comparing with the many burkas and scarved women you see in the 'real' middle east.

Syria equals Amazing

Salaam Alaykum everyone,

So finally I'm in Syria. At the moment in the capital Damascus and the last week I have seen allot of interesting things and experience the amazing friendliness of its people. About a week ago I left Turkey and arrived with 2 English dudes Tom & Neil ,who I met in the bus, in Aleppo.
Walking around the city and the market gave me the most amazing impression of how kind the Syrians really are. So many people want to talk to you, and ask where we are from or what our names are. Took some great photo's of allot of people and visited the Citadel (a castle up a hill with an amazing view). Compared to Turkey which I thought was a little bit more expensive then I hoped it would be, is Syria a great place to stay on a budget. Food, travelling and accommodation are very cheap here. Kebabs for less then an euro or a kilo of the best baklava for 2 euro, bed in a hostel for just a few and travelling for 3 hours on a normal bus for not more then 3 euro. Tom & Neil came up with a nice name for Israel naming it Disneyland because we don't want to get into trouble if people hear us talking about our next destination after Jordan, so eversince we talk about visiting Disneyland, Mickey mouse, Space mountain (giving names to some places we want to visit in occupied Palestine, how they call Israel in the Arabic world)
On the streets here in Syria you see in general more men then women, and most of the women you see are scarfed or are wearing a burka. In Holland you hear allot of people say that the women with burkas in Islamic countries are being suppressed by men to wear such an outfit and giving women equal rights as men. While talking to so many people in the last week I realized that it's just the way it is in Islamic countries. Women don't argue about it and you don't see any suppression on the street, in contrary I experience so much friendliness which I think gives a great impression of what the Islam is all about. Everywhere you do see posters and portraits of the 'great' dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father.
On our first night out we went to a restaurant and ordered some lamb testicles which we saw on the menu. How did they taste? you might ask .. Well they were sort of baked not the best flavour but I managed, in contrary to Tom & Neil who couldn't finish their portion.
The next day travelled to Hama where some huge waterwheels (up to 20 m high) are spinning around in the river, they transport water from the river to the parks around it for irrigation of the plants. A local gave us a tour through the old city and showed us some more waterwheels. At a sudden point during the walk around the old town we saw a very antisemitic board hanging on a wall near a school. (see the photo added)
In the evening Tom & Neil met a very friendly Syrian named Obida. An amazing guy who showed us his shop and bought a delicious milkshake for us and some kebab. The next day we met him again and he showed us some more of his city and we each got a t-shirt from his shop. Neil bought him a Koran as a gift and we gave a football to his cousins who we met in his shop.
The second day in Hama we did a day trip to a huge well preserved castle on a hill called Crac des Cheveliers, with an amazing view.
On Wednesday travelled to the west of the country to a place called Tadmur/Palmyra to visit some stunning roman ruins. When sitting in a restaurant that night me and Tom decided to buy a fake ISIC card (international student card) for 7,5 euro each. At allot of sites here in the middle east you get a discount when you have such a card. I forgot to get one back home so this was a great possibility to buy one. I bought a fake one in Thailand few years back and it gave some discount back then, but unfortunately it was in my wallet which was stolen in Kiev last year. In Palmyra we started to talk to a dutch guy called Joost aswell.
After an hour the guy came back with the cards but instead of Joost mine said Doost. I wasn't planning to pay for that (I'm proud of the name Joost and so was the other Joost) and he would change it later he said. Later on he came back with the card but the D was changed in a J so badly done with some duck tape I didn't want to pay for it and only Tom got a fake one.
Thursdays we left early to Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world and explored the old part. Bought some nice souvenirs at the bazaar and visited one of the biggest mosques in the world . Friday is a day of rest in many Islamic countries and hardly any shop was open but the cinema was. Meeting the 2 other dutchies (Joost and his girlfriend) from Palmyra again and after a good meal we decided to watch a movie. In Syria they don't have the latests movies but they showed the comedy White Chicks which I found pretty funny sometimes. The weirdest thing about the movie was that 2 times suddenly the movie stopped and a soft porn movie was showed with Anna Nicole Smith for a few minutes. We were quite confused about this un-Islamic thing but when we left the cinema it got clear to us, we saw a guy walking out of the cinema and zipping up his pants. All the way back to the hostel we laughed really hard about this strange incident and how the cinema covers up these kinds of movies with old Hollywood movies.
In a few days time we are planning to take a bus or train to Amman in Jordan and then straight to Petra, one of the most famous temple ruin sites in the world.
Damascus is a great city and at night time all the shops are open till around midnight. If you wonder if I feel save in this country or city. Well I think that in many western cities you will feel more unsafe then here in the cities of Syria even at night. I think the crime rate is allot lower in Islamic countries then in many Western/European countries, so maybe the world would be better if everybody would turn to Islam. ;) The many Muslims I met here are so friendly and open to tourists and people of other religions. But I still do find there is much hatred here to the Zionists, not even the Jews but the people who are suppressing the Palestine territories.

Hope you enjoyed this insanely long post, when in Jordan I will write again.

Making my way to Syria as a Christian?!?

Friday the 3th of August

The last time I updated this blog was on the 31st of July when I was waiting for my visa for Syria. (At the moment I'm already in Syria but you will read about that in my next post, first one about my way to Syria)
Around 15:00 o'clock I went back to the Syrian consulate and got my passport back with......A syrian visa, yeeahhhaa. A few hours earlier I had small issue with my application form. I filled it in with all my details. But with the question 'religion?'... I stated 'No Religion' because as many as you know Joost is a Pegan, the woman behind the counter said to me 'No you can't fill in No Religion!' So at the moment I thought well.. what shall I write down Atheist/Pegan or a religion, in a haste I just wrote down Christian and a few hours later I got my visa, but it doesn't say what religion I have. I think they just want to be sure that I'm not a jew.
That day I chilled out some more on the roof terrace of my hostel and said goodbye to Alex the funny dude from Wales I have been hanging out with the last couple of days and had a big laugh with about a guy snorring in our dorm and another guy slapping him with a towel.
Jumped on a minibus to the busstation and then a big bus to Antalya (the big tourist place allot of dutch travel agencies promote) and then on a minibus to Olympos. After a journey of 13 hours I arrived in a beautifull valley of some sort with beautifull canyons
and checked in in a sort of treehouse dorm with aircon.
The last 3 days spending my time chilling out on the beach with christal clear water, playing frisbee with a lebanese/canadian dude 'Fady' and chilling out with 2 americans Ben and Eilleen. And I can save some money aswell because breakfast and dinner is incl in the 20 lira (+/- 12 euro)
Saturday the 4th I left Turkey for my big journey through Syria and after 25 hours of travelling I arrived in Aleppo with 2 English brothers I think will spend some time with the next couple of days.
At the moment I'm in Hama and soon I will describe my time in Syria in another post and post some pictures aswell of my eating lamb testis;). By the way Syria is AMAZING!! Seriously.. forget everything what Bush says about Syria. The people here are so friendly and the country is beautifull. Ooh and I hope this story will be posted because I can't visit my blogspotsite to see because it is forbidden it says (maybe by the government orso or just the internet cafe) but I can type new posts... weird.
Ma'is salaama.