Weeks tick by as a Humanitarian

Today exactly 2 months ago I left home, the longest time since my South America trip in 2005. So what happened the last 3 weeks you might ask. Well... not much in the sense of going places but still things happened in these weeks which went by so quickly.

After the last post I mentioned that Hans and I were looking for a safer accommodation after the break-ins in the house we were living. The dean gave us a choice where we could stay; or back to Villa de Mer (living like rockstars in a huge house with fast internet, with swimmingpool but on 15 minutes walking distance from the campus and only 2 other fellow students in that house) or live on the campus and have a social life (on 2o meters from the lunch room with internet but with extreme thin walls) Our choice was easily made; campus here we come!
Life at the campus is not bad, we have more interacting with the south african students and breakfast on bed hasn't become a rare sight.

The computer literacy project I am working on is still going smoothly. Progress is definetly made and today and tomorrow we give the final test to our teachers, and then next week we can give them a diploma and we invite them for an internet workshop at the campus. The only drawback we have sometimes is that the teachers are very busy with marking the exams of their students so we had a few days that there were no teachers coming. But ''hey... TIA'' is a widely used expression here on the campus, which stands for This Is Africa.

Often in the weekends students make trips to other cities and beautiful locations but in the last 3 weekends I only went out the last weekend which I will describe in a new post later this week.
Life here in Port Alfred is not that bad; food is quite good, people are friendly and the parties are great. On the photosite you can see photos of the A-party (everybody dressed up like someone who starts with an A; like Amy Winehouse, Actionman, Atorney, As myself. I was dressed up as Aladdin recognisable with a lightbulb as a lamp.
And of the student awards with the Nerds & Nurses party afterwards. The student awards is an award show held every year where all the students can vote for who is the hottest guy/girl, best smile, best technician, best sitdown comedian, mattras award, biggest wannabe, so you think you can dance etc. In total 38 awards and almost everybody on campus was dressed up like a nerd or nurse. I got a nomination for best technician but didn't win it. The party afterwards was amazing. This was also the case with the Tug of War competition, a competition where teams pull a rope. Various teams from the campus participated but as I didn't want to risk my rib injury to become more serious I did not join. A strong men competition was held the same day where Hans participated in, Jason a student from our campus won the title for the second time.

Time flies here. Next week is our last week where we have to do our presentation and finish the manual and report and then I will drive with Hans to Cape Town, where I will buy a car.
There has been a change in plan for the next 2 months. My original plan was to travel with Jelke from South Africa to Kenya, but as he is not coming anymore I always had the plan to travel with my girlfriend Linda before our internship starts in september. Now she is coming 2 months earlier then planned, flying in on the 4th of july to Johannesburg. From there we will travel by car to Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya; I am so much looking forward to that especcially because I want to show Linda what travelling really is.

For more photos check the site; http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray/
In a few days I will post a new story about my bungee jumps last weekend!

Ciao

Let's go Surfing... Surfing Jefreys Bay!

For the people who are saying "I thought Joost went to South Africa for Humanitarian work and not only for holidays" I will dedicate this blogpost to my first 2 weeks of real working and of course to Surfing and Partying!
After 10 days of travelling through Lesotho and Swaziland our first humanitarian workday started.
Ok lets explain the project I choose for with 5 other fellow students. The following 7 weeks we are teaching about 30 teachers computer skills at a school in the township of Port Alfred. Two hours a day we teach how to work with windows, Word, Excel and some Internet. Our working day; we spend 2 or 3 hours in the morning preparing the lesson for that day. From 14:00 till 16:00 we have the class and at the end of the module we have to hand in a manual so they can eventually work more efficient and teach their students the skills they learned.
Our first week we wanted to find out what the level was of the teachers regarding computer skills. We created an exercise in word and excel; very basic like how to make something bolt, change font, insert a picture or table. This way we could distinguish who worked with Word or Excel before and the people who never did.
Patience is one of the key competences you have to have as what looks simple for us like selecting a word or sentence but for people who never touched a mouse before it can be quite a struggle. The week after we started our classes with basic Word. On monday and wednesday we have the beginners group and tuesday and thursday the more advanced group. The enthousiasm of these teachers in our class is amazing to see. The reactions when they manage to insert a photo without help of us is great to see and some are really fast learners. Other people will take ages to type a sentence but we give them extra attention in class.
We are with 6 in our project group and everything goes really smooth. No problems or discussions which is the case with some other project groups.

Ok now a dedication to my weekend experiences. On friday the 8th of May we (I and my harem of 13 girls) decided to go to Jeffreys Bay to surf. Rented some cars and drove for about 2 hours to one of the best surf spots on the planet. When arrived there were zero waves so we hoped that the lessons of tomorrow would bring us more luck. Checked in a nice hostel, played some volleyball and some frisbee (ofcourse!) For the loyal fans you might remember the post of last year "hitchhiking is getting easier and easier" of july 16 2008, where I got a frisbee injury, this was also the case today. During playing long distance frisbee I dove to a frisbee, hit the sand pretty hard a bruised my ribs. That night the pain was terrible; still enjoyed a nice party in the hostel. This party was called Cross dressing party which means all the guys had to wear girls clothes and all the girls guys clothes. These disturbing photos of joost in a dress, bra and makeup between all girls dressed up like guys I will spare untill I come back as these photos could be used against me ;)
I have never tried surfing before and it has been on my list for some time now, saturday morning a 2 hour lesson began. As my rib hurted like hell I wasn't able to stand, but on sunday we rented a board and wetsuit I performed better after taking a reasonable quantity of painkillers. Surfing rules and I will definetly want to become better in it. When back in Port Alfred I went to a doctor to check the status of my injury, after going to the hospital for xray photos to check if they were broken, the doctor said that they just were bruised and not broken and she gave me some strong painkillers.

Last weekend I decided to go to Hodgeback with a smaller group. Hans, Eva and Tim were my travel compagnions. This small village close to indigenous forests, mountains and waterfalls were recommended by various people and it's been said that Tolkien got his inspiration for the Lord of the Rings movies right here in this amazing place. The hostel we stayed in was called "Away with the Ferries" and at night we found out why. In the bushes around the hostel hundreds of fireflies made it look like ferries; stunning. At night we chilled at the fire near the bar on some couches with some beer, making conversations with fellow travellers. At 22:00 an english girl said to everybody that we had to take our shirts of at 22:30 as every friday it was 22:30 topless. What started with an nice housy feeling close to the fire ended up in everybody taking their shirts off incl the bardude (girls were still wearing their bra) dancing on the bar, loud good music, beer showers and having just an amazing insane time together. Yes people photo's have been taken and published on my photo site thanks to Hans the horny motherf......
A big hangover was the result the morning after but after resting in the garden for another hour with monkeys eating some berries a few metres away from us we got up and spend some hours hiking through the forrest and visiting a beautiful waterfall called Madonna and Child. Took some photos incl my famous Yippie-Ka-Jee photo shoot which I made as my Africa trade mark and many more will be taken the same way across the continent.
A nice relax weekend chilling with some nice folks was created.
At this moment we are developing some Excel exercises for our class today and thinking about what to do next weekend. This depends on my rib as in the morning it still hurts quite a bit but with medication it is ok as I want to do some bungee jumps (incl the highest one 216 meter;)) But this maybe has to wait for the weekend after.

And a small update of my accommodation here in Port Alfred; The first 2 weeks we stayed in a nice villa but then had to move to a house with 8 other guys. Nice house, big and a relax living room but in the last few weeks several laptops, camera, ipods were stolen from inside the house. An alarm system was installed 2 weeks ago but last weekend another laptop was stolen and ipod from a guy in our house. A window was smashed in and at the moment we have 24/7 security walking around our house. Also other houses of students were targetted and valuable stuff were stolen. Four guys incl me and Hans are leaving that house and the dean here is looking for another accommodation which is safer for our valuables. Still life is good here so don't worry to much.

For photos; http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray/

Hope everything is well.
greets joost

The mighty kingdoms of Africa

What a trip!! Added 2 more countries on my country list, and what kind of countries? The kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland; just amazing!!

Our trip started on friday 24th of April with 3 VW golfs, 10 students and 700 km infront of us the Mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Left pretty early and arrived just after dark at the border and then drove on bad roads and dirt roads through Malealea; a nice hostel like place in the middle of Lesotho. As it was night and the concept of streetlight is unknown in Lesotho, we didn't have any idea how the scenery looked like around our huts. The following day we were enlightened by the beauty of the mountains of more then 2000 meters high and heavy rains. Six of our group decided to do a horse ride through the mountains, I imagined that the day would bring only rain so the rest jumped in my car and crossed the country to enjoy spectacular views in the sun as the rain stopped pretty soon as we left. Lesotho is incredible, we heard from several that it looks like a big township and that it is not that special but I loved it. You do see allot of poverty and people with tored up clothes but many wave back when you drive by and the friendlyness of the Lesothie is just immens. Our second day we spent a short trip on horses to fully enjoy the beauty of the country, at night a nice band with homemade instruments filled our night with some good quality African music. 3 nights passed by and the decision for visiting the Dragonsmountain in the north-east of Lesotho on the South African side was easily made.

In 7 hours we drove in our VW golf parade around the northern border close to the Dragonsmountain range back in South Africa. Our backpackers lodge came with a nice swimming pool and a tap at the bar for drinks. Which did inevitable lead to a high amount at the end of my stay as the cocktails and beers tasted very good. The following day we decided to do a hike upto 31000 meters which took the whole day. After driving for 2 hours and hiking up hill for 3 hours we arrived at the Ampitheatre; a 5 km long edge with a 1 kilometer deep valley next to it. Just stunning!! Our next attraction was the second highest waterfall in the world. Sounds spectacular huh?, well.... the water did fell about 930 meters but the water that fell was less then an average small street flushes daily through their toilets. Still the view was again amazing.
Late in the afternoon we arrived back at our hostel where we had our last drinks with the group as tomorrow we wanted to split up; the 8 girls to the coast and Hans and I to Swaziland.

Another 700 km were ahead of us and our destination; Mlilwane Sanctuary a small wildlife park with a Backpackers inside. Early in the evening we arrived in a nice and quiet place which we called our home for the next 3 days.
The hostel was literally located inside a wildlife park and sometimes you saw wharthogs, antilopes and often an ostrich walking around at the site. Walking around the hostel to the main camp 10 minutes away brought you zebra, wildebeast, crocs, hippos, springboks etc. just from a few meters away; sweeett!
That day, queensday we heard about the car attack in NL; insane huh! Still had a few beers that day and just chilled out at the pool, enjoyed a nice meal cooked for us above the camp fire. In our days in the hostel we met many nice fellow travellers who had travelled for longer around Africa. Allot more nice countries wait for me after South Africa.
On friday the first of May it was workers day and as we heard a reggae festival was close by. First our objective of that day was to go to a National park where white and the rare black rhinos could be spotted but after all we went to the festival with another car of whities. In first place we thought that we would be the only white people at the festival but when arrived we saw that a wide variety of people filled the festival ground.
Beautifully located in a valley with pretty mountains around it, friendly people, good music and atmosphere, cheap beer, good cheap food and that all for 120 rand (10€) entrance.
After 6 hours Hans wanted to leave and eventually we left again in a big group to continue the party around the campfire at our hostel. Life was good so we choose to spend saturdays as well in Swaziland (our first plan was to drive another 700 km to Port St. John) that day was all about chilling out at the pool, drinking beer and enjoying other people's company.
Somewhere in the afternoon something amazing happened; as the ostrich was just walking around drinking abit from the pool she sat down next to the pool moved her head and.... layed a huge egg. I SHIT YOU ALL NOT. Check the photos.
Exchanged with many email adresses and spend the night again at the pingpong table and campfire. Sunday was driving day. As Hans has his driverslicence just 6 weeks I drove again the whole day. Left at 7 in the morning and hoped to be in Port Alfred at 19:00 for dinner. We miss calculated the distance and the combination with bad weather (heavy rain and mist) it took us 17 hours!! to get back. One hour stop incl. I hear a new record of driving 16 hours, 1400km in one day. ;) My bed in our villa felt so good that night, but what a week we had!!

For photo's check again: http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray

greets joost

Sleeping between Lions and Crocs; literally!

Hey peoples,

How is everyone doing? Life on the campus is nice and quiet at the moment as many students are of this and next week. Only our group of 30 students and some other south african students who have a resit are here at the moment.

So let me tell you some about the evening in the township last thursday; Our community coordinator wanted to show us life in the township so we drove with two vans late in the afternoon to the township NeMaTo. This township has more then 20000 people and circumstances are harsh. Every week there are many stories about girls getting raped or people murdered and it is unsafe to walk around here at night. But as we all were in a group wearing our blue Humanitarian Shirts and with our guide Alroy we felt safe. We were dropped in the middle of the township and us was told to start walking in the direction where a bar was located. There were allot of people and kids in the streets mainly because the unemployment rate is very high and many people are rather outside then inside. Some people do know that we are here to help and improve education and facilities with our knowledge, so appreciation can be seen in their faces.
During our walking trip we visited a community hall where many people were singing and dancing and celebrating that the ANC leader Zuma was cleared of corruption charges. Later on we ended up in a bar where we payed for a 750 ml beer 9 rand (0,75€) and talked to the locals who mostly all speak english. A guy came in and told us that he was selling half a sheep head for 12 rand. Eventually everybody wanted to taste some of the meat inside the cheeks of the blackened-baked sheep skull. Not bad actually especially the eye which I shared with a classmate (see the bit blurry photo in the link below).

That saturday we booked a 2 day safari with 27 people of the group, a large number but we got allot of discount and eventually payed 600 rand (about 50€) for 2 tours, 2 meals and sleeping out in the open next to a campfire. My first safari (here they call it a game drive) and we saw so many animals; amazing. We were sitting in a 10 person open jeep and our ranger Scot was the best guide you could have. Some animals we saw, some really upclose; rhinos, hippos, girafes, antilopes, crocs and lions. In the evening we enjoyed a magnificant meal and a nice spot was picked between a pont with 2 crocs and a fenced house where the toilets were located. A nice campfire kept us all warm and 5 rangers kept the crocs away and kept a lookout for lions coming not to close. It felt quite safe but at a certain moment Schot shouted in a direction 5 meters from the tree where some people were sleeping; a giant male lion ran off, who was waiting for a person wundering of alone. Every body was suddenly awake and throughout the night many people couldn't sleep because of the hard growling of the 2 mail lions around the camps. The rangers said that this was the first time the lions and the crocs came so close; scarry moment but a great experience!
In the morning drove through the park one more to see some animals and at 10 in the morning we left the park all with a feeling we will never forget. Some groups headed of in their rental cars to see an elephant park nearby but Hans and I decided to go with 3 girls to a Cheetah breeding farm some 80 km away, slept only for 3 hours but driving there was all worth it. As you might know that I worked with Pumas in Bolivia some years ago my dream was ever since to see a Cheetah upclose. For 30 rand we got a small tour through a farm where they breed cheetahs to be released into national parks. We could pet 2 cheetahs who were just 9 months (still big animals doh when you sit next to them) and a full grown male of 2,5 years old. Such a great experience. But still the main surprise was still there for us to see and hold. Two 5 week old lion cubs we could hold and play around with. WHAT A WEEKEND!

This week we started with our projects; well... actually just an introduction because monday we still had a surroundings tour organised for us and wednesday was elections day. And we were told that it wouldn't be the safest day to enter the Township.

My project is called Computer Literacy, and it is about giving basic computer classes to 2 x 20 teachers of the school in the Township. With 5 other students we give basic Windows and Office training for 2 hours per day. As you might now i have studied IT for 4 years so now my knowledge will be usefull, my learning goal is to improve my teaching skills. All the teachers we met were very enthousiastic about our help and we are ready for making a difference.
The 20 computers will be prepared during our week off and so on we have planned a 10 days of trip to Lesotho and Swasiland starting tomorrow with 3 cars. Hans and I have one car and we will drive to Swasiland aswell the rest will visit places on the coast.

The link to some photos; http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray

have fun at Queensday I will celebrate it high in the mountains maybe even on skies, as we heard that there is snow in Lesotho ;)

greets joost

Walking through the slums of Port Alfred

Hello from sunny South Africa,

First of all, thanks for your reactions on my last post. So now you all must be wondering how life is in Port Alfred, the small town where my campus is located.

I flew last Friday the 10th of April after spending 2 nice days with my chica in Germany. After saying goodbye to my parents, brother and Linda my yearly trip to Africa began... YEAH!!!!
My flight mates of tourism were Sabrina, Lidwine and Daphne; 3 of the 30 students doing the same module as I. First a short flight at 16:40 to London Heathrow, waited 2 hours and then a long 11 hour flight to Cape Town, South Africa.
Bit of turbulence during a thunder storm in the middle of the night, but still slept a bit. No problem at customs and quickly arranged the car we booked. After some double espressos our 2 day road trip started to Port Alfred 800km further. Had to get use of driving on the left again especially with 3 hours sleep last night. The first impression of the landscape; very diverse and beautiful. In some cities the slums were visible from the road and a strange image in comparison with the huge houses of the white population with big fences and security.
Sabrina booked a hostel at mosselbay about 300 km east of Cape town so that was our destination before nightfall. On the way we looked for a bay where penguins were spotted so our first stop was there.

After a good night sleep and a good dinner at sea the night before. we continued another 500 km to Port Alfred. As we booked the car for 2 days we didn't see much the first 2 days in Africa but hey... I will be a year on the continent so no hurry.

Arrived on Sunday in the evening, and many of the students arrived around the same time. My roomy for the next 10 weeks Hans was already on the campus and we got our accommodation pointed out to us for at least the first 2 weeks. And you might not believe it but we are staying in a huge white villa with swimming pool and everything, this is because they have to many students to place on the campus so many are scattered in a walking distance of 10 minutes from the campus where we get breakfast,lunch and dinner every day. Easter Monday was spend doing not much; laying on the beach and meeting some of the about 180 students on the campus.

The campus is located about 10 minutes walk from the beach and 15 from the center. It is safe here around the campus and there is security driving around at night still you have to be careful that you have to lock everything when you leave. Since I arrived here a house with students was robbed twice because they didn't lock it properly. And at night you can't walk back to your house alone, always with 3 or 4 persons. This gives a bit of a strange feeling, but I will get used to it.

This week is an introduction week with some lectures and tours through out the city and campus. This also included a tour through the township of NeMaTo and an evening in a bar there. This was an amazing experience, such a difference with the western world. The people's lives are so much different, it is heart breaking to see the poverty and unemployment of these areas. The following weeks I will tell more about it, when I am in working at a school in the township with 5 other students on a really interesting project.

This weekend we (the whole group of 30 students) will go to my first National Park in Africa. We rented 6 cars for 3 days and we will do a tour this afternoon hoping to see the Big 5. And i have already plans for the holidays the week after to go to Lesotho and Swasiland.

Sorry for not posting some pictures yet but my adapter of my laptop blow up when i connected it. My laptop is OK and I will buy a new adapter this week so photos will come soon.

Have to go now. Hope you are all fine.

Greets Joost

It began in Africa

Dear Folks,

Tomorrow my trip starts to the continent where it al began... Africa. At the moment I am in Deutschland at my girlfriend Linda's place. I will fly from Dusseldorf in the afternoon, through London to Cape Town.
So you might want to know where is Joost ending up now and for how long? This my plan;

As I am studying Tourism Managment and choose my minor to be Humanitarian Managment I was able to do 10 weeks of the 20 weeks on a campus in Port Alfred, South Africa.
And ofcourse what is joost gonna do when he is dropped in the south of Africa ..... exactly TRAVEL!! After 10 weeks my good friend Jelke will arrive in Cape Town and we will travel for 2,5 months to Kenya. I experienced 3 months of travelling with him in South America in 2005 so this will be another major experience to do this with our own car and cross almost 10 countries; seeing the jungle, doing safaries, have some shark dives, bungee, see the gorillas etc.

And what would be better to start my fourth year of my international study doing my internship in Kenya with my girlfriend.
So we looked and we found a Dutch company in Kenya and we both got accepted for 7 months starting in September this year!!!

In total, being away for a year! For my study, travel and internship; a better combination is hard to find I would say ;)

The last weeks I have spend my time visiting my family & friends who are so dear to me. And ofcourse my girl who I will miss for 5 months untill she is joining me in September.
Arranged everything and packed my bag and tomorrow at 16:50 I fly with 3 classmates to Cape Town where I booked a car which will take us in 2 days 800km further to Port Alfred.

I wish you all a great year and keep my posted on your adventures I will certainly do that from Dark Africa.

Greets your buddy Joost.

Switching worlds

Back in my hometown Groningen for a while now, here my last 2 days of my silk trip.
On wednesday the 20th of August I wondered through Tehran on my last day (for now) in Iran. I finally found a music store where they sold Tombaks (Iranian drum) for about 50 euro but after finding another store I found a better Tombak for about 30 euro with a good leather bag.

It was already late in the day and after rushing to the bazaar to find some gifts for my friends, I noticed that many shops were closed and with some help from strangers I bought a couple of Iranian flags and some waterpipe tabaco.

I shared my last pistachios with 2 Slowakien backpackers who's photo camera got stolen on the street the day before with more then 1500 photos on it. Really f#$*ed up for them and I promised that I would send them some of my photos.
In the hotel where I stayed I met Jens again, a funny Danish dude who I met in Esfahan, he was taking the bus back to Istanbul and from there fly back to Denmark. I really love trains but really don't like long distance busses, Jens was taking a 36 hours bus !! It reminded me of the 57 hour bus ride in South America but back then I had valiums and Jens didn't want to take those of me. My flight with Emirates will be so much more comfortable.


The next day I got up before 6 and with my last rials I hired the same taxi driver who picked up and brought my dad, and went to the airport. The streets of Tehran are around this time completely empty, strange side as in the daytime these are one of the busiest in the world.


I had to wait before I could check in at around 9 and I managed to stay under the 20 kilo luggae limit.
My last Iranian money was almost gone but as I bought a last thea at a small cafe on the airport I was invited to join a table where 3 employees were having breakfast and I was asked to have some nice bread with eggs as well.
The hospitality here is amazing!!! Even here at the airport. My first flight went to Dubai and was just 2 hours. But a very pleasant 2 hours, flying Emirates Air is great, food is good and the onboard movie and music system is huge.

Arriving an hour late in Dubai I was brought to a counter where a steward told me that my flight to Frankfurt already left and that my flight was rescheduled to tomorrow morning.
I have flown quit abit in my life and I knew that one day I would get in such a situation. The young lady said to me that Emirates booked a room in a hotel and that they would provide food and I could even go into the city!! SWEEETTT.

Got a nice room (double bed and bath) in a 4 star hotel just near the airport, 4 coupons for lunch, breakfast, dinner and snack at a buffet. This is the most luxurious accomodation I have ever had and all employees greet you with "hello sir How are you".
After enjoying a great lunch and a nice bath I got a free airport shuttle to one of the biggest malls in the world and strolled around. Dubai is very hot and humid but the mall is nice and cool. Allot of men wear arab clothes and quit some women wear a full covering burka (haven't seen that in Iran at all) I saw female hair again after 4 weeks in Iran which was quit nice but seeing girls wearing scarfs does has something mysterious.

My flight the next morning was at 8 oclock, so after a good breakfast the Emirates shuttle bus brought me to the airport and my 6 hours of movie entertainment pleasureride started with my flight back to Europe after travelling for more then 7 weeks. I rejected all the free beer offers on the plane as I wanted to drink this holy drink in Groningen

I arrived around 14:00 in Frankfurt and my first experience with German hospitality was not a good one. Standing in line for passport control, I yawnded for a second without even noticing it and suddenly the airport asshole cop started shouting at me in german because he thought I yawned on purpose. Cause it was late I decided to take the train to Holland instead of hitchhiking as friends of me were waiting at my place.

Bought a ticket for almost € 100,- !!! 3 hours of train ride € 100,-!! just sick. I had to wait at Frankfurt trainstation for almost 2 hours and as I sat at a coffee place, the german manager asked me in an angry german way to leave if I was not planning to buy anything. Fair enough but nobody asked me to get my order but the waitress did help other people.
WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL WESTERN WORLD, WHERE HOSPITALITY HAS LOST HIS MEANING! I went back to the owner and ordered a coke and complained about his rudeness, he gave in and appologized to me.
I had a smooth trainride back and arrived in my Greenroom before 22:00 that night after travelling for 15 hours. Seeing my friends again ,who waited for me in my room, was very nice and it was good to see them again.
This last week before school starts I want to spend with my friends before I leave home again in May for 6 months to Africa.

I will miss Iran allot and the people who I have met and I liked travelling with my dad allot. It is an amazing country with great people maybe the friendliest I have ever met. Iran is not dangerous and moslims are one of the most generous kind of people you will meet (and I am not talking about the small % of extremists, who ruin it for the rest) My advice is just go and explore Iran and the Middle East, you won't regret it.

Hope you all like my long posts, in 7 months I will be back to tell you about my adventours in Africa.
I attached a movie of me smoking a waterpipe and some photo's of the friendly staff of the airport, the plane and my favourite drink Rani.

Khoda Hafez

Joost.

Saying goodbye to one of the world's friendliest countries

Today is my last day in Iran after travelling for more then 7 weeks of which spending almost 4 weeks in Persia.

Well I will continue from where I left of in my previous post. Last thursday my dad and I got a busride to Busher at the Persian Gulf. We left our big bagage at the hotel in Shiraz which included 2 carpets we bought the day before and some souvenirs of Persepolis.

Busher is not really a place tourists would visit and it is mainly known for the build of one of the nuclearreactors and as a harbour for takeing the boat to Dubai or Oman.

As I looked up the weather forecast for busher it only showed a cold 42 degrees celsius but later we found out this must have been measured in the shade. As the bus measured a temperature outside of .... 56 degrees celsius !!! for my american readers that is 133 degrees fahrenheit. Which is just sick-ass hot!! Walking on the street in the heat of the day is really not recomendable as the humidity is also very high but fun to experience it for a change.

The water in the Persian Gulf is really cristal blue and as we saw, people do have to swim with their clothes on. The next day my dad went for a swim in the morning and I regreted that I forgot my swimshorts in the hostel as if there are no cops around men could swim in their shorts.

We flew back saturday morning from Shiraz to Tehran with an old Russian plane makeing it to the capital in 1,5 hours.

As we still had the whole day to see some museums we missed before, the National museum being the most important as it was recomended to see it after visiting Persepolis. Also we had a guided tour in Farsi through the Ebrat museum which was a former prison in the time of the Shah Reza (a dictator some 30 years ago). This I can describe as being the Madame Tussauds/museum of wax statues of Iran as many wax prisoners are being shown in the most horrible torture positions.

Our last Gheylan we shared in a nice theahouse in a park where we sat down 2 weeks ago doing the same. I really enjoyed travelling with my dad, and it is good to experience the things with someone you known so you can talk about it when you're back home. Rough plans are being sketched for next year when my parents can come and visit me in .......

The Azadi tower, Tehran's Arc the Triomph was our last attraction we saw with an amazing light show and fireworks as one of the Imams its birthday was celebrated. A nice ending of our trip together.

On sunday he flew very early to Frankfurt and I made my way to Hamedan in the West of Iran with an Iranian friend I met before.

Hamedan is known for a huge cave, a big iranian tourist attraction but as my money was running low and my friend Amir didn't bring any money, we visited some attractions in the city while staying at his family.

My last day in Tehran I will spend looking for souvenirs and gifts and maybe a Tombak an Iranian drum instrument. Tomorrow I have an early flight to Dubai and then Frankfurt where I will spend a night at a classmate his place as I will arrive in the nighttime.

On friday I will hitchhike back to Holland as this was my way of travelling I started with so I like to finish with it as well.

I will miss hospitable Iran and its amazing food, of which I haven't told you about, an indication.. every 3 or 4 days I bought half a kilo of pistachios and once in a while baklava, pashmak (a sort of cottoncandy/suikerspin), nougat, cookies, kebab etc etc.

But I will definetly enjoy the first alcohol containing beer in Europe I will drink as that is what they do not have in Iran. And I am looking forward to see my friends and family again.

See you all soon.

Joost

Jewels of Persia

Dear readers,

So at the moment i am already travelling for more then a week with my old man and I like it. We are currently in Shiraz in the south of Iran and tomorrow we are going to see the Persian Gulf.

I don't know if it's a smart decision because at the moment the temperature can reach well above 50 degrees!!! Some say it's 55 degrees and that is 20 degrees hotter then in shiraz at the moment. but hearing nice stories about the clear sea at the gulf makes us enthousiastic how it's like.

A small overview of what we saw the last week. On sunday the 4th of August I picked up my dad from Tehran Airport at 4 o'clock at night, spending a few days in Tehran and showing him the Iranian customs I learned from my stay in the north.

The night before I was invited to the home of one of the guys I met in Jawerdeh and I was welcomed by the whole family as you can see on one of the photos in my last post. They invited me and my dad to come and have dinner with them and we will after returning to Tehran in 2 weeks. We took the nighttrain to Esfahan where we hangout for a couple of days.

Esfahan or Half of the World, as the name litterly means can be seen as the Paris of the Middle East. Its architecture is amazing... The blue mosques, the palaces and the huge Imam square (being the 2nd largest square in the world) I hanged out with 2 backpackers (Suni and Michei) at night playing frisbee and smoking gheylan (waterpipe) in some theahouses.

In Yazd a city more to the south we shared with the 4 of us a taxi to some very old villages some dating back thousands of years. Yazd is one of the oldest cities in the world and you notice that when walking around. Cause of the heat we didn't do much between 12 and 16:00 and relaxed in our hotel with other travellers. A few days ago we went to an indoor swimming pool with only men, as swimming mixed with women is forbidden in Iran.

The day before yesterday we arrived in Shiraz (hotter but still do-able as the hummidity is ok) and yesterday we saw magnificient Persepolis. An ancient ruine site dating back 2500 years when the Persian Empire was one of the most powerfull in the world. A photo of me standing at the gate can be seen in this post.

My dad and I have developed a game when travelling in Iran, actually more of a competition. As we handsome western men, when we walk across the city many iranians want to talk to us and often ask where we are from and welcome us to Iran. Also many Iranians want to have a photo taken with us, our competition is who can get as many iranians on the photo as possible. Yesterday I held the record of 20 boys from a school (see the photo) today my dad beat the record by more then 30 iranians and himself.

Also when crossing the street we classify its complexity of crossing it on a scale between 1 and 5.

Well as I mentioned it before, tomorrow we are going to the Gulf for a day as we will try to do some swimming or even snorkelling making our way back to Shiraz the day after to fly back to Tehran on Saturday. My dad is flying back the day after to Germany. I will spend a few days after he left with some friends in Tehran and in the west of Iran.

I still enjoy Iran a lot, meeting so many nice people random on the street and learning much of how people think and live here. This is trully an amazing country unregarding of what its government does or of how strict the Islam law is here. Its people, the beauty of the cities and villages, the environment and traditions are amazing. But I will tell you that inperson when I'm back.

greets joost.

Photo's of Iran

Kandovan Village, North of Iran
Above the clouds in the mountains

At the home of Iranian friends
6 person cabin in the train from Tehran to Esfahan, in the upper beds; me and my old man
At the magnificient Khomeini Square, Esfahan

Redefining Hospitality

First of all I want to thank everybody for their nice remarks on my posts and by email. Good to hear that you appreciate my effort for posting my experiences on this blog. Second I am really trying to post some photo's on my blog but the connection here is as shitty as it can be, so I will try to send them by email.

Tehran, Tehran want a noisy and crowded city but as many people said that it is an awfull place I don't hate it yet after being here for a day.
So as I described in my last post my plans were to spend a few days in the mountains in a village called Masouleh some 1000 meter up. After a day seeing the village with 3 polish travellers a got settled in a nice cheap room with a nice view as the polish left for Theran.
Sitting and reading while smoking a Gheylan (waterpipe) a young guy came up to me and started talking to me (believe me not uncommon as many people do that here) and he invited me to sit with his family at their table. His brother and parents spoke pretty good english as well and before I knew it I was invited to their vacation home at the Caspian sea coast and spend the next 4 days with Sourena their son in a far nicer village at 4000 meter high, let me re-phrase that; chilling in a nice village overlooking the clouds (as we where above the clouds and sometimes in)

The family also took me on a boatride through an bird protected area and we enjoyed a marvelous sunset. I learned allot from them regarding the government, country and religion in Iran. As they were making jokes about their president as we in holland would make jokes about the hair of mr Wilders. The Caspian sea coast as it sounds maybe amazing it is actually quite dirty as Iran has a serious garbage problem. At night at the coast and the days spending in Jawerdeh (the cloud village) I met many Iranians together with sourena who helped me translate allot. Many people here know Holland from the flowers and football (van nistelrooy, van basten, robben etc) and I get to answer allot of questions about how life is in Holland and how I like Iran and why I am not married yet.
Iran really is a country you could see in two ways; 1 being the strict islamic country as many people picture it from tv (burning flags, women in burkas or public death sentences) or the other way that actually many young people are not muslim, listen to ''forbidden'' western music and have seen all the latest holywood movies and don't agree with their government and many do drink alcohol. Actually the homemade redwine and whisky is not bad.
My main dish what I had the last 5 days were chicken, chicken and more chicken and a little bread as my room mates in Jawerdeh made the best chicken on the bbq for me everynight.

My Farsi is getting better and people here like it allot that I try to study it. I have so many more experiences I want to share with you but maybe it's better to tell it in person.

Today I wondered through Tehran and visited the big bazar, traffic is terrible here and crossing the street for the first time looks like a death wish but now I really enjoy it and I compare it with a free adrenaline rollercoaster ride when the themepark is closed. ;) I actually get used to the almost 40 degrees in the daytime.
Last night I slept in a shitty guesthouse but it was nice to meet some fellow-travellers, and as my dad is arriving in Tehran tonight I found a better one.
The next 2 weeks I travel with him which will be a different experience for a change.

Also I booked my flight back home and the date is ........ the 21st of August flying to Frankfurt, which was the only one available in europe till the 25th of August. My original plan was to stay a week longer but besides the lack of available flights, I also want to enjoy the last week of the summer vacation back home with my friends as from September I will be busy with school and work again.
And as many Iranians really live the day as it comes with friends and family, I experienced and know that besides my passion of travelling, my friends and family I have back home are of great importance to me. But first another 2,5 weeks seeing all the jewels of Iran in the middle and south.

Hope you have a little idea of how Iran is but actually you should come to this great nation to experience it your self.

Hope everything is well.
greets joost

p.s. Yo makkers hoe was het Festival Reggea Geel dit weekend?

Black must be the fashion this summer

I promise... A small post this time.
Well here I am in Tabriz, Iran after a long train ride from Istanbul. What can I say about this nation in the 2 days I have been here... well first I will start with describing my trainride.
The last (and only) day in Istanbul when I was updating my blog it took me some time like it always does and cause of this I left to late to catch the cheap 1,40 lira tram and ferry to the trainstation. So had to get an expensive 20 euro taxi but eventually made it to the train.
My cabin in the train I shared with Edwin also a dutch guy who was travelling through Iran, Pakistan to get to the Olympics in China. In the train I met quite some western travellers but not the same people you would meet on a interrail train between Amsterdam and Praque but travellers who travelled before to far away destinations and with the same age as I. Had a great time meeting all of them.
My bed on the train was comfy and the first day I slept allot, hitchhiking takes his toll, but the second day when experiencing the beautifull mountains of Turkey and Kurdistan we crossed a big lake by ferry to continue it afterwards by train to Iran. The border crossing was no problem and they didn't even check our luggage. Most of the travellers on board went straight to Tehran but Meghan (Italian/English girl) and I got of at Tabriz.
The train was suppose to arrive at 6 in the morning but during a delay we arrived at 13:00. That day we wondered through one of the longest bazars in the world and met some nice Iranian english speaking people who showed us around town and around the El Goli park at night. With a pleasant 30 degrees temperature its nice here compared to the 40 + in Tehran.
To describe Iran ... well all women where a scarf or chador/burka (allot colloured black) but you see that allot of girls were make-up and hair is visible. Many people ask where you are from and say hello, and I try to speak their language Farsi and you see that they appreciate it so I will study more the next days. Every thing is really cheap few euros for a room, food very cheap and transportation even cheaper.
Well tonight I will have a long busride of 12 hours to rasht where I will continue to a nice mountain village where I plan to stay a few days to experience the village life and practice my Farsi. In my next post I will tell more about Iran and my experiences so far which are quite some.
Khoda Hafez
Joost.

Packing for the Islamic Republic of Iran

The last week in Europe has gone fast and now the countdown begins to my train ride east to IRAN!!! ''OOh I am so excited, I just can't hide it, I know.. I know.. I know... I know... I know I want ...." oh sorry I got a little carried away with the Pointer Sisters.

Back in Istanbul at the moment just made it hitchhiking from Zagreb, Croatia in more then 2 days with a little luck and bad luck.

Croatia has been really nice as me and Jorine stayed there for 5 days after we arrived in Reijka last wednesday.

Stayed for a day on the biggest island Krk on an campsite packed with hundreds of dutch and german families. The day after we try to charter a boat to a nicer island called Rab. Got on a boat doing a round trip across the islands and got of when we arrived on Rab. Hitched a ride to the other side of the island the a nice sandy beach where we crashed for 3 days on a campsite.

Croatia's islands are beautifull and the sea cristal blue; at first side the islands look very rocky and without any trees but the other side is far nicer to the eye.

Getting a taint was not that hard those days. On saturday my plan was to meet up with Sabine a friend from Groningen as she was travelling through Croatia as well, unfortunatly we didn't catch up as she was heading to the south of Croatia. Saturday I found a couple on the camping that could bring us the next day all the way to Zagreb in 3 hours. So on Sunday we arrived pretty early in the capital of Croatia at a good hostel. Good to be in the hostel atmosphere with other backpackers and that day explored the city a bit with 2 americans and Cordie a funny Irish dude.

The following day I was on the road again, on my own as Jorine stayed in the hostel to travel further by her self.

My mission Zagreb - Istanbul in 2 days 1300 km. First day after 4 hours I got 100 km out of Zagreb before I got a ride from on older belgium\ french speaking woman, well actually she got a ride from me (not that way you dirty minded bastards) of the 600 km we drove I!! drove 400 km in the 5 day old Citroen car, speeding my way to Serbia cause she was tired of driving.

Slept in a hotel near the road as it was raining heavenly. the next day was not day fortunate. after 12 hours of hitchhiking and 2 rides I got stranded 300 km further of the city of Nis where my hotel was in Bulgaria. I was not going to make it to Istanbul that day.

Thanks to a person working at the gasstation I got on a bus that night at midnight and arrived this morning at 8 oclock in a hostel i stayed last year in Istanbul. Slept for a few hours and walked through the city with Tom an Irish bloke I met on the bus.

Today picked up my trainticket for tonight 23;55, got more then 600 euro in cash (cause in Iran the ATMs don't work with foreign cards), bought some long trousers (Iran strict rules) and enjoyed my last beer for the next month, smoking a shisha on the roof of my hostel with Tom.

Yes yes Iran here I come.

So the next 57 hours I will be in a train crossing Turkey, and I will enjoy every minute of it. My ticket goes to Tehran but I will get of at Tabriz to explore the north of Iran before meeting up with my dad a week later in Tehran.

The photo is trimming my beard in a park in Istanbul. My plan was to let it grow for 8 weeks but I have been reading about Iran and I learned that without a beard I will get eassier in contact with normal people, as a beard reminds the young people of people of the stricy ismalic government.

For some photos look at my facebook http://www.facebook.com/ search for joost copray ... more will follow.

Have to go.

greets joost

Hitchhiking is getting easier and easier

Hello hello,

A week has passed and at the moment I am in Croatia´s Reijka, just passed the border with Slovenia. The last week has been about relaxing and hitchhiking. I will try to keep it short this time...........................................not!
Monday the 7th I left my Greenroom in Groningen (of course 2 hours later then planned) around 10 oclock and within an hour I had a ride to Germany and after that a slow ride to Bremen. Some of you will know that Bremen is not exactly located south but well I got myself on the right autobahn to Dortmund, Frankfurt and finally stranded near Karlruhe after almost 12 hours nonstop hitchhiking. A night at the motel near the gasstation costed a scandelous 50 freaking euro! so I found a nice spot behind the motel under a balcony (as it was raining) where I layed down my sleeping bag.
That night I slept quite good on the rocks as Joost did not bring a mat of some sort or a tent. Some 500 km remained till my destination near Geneva where Jorine was staying with her family. The 3th car I asked (an expensive french Peugeot decorated with leather , god must be good to these guys, with 2 monks (when I say monks I mean bold guys with old school dresscode with hoodies) inside) with my few words French I got a ride across the border ,skipping Swiss, to France where they dropped me of near Dijon before going to their 12th century monastery. In the afternoon I arrived in Crusseilles near Annecy in France where the parents of Jorine picked me up. The following two days were about chilling in their nice family vacation home on a hill with a beautiful sight and swimming pool. Jorine was staying there with 11 of her family members for the last 2 weeks and I was kindly invited to stay for a few days.
On thursday Jorine and I made our way to the Garda Lake in Italy where my good friend Jelke was working at the moment. In one ride (and the first car I asked) 6 hours from near Geneva to Garda lake; sweeett! After a busride we arrived at a campsite full with dutch families and stayed there for 5 days. The Garda lake region is amazing with beautiful mountains and clear blue water. Spending the days chilling at the lake, jumping from 6 meter cliffs, helping Jelke a bit with his group and frisbeeing ofcourse. Jelke was guiding a group of 12 people and he had and still has the best time in doing what he does it was good to see him again. One afternoon I helped Jelke with a mountainbike trip which I thought would be easy, but going uphill was a bitch. 30 degrees and hardly any food in my stomach and having a small hangover from the night before didn´t make it any easier. But downhill was big fun.
Planning to leave on monday but after obtaining a frisbee injury from falling and twisting my food, we left a day later on thuesday the 15th to Croatia.
Getting to the right freeway was kind of hard but eventually had a good ride all across the border to Slovenia. Jorine and I got stuck in a small village called Kozina and finally took a train to Pivka at night cause we heard that a train would depart from there to Reijka in Croatia.
Last night we camped somewhere close to the village of Pivka ,in a very forest and mountain rich area, after a very cheap pizza meal in a restaurant. The waitress did not recommend to camp outside campsites as there were bears and wolfs around but well we wanted to save some money and stayed near some houses. This morning we took a cheap train to the center of Reijka where I am now at the moment. From here we will decide to which Island we will go to to chill for a few days before I leave to Iran.

The weather here is great and the Kuna (croatia´s currency) is looking good in relation to the Euro. Hope everything is well with you all.
Greets joost

Got Silk??

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen,
It is good to start writing this blog again cause this means that I will be travelling again soon. Very soon .... as in the sense of less then 18 hours. YEEAAHH Finally after 10 months of not-travelling.
So you might want to know, where will the wind take Joost the following weeks. Well here my sort of "planned" itinerary;
From of tomorrow early I will hitch my way to Geneva (swiss) near France in 2 days (hopefully), here I will pick up my travell buddy Jorine where I will travel with for about 2 weeks. We will make our way through the north of Italy to visit my good friend Jelke and spend some cultural days in the Balkan area. Visit Croatia or Bosnia or ... we will see what's hip in the region.
Jorine will travel back by herself and I will catch the Trans-Asia-Express train from Istanbul to Tehran on the 23th of July. After 70 hours of following this ancient Silk route I will spend a month in Iran of which 2 weeks travelling with my oldman, as he will be flying in in the beginning of August.
So why Iran?? This question I have answered many times the last months. I heard many people's perception and vision of what they think Iran is like.
Some friends or relatives have an idea of Iran of being a warzone, axis of evil, a dangerous muslim country where they will hang western people and that I have a deathwish that I would like to go there.
Well if you still think so, read about the experiences I had in Syria last year.
Here some facts!!; Iran/Persia is a dictatorship, and it lacks allot of freedom issues which we find normal having in the NL or Europe. fact. Persia is one of the culturally richest and oldest civilications in this world. fact. Iran is a country travellers and tourists go to, even backpackers like myself. fact. The people of Persia are one of the most hospitable and friendly in the world. "perceived" fact by many people who have been.

But I will give you my vision on that in a few weeks.
I am so excited to finally go..... to experience this secluded country, I have my 31 days visa ready in my passport and no one will stop me from entering this other world.

People let me know if you're in the region of Croatia the next 2 weeks, we could maybe catch up somewhere.

Post you soon,
enjoy your summer, I know I will.

Greets

Harassment at Ben Gurion Airport // Going Home

Sorry for posting this last message of this trip so damn late (been back now for more then 6 weeks, the same length of my trip) but better late then never.. right?
Here is my story of the last 2 days travelling back from Israel to Groningen.
On sunday the 26th (of August) I left Citadel Youth hostel in Jeruzalem around 18:30 after saying goodbye to some good lads I met during my week stay in the most holy city of this world.
My flight was planned for 6 o'clock on monday morning to Berlin (this was the cheapest flight I could find to mainland Europe for being back on time in Groningen for Gronings Ontzet (sort of holiday in my city) on the 28th. This 3 hour flight only costed me $ 220,- or 160 euro.
I had to check in 3 hours prior to flight and because I wanted to make sure I was on time and was looking forward to playing some frisbee at the airport I arrived around 20:00 o'clock at Ben Gurion airport close to Tel Aviv.
Had an expensive koosher Big Mac menu and listened to some music on the very uncomfortable chairs at the airport (didn't find anybody who wanted to play frisbee with). Slept maybe for 15 minutes before I queued in the enormous line infront of the check-in around 2:00 at night.
And now the fun starts!
While I was standing in the queue I was being asked by a nice airportlady to show her my passport; some normal questions followed about where I was going to fly to. When she saw my ''coolest" visa of Syria the shit hitted the fan. While still standing in the queue I was being questioned by 3 different airport persons seperately about my muslim country stamps of Jordan, Syria and Malaysia (which I visited in 2004). "Why did you go there","Do you know anybody there", "Why do you fly to Berlin if you live in Holland", "Why do you hitchhike", "What are you gonna do when you don't get a ride","What do you study","Why are you able to travel so much","How much does your school cost","Bla Bla Bla Bla..."
Ok just imagine how I felt being extremely tired, sick of the Israely mentality, and just wanting to leave this "muslim hatefull" country. After being questioned for close to an hour while my back was being scanned I was sent to a special table inside the big airport hall. Here I was questioned again by 2 more persons and I had to empty both my bags. So also my big bag which it took a long time to pack. All my stuff was scanned individually and I had to pack my bag again.
More questions followed about if I met any Syrians or Malaysians when I was travelling to those countries. How can I not meet the Syrians?? They are so friendly and kind people but I just answered with no I only had contact with travellers. They even wanted to look at my photo's on my camera and asked me why I had so much photos of the ''Peace'' wall that the Israely government is building to seperate Palestine and the Israely territories.
They guy who searched and scanned my bag was still sort of friendly even when I was jokeing about if this is the normal airport procedure or if it was just because of my long hair. After that I had to go with him to a small room where I was being searched.... no people not rectally.... only had to take of my shoes.
After getting the greenlight the airport guy let me through hundreds of people waiting to check in and I changed my elektronic ticket to a boarding pass in a few minutes, you should have seen the looks of all the people who were wondering why I could pass the emormous queue.
Waiting for 2 more hours in the terminal in a state of insomnia finding out that my flight had a delay of 2,5 hours wondering what time I would start hitchhikeing that same day from Berlin.

Finally left the airport at around 8:30, fell a sleep right a way so missed my free breakfest in the plane goddamned (and I was so hungry!)

Arriving in Berlin around 11 in the morning and wondering if I ever would make it hitchhiking in one day back to Groningen at this time. Took 3 trains/subways to a station called Nickolasee where I knew from previous hitchhike experience was a gasstation in the direction west. Started hitchhiking at 13:00 o'clock and after 2 small hitches I had a good 4 hour ride to Dortmund with a friendly couple who gave me some food and drinks aswell.

Got some sleep in their car and after Dortmund found 2 more rides to Hoogezand (15 minutes by train from Groningen) because it was already 21:30 ,having hitchiked for over 8 hours, I decided to travel by train to my peacefull Greenroom in Groningen for free because I seriously had no money left.

That night my friends Freak, Reggie and Pappique came by and it was good to see them again. I travelled exactly for 6 weeks had the best time and learned allot! Met some really cool people on the way and learned allot about the ooh so friendly muslim people, the culture, and the religions in the region.
The media really pictures a totally wrong image of the middle east and muslims in general. For the people who hate the islam and muslims, as I know several who do, just go to the middle east and see for your self. My view of Israel has changed after the many stories of people in Palestine and Israel and also the checks on the airport didn't do my perception of the Jewish state good. I had a nice time in Jeruzalem and seeing my friends Avi and Yair again but I can say that I won't ever come back if the Israely government changes their strategy against their neighbours. I am proud of my Israely stamp in my passport but that is also because I have to renew my passport in march. With a stamp of Israel in my passport it is impossible to go to muslim countries like Indonesia, countries in northern africa, or for example Iran. Iran will probably be my next destination next summer.
I had the best time and I want to thank all the people I have met in this trip. I hope you all enjoyed my posts.

Ma'am Salama

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.