Living the Work-Life Balance

Subotica is pretty small, which is good because I only have about 18 hours here. It's very picturesque and about 5-10 square blocks. At least all the sights are within that area. The main/only draw is the architecture, which is very pretty. If Candy Land had a city, I think it would look like this. The buildings look like cakes. One of the main reasons I came here was to see the Subotica Synagogue, which is no longer in use, but was the first building in the city to have the Candy Land architecture (the real name is Hungarian Art Nouveau). It was built in 1901-1902. It's a nice building and really different from Synagogues in the States or in the Middle East.








Apparently there are plans to restore the Synagogue and make it into a museum or landmark.

Next time I ask the hostel whether it's better to go by bus or by train, I'm going to get a second opinion.
After a 9 hour train ride (as opposed to a 4 hour bus ride), I made it to Subotica. The train was interesting. It was really really slow, but I got to see more of the Serbian countryside, which I suppose has its pluses. As soon as the train pulled into the station - all 2 cars - I had a feeling this was going to be a long trip. A nice lady who teaches at a university in Belgrade helped me get to the train - she was going to the halfway point between Belgrade and Subotica. Most of the people - especially the younger generations - speak some English which is nice, and they are really helpful or at least willing to be helpful. But all the signs on the train station are in Cyrillic, at least my one day of Russian at Brandeis is coming in handy!
The train is a single gauge train. I have no idea what that means other than it's really, really slow. And it stops all the time to let faster trains go by. Chalk it up to an experience.

I really liked Serbia! I was kind of surprised. From the airport, you drive over the Danube and all the building are lit up at night so it's really pretty. It's also a pretty welcome change from the Middle East. After spending 6ish weeks travelling in a concentrated area, everything started to look the same. Minarets, mosques, roads, apartments, architecture. They all blend together. But coming to Serbia which is really equidistant from Istanbul as Jerusalem, you get something totally different and totally European.
Belgrade has a great walking street and there is a lot of activity with people out all hours of the night. I'm only spending the nights here and going to Subotica tomorrow morning - on the border of Hungary.

Pedestrian Street in the morning - it's usually filled with people.

Kalamegdan Park/Fortress

I did not get to the country on which I based my entire trip. Partly because of my super controlling family. Partly because maybe it was a wise decision given what is going on in the Middle East w/ Syrians, Israelis, Dubai, and the Palestinians. Does it suck that I didn't get to go? For SURE. I really wanted to go, see the Fanji synagogue, and the timing was such that I maybe could have spent Pesach with one of the oldest and most hidden Jewish communities in the world. I guess these things happen. Definitely no ideal. It put a real wrench in my plans and I had to scramble to come up with alternatives because I still have to get to Istanbul by April 9 - which, ironically, has a new travel warning (Syria doesn't) for increased anti-American activities:

U.S. citizens in Turkey should be particularly vigilant in light of the ongoing "Get Out America, This is Our Country" campaign and upcoming significant anniversaries associated with the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a designated terrorist organization.  Actions against American and/or Turkish-American cultural and business establishments in Turkey are possible.  We remind U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.

 So to make lemonade out of the lemons, I booked a last minute flight to Serbia. I'll be making may way from Serbia, through Bulgaria, to Istanbul all by April 9. I'm book-less, pretty much information-less with the exception of a series of wikitravel articles that I emailed to myself.
Should be interesting.

Jerusalem is always interesting...

from Jerusalem, I went to Akko...which was sadly disappointing coming from Jerusalem. But it's still picturesque and offered some nice views of Haifa. Haifa and the Ba'hai Gardens were nice. The Ba'Hais have a great sales pitch and some great flower manicurists, but it just seems a little too Stepford Wives. I stayed with my cousin in Tel Aviv. He has a great great location. Right next to Ha'Yarkon Park and the New Port. It was just nice to relax in someplace purely Western...though I still couldn't find Lithium Ion Batteries...and my camera has been EATING batteries

So if anyone is still following this, they can see that it's been a long while since I've updated it. Mostly because for the 2 weeks I was in Israel, I thought I was going to go to Syria, which meant that I needed to hide any connection to Israel, including pictures and blog posts...
Israel is Israel. It was nice to be there as a tourist (for the first time in about 10 years). It was more expensive than I remembered.
In Jerusalem, I stayed in a great place near Damascus Gate. Staying on the borders of the Christian and Arab quarters was interesting, but I didn't really think too much of it. There was tons of security the whole time I was there, which included the opening of the Hurva Synagogue and the "Day of Rage." But all in all it was fine. Just an interesting time to be in Jerusalem.

So I decided to cross the border from Jordan to Israel. Not a problem because both countries get along relatively well and the borders are open. The problem is that to get into Syria, I can't have anything that indicates I was in Israel (or "Occupied Palestine"). No sheckels; no luggage tags; nothing with Hebrew or a made in Israel sticker at all.
A lot of travelers get around this by having immigration stamp a separate piece of paper. This way it looks like you never went into Israel and you can still get into Syria. I was a little nervous because I thought it relied on too many people bending the rules. And I still think so, but it made more sense for me to go to Israel now rather than fly from Turkey to Israel.
So I get to the Jordanian side of the border and hand over my passport making ti very clear that I don't want a stamp. The guy says no problem, and takes out a small piece of paper. No problem.
Then the shift change comes and the new guy takes my passport and has a stamp in his hand. I yell "NO stamp!" We get into a short discussion of why no stamp in the passport, and eventually he just puts it on a piece of paper.
I wasn't too worried about the Jordanian side. I didn't think they would have a problem bending the rules. It was the Israeli side I was worried about. As much as Syria doesn't want people with Israeli stamps headed into Syria, I didn't think Israeli immigration wanted to hear that I was going into Syria.
Once I got off the bus on the Israeli side, I proceeded to tell every single official looking person, whether they took my passport or not, "No stamp." It was kind of absurd. Literally everyone. Once I finally got to immigration, I handed over my passport repeating "no stamp, no stamp."
If I was going through airport security, I'm pretty sure I would have been interrogated. I was that nervous. I signed my name like a 5 year old. I got into a long discussion with Israeli immigration about why I don't want a stamp. About my travel history etc.
Eventually I got through without the stamp, but while I was waiting there, it was pretty nerve-wracking.

Petra is easily one of the coolest places I've ever been. It's enormous. At some parts it really feels like you are on a different planet. The colors of the rocks are amazing - like someone painted them in really cool pattern.  The buildings are so impressive also. Everything you'd expect to find in Roman-like temples is there, but it's all carved directly into the mountain. I took so many freaking pictures. Every time I walked by the treasury (the one on all the postcards), I couldn't help but take a picture.





I heard from someone I met in Luxor that there's a 125 year old man living in one of the caves behind Petra. Some of the Bedouins still live in the caves instead of in the village that the Jordanian government built. So the first day I was determined to find this guy. And after some haggling and a really painful camel ride, I got to see him. He's old. I didn't get to inspect his birth certificate, but he's a good looking 125. Bedouin diet here I come.





It was a long day of walking. Just to get to the first sight (the treasury), you have to walk for half a mile down the narrow siq. It's cool, but sometimes you just want to get to the sights.

I must have gotten the pimp cab from Aqaba to Petra. Full fur interiror including tiger head pillows. As one of the people put it "it looked the he killed many animals to decorate his car."

And for the 2 hour ride we listened to a Jordanian Pink Floyd cover band, Queen...and...Boyz II Men "I'll Make Love to You"!

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I left Dahab today for Nuweiba and eventually Petra by way of Aqaba. I heard from a 3 different people to never take the slow ferry. Even if I'm told that the fast ferry isn't running, I should just wait and not get on the slow ferry. One person I met waited on the slow ferry for 9 hours before it left. They wouldn't let him off and meanwhile, the fast ferry left, returned, and left again.
When I got to the ticket window, I asked for fast boat ticket. Not running, the sour Egyptian guy told me. I asked again. Same response. So I made him promise that it wasn't actually running. He said definitely not, only tomorrow. So I bought a ticket for the slow boat. I went to a cafe and saw a big group of elderly American-looking people. They were definitely not going to take the slow boat. So I asked them, and that had tickets to the fast boat!
So I went back to the ticket office and the same guy told me to buy the ticket on the fast boat. No apologies. While waiting for the boat, I met this Argentinian guy who was also going to change his ticket on the fast boat. After a few hours of waiting, we were told we could board the boat. The Argentinian guy asked a non-English speaking ticketer about the boat and started running towards the boat. He go on, I waited for the big American tour group.
He got on the slow boat. I saw him in Petra. I got to Aqaba at 6:00pm and Petra at 8:15pm. He got to Aqaba at 12:30am.
Never take the slow boat.

New Red Hat...

I tore myself away from the sea and made it to Mt. Sinai, which was definitely high on my list of things to do...it's apparently high on everyone's list - at least the Monastery of St. Catherine. There were easily the same volume of tourists at the monastery as there were at the pyramids. Navigating the crowd was kind of miserable, but it was still something to check off the list

And the monastery supposedly houses the direct descendant of the burning bush, which was not at all as spiritual as I had thought.
My group then started the hike up Mount Sinai, which has a lot of freakin steps - 3700 "Steps of Repentance."

My group had a mix of young and older, but I am always amazed at the people who attempt these hikes on flip flops or Crocs. It makes me happy that I'm not travelling in a group because I can't imagine spending weeks or months with some of these characters. There was the one Polish woman who took forever to make it up, but as soon as we were on our way down all she wanted to do was "hurry up," "let's go."
The top is cold and windy, but the sunset is very pretty, and as soon as the stars come out, it's a pretty amazing place. The stars are so bright.

For the past 6 days I've been lost in the blissful calm of Dahab on the Red Sea. This place could not be more of an different than Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. My room looks out onto the Red Sea.

A few days ago while in Luxor I met a girl on one of my tours from Alaska. She was travelling alone and had been for a while. Assumptions about Alaska aside. A few hours after the tour I saw her walking down the main street in Luxor looking pretty miserable. Basically she had been harassed by her hotel manager to the point where she had to leave. In a different case, one girl told me that that the first night she was staying at a hostel the owner made it very clear that it "would be okay" if she slept in his room.
In Dahab, which is like a touch of heven compared to the rest of Egypt - not haggling, no constant "hello, yes, [insert random product] yes, hello." - I was at the super market and with some people and one girl got groped full on in the middle of a busy supermarket...being a woman traveller here seems pretty miserable.


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First a word on pictures - I've been taking hundreds, but they're too big to upload so far. I know that's definitely the most interesting part of the trip, so I'm gonna try and get those up ASAP

So after and overnight train, I'm in Aswan. The overnight train was definitely an experience...If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to have the wind blow by your ass at 60mph, I recommend the train because the WC is just a hole in the floor. It was a pretty good ride though. I made some Egyptian friends looking for the bathroom (I went to another car accidentally) - we'll call them all Mohommed because I think that was half their names anyway. But it was a pretty fun conversation a lot of niceties and comparisons between NYC and Cairo because that was the limits of their English and my four words of Arabic.
In Aswan, I made it to my hotel, booked a tour to Abu Simbel - a big temple - and took the longest boat ride for the shortest distance ever. But at least I can check "take a Felluca ride" off my travel check list. It was pretty relaxing, which is definitely welcome after Cairo.
It's a little annoying to walk around knowing that everyone is trying to shake you down, but I guess you get used to it, but I keep hoping that the next person genuinely wants me to have a good impression of their city/country, then they ask for Bakshish.
Today I went to Elephantine Island (a small island with a 4000 year old village on it)

by Felluca...basically a slow ass sail boat

a woman followed me for a good three hundred feet just repeating "Bakshish, Bakshish." Bakshish for walking?

Bakshish, Bakshish Lady




So starting tomorrow, I'm going to begin asking for Bakshish. I mean I'm more rare in Egypt than Egyptians, so if people are expecting bakshsih just for me walking by them, shouldn't I be getting something in return?
Still the village was kind of cool. It's built completely interconnected and the alley ways are really tight, smelly, but interesting and different.

I tried to take a motor boat (after the Felluca took forever) to get to Aswan's West Bank to see a monestary/old tombs, but the 15, 11 and 9 year olds operating the motor boat (no joke) spun the motor on a rock, which ended the trip.

Tomorrow it's a 3:15am bus to Abu Simbel.

Last night a made it to - I think it's Shar ha'Shamayim synagogue. Which 2 days ago wad the site of an attempted bombing - just a crazy person who threw a gasoline canaster into the synagogue, but still not something I wanted to hear while in the city. When I went it was surrounded by Egyptian police who were pretty keen on me not taking a picture, so I had to be pretty discrete.
Today I made it to the Ben Ezra synagogue which was also surrounded by cards and no photo signs, but here I paid someone off to get one plus snuck a couple on my iPhone.

Then I tried to take the metro to Khan al-Khalili to see the Al-Azhar mosque, got really lost and found another(!) synagogue surrounded by police. This one looked pretty closed, and might have been the Maimonedies synagogue b/c the people at ben Ezra mentioned that the Maimonidies synagogue was being restored. But it was pretty exciting to stumble on a building with a Star of David in the "City of Minarets."

Tonight it's off to Aswan


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I think putting Tom Friedman in my links gives me rights to use his title, but maybe not, so lucky this is a private blog...
Anyway I'm onto my second day in Cairo. It's a very cool city. It's dirty, crowded and I'm pretty sure Arabic originated from a very angry people because it sounds like people are constantly yelling at each other - and they might be because I don't speak a word.
But onto more exciting things like sights! Today I booked a tour of the Pyramids, booked a train to Luxor/Aswan and went to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.
The Mosque was awesome. It's HUGE. Like Tienanmen Square huge.