Hey Ya'll!
Another absolutely jam-packed day of traveling!
We woke up in a youth hostel overlooking the amazing
Dead Sea. You really can't sink! Quite a weird
experience. Makes ya' appreciate clean water.
Took a bus to the Old City of Jerusalem and took
in the Wailing Wall, the Souks, Temple Mount,
lotsa' of churches, bus stations and security
check points. Lots of locals and all the IDF kiddies
are openly armed.
Then we took an "Arab" bus (apartheid applies to
mass transit here) to Ramallah, on the other side
of the infamous Wall, which is both impressive,
and oppressive. Spent some time drinking
Turkish coffee and talking politics with a
manager of a Catholic grade/high school. Gave him
a big bag of toys for the honor students. His
brother lives in J-lem and can visit him, but as
a Palestinian he cannot cross into Disneyland.
This is one of the very few places we visited that beinga
foreigner is a handy thing...helps to breeze thru' the countless
checkpoints at malls, bus stations, banks, tourist sites, etc.
Tonight we head for the Disneyland/Jordanian border,
but have no idea if it will be open. We will wait if not...
We managed to get the cute Disneyland immigration
grlz to not stamp on our PPs, but on the disposable Tourist
Entry form instead. Any indication that we have been here
will mean we will not be able to complete the next leg of our
trip to Beirut. We will either have to mail, or hide, any paper,
ticket stubs, trinkets with Hebrew on them.
We were not able to visit the Gaza Strip. It's "closed."
Tel Aviv is a very cosmo town, with nice beaches, chic
cafes, cute lesbian couples strolling hand in hand, plenty
of clubs, and millions of young kids oogling each other.
The polar cultural opposite to Old Jerusalem.
"Next year...Jerusalem!
jim and the WMDB
