The Middle East

Well, I just returned home yesterday after my big trip in the Middle East with Kristen. It was a fantastic two weeks exploring and adventuring around Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, checking out cool sites and soaking in the local culture. I have discovered that I really enjoy the middle east and, haggling with cab drivers aside, had a great time there. It was really cool to see so many of these famous places that I had always heard about as a kid, and in person they are no less incredible. It was also very interesting because some of these places, especially Israel, are places that you read about in the news all the time and seeing them first hand really puts the issues going on there in perspective. Of course, any attempt to fully explain the experience of such a trip through a simple travelogue is doomed to failure, but I will attempt to at least give a basic summary of where I have been, and what I have seen.

We started the trip off in good fashion by spending a day in one of my favorite cities, Istanbul. Since we had both been there before and seen the sites, it was a calm day. We spent most of the morning wandering around the markets and hitting up a few of Mosques, and then spent the afternoon relaxing over a cup of Turkish tea and smoking hookah while playing some backgammon. That night we met up with a Turkish friend of ours and had a dinner of fresh mussels from a street side vendor before heading off to see the nightlife. Then it was off to the airport to catch our night flight in to Egypt.

The first advice that I will give you about traveling in the Middle East is never, for any reason, try to spend the night in Cairo International Airport. Without going in to detail, let me just say that it sucks, and you should avoid it if at all possible. Moving on, Cairo is a very interesting city, although It wasn't quite what I expected it to be. The city has a vibe all its own, and feels very different than anywhere that I had been to before, but I enjoyed my time there and learned a lot. We were fortunate enough to meet up with some other friends that were traveling around the region, so there were four of us when we took Cairo by storm.

The first night we were in town we got invited to the wedding reception party of the hostel owners brother. They insisted that we come, and I could not think of a better way to experience Egyptian culture first hand than to check out a wedding party. After a 40 minute drive across Cairo (the city is HUGE) we came to this large pavilion set up in the middle of the road. Our group, as far as I could tell, was the only group with foreigners at the reception, and we got treated like VIPs. They set up some tables right in front of the stage for us and then started bringing out food and drinks. There was a live band, dancing on chairs and games. Everyone was really nice and we had a great time.

The next day we went out and toured around the city, saw Saqqara, Giza, and the citadel and markets in the Islamic part of town. We even stopped in a small shop and watched them making paper out of papyrus. It was a good day, but there wasn't enough time to see everything that I wanted to. I still want to go back to Egypt and see Luxor, Alexandria and some other more out of the way spots. There is just so much to see and do there that it would take at least a month to do it justice.

That being said, it is also kind of exhausting being in Egypt, especially the big cities like Cairo. I don't mean to generalize when I say this, just give a bit of an impression of what it felt like, but it seemed that most people in Cairo are either very friendly, or out to scam you. Since most appear to be the latter, you tend too be overly cautious of the former. It gets tiring not being able to trust anyone, or ask people for help. There are still people that will go out of their way to help you (and they are a big relief to find) but for the most part they are trying to benefit from you in some way. Finding a bus is perhaps one of the hardest things to do in Cairo, because if you ask anyone they will tell you that it doesn't run, or its broken, or its a holiday, or some excuse, then offer to drive you for an exuberant amount of money. You could try asking some one else, but they will say the same thing. Unless you happen to already know where the bus is, or got directions from your hostel/hotel, then best to just take the cab. Needless to say, it gets old after a while. However, I think that is probably my only issue with Egypt.

From Cairo we headed out to Dahab, a coastal city on the Sinai Peninsula. We stayed there for a few days for some diving in the Red Sea and relaxation before catching a bus up to the border to head into Jordan.

Our first day in Jordan we took a cab (again, same problems finding transport) up to Wadi Musa, the town just outside of Petra. Petra a city about 2,000 years old that is almost entirely carved out of rock, and some of the buildings there are just magnificent. Erosion and earthquakes have damaged many of the buildings, but even after all this time some of the structures still look almost perfect. I would have to say that Petra is one of the most spectacular places that I have ever been to. The entrance to the city is a long winding canyon, impressive enough by itself, that leads right into the Treasury, the most impressive building in the city. We spent the entire day wandering around in amazement before heading back to Wadi Musa.

The next day we got up early and caught a 6:30 bus to Wadi Rum and met our Bedouin guide. Wadi Rum is amazing, towering desert cliffs and endless stretches of sand. The vistas there are almost unreal, and it is very humbling to walk around out there. We toured a bit of the place with a 4x4 but once we got away from the main tourist area we switched up and got camels. I have never ridden a camel before, but I have to admit that its probably the best way to travel in the desert. Its very relaxing and enables you to enjoy the silence without the roar of a jeep engine or anything. You get to move around at a steady pace and enjoy the scenery.

We spent the rest of the day riding the camels before arriving at our Bedouin camp, a set of three large tents sheltered underneath a rocky outcropping in one of the valleys. After watching the sun set and eating a traditional Bedouin dinner, we spent the night chilling around the campfire sharing stories and listening to one of the locals play the lute. Later that night, once the moon went down over the horizon, I got out of bed and went out to watch the stars. Being so far out from any city and having the air be so dry, the stars were brilliant, thousands of tiny diamonds set against an inky black backdrop.

After Jordan we had a day long trip out to Tel Aviv, the first city in our Israel adventure. After a bit of a mishap, we were fortunate enough to be able to meet up with some Israeli friends of Kristen and stay at their place for the duration of our time in Israel. They were a great couple and they even spent two of the days going on road trip to different places with us. It was great, because they were able to explain things to us and takes us to places that we wouldn't have been able to go to on our own. We spent a few days in Jerusalem, made a trip out to the Dead Sea, and spent a few more days checking out other sites. After that it was time for me to head back to Bulgaria, and time for Kristen to go back to the States.

Overall I really enjoyed my time in the Middle East. I haven't been back now for two days and I already miss the food. But, its back to work now, catching up on whats been going on while I have been gone. I do have three new folders of pictures up though for those of you interested, they even have captions this time. Check them out. http://picasaweb.google.com/justinrobarge