June 2005 · Middle East Trip
David & Noel Coory's Journey to Israel and Jordan
A travel diary documenting the first leg of an epic Middle East adventure —Lebanon to Israel and Jordan
First Look
Overall Impressions of Jordan
- Head-covered women.
- Old traditional families and customs.
- Very cheap shopping and hundreds of small shops.
- High value currency, their Dinar is worth more than the US dollar.
- Mosques everywhere.
- Jordan Valley border very hot.
- Arranged marriages.
First Look
Overall Impressions of Israel
- Palestinian Arabs mostly warm and friendly.
- Jews paler skinned, mostly arrogant and unfriendly.
- Hasidim Jews in black suits and top hats, curly locks.
- Palestinian Arabs oppressed by Jews.
- Palestinian Arabs forbidden to enter parts of Israel.
- Giant 12 metre high, 200 km long concrete wall being built by Jews to divide off Arabs.
- Heaps of garbage and old cars in Palestinian areas.
- Whole of Jordan Valley hot.
- Nice fruit in Jericho.
First Look
Overall Impressions of Jerusalem
- Unsightly black tents and shacks in Bedouin camps on outskirts of Jerusalem.
- Same junk jewellery sold everywhere.
- Arab Souk markets everywhere (if you’ve seen ten shops you’ve seen them all).
- Churches everywhere.
- Constant mosque calls to prayer and ringing church bells in Jerusalem.
- Skull caps (kepars) always worn by practising Jews.
- The sometimes funny, tummy-forward walk of , with their hands behind their backs.
- Hasidim Jews more cheerful than non-Hasidim Jews.
- Thistles growing everywhere.
- Thousands of tomb stones on the sides of the Mount of Olives.
- Hills and more hills.
- Impressive night views of city lights.
- Heavy young military police presence, armed with AK47 type sub-machine guns.
ARRIVAL IN JORDAN
AN EXPENSIVE VISA SURPRISE
We land at the Jordan Queen Alia Airport and are met by a tour guide in the terminal. He’s an older Jordanian man in his 60’s, with short-cropped grey hair.
As he organises our Visas and luggage I notice that the cost of a Visa, up on a notice board, is 10 Jordan Dinars, about NZ$16. This is far cheaper than the $100 each we were charged back in New Zealand by Holiday Shoppe. I queried it at the time. We have obviously been ripped off, either by our Jordan connection or the New Zealand tour sub-operators Gulliver’s.
I take a photo of the sign. I will try and get some of our money back from Holiday Shoppe or Gulliver’s. The guide obtains our visas and suitcases, then leads us outside the airport into the glaring heat to meet our taxi driver who will drive us to the Israel border about an hour away.
Our driver’s name turns out to be Hussein and he speaks good English. His taxi is a Peugeot 407 which makes a change from Mercedes. Noel and I sit in the back as the tour guide is coming with us part of the way.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AMMAN
A Spacious Desert City
Amman appears to be quite spacious for an ancient city, with wide streets and clear blue sky. Cars are in better condition than Lebanon. Most of the buildings seem to be white. All but a few of the signs around the city are in Arabic and every woman in the street is wearing a hair-cover veil. It looks an exotic interesting place. Fresh fruit and vegetables are on sale everywhere.
The tour guide is sitting on theig rht.
OUR DRIVER HUSSEIN
A Sincere And Wholesome Man
Our driver Hussein is a man about 30 (picture below). He seems a very sincere and wholesome man, friendly and kind. As we travel he talks to us about conditions in Jordan at the present time. Jordan is evidently a very traditional country, entirely Moslem. Arranged marriages are the norm.
Hussein had an arranged marriage. He says to us, “I only see my wife for first time on our wedding day. But we very happy.” He said that most Moslems have 9 to 10 children. I think he said he had four young children so far.
Noel remembers him saying that he had three wives, but I must have missed that.
JORDANIAN FAMILY VALUES
A Very Traditional Society
I ask him what would happen if a local girl got pregnant outside marriage and went home and told her parents. He turns and looks at me with a horrified look on his face, and says, “Oh no! That could never happen in Jordan, If that happen here, the fathers would take that girl and kill her in the street. Oh no! That would be terrible sin. That never happen in Jordan.”
Divorce also seems rare among Arabs throughout the Middle East. Both Coptic and Maronite Christians forbid it, and Moslems make it very difficult. Moslems do however offer the alternative of taking a second, third or fourth wife which probably takes care of any problems in this matter.
LEAVING AMMAN
Rural Jordan
We come up behind an old Toyota truck, with veiled women on the back tray, clothed from head to toe. Just their eyes showing. Hussein tells us they are gypsies.
We soon leave the city of Amman and begin driving through poor rural towns. These are all flat, and have wide streets. We see many young men sitting or standing in the shade with apparently little or no work to do. Hussein confirms that it’s hard to get jobs in these small towns.
In one village we are held up while a large herd of goats cross the road. Reminds me how flocks of sheep used to hold up traffic on New Zealand roads.
We drive on. Not a cloud in sight from horizon to horizon. No wind. Stays like this evidently for six months, this time of year.
Jordan is so traditional it is still ruled by a king. Here is a picture of him, dressed in all his finery.
FAREWELL TO JORDAN
Across The Jordan Border
After our Israel trip during this week, we are booked to come back to Jordan again to fly out to Egypt. We do so and spend a highly interesting day with Hussein, touring, shopping and doing other things in the city of Amman. Jordan is a fascinating country to visit.
Eventually we arrive at the Jordan-Israel border in the Jordan Valley. We step out of the air-conditioned taxi into very hot conditions. Temperature is around 40°C.
We now have a 5 minute bus ride across the Jordan river to the Israel side of the border. There is a wide strip of ‘no mans land’ between the two nations across which tourists must travel by bus.
CROSSING INTO ISRAEL
Our First Encounter With Israeli Customs
We climb into the hot Israeli shuttle bus with a noisy air conditioner going flat out and are trundled over to the customs checkpoint on the Israel side of the border. Looking out the window we see young Israeli border guards with guns, searching two trucks that have stopped.
Perhaps Noel and I look like terrorists, for we get the third degree. More so than the other visitors it seems. All sorts of questions fired at us, particularly at me with my Arab features.
One of the border officials, a tall, plump girl about my height, is very persistent. She stands in front of me, flipping through my passport and plane tickets firing a lot of silly questions such as, “Why you leave your family alone in New Zealand?” and “Why you come to Israel?”
She replies, “Is Moses in Bible?” I tell her that he wrote the first five books. I am becoming irritated by her attitude and show it in the tone of my voice. Noel has got through OK and is waiting for me.
So she goes and speaks to the young man official and I speak with him instead. He is much more reasonable and soon clears me to go through.
“So she goes and speaks to the young man official and I speak with him instead. He is much more reasonable and soon clears me to go through.”
THE WRONG BORDER CROSSING
A Mix-Up In The Desert Heat
We stand and wait and wait in the heat and sun, but no sign of the van. Finally Noel tunes in his cell phone to Israel and uses it to call our emergency number, a Gabriel in Jerusalem, who runs Sinbad tours and is looking after our Israel part of the trip. Noel is surprised to find that Gabriel is a man, not a woman. (The angel Gabriel in the Bible was male.)
Gabriel tells Noel that the van is there waiting for us. We look around in vain and wait a bit longer, but still no van. It is easy to see how people can quickly die without water in extreme, dry, desert heat. We have both drained our water canisters already.
Fortunately there are a few taxis parked nearby. Finally a taxi driver, an older Jewish man comes over to us. We explain our predicament and he calls Gabriel again on his own cell phone and speaks to him in Arabic. He finally discovers that we have been dropped off at the wrong border crossing, or Gabriel has got the border-crossings mixed up. The correct border crossing where the Sinbad van is waiting is many kilometres south, about an hour closer to Jerusalem.
A RESCUE IN THE DESERT
At Last, The Right Bus
The Jewish taxi driver hands me his cell phone and I speak with Gabriel myself. He apologises and says that a mistake has been made and that the taxi driver he just spoke to would arrange for a taxi van to take us to meet the bus he sent to the other border crossing to pick us up. He assures me there will be no cost to us.
So the taxi driver who rang, takes us over to another Jewish taxi driver with an air-conditioned van (most welcome) and off we go. This driver doesn’t appear to speak any English except to tersely say, “Put on your seatbelt please.”
(Later, this evening, when I think about all this, I suspect some possible corruption by the Jordan organiser, with his $100 visa fees, informing our New Zealand travel agency there is no bus from Israel to Egypt (there is), and insisting that we travel back to Jordan from Israel to fly to Egypt, and also the possibly shorter taxi ride.)
About an hour later we arrive at the other border crossing and board the van, or rather, the small bus, originally sent to pick us up. The driver is a friendly Arab.
THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM
At Last, Jerusalem
Soon we are driving in this small bus, heading up from Jericho to Jerusalem. This is the road where the famous Good Samaritan story told by Jesus was set. I feel quite excited to see Jerusalem at last.
Finally we drive into Jerusalem. It is a much bigger and hillier city than I had imagined and has a modern motorway winding through the middle.
THE SEVEN ARCHES HOTEL
A Room With A View
We drive along this motorway to the central Mount of Olives area and are dropped outside the Seven Arches Hotel (formerly the Inter-Continental). Noel, as usual has to tip our bus driver and also a hotel porter who takes our luggage.
Our hotel is located in a now Palestinian area of Jerusalem and is run by Palestinian Arabs. Jerusalem has clear blue skies and pleasantly warm temperatures, but is rather windy on this hill top.
The Seven Arches Hotel is very large and it is a long walk to our room. However it turns out that we have a corner room and windows that look across the valley to the old city. Quite spectacular. Rather hard beds however.
Our room key has a huge heavy glass block attached. Evidently this is to encourage us to leave the key at reception when we go out, same as in Bcharre, Lebanon.
HASIDIC JEWS ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
A Fascinating Sight
As we look out the hotel window we suddenly see an amazing site. A bus pulls up and about 60 cheerful looking Hasidim Jewish men, complete with black suits, white shirts, hats, pigtails, beards and glasses, file out and proceed down the hill to one of the large enclosed tombs. They remain clustered inside and around this tomb for about an hour.
Noel and I learn later that these Hasidim Jews like to pray at the tombs of Holy Men. They burn candles and write messages or prayers on pieces of paper and leave them in the tomb.
AN ARAB CAFE ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
Trying Falafel For The First Time
Noel gets badgered by a persistent old Arab to take a ride on his donkey. He refuses but the man keeps pestering him. The smell of donkey poo is quite strong in the hot sun. As we walk off we see the Hasidim Jews coming back up from the tomb to their bus.
We walk further down the road and decide to break one of the basic travel rules listed in all travel books, ‘Never eat in a grotty, deserted eating place’. We do so because we’re hungry and there doesn’t seem to be any other place around. So we enter an empty, grotty little Arab food café, not too far down the road from our hotel.
We decide to try out the popular falafel, which are fried balls of chickpeas, onion and herbs, plus vegetables and pita bread. The friendly owner, a man about my age (late 50’s) is delighted to have some customers and comes out to serve us beaming.
When he has done so, he comes over and sits with us at our table and seems to enjoy speaking with us. He pours more strong olive oil on my food, (far too much) and shows me how to cut the hollow pita breads in half and make pockets in which to pack the falafel. It seems a lot more sensible than the hamburger system where food squishes out the edges as you eat.
AN EVENING WALK THROUGH THE KIDRON VALLEY
From Gethsemane To A Camel
After our meal we walk further down the road, which runs along the side of the Mount of Olives northward and we turn left and go down into the Kidron Valley area. We notice that the hot water tanks on the houses exposed to the sun on the roofs of the houses and are mostly painted black. A simple method of solar water heating.
We then leave the road and walk up the Kidron Valley itself, back south again. This area is full of brown, straw-like grass, burnt rubble, rocks, thistles, olive trees and garbage. It smells faintly like a refuse tip.
We walk on further and come to more garbage, from which the smell is coming, and even worse thorns with large nasty prickles, also old graves, and signs of drug use.
Finally our way is blocked by the fence to the Garden of Gethsemane, more olive trees and some old stone houses with fences and barking dogs. So we find a dusty narrow road leading up out of the valley towards the old city and take that. To our great surprise we come across a tethered camel.
As the sun is setting, we see a beautiful gold cupola dome on an Eastern Orthodox type church among the trees up on the hillside to our left.
RETURNING TO THE SEVEN ARCHES HOTEL
A Warm Evening In Jerusalem
On the way we find a long black millipede on the path, about eight inches or 200 mm long. I take a close-up photo but forget to switch the camera to close-up mode, so the picture is out of focus. Our hotel room is a bit hot from the evening sun streaming through the windows.
Although the air conditioner sounds like it’s working, it’s not cooling the air.
Later I recharge my Ipod using a computer in the hotel office. The computer is totally clogged up with spyware and a million cookies, but I manage to clear enough of it away to get it working at a reasonable speed.
I also send off an airmail to the family.
David & Noel Coory · Middle East Trip
June 2005 · Tauranga, New Zealand to Singapore and beyond Redesigned with care · Original travel diary preserved