desert express

it's time for some dusty pictures.
with some fellows I went at the holidays (Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year) to the south of Israel. squeezed between Egypt and Jordan the wannabe Las Vegas city Eilat was the spot to reach. at the Red Sea.
we slept in a catholic hostel (hui) and continued Thu morning to the Jordan border. in Aqaba, Jordan we rented a car and headed the antique sight Petra. everything sounds so easy, doesn't it? but actually it was a mess at the beginning:
the call agent of the famous Israeli bus company messed the dates so that we had no valid tickets for the trip TLV - Eilat. after some urgent calls and detaining the bus driver we were supposed to pay again and to stand for 5h in the bus. the floor was everything but not inviting to sit down. Eilat finally was not my cup of tea. bad beaches, empty streets (New Year) and this religous wanna read the bible accommodation.
so the border crossing the next daywas an highlight. took us 1andahalf hour and some departure taxes. behind the border: Arabia! Bargaining! Taxi, Rental Car...everything. I love it. you never lose the feeling to be fooled. So my famous digusting view was cut into my face (helps bargaining).
we saw Petra slept and one night in Jordan after a dinner in a men dominated city. no girls neither in the cafes, restaurants, nor streets. our hotel was called Venus Hotel. What a name! but anyway no hot water in the pipe.
on Fri we stood some hours in the Wadi Rum, a desert in Jordan. the group prefered also to ride Camels. Peer pressure forced me to rip my ass and tought me, never again!
back in Eilat at Fri night we spend a night in the most beautiful Youth Hostel I've ever seen. Clean rooms with fresh flowers and sea view, breakfast buffet and tons of Grannies and her husbands or lovers. strange world. I missed the German Jugendherberge with the crappy cheese rolls.
At Sat we went snorkeling in the sea. which was very interesting and nice. we also found Nemo but had no time for a BBQ.
The 5h bus trip we were allowed to sit on payed seats, a fact that actually kept us away from our new favorite activity: silly sleeping people watching. but okay. no complains. we slept instead. beautiful like prince and princess.
back in town I fight for the money refund and try to rent some bikes for the next holiday, Jom Kippur. a day where Israel pretends to be dead. No shopping, eating, drinking, dancing, driving, smiling, sex and no leather on the body not even shoes.
we will see where the sox will carry us to...


some selected impressions:


autumn. empty beaches and the sparely visited Port.

the Dead Sea

Negev desert

someone messed it up? ei, ei...
l 2 r: Bernhard, Paul, Janette, Viktoria and me.



Petra is clompletely cut into the stones.

like 2000 years ago





the Wadi Rum. May you can't figure out the scale but under the tree in the left are 4 people, 5 Camels and a jeep. we climbed high to see nothin but stunning landscapes.

what's left to say is that I beg for one trip that really works from the beginning to end. but I guess this is the wrong region. I take it with humor and cry it into my pillow.

I hope some pictures of the snorkeling will follow. my cam was empty then but I try to catch some of the others.
thanks for scrolling!