Middle East 08

Having spent the last 26 hours in the India airport, the Qatar Airport, the Thailand airport, or on actual planes, I have had time to freeze and look back on my experiences thus far. 

For some reason, and I’m sure someone can tell me, they keep these airports at sub zero temperatures. It is ridiculous.  We got reprimanded here in the Qatar Airport for playing cards, even though it was for fun and not for money. We then did another faux pas and were eating in the gate area unaware that this is the month of Ramadan and it’s a no-no to eat in public.

Get me back to Jordan already! We slept in the India airport, and on the second leg from India – Qatar. 

When we arrived here in Qatar, my dreams of visiting for our 6 hour layover were shattered due to the price of a visa. As a consolation prize, they gave me a voucher for some free disgusting food.

Okay, here is my Top Ten so far: (in no particular order)

1. The Iraqi taxi driver who was convinced that Tony Robbins is behind all of our Government’s decisions. (Amman, Jordan)

2. The Taj Mahal (Agra, India)

3. Hiking Petra (Jordan)

4. Sunset on Hat Ton Sai (Railay, Thailand)

5. Yom Haatzmuut (Tel Aviv, Israel)

6. Udaipur (India)

7. Weekend in the Golan Heights (Northern Israel)

8. Turkish Baths (Alanya, Turkey)

9. Hiking Mount Sinai (Sinai Peninsula, Egypt)

10. My Birthday (Tel Aviv)

That concludes my free internet time here. Will write from the next stop.

As my time in Bangkok comes to a close, I am anxious and sad to leave. The next week will be tough, as the “travel” part of travel always is, but at least I’m getting to see more and more of the world’s airports.

Bangkok has been great as always.  We’ve been taking advantage of much more public transportation, and seeing much more of this city than a typical (read wealthy) tourist.  Yesterday, we were on our way back from the Siam Center, and a guy on a bus kept looking at us and speaking in Thai, and we thought he was kind of crazy.  It was clear to him and everyone on the bus that we didn’t understand him, which prompted him to add hand gestures that also didn’t translate.  After a half hour (rush hour) ride, it became clear that he was telling us how long until our stop, and how to get to our place once we got off.  What a nice guy!

Josh and I were joined by some friends – Josh’s buddy from LA and a friend of ours from NH (go Dorner!) who was on our program in Israel.  It’s been really nice with the new additions.  Yesterday we took a boat ride down the river and jumped on a SkyTrain with no real destination, but found ourselves kind of wandering around and enjoying the views.

Embarrassed, I admit that last night we went to the Patpong (red light) district to take in a Ping Pong show.  We all went with a girl from Australia that Dorner had met on a trek, and set off for the adventure.  The shows are actually pretty disgusting and really sad, although it’s incredible what some Thai women (and former men) can do with their body parts.  I’ll leave it at that. It’s probably a blessing that photography is not allowed. 

Tomorrow is the end of this part of the tour.  We will take the bus to the airport, take a flight to India, spend the night there, then fly to Qatar and spend the day.  We fly at night from Qatar to Jordan,  and spend the night there, in Amman.  Friday morning, we will wake up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus to the border by Jerusalem, where we will cross on foot back into Israel.  We then take a sherut to Jerusalem, then a bus to Tel Aviv, where we can once again kick it by arguing about the price of everything, enjoy some hummus, say goodbye to some favorite places and people, and commence the journey home.  I’m not sure if I will have internet anymore, but I’m sure there will be some great stories from the travels home, which will eventually be blogged, possibly accompanied by some pictures.