WARNING: these posts have not yet been proof-read. It’s difficult to find decently priced internet connections here. The actual posting time of these entries is April 22, in Jerusalem – in the Olive Tree hotel… with free WiFi!

2005.04.19

*Pilgrimage Day 10*

Day 10

Jordanian Border

The longest day of the trip I guess. Literally the whole day was spent transferring from Jordan to Israel. We spent a ridiculous 5 hours at Jordan’s exit point (arrived at 10am, finished by 2pm)… then another couple of hours in the Israeli border.

Between the Jordainian and Israeli borders, we had lunch in this restaurant, which had a beautiful view of the landscape (of which I will put a wide angle [stitched] shot of, at the gallery). The food was ok, but not excellent – it also could be considered extremely expensive since it cost us about 10USD for a single serving… and it’s not a buffet!

Israeli Border

So we arrived at the Israeli border and as I said, we spent yet another couple of hours… the security was really tight there, and me wearing my arabic shirt didn’t help the situation. Actually it wasn’t an issue (thank god) but ironically, Pia’s passport was “detained” which left the group stuck in the border for such a long time – without explanation.

We’re thinking it was because her passport said that she’s been to Indonesia (her Bali trip), an Islamic country (Egypt isn’t considered since it was part of the itinerary) – so it could’ve been an issue for them. But in any case, we were still able to get in eventually after much ado, and it was about 8pm by then.

Supersize Me!

We were famished, so instead of waiting to get to hotel for the free dinner, we just ordered a couple of quarter pounder meals from McDonald’s. They were pretty big, and tasted like a Carls Junior burger (or Hardee’s, as it is called here) more than a quarter pounder.

The currency here is a Sheqel (pronounced as Sheckle) – approximately 1/4 of a dollar