Getting There

I knew the area around the equator was hot but I was not expecting it to be 29C when my plane got in at 1:15 am. I have jeans and my windbreaker on, so within seconds I am sweating and a minute later, soaking wet. I find out that it’s too late to get to the hotel I made arrangements with to stay at this night, since there is no taxi service at the airport other than air-taxi and ferry, both of which are done for the night, thankfully I never gave them my billing info so no loss there… My only other option for sleep tonight is the airport hotel, which Airport Information was kind enough to call for me. “Yes we have a room, and it can be yours for the low low price of $289 USD.” Pass. Luckily there is a 24 hour cafe at the airport so I go there to get a Red Bull and wait for sunrise, and hopefully my air taxi to the island I am staying at.

After waiting what seemed like an eternity for my flight, and several power naps later, I was finally on the sea plane no later than 10:40. My first sea plane flight, it was pretty cool, I didn’t even realize right away that we were airborne, unlike normal flights when there is a moment when you can feel the plane jump into the air, this was a much smoother, or possibly harder to notice, transition from water runway to air. It wasn’t a long flight, which was fine because the seats were small and not very comfortable but I grabbed a nice window seat and took some pictures. It was a little cloudy but I think some of them came out alright.

Spa-aaaaahhhhh………

Had my first spa massage today, it was a freebie so it was only 10-15 minutes, but I am starting to see why people pay money for these things. I go back for the hour long version on Saturday after some scuba diving.

Shark Sighting

I was out snorkeling today (Friday) and I encountered not one, but two reef shark! This was my first shark encounter, and I have to say it was pretty cool. I was about ready to get out of the water and started to head back to the channel that cuts through the reef giving access to the island, when I saw the first shark. After following him for a little bit I noticed his friend and was able to get a video of the both of them and some other random large fish. It’s not the best video since I was busy watching them instead of paying attention to what the camera was pointed at but it’s not terrible. There were a few points where a wave/surge came over us and pushed one of the shark really close, like within a few feet. After I lost track of them, I was on my way back to the beach when I almost went right past a school of large fish, each about 18-20 inches long. They were almost the same color as the water and very hard to notice. I had fun chasing after them and swimming in the middle of it, haha, got a video of it too.

Service with a Smile

Some of the best waiter service I’ve ever had, and from a friendly person as well. Compared to Athens, where everyone seemed to ignore you, or worse, give you dirty looks when you went to eat at their restaurant, this was paradise. The food was buffet style, but very good, always varied and always one made-to-order option, like eggs for breakfast (scrambled, fried, omelet), stir fry, tacos for dinner. Some of the best things I had there were pan fried fish with garlic butter sauce, lamb cubes with gravy, seared tuna with lemon cream sauce, homemade ice cream, chocolate and strawberry creeps, and fresh melon juice. Everything but drinks at lunch and dinner were included in the bill.

Stars

I finally got to see some stars for the first time in a long long time, but even here it wasn’t that great because of cloud cover. Half the sky had a lot of stars I could see and half the sky was black. I think Phuket Thailand may be my last chance to get in a good star gaze, but if the weather doesn’t cooperate or the air just isn’t clear enough, I think I’m going to try to schedule a weekend at home when there is no moon and head up to the mountains for a little campfire and some stars.

Turquoise Water

The water here is just like in the pictures. Clear, turquoise, beautiful, and warm too. No wet suit required for snorkeling and I didn’t use one on my dives either and it was fine. I probably should have taken more pictures of it but was too busy just enjoying it.

Rain

It rains here, a lot. I think it rained every day. And not that I am complaining, but on my last day, I was trying to dry a shirt and towel outside in the sun, because it was hot and sunny and I had to leave soon and it starts pouring out of no where!

No Shoes

I got used to everyone including, all the hotel staff, walking around barefoot, but barefoot pilots I was not expecting. On my sea plane flight back to Male, I happened to have to sit in the front middle seat because everything else was occupied by passengers from other islands, so I can see into the cockpit and I was looking at the pilot when I noticed he had no shoes!

Right now

I am sweating at the airport.. again. This place is hotter than hell and I think I am ready to leave.

Short stories from Dubai:

You may have heard that Dubai has the tallest building in the world, the tallest and biggest hotel in the world, the largest artificial islands (under construction), but they also have the largest shopping mall. It is so large that the mall information stations have free fold up paper guides like some large museums so that you don’t get lost. I think I only saw a part of it but I did manage to stumble upon the indoor ski slope and snow park, inside the mall… But it was my last day here and all five of the sunglass shops I checked had the shades I wanted marked up between 50-100% over what it costs online, so I head outside to get a taxi to the beach where the tallest hotel, Burj al Arab, is located. Its the one that almost looks like a really big sailboat. And there is an endless line of taxis waiting. My driver was really pissed that he got stuck with me, going only a “short” distance, and said it took him an hour to get through the line, “sorry..” I told him. So five or six minutes later I am dropped off at the beach and I see it up close, well still probably a km or so away. I didn’t get to go inside the, since if you aren’t a guest, they won’t let you even cross the bridge that leads to it. Unless of course you have to have an appointment for lunch, which runs about 150 USD, I’ll pass.

On my first day I got up too late and missed the hotel shuttle to whatever touristy place it was going to that day, so I had to find something nearby and the Dubai Museum was within walking distance, also the Top 10 guide book I got listed it at number one of ten things to do in Dubai. I was a little skeptical but nothing else was even remotely close and I needed to get out and eat something anyway. So I find the place a short 5-10 min walk from my hotel. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a museum, as probably should be expected for a city that is only recently became of any significance. From the outside it looks like just the remains of a small fort, smaller than half a football field. Oh well, entry fee is less than 1 USD, how bad can it be? Let me just say, you get what you pay for, which in this case is not much. To their credit, there was a larger underground area, but all it consisted of was dioramas of the brief history of the city. Zzzz..

The good news is I didn’t waste that much time there, and the Lebanese Grill restaurant I passed earlier was open now so I went there to grab some lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever had Lebanese food before and it was pretty good. Had the mixed grill with lamb and chicken and some sausage type thing, but I don’t think it was pork. Also came with a big salad, olives, bread and a coke all for about 12 USD.

One thing I wanted to do in Eilat but didn’t have time for was a Desert Safari so I thought I would see if I could do one here. Fortunately I was able to book one for the same day, and they had included pick up and drop off. It was pretty fun, spinning around sand dunes in a small jeep convoy. My group definitely had the best driver, and somehow I managed to get the front seat so I had a great view. I got a couple videos of going up some 40+ ft dunes and other craziness. After they took us to a meeting point where other groups doing the same thing all gathered for Camel riding, BBQ dinner, and belly dancing… fun, and for a good price.

I didn’t bring shaving cream with me because I wanted to do the carry-on only thing but most airlines are making me check my carry-on bag anyway so I finally broke down after several excruciatingly painful dry shaving experiences and bought some shaving cream in Dubai. It wasn’t the normal Gillette aerosol gel in a can, instead it’s inside a toothpaste-like container. I was about out of blades too and the ones I brought with me were a new kind I had never tried at home, so I wasn’t sure it the problem was no cream or bad blade, anyway, I got some of my normal razors as well, and let me tell you, that was the best shave I’ve ever had. That is some excellent shaving grease, which is what I am calling it now, since it is much more like grease than a foaming cream. I think I will keep it for special occasions and when I haven’t shaved for two weeks or more; why use a cannon to kill a mouse?

Emirates is the official UAE airline, and they have their own private terminal at the Dubai International airport. If I had to pick one word to describe this place it would be ‘empty.’ I had to walk what seemed like 300m just to get to the ticketing counters after coming through the front doors, I saw less than 20 other non airport staff. From there it was another 200m to the passport control, no waiting here either, several booths active, none with lines, only one other had a passenger. Only 50m to the security check point this time, which was manned by no less than 9 or 10 groups of people operating the x-ray machines and metal detectors, none with lines, of course. On to the duty free shopping! I had planned to eat before coming to the airport but my hotel rushed me out into my ‘courtesy shuttle’ which was actually a taxi, that I had to pay for… so I got some food here, it wasn’t too bad and it let me spend all but two of my AED cash, too bad the cashier only has one AED coin left!… Whatever, it’s worthless to me now anyway. There is a story in here about boarding as well but this is already getting longer than I wanted, so on to the flight! A menu, metal silverware, free alcohol, comfy seats, no flight attendant nagging me to turn off my mp3 player on take off and landing, a hot moist cloth washcloth at the start of the flight, entertainment on the seat-back in front of you and decent movie selection. Also had front, rear and down cameras (pretty cool on takeoff and landing), flight info, as well as a bunch of other stuff we never get on domestic flights. The only thing that would have been better was to not be forced to use the stupid two pronged headphone jack so that I could have used my own earbuds.

One of the many things Dubai seems to have an abundance of is tall buildings. On my way to the biggest mall, the main street was lined on both sides with tall buildings, almost all 20-25 minutes of the drive there. The funny thing is, on my flight out, I could see a part of town where just one main street had tall buildings and everything else behind them was small 2-3 stories. I really don’t understand it, so many huge hotels, they can’t all be full or even close, because as far as I can tell, there simply isn’t hardly anything to do in Dubai.

To sum up, Dubai is where the desert meets the ridiculous and absurdly extravagant. As a side note, Emirates is probably the best airline I have flown on, I can’t wait to see what business class is like to Hong Kong…

I take back what I said earlier about Israel security not being too bad, the passport control is not bad, the security is taken to the extreme. Not only did I get stopped outside the airport a few times for brief interviews and one bag search, but on my flight to Eilat I got the whole nine yards from airport security, which included several interviews by increasingly senior security personnel, followed by a complete bag search and metal detection of me and my clothes. Thankfully after they cleared me and my bags they helped me bypass the regular security everyone else has to go through so that I could make my flight. I also got 30-45 minute interviews for my flights back from Eilat and on to Dubai. But even on those two, they also swabbed everything in my bags and put the swabs on some machine, I think to detect for traces of explosive. I can’t blame them though and you sure feel a lot safer knowing what someone would have to get past to get anything on a plane. I guess I look suspicious…

Someone I met at the Jaffa Gate hostel in Jerusalem also told me about some wind tunnel machine they make you pass through on your way over some bridge from Jordan, which is supposed to blow off any particles which may be on your clothes to tell them if you have been around any suspicious materials. Then the receptionist said that he likes to go through there, once three times in the same day, to cool off when it is really hot, haha.

I was only able to stay one night in Jerusalem because I got there around 9 at night and had to leave for my flight out at 1:45 the next day. I really should have set aside more time for Israel, and I’m glad I went with 5 days instead of 3 like I originally planned. Still,I feel like it is one of the places with the most left undone, and I definitely want to come back. Also from Eilat you can take day trips to Sinai Egypt and Petra Jordan, both of which look very cool.

Check back later for some pictures of stuff I saw/did in Israel.

After a long, long day I finally made it out of Athens last night only a few hours before a general strike began which would have meant I would have been stuck at the airport another day at least and it would have really thrown my plans off. I ended up flying Turkish Airways through Istanbul which was kinda cool but I didn’t get my passport stamped. They have a pretty nice airport terminal and a smoker’s wonderland of duty free shops selling packs of cigarettes in aisles like a grocery store. My layover there was long enough I was able to get dinner and have some Turkish beer, which was pretty good, and it helped me sleep on the plane a little, and on the train station bench, and the bus terminal bench…

I had heard stories that Israeli customs can be really tough to get through, like they ask you a bunch of questions about your family and stuff but it was pretty quick. Probably about the same level of questioning Paul, Phil and I got when going to Prague. One question that I probably should have seen as a warning of things to come was “Where are you staying?” “Oh, I forget the name of the place, it is some hostel in Tel Aviv,” I know what you’re thinking, but give me a break, I only made the booking less than 24 hours ago at the Athens airport, also I didn’t technically have a room for this night, since the website said there was no availability on the 9th, but I figured at the least I could drop my bags off and find a couch to lay down on.

But I made it through immigration and customs with no problems, and I was feeling pretty good at this point and was excited to find a bed to sleep in instead of this airplane seat stuff. After a quick review of my guide book, notes and my hostel info, I headed for the train station, only I literally missed the train that runs once every hour at that time of night/morning by about 10-15 seconds, it started to pull away as I put my ticket in to get through the gate to the platform. Not that it would have mattered that much, since the buses don’t start running until a little after 5 am. Then I got bad directions and got on the wrong bus, couldn’t see any street signs, no stops announced, my map didn’t cover the area the bus route was taking, … ahhh. To make a long story short, I finally made it to my hostel around 8 or 9 am, and thankfully they let me check in so early. I went right upstairs and took another nap.

The place I am staying at has a great location. Literally one block from the beach, which is gorgeous:

So I spent the afternoon soaking up some sun on a Mediterranean beach in December. Also I think my favorite walking shoes that I have had since 9th or 10th grade got a little too wet one too many times in Madrid or Rome because they had been stinking up a storm any time I wore them, so I just had to toss them and get some new shoes. Hopefully these new ones are as good to me as that last pair. After my shoe shopping I went back to the beach and watched the sunset and played in the sand a little, which is probably the best sand on any beach I have ever seen. It feels like something between brown and powdered sugar.

Tomorrow I am going to Eilat on the Red Sea for some snorkeling and/or diving, but I will be back after a few days to visit a little more of the city and hopefully I will have a chance to take a day trip over to Jerusalem before I have to leave. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that I made it out of Athens, and am doing well.

Last night in Athens was nuts, the rioters did a lot more damage than the other nights. Lots of stores on the major street two blocks from where I was staying got smashed up or burned. Trash cans and dumpsters were on fire on the other side of the same block, I think I saw what was left of someone’s motorcycle or scooter. Several government buildings were burned down, and so was the Olympic Airlines main office building in Athens, who just happens to be my carrier out of Athens.

I was supposed to leave at 1:20 am tomorrow morning and wasn’t really sure what I was going to do today, but I wanted to get out of the city and I didn’t want to try to do a day trip and then have to come back through whatever madness is in store for tonight to get my carry on bag, so I just packed up and left for the airport this morning for another ‘Terminal’ day. Only when I got here and checked my email, I had a message saying that the flight is moved to the next day!.. But apparently its not due to the fire, but another damn strike! I clearly picked the worst time to come to Greece.

So I went into panic mode for a few minutes trying to think “what am I going to do now,” but I was able to book a flight with another carrier out of Athens today that will get me to Tel Aviv earlier than my original flight. I also had a refund form filled out on the original ticket at the Olympic ticket office, where they said I would get a full refund.

But back to last night, it was crazy out, really like nothing I’ve seen before, and a bit more than I bargained for when I decided I wanted to come here. I went out after sundown and walked up some small streets and a path that leads up to the back side of the Acropolis where I had been wanting to take a couple pictures of the city at night since my first day when I found the place but didn’t have my camera with me. And from there I could see about 5-6 different areas of the city with large gray or black smoke columns rising into the night. One area I could see embers from whatever was burning… When the distant shouting, booms and other loud noises seemed to calm down a little I came back down from the hill, which is when I saw what had happened right by where I was staying. I guess the rioters had come right through that area while I was up on the hill, kinda crazy. Thankfully no one has been killed or seriously hurt as far as I know, but I am ready to get out of here, hah. I don’t know how much longer my laptop battery is going to last but I will try to upload and post a few pictures and a video I took on my way up the hill.

Photos

Video