Isrotel Royal Garden Eilat

... where for 50 shekels, you could try and gag down fish from the steam table. There was no airconditioning and when I tried to take a cold shower, there was no cold, or even cool, water to be had. We had good pizza next door, and the money changer had no Egyptian pounds, though the country is right next door. Even the Russian hookers were nasty, so we bid a hasty exit the next morning, never to return ...

... before making tea again for us. We were to sleep in one of the tents which had mats on the floor and 2 single mattresses which would be fine. He had a phone call to say 2 other tourists were coming with their guide tonight so we weren’t going to have the place to ourselves. How bizarre, that in the middle of the desert mobile phones still work out here?? As sunset approached we took a drive up to a lookout point and waited to watch the sun go down ...

... fahren, um hinzukommen. Das dauert je nach Freundlichkeit der Fahrer und Verkehrsaufkommen auch seine Zeit, was sogar an meinem dritten Tag dazu gefuehrt hat, dass ich ueberraschenderweise dort uebernachten musste. Immerhin kam mich kurz der Scheich des naheliegenden Dorfes besuchen, ist aber sofort wieder gegangen als er bemerkte, dass ich keinen Tee hatte und kein Arabisch spreche. Ansonsten hat man dort aber seine absolute Ruhe. Nun passiert hier kein Tag, an dem ...

We drove out to Wadi Rum the other day and transfered into our 4WD before heading out to the desert. We went to some of the sights in the area - one of the canyons, the sand dunes (which are apparently rare in this desert), TE Lawrance's (supposed) house, a rock bridge and some of the ancient rock drawings before arriving at our camp where we were spending the night. We clambered over some rocks to watch the sunset ...

... muezzins calling Aqaba to prayer. We swatted flies. We ate great meals at dinner on the Moevinpick campus. We ventured out to find oud music for Mark and to explore the area around us. We got lazy too. We watched movies in the room and left the window open to the night breezes in Aqaba. There were pretty paintings in the lobby, and fresh flowers floating in the fountains. Four resident ducks would swim in the pool at twilight. Kenan sent us a bowl of fruit ...

... The water was a wonderfully cool contrast to the much much warmer weather. The Miami group swam for a couple of hours and laid in the sun in cycles. At about 12:30 in the afternoon we were all pretty hungry. I decided that I would shower and put on some clothes and leave the Mövenpick area because I wanted to explore Aqaba a little bit. So Brett and I (using my handy dandy guidebook) found a recommendation for a restaurant within the Royal Yacht Club and headed down the ...

... I am over 4 hours south from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Mike, an American immigrant in his 50's, sporting a pop belly, a yarmulke, and a beard, warned me that if I go east of the date tree plantation across the road that the army patrolling the Israel/Jordan border might shoot ...I decided to follow his advice. I am volunteering on Kibbutz Ketura; Founded in the 70's it is home to 140 members plus their families, the people trying to come members, around 20 ...

... wooden building that has an actual bed and private shower and toilet! We're told that the generator shuts off at 11:30 and we are thinking, don't we want air conditioning at night? Right outside our room is a small pool facing a beautiful desert view! It looks so inviting and refreshing that the fact that we don't have bathing suits is not an issue. I am wearing those convertible pants that can be made into shorts, and hey, this isn't a wet T-shirt ...

... quickly to really enjoy our time with them. Now for the night, which turns out to be the best night of the trip! We hit up a cool bar, Unplugged, on the boardwalk and watch the Patriots beat up on the Chargers as we dance the night away to mostly American music. Then the bad news: not only do we need to go back to the hotel, but the hotel won't be showing the Giants ...

... Most of the countries in the region would gleefully see Israel blown to smithereens. But after being in friendly Egypt, arriving in Eilat felt like finding a flickering candle in a very hostile darkness. Except for the Coptic Christians we came across, most Egyptians treated us with contempt. After feeling this contempt almost like a presence hovering over me for the past few days and finally finding relief in Eilat, it was impossible not to identify with the Israelis. While Arab ...