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Jerusalem, Massada, Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Galilee

Jerusalem Travel Blog › entry 88 of 129 › view all entries

Setting off from Hong Kong in Aug 1992, 2 days after turning 22, I traveled China, Mongolia, Russia, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, returning to Hong Kong in July 1993. Apart from Athens/Cairo, I never set foot on an airplane during this year-long walkabout. Before the days of digital cameras, internet, and mobile phones, this solo adventure was as much a discovery of myself as it was about these 31 countries. Many of them, like me, have long since changed.

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Jerusalem, Massada, Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Galilee

April 5, 1993

Wailing wall

The same six of us will be going to Jerusalem for Easter week. To the Jordanians, we are not technically leaving their country - just visiting the West Bank. They don’t even stamp our passports. Across the shockingly small Allenby (Hussein) Bridge over the Jordan river (more like a small stream than a river), the Israelis stamp a piece of paper that we keep in our passports in lieu of stamping the passport itself. In Jerusalem, I’m surprised at how many civilians are carrying weapons. I don’t know whether to feel safe or not. There has been a lull lately in the violence so I’m not too frightened, even in the Arab quarters.

Seeing the sights is like watching events pop right out of the Bible. On Good Friday, saw a procession of hundreds following the Via Dolorosa path that Christ took and witnessed a bizarre re-enactment by zealots. "Jesus" was even covered in animal blood for effect. Grossed out by watching hundreds of Orthodox women kissing the supposed sepulcher stone. Some nice solitude in the Garden of Gethsemane. By night, the city glows under a full moon. I don't know how much is my imagination, but at times I feel like I've been transported back 2000 years. A jarring awakening to the modern day when I see Israelis teenagers jetskiing in the Sea of Galilee.