Getting Back Into the Groove

I've been back from my Middle East travels for a week and I'm shocked by how long its taken me to get back into the groove. I would almost say I'm having reverse culture shock by living in NYC again. Let me back up and explain what I mean by that.

When you travel, every day is a new experience. You go and explore the town/city that you're in; engaging your mind in visual things you haven't seen or ever dreamt about seeing before. In my case, it was seeing century old pyramids (Dashur/Giza/Memphis, Egypt), structures built from rocks in the mountains (Abu Simbel, Egypt; Petra, Jordan), and the Holy Land -- where many if not all religions started and where many religious battles erupted (Jerusalem, Israel; Bethany-Beyond-Jordan, Jordan). Though, one may feel intimidated or lost in such an adventure of visiting the aforementioned ageless monuments or eating street food or talking with the locals ... for me, it felt familiar; almost as I've lived there for a while. I didn't have much difficulty finding my bearings or finding a way to where I wanted to go, nor was it difficult communicating with the people living there (um, that is if you're willing to act silly and illustrate what you mean through a game of charades (ha ha; yes, I was that monkey on the street)) - so traveling for me, though thousands of miles away from home -- was quite familiar. And now being back in New York, it oddly feels unfamiliar and as if I'm lost in this gigantic city. Strange, isn't?

I've lived in New York for almost 10 years and for it to feel unfamiliar and or having a little piece of me feeling disorientated is odd for me... So, is this what you would call reverse culture shock (shocked to be back in my native country/home hearing everyone speak English, or feeling shocked by doing the most simplest thing -- such as walking into a grocery store? or grabbing a taxi?? and finding all of that is so cumbersome to do especially with the crowds? ugh...) or, I could quite possibly be labeling it incorrectly -- so, instead of culture shock, perhaps, after 40 days in the Middle East I grew accustomed to the way of living there and now find myself at odds on how to function in NYC ... can that be possible?

Hmm... Perhaps, I'm just in denial that my 40 day trip is over and getting back into the pulse of NYC life is tougher than I imagined it to be... Afterall, life here in NYC should be easier than the Middle East because I know what to expect in NYC -- the people in NYC are who they are; I no longer have to bargain for that bottle of water or play that game of charades to get my point across -- so, why am I having such difficulty adjusting back to normal NYC life? Who knows -- perhaps after 40 days of traveling, I just need the time to relax, rejuvenate, and recalibrate my surroundings so I can accept my surroundings for what they are. I do admit, I love not having to lug my luggage from place to place or running for that next train/bus -- and wow, I just realized how much I love my home surroundings -- the couch, the tv and my comfortable bed -- perhaps, I'll just hibernate in my apartment for the rest of the winter (btw, dang its cold here!) until I get acclimated back to NYC life. and of course, I can't wait to see all my friends again!!

So, welcome back to NYC, Susan (yes, I'm talking to myself) ... and cue that song -- Empire State of Mind...

... baby, I'm from new york ...

concrete jungle where dreams are made of
there's nothing you can't do
now you're in New York...

these streets will make you feel brand new
big lights will inspire you
hear it for New York, New York, New York...

Our last day in Cairo and we're scrambling to eat all of our favorite foods for the last time...

January 20, 2010 -- Our Last Day in Cairo Scrambling for some Good Food! --

Its our last day in Cairo and Wilson and I are enjoying a few things we love to eat here. Call us crazy, but once we find the things we love to eat, we're serious creatures of habit and have to have it over and over again!

In no particular order, here are a few food items we enjoyed eating / drinking and having in Egypt (and some we found again on our last day in Egypt)...

Wilson and I stumbled upon El ABD, a dessert shop located on Talaat Harb street in Cairo, and among the sweet cakes and breads, there was also ice cream. The fruit flavors -- mango and strawberry -- are OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was so fresh -- you could taste the fruit! It was sooo good; I wish we could have fresh fruit ice cream like this in the States... We also tried two other flavors, chocolate and vanilla. Chocolate was a close second, but finishes third between the four flavors. And, well, Vanilla -- there was nothing exciting about that. Cost 3 e.p.

Ah... the Egyptian rice. There must be butter in there... cause, its ridiculously good here. There are these noodle like things (in the photo, its the brown strips) that adds an interesting texture and flavor to the rice. We usually had the rice with grilled chicken, which was also one of our other favorite food finds on the trip. However, I'm not sure if we ordered the chicken only because of the rice; or did we order the rice for the chicken. Either way, both the grilled chicken and the rice were extremely yummy!

grilled chicken was always very juicy and flavorful -- full of lemon and salt and pepper seasonings. The best chicken and rice dish we had was in Bahariya Desert (our desert chef cooked up some amazing chicken and rice; and the other was on our way back to Cairo -- and I couldn't even name the restaurant if I tried). If you're in Dahab, Funny Mummy and King Chicken are pretty good! But seriously, you can't go wrong with chicken and rice in Egypt (or in Jordan!). Chicken and Rice Price: 18 - 35 e.p. Rice, if sold separately costs approximately 4-7 e.p.

Mixed Sandwich -- Fuul (essentially refried beans), french fries and felafel. Man, this sounds disgusting, but its just the perfect mixture of salty, sweet and crunchy. Don't knock this until you try it. This is easily found at Felfela Take-Away (which is where we had our last taste); or if you are at a local vendor, you will most likely have to pick and choose to put this into the sandwich. Price: 2-5 e.p. (though not pictured here, fuul with egg is also a great combo!! or fuul with mostly anything would be wonderful mix)

Ah, Koshary. From the first time we had this in Khan Al Kalilli, we were in love with it. Its a simple dish -- rice, macaroni, chick peas, lentil, those brown noodle like things covered with a light tomato sauce. So simple, so easy, yet so yummy. There is also a lemon-garlic sauce that you can pour over it if you need some extra flavor. This is available everywhere -- street vendors, Felfela (our favorite quick eats place and where we had it last), and their own stand-alone stores. This is an extremely popular dish in Cairo! If you're in Luxor, DO NOT MISS out on El Zayeem near the Nefertiti Hotel. Price: 2 - 5 e.p.

Not sure exactly what the name of this was. Muhabiyya? Its a sweet dessert - if I would venture a guess at what it was made out of -- rice, milk, sugar water, maybe some coconut ... and then it was topped off with pistachios. Oh so delicious -- and you can find it or a variation of it at a dessert shop. Price: varies on the size -- 0.50 to 1 e.p.

You may find this hilarious, but these cookies are no joke. Mcvitie's have been one of my favorite brand of cookies ever since I studied abroad in England and it just so happened that we found some while in Egypt and Jordan. HobNobs -- the Original -- Oatmeal type -- damn, good. Great for road trips, great for hiking, great for anything you do! And... I don't even remember how much it cost cause it wasn't important. Price: 4.5 JD / 7 EP somewhere around there?

My two favorite drinks on the trip were the fresh fruit drinks and the tea. If the fresh fruit drinks were not available, these bottled juice drinks were fantastic. Guava and Mango were my two favorite fresh fruit drinks -- it also had the fruit pulp, which made it taste real and not concentrated... The bottled ones are packed with a lot of sugar, but wow, were they good (maybe it was just the sugar!)! But if you could have your choice of coca cola or this fruit drink for the same calories, I'd choose the fruit drink all day long. Price: 5-10 e.p. depending on where you purchase the drink.

You can't leave Egypt without having a cup of tea. While here, you'll notice a lot of people walking around with trays filled with tea only to be hand-delivered to the workers at the butcher shops or even shop vendors.... you'll even find loads of people in coffee shops having their morning/afternoon/dinner tea... why? because tea is like water to them. That is, tea with sugar is like water to them. Yellow Lipton tea was what they served mostly everywhere; or there own mint leaf tea. Whatever form of tea you ordered, you almost always needed some sugar in it. For me, I learned two spoonfuls of sugar did it for me (for wilson it was one) ... and that was the drink -- tea with two spoonfuls of sugar (...makes the medicine go down, makes the medicine go down). Price: 1 e.p. to 12 e.p. (more than some foods!)

Diet Pepsi or Coca Cola Light was Wilson's beverage of choice. Everywhere we go, up Mt. Sinai, down the pyramids, at the Valley of the Kings or at a restaurant ... Wilson is never without a nice cold refreshing diet pepsi or coca cola light. In addition to this, I will include his cigarettes -- yes its not food -- but its sustenance for Wilson, or so it seems since he finishes a pack a day! wow! who knew! L&M Blue label, made by Philip Morris -- what tobacco isn't made by P.M.? -- was Wilson's cigarette brand in Egypt (Marlboro Light was too strong here). By the way, if you're buying Marlboro's in Egypt, make sure they aren't the fake ones. The fake ones you'll notice will "burn" through quickly, so I'm told. Price of Diet Pepsi/Coca Cola Light - 3.0 - 7 e.p.; Price of L&M: 5-20 e.p.

Its sort of interesting that we didn't include schwarma in the list of things that we absolutely had to have again before we leave. For some reason, I wasn't a fan of the schwarma here and I think the reason was largely due to my distaste of the beef and lamb. Those two meats just didn't taste good. The best type of entree to order in Egypt is either chicken or fish. Quail/pigeon is also a great alternative to beef and lamb. If you're stomach is ready for vegetables, the cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes are wonderful here. Extremely fresh and healthy for you! Overall, the food throughout Egypt was not as bad as I expected; though, I do admit, a lot of food served in Egypt is largely quick eats. There were some decent sit down restaurants that we tried, but they were mostly full of tourists, and the food was okay. There are many other foods that I enjoyed while here in Egypt and I'm just happy that I ate everything and am ending the trip without Pharoah's revenge. Until next time my Pharaoh, I shall bid a due and see you in the future!

-- Happy eating!

Cycling Through Tel Aviv in a Day

January 17, 2010 - Cycling through Tel Aviv For the Day

Wilson and I had about a day in Tel Aviv before we had to catch our flight back to Cairo. So with a day, there is only so much you can do by foot, so we decided to rent a bike. I did the same while in Kyoto, Japan and its an amazing way to see all the sites you want to see without the hassle of relying on public transport or cabs --- just your own two legs and your "culo" (aka but*t)! So with a map and two bikes, we were off!.

We started our journey with a bike ride along the beaches of Tel Aviv. The beach was nice, the waves were rough and we took in some good deep breathes from the Mediterranean Sea... We continued on the beach path, pretending we were riding down Venice Beach in California and rode our way to Old Jaffa City.

As we were heading towards the collection of flea markets in Old Jaffa City, something unfortunately happened to Wilson's bike -- his brakes were stuck to his wheel and was unable to cycle with his bike. Grrrr... After one guy helped us loosen the front brakes (loosen as in detach the front brakes from the front wheel), we were ready to start again. Unfortunately, the bike would not run again. The back tire was now hitting the frame everytime you turned the wheel -- now thats odd, we didn't have that problem before!?! We thought it was Wilson's weight making the tire hit the wheel, but that couldn't be. We couldn't figure it out. So we called our bike rental shop and they were of no help (never rent from PINKY's bike rental place, near Harayakon Hostel). Bring the bike back, is what they said - lovely, how about them come and pick us up since we're a good 20 minute bike ride away. Nope. So we were going to find a car to cab it back, but we were lucky enough to find a taxi-cab driver that was at his home, who helped us fix our bike (a nut was loose, which caused the brakes to tighten and hit the frame -- go figure). So once that was fixed, we were off again! Wait... one other thing occurred. Wilson's tires were flat! Crazy! I'm thinking -- wilson and any type of vehicle with tires is not a good thing (recall, Wilson also got us into a car accident while driving in Jordan!) ... well, fortunate for us, luck was on our side again and a block away we found a mechanic shop. With an exchange of hellos and "where are you from", they graciously filled Wilson's tires with air... phew... anything else? This time we were really off!

We eventually found the collection of flea markets, cafes, and antique markets within Old Jaffa City, but nothing really piqued our interest. The only interesting thing we found was the Clock Tower, and taht was only beause we wanted to take a photo to remind us where we were. ha ha. After our photo op, we got back onto our bikes and went to our next destination -- Neve Tzedek.

On our way, we saw one of those city tour buses and decided to follow it since it was "surely" going to Neve Tzedek (tourist area)... uh huh. We followed it, but lost it as our bikes weren't fast enough to keep up with its pace. So, undoubtedly, we were once again relying on our maps. I got our bearings straight and we ended up at Ho' Karmel Street, which is souq, or a street market. We were going to end up there later, so decided to try and find Neve Tzedek again. So we were off...

We biked around and found Herzl street which led us to Rothschild Street/Sderot -- near the heart of Neve Tzedek. Woo hoo! The area was cute... it reminded me a lot like Soho in New York. Lots of boutique shops, restaurants, coffee/expresso cafes and a lot of people walking around. We decided to stop in this neighborhood to grab lunch. We cycled around the streets of Lilenblum, Gat Rimon and Yafo, Derech and settled on a restaurant named Express on Herzl Street between Rothschild and Lilenblum. The restaurant/cafe looked quite modern and their menu offered soups, salads and sandwiches. Wilson and I decided to be healthy (for once!) and ordered a medium Tuna Salad with a white vinagrette. I have no idea what was in that vinagrette, but the white vinagrette was extremely tasty! We had a simliar one at Cafe Rimon in Jerusalem and loved it as well!

After lunch, we continued our Tel Aviv bike tour on Rothschild Street. As we journeyed through Rothschild Street, we were surprised by the beautifully landscaped walkway/bikeway that catered to cyclists like us, loafers who wanted to eat their lunch and two legged humans walking the path. It was a beautiful ride 5-15 minute ride, depending on how many times you stop to take photos, and reminded me of the bike path on the Westside highway/Upper West Side with -- trees and benches -- but with restaurants and shops lining the outter edges of the path. We even saw a non-conventional McDonald's -- decorated not with the Red and Yellow signs that you nromally see, but with a green awning with yellow wording. With only a hour left of our journey, we decided not to stop and continued on to our next street, Sheinkin street.

Photos from Rothschild Street

We turned left onto Sheinkin and made our way down the hill -- only to find more boutique shops, restaurants and cafes. We quickly rode down the hill and eventually hit Allenby and Ho' Karmel Street, which led us to the our final destination - Ho Karmel. Since we didn't want to venture into yet another souq (we've seen plenty in Egypt, Jordan and other parts of Israel) we decided to just chill and relax. Well, Wilson did. I decided to see the shops along Sheinkin street (come on, afterall, I did have about 45 minutes)... So I will leave you with the visual imagery of me popping in and out of shops along Sheinkin street, looking for hip clothes, some neat designs and good bargains. Sadly, after 45 minutes, I didn't find anything... :( Oh wells -- i couldn't fit the clothes in my bag anyway! haha. (continue reading below for a Mandarin phrase I learned from Wilson)

Photos from Sheinkin Street

p.s. As Wilson and I were heading to Ben Guiron airport, I asked Wilson to teach me a few words in Mandarin... and he decides to teach me the words "swei" -- meaning stylish, which I knew; "hung tung" - hurts a lot -- and then he added a few more words to make the following sentence... spelled phonetically...

"Zhe ga swei ga da pee gu hung tung" -- This stylish guy's butt hurts a lot. :D

Can you imagine what that was in reference too? haha. Our 4 hour bike ride hurt his butt. :D

Cooking While Away from Home in Haifa

January 15, 2010 -- Cooking on the Road at Port Inn Guest House -- Haifa, Israel

Cooking on the road was something I didn't think I'd do, but Wilson was tired of paying $15 for crappy spaghetti bolognese, so we decided to cook it ourselves! haha. We probably should have paid the $15! just kidding. Surprisingly, our spaghetti bolognese didn't turn out that bad. I mean, everything came out of a jar or plastic packaging, so how could we go wrong? We were the Sara Lee cooks in Israel! All we did was boil our pasta and make the sauce... For the sauce, we added in ground beef cooked with onions, oil, salt and pepper ... then, boiled the bolognese sauce (totally Sara Lee style), mixed in the meat and wah-la ... bolognese sauce! Yummy, spaghetti bolognese for dinner and breakfast for the price of $12! (and we probably got ripped off since we were buying the ingredients at the AM-PM like store)... but cooking while away from home with my brother -- PRICELESS!

Happy Cooking!

p.s. I can't even remember the last time I cooked with Wilson -- probably while we were still in grade school, back in the California days... Now he's in Hong Kong and I'm in New York! cray-zzzz!

A Difficult Night of Sleeping in Tel Aviv

January 16, 2010 (Night of) -- Our only night in Tel Aviv

Wilson and I checked into Hayarkon 48 Hostel and due to the enormous price difference between the private rooms vs. dorm rooms, we opted for a dorm room for $45. Many may say, you get what you pay for and we probably did get what we paid for - limited sleep - but our night stay provided a few comical moments that we will remember for a lifetime. If you haven't stayed at a hostel before, they often offer dorm rooms and private rooms. With dorm rooms, sometimes they can fill up to 8 people or in our case 4. Sometimes you may be lucky and have no one else join you, but of course that didn't happen ... our room filled up with two other girls -- which, doesn't seem so bad -- better chances for Wilson to score! jk. Ugh, that's a dirty thought... Ok, moving on. So what do you think happened? Did someone sCore in a room of four? or did someone sNore??? Snoring was the main culprit for our lack of sleep.

Wilson snores every now and then and for the last week he has been snoring quite consistently. He's a considerate person, so knowing he could potentially snore, he decided he'd try to sleep on his side -- no such luck. I heard someone snoring throughout the night. In the early part of the night, it was a modest humming noise and then it progressed to a roaring like noise that could wake up people down the hall. It was intense! I was unable to fall back asleep and decided to get up to hush Wilson, but to my surprise, it was not him! Wilson's eyes were open and we quickly discovered that it was one of the girls in the room. WOW! That girl can snore! Whew! She could be the drummer in the band and play without any equipment! just amazing!

Wilson and I looked at one another and tried to figure out what time it was -- 6:00 am -- still too early to get ready for the day (especially for Wilson who normally gets up around 8:30/9:00 am). So what to do?


Wilson slept in the bunk below hers and since her blanket was slightly hanging over the bed, he decided to tug on it a little, hoping it would wake her up. The blanket moved, but she didn't budge and her roaring snore grew louder. Wilson tugged on the blanket a little harder and it was now halfway down to the floor. Still no movement and the snoring continued. Wilson and I couldn't help but laugh. And even our laughter didn't wake her up! (and for those of you who know us, we can laugh pretty loud)... so, Wilson and I were in disbelief... Man, this girl snores like a rock star and she was a heavy sleeper!?!?! What a lucky combo!

Next, we decided to try and make some "real" noise - but not so much that it would wake up the third girl -- who was quite remarkably still asleep (not sure how she was still asleep, since the building next door was probably awake from her snoring!). But our noise didn't work either -- and Wilson and I just stared at each other and decided to try and go back to sleep. Yeah, right -- wishful thinking!

Eventually, the third girl woke up and said aloud "I can't believe this, this is the worse snoring I've ever heard -- worse than my ex-boyfriends!" She quite simply yelled over to the girl to tell her she was snoring very loudly and asked her to sleep on her side. Finally, the snoring girl woke up, apologized, and turned on her side. Within seconds she was back asleep and the SNORING continued. Unbelievable. We were just in shock and unaware of what we could do next. Nothing really, but to let the rock music continue.

It was 6:45 am... Wilson decided to play music out loud on his iPhone, the third girl decided to get ready for the day, and I decided to continue on with my blog. There was no way anyone would be able to fall back asleep. So, I guess sometimes, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get! And in this case, sometimes its hit or miss with random roommates. Unfortunately for us, we got a free show to a rock concert!

... want a taste of the music? I of course, recorded a part of the show. Its not the entire event ... I wouldn't do that to you because we wouldn't want a hole developing in your ear drum. So when you're ready, press play!

Haifa and Akko (North of Tel Aviv, Israel)

January 15 - January 16, 2010 -- Two days in Haifa and Akko was more than enough time there.

Wilson and I had a few extra days so we decided to spend two days up north at Haifa and Akko. Both Haifa and Akko are port cities located on the Mediterrean Sea. Haifa does not have much to offer other than the Baha'i Gardens and a few beaches. Akko offers more of a tourist experience with visits to the Citadel, Knights Hall, Templars Underground Tunnel, Lighthouse, boat rides, diving, seaside restaurants and beaches. Sad to say, the highlight for this part of the trip was not adventuring in the Templars Underground tunnel or roaming around the Knights Hall, rather it was seeing a jelly fish swim near us and little girl who was brave enough to hold a snake.

At first, I thought this was a lump of ice floating in the sea or a plastic bag... but as Wilson and I looked closer, Wilson told me otherwise -- its a HUGE JELLYFISH!! so of course I was super excited... i didn't see this big of a jellyfish on my dive in DAHAB. hee hee... Wilson thought about catching it ( we saw loads of fisherman on the other side, so why not?), but thought perhaps it could be a poisonish jellyfish. haha. oh wells, no chinese jellyfish dinner tonight. :D Below are a few photos of it swimming around ... I was sitting on a restaurant terrace above it (Abo Christo).

The other highlight of the Haifa and Akko trip was seeing a fearless girl peering into this snakes eyes... EEEEEEkkkkkk...

I'm not a big fan of snakes and some guy of course was walking around the seaboard with two snakes trying to entice tourists to take photos with it. I of course went to take photos of it, but was skirmish about being too close to it. ha ha. One child though was fearless. She stood still and watched it with curious eyes. The owner was watching the girl to see how scared she would get. She didn't. The snake came extremely close to her face and she didn't flinch (see the photo) ... I on the other hand, who was standing beside her, screamed and jumped when it got so close to her face. Talk about a wuss, right? I screamed so loud, the girl behind me also screamed and jumped away too! haha. I guess it is true, as you get older you become more of a scardy-cat. I wonder if I was eight again, would I stand still and want to hold that thing? ugh, I'm afraid not.

NOTE:

If you want to know about Baha'i Gardens and The Citadel (Akko) read more on wikipedia and the quick summary here...

The Baha'i Gardens houses eighteen beautiful terraces overlooking Haifa and the landscaping done aroud the gardens is a gardener's paradise, but unforutnately, did not pique my interest (sorry not that into flowers; only the tulip garden in Amsterdam put a big smile on my face). The gardens are sometimes described as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Within the garden is the Shrine of the Bab, which adheres to the Baha'i faith. Baha'i is a monolistic religion emphasizing spirtual unity among all humankind. If you want a visit to the shrine or the inner-part of the gardens, you will need a guide -- which is free and only available at noon. If you are into flowers and gardens, this would be your ideal spot. I personally am still in love with the Tulip Gardens in Amsterdam -- but that's because I love tulips!

Akko was a great seaside town if you want to lounge and see some touristy things. There are plenty of restaurants and sites to see if you want to occupy your time; however, it was slightly boring for me. The Knights Hall was ok ... and the highlight there was seeing a few bats up on the ceiling in one of the areas. Can you tell how excited I was? Ha ha. What else? The Templar Underground Tunnel, which lead from the Templar fortress to the lighthouse, was interesting and fun, but 350 meters was not that long of an underground tunnel -- so I found it short-lived. Overall, the histroy of the town is interesting -- it has been taken over by many different groups. From what I recall, it was first inhabited by Muslims, then taken over by the Crusaders, then the Ottomans... then the British and the list goes on...

Overall, I think Haifa and Akko can be avoided without any guilt!

Israel-Palestine's Berlin Wall in Bethlehem

January 14, 2010, Photos of Israel's Security Wall in Bethlehem (A view from Palestine's side of the Wall)

According to wikipedia, The State of Israel has been constructing barriers along its borders, which are mainly located on Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and partly along the 1949 Armistice line, or "Green Line" between Israel and Jordan. The length of the border is expected to be 436 miles long (703 km) and as of August 2008, only 58% had been constructed, 9% was under construction and 33% of it has not yet been constructed. The barriers have been under a lot of scrutiny and are highly controversial. Depending on which story you read or who you are hearing it from, everyone has their own point of view of the walls -- that well, for a tourist is tough to believe who is right or wrong and will certainly take longer than a few days to understand. After my brother spoke with the hotel manager at our hotel, who is Israeli-Jewish, he learned that the security walls or fences have been built to protect Israeli civilians from Palenstinian terrorism, aka suicide bombing attacks. Since the construction of walls, the number of bombings have significantly reduced. He mentined that people used to be afraid to walk around the New City town center because there were frequent suicide bombings! According to wikipedia, opponents of the barrier say that the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security, which violates internatinal law. To put it quite simply, the barriers have in a sense "trapped" or restricted Palestinians from traveling freely within the West Bank and finding work in Israel.

So, that's a bit of background on borders and barriers built within Israel, which brings me to the photos I took of the security wall on our way out of Bethlehem. The photos you will see are from the Palenstinian side. G raffiti artists and commoners alike have creatively used Israel's "security wall", which places an Israeli/Palenstinean divide between the two warring countries, as a means to add their social commentary on the Israel / Palestine situation.

The photo above is of two Palestine men sitting in front of the Israel/Palestine Wall.

Note: Israel continues to place security walls and fences throughout its country. Over the last few days, I've been reading in the Jerusalem Post that Israel wants to put up a fence along the Israeli/Egypt Border, which stretches from the Gaza Strip (west part of Israel) to Eliat (southern tip of Israel). The project which is expected to cost north of 1.5 billion NIS, or approx. $6 billion US, is "supposed" to prevent illegal drugs from entering Israel among other things like illegal immigrants (from Nigeria, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast). The project is expected to start in two weeks.

For more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39368875@N04/sets/72157623094617725/

Gotta Love the Food Markets (Mehane Yehuda Market) in the New City of Jersualem

January 13, 2010 (Wednesday); Mehane Yehuda Market

Every city I visit, I always make a trip to the supermarket, street markets/food stalls, bakeries and fruit/food markets (see any connections?? its all related to food!). I love to see what the locals eat and I'm usually not afraid to try anything new (well, as long as its not insects or some rare meat/fish that will kill you if not cooked properly). So, in general, I find it fascinating to see all the local foods -- what is fresh for the day (though, don't expect an honest answer from the vendors) or most importantly see where all the locals are standing so I know its a good spot to buy something from. In Jerusalem, Wilson and I sought out the Mehane Yehuda Market, which is located north of the center of the New City (or just ask any local and they will point you in that direction). Its an easy 10 minute walk from the New City Center, and if you feel like the market should be there already, walk a little further. You won't miss the one long alley of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, nuts, and freshly baked goods.

Wilson and I of course splurged a bit -- I bought some freshly baked mini-cinnamon buns and blueberry filled croissants (D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S) and both are highly recommended! I have to say -- the bread in Jerusalem is out of this world... Reminds me a lot of Chinese bakeries in Hong Kong -- once you take a bite, you want another and another and another... Oh so good!!! So, let your nose take you to the bakery (there are a few inside the long alley and another two outside of . The two outside have more variety and you can just smell your way through the store ... and is where we grabbed our share of carbs!). Btw, we didn't learn this until later, but you get more bang for the buck if you purchase a lot versus one or two (its like Costco -- you get the volume discount! But, since I'm traveling, I probably don't need a few months worth of bread.)

Wilson also bought some nuts and discovered how expensive it was. For a kilo of cashews it was 64 sheckels (NIS), or approximately $16. Yup! Where is Planters Nuts when you need it! Surprisingly, Israel has been an expensive country to travel in. The food market and restaurants are comprarable to New York prices and sometimes more expensive for less tasty foods ... but welcome to Jerusalem where the dollar is weak and the price is high! Or, perhaps, the prices are just high here!

We also bought a few other goodies -- strawberries that cost 20 sheckels per kilo, or about $5; tangerines that cost 8 sheckels per kilo, or about $2. If Mehane Yehuda Market doesn't spark your food interest, there is also another alley of goodies about two streets up from this market. So enjoy your travels in Israel!