Tel Aviv - Israel! (Happy Passover)

Hey folks,

I'm writing to you now from the lobby of the hostel we're staying at in Tel Aviv. This is the evening of our second full day here. The blog interface is currently in Korean, so I'm not sure this is going to work properly - here's hoping this will actually be readable when I'm finished.

Anyway, so far Tel Aviv has been fun but also surprisingly quiet. It turns out that it probably wasn't the best plan in the universe to visit Israel over passover. Don't get me wrong, we've had fun, but I think things are a lot more lively when everyone isn't home with family for the week. I'm getting ahead of myself though. When last I posted, we were in Petra, so I should fill in the gaps!

We left Petra on the morning of the 1st of April (no April fool's day jokes though - apparently its not a thing here in the Middle East. I actually think it's someone famous' holiday that day or some such, i'll have to look it up...). Since the safest/primary border crossing is back in Aqaba, we went south to that city, before hitting the border and re-entering Elat. From there, we took a 5 hour bus through the Negev Desert (which is beautiful, but very desert like, if that means anything to you all, my dear readers. In this case, lots of hills/plateaus of sand/rock, and no plants). Since we were up fairly early, we got into Tel Aviv around 6 or 7 pm. I was a little cranky from the bus ride - I was sore, and also a little sick. I got a bit of a sore through starting on day 1 in Petra, and that only worsened in the following days. It's almost gone now, though I have a runny nose still. Anyway, at the bus station, I was thankfully able to ignore my sick self enough to appreciate the glory that is Israeli public transportation.

In general, Israeli public transport is reliable, efficient and reasonably inexpensive - more than can be said for the networks of any other country (especially that of the United States). The trains in particular are particularly nice (more on them later), with plush seats and two levels of comfort. The buses, as part of this network, should thus be included in the praise. I have to say, on the whole, I am in face impressed with them, but buses frankly suck and always will, even if they are Israeli buses. They take a long time, get stuck in traffic, are at least somewhat uncomfortable, and are generally inefficient relative to other modes of conveyance. As any Detroiter will be happy to explain, no SMART bus system in the world is about to beat a real public transport net for actual usability.

Anyway, the one thing that is in fact impressive about the Israeli bus network is the Tel Aviv bus terminal. This colossal matrix of buses, ramps, gates, doors, escalators and markets is perhaps the closest thing Earth has to Star Wars' Coruscant City. We entered on the 5th floor of this capitalist megacomplex and I don't believe I once saw the ground floor (much less the ground) during our trek through the facility. Taken from the outside, it appears mainly to be a giant parking deck with indoor spaces, but this would be a devastating underestimation of the scope of the facility. Inside the barriers and security gates of the bus lanes themselves, the terminal is a fantastic matrix of catwalks, escalators, stairs, tunnels, bridges and of course, desperate people trying to use all of the above to make it from one sector of the terminal to another in an almost (but not quite) futile attempt to connect to the next leg of their journeys. When you take into account also that these people range from 18-22 year old uniformed Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers (complete with automatic weapons) to punk rockers, goth fanbois, elderly couples and businessmen, you might get at least a vague impression of sheer craziness of this facility.

To use our own expedition as an example, upon entering the fifth floor of the facility, we rapidly ascended a pair of aging escalators to floor 7 (so called Dan terminal), from where most of the intra-city buses depart for destinations like the one we sought. On the way, we passed three techno-music stores, two banks, several restaurants and any number of shoe shiners, cell phone vendors and computer parts stores. Looking over the edge of the escalators (which struck rather haphazardly across multilevel gaps in the hallways (these gaps are not unlike the 'skylight' areas in most modern malls, except these ones aren't really so much about providing light as about networking various floors in as many ways as possible), you could see similarly chatoic capitalism perched across the floors above and below the fifth (again, the floor on which we started). On the seventh floor, we were able to easily find the information booth (despite the apparent chaos, the Israeli's have somehow managed to make the place function as an actual transportation hub), whereupon we discovered that the bus we wanted (towards one Allenby Street), was actually on the fourth floor. So we headed back to the escalators, only to discover that there were no down escalators in this area. Furthermore, there were no nearby stairs, either. We were able to find a set of stairs winding down from in front of a movie store, leading us to the sixth floor, where a 'straight' shot across an intersection of three hallways got us to another stairwell, reaching the fourth floor. Following a series of dovetailed and sometimes slightly contradictory signs, we were able to wander across ramps, curves, secondary access-ways and terminal gates to our destination. Perhaps miraculously (though probably not, since this process seems far less confusing for the Israelis), the bus we were actually looking for showed up a very short time later, and hauled us out of the complex (for a nominal fee) to our destination: Mugraby Hostel, Allenby Street.

Mugraby Hostel is definitely far more "hostel-like" than any other place I've stayed in. Where in Jordan we effectively stayed in small hotel rooms not unlike what you might find at a Bed and Breakfast joint, here in Tel Aviv the situation is markedly inferior. We're staying in a 'dorm' room the size of a largish living room, but with 8 bunk beds stacked into it. The beds are narrow and the matresses are thin, and what passes for storage spaces are 8 tiny lockers the likes of which my middle school got rid of before I graduated. This isn't to say that I'm unhappy with the situation, however - I'm paying 10 dollars a night to stay in a pricey western city, and I'm less than a block from the Mediterranean. Furthermore, there's plenty of hot water (absolutely a requirement), and the other 'tenants' are reasonably quiet and friendly. I will, however, look forward to a proper bed when I get back.

Beds aside, again, I can't complain. Allenby Street is one of the main drags as far as shops, pubs and clubs are concerned, and again, we're less than a block from the beach. Its a little cold for swimming, but not too cold for sitting out and reading, which we've done a decent bit of since arriving here. I've gotten a slight tan (enough to stop blinding people with my whiteness), which I'm hoping will develop more fully before I get back to Egypt, and I've enjoyed the relaxing pace we've taken here so far. Our days have been largely filled with hanging out on the beach and exploring the older quarters (we visited Old Jaffa in the south yesterday, with its ancient churches, mosques and monasteries). The boardwalk is really nice and stretches north-south for miles along the shoreline (Tel Aviv-Jaffa is perched directly on the 'side' of the Mediterranean).

The city itself is sadly not as exciting as it could have been as a result of Passover - many places have been closed (or close early) and the number of people out in general has been far less than what I'd imagine for a city this size. There's not really an opportunity for tourists to join in the festivities, either (not that I expected there to be, really, as Passover is really properly a family thing), which makes me miss Seder with Nathan's family last year. I'm reminded, however, that one of the toasts at the Seder was "Next year in Israel!" Ironically, that came true for me, and I'm not even Jewish. Happy passover to everyone who is, though!

Well, I think I'm going to bring this to a close. Tomorrow, we are taking the train north for a day trip to Haifa and Akka (ancient Acre), which should be all kinds of exciting. The day after that, we're off to Jerusalem, for the final leg of our trip. I'll do my best to report back in a timely manner as soon as I can!