The Holy City

Jerrusalam moves me a lot. No, I'm not a Christian or Catholic but still, who will not be touched by the story of Jesus Christ?

Here I am, at the holiest city ever, Israel's capital, home to four big religions (Christians, Muslims, Jewish, Armenians) I doubt anyone will walk out of this city feeling calmed, especially if you have gone through the steps that Jesus have taken. Even I was touched by the stories I heard...

At the place where Jesus prayed as he knows he'll be dying, before the romans came to capture him (if I got the facts right), what was he praying for?

At the spot where he was crucified..What was in his mind at that time? Why is he willing to take the suffering? What has his suffering benefit mankind?

Where Jesus was crucified...

At the spot where Mary stood, watching her own son suffered.......

I am not sure if there is non-religious people in Jerrusalam but judging from the people I saw on the street, I doubt there is any. The whole city, inside the old wall, is mesmerizing. The man in black (Rabi or religious?) Kids playing happily at the quarter. Adults shopping at their own religion compound. Merchants selling goods they shipped from everywhere (now i know where our unwanted stuffs went to) and the number of people praying at The Western Wall...I would love to come back here sometime.....I love Jerrusalam, it is llike a lady behind a black mask, there's so much for you to discover....I hope to have an opportunity to go back sometime...

On-The-Go Friends

I met many people on the road and most of them are genuinely nice. You will be lucky if you find someone who really clicks with you. People who enjoyed your jokes and vice versa. The whole trip will be different with the addition of new friends you met and so far I've been lucky that I've not met unpleasant people on my journey....

I remembered most of them very well and even till now, I still think of them from time to time, wondering how they are doing and which part of the world are they now. The honeymooners I met in New Zealand, the tour guide I met in Nepal, the family I visited in Cambodia, the Japanese laundry shop owner who drove me to my destination because I got lost and refused to take a cab, kind human nature act like this made the trip fonder.

During the Jordan trip, we met this group of wonderful people. There is this married couple from UK, a loving couple from Amsterdam and a nice lady from New York who was doing the trip alone! I really admire her, something I've always wanted to do but yet to try, well, actually, it is in the pipeline already and I hope to do it in the next two years :)

They are all jovial and chirpy and I seriously can't remember when was the last time I had so much fun with a van of strangers. The trip is unforgettable because of these people. They made a difference :)
Everyone can make a difference :)

Changing Ways of Life

Its my first time seeing the real bedouins, in Jordan, on the way to Petra. There are tons of them living in Jordan. I have only heard about them before and when I saw them, instantaneously I was mesmerized by their everything, the tent, the animals, their lifestyle, their choice of living, their resistance towards modernization and how do they survive?

Inside Petra, I saw the book "Married To A Bedouin" and I told myself the book will give me all the answers I want. According to the summary, I know that the author decided to give up her modern lifestyle and trade for an unstable livelihood instead, all because of the power of love. This is sufficient to tell me that the book is a good biography. 

I have ordered the kindle version of the book and i can't wait to get into the mind of the author.....

    

The Rose-Red City

Lia and myself recently visited the Tel Aviv in Israel and were lucky enough to have a free day and so we decided to head to Jordan, for Petra.

We must thank Faith for suggesting Petra, frankly, before she mentioned this 5 letters word to us, we have never even heard of it before! And to tell you the truth, even when we saw the pictures in google for the very first time, our reaction was: 'ah! UNESCO heritage site' - our interest went up by maybe 20% and then we saw 'filming site of Indiana Jones - The Lost Crusade', the interest level rocketed by maybe another 30% and we went on reading and there it is: 'filming of Transformers!' SET! WE MUST BE THERE!!

Plus, of course, also the attractive idea of having an additional 'chop' in the passport to 'prove' that 'I've been to Jordan" somehow sealed the deal, we proceeded with the plan though the initiator 'Faith Ng' didnt make it to the trip with us. We DO feel bad, REALLY!! But she was in our hearts that day, seriuosly! No joke! Faith, if you are reading this, we DO think of you a lot on our Petra day!

The Treasury is magnificent! It was carved out of solid rocks and stands over 40metres high. The purpose of the Treasury remains a mystery. Though the bedouins believe that there are treasures hidden in the 2nd level of the Treasury. In an attempt to release the treasures, the bedouins fired gun shots fiercely at it and bullets holes are still visible on the urn.

 

Jordan is really a mystic place, though The Petra is all I have seen. But the reality of seeing war-torn houses (ok, i'm exagerrating, maybe not...), you know, houses you seen in Matt Damon's Greee Zone, earth colour, small window, quiet streets.....the whole city is really in just one colour and as if time has stopped here....

Our adventure actually started from the very beginning at 5am. We were both separated by immigration officers in Tel Aviv for questioning and thereafter they compared our stories. When I couldn't prove that I have booked this Petra tour through a tour agency online (coz careless me left my iphone in Gabriela's car the night before!), they made me go online on Lia's phone to check my mails!!! Yes, they have excellent wireless (free!) in the airport! After one hour of questioning, we were let go and we barely made it to our flight! You see, Jordan is a Muslim country and they'll question you like a criminal as long as you're visiting or coming from a Muslim country (they even questioned my numerous Malaysia stamps in my passports!).

Petra was created some 2000 years ago when a group of nomadic tribe, called Nabataeans, arrived from Ariabia and saw the opportunity and took great advantage of the narrow opening of the narrow mountains and taxed passing caravans as well as providing them a rest stop enroute to trade markets.  For centuries, this  city hidden in the moutains, was lost to the world until a young Swiss explorer rediscovered this place again in 1812.