Top Hotel Scams

Here's some top 3 ways hotels will try and save/make money on you:

Laundry

Never do laundry in amounts through the hotel laundry, it will cost you an arm and a leg. The odd shirt or T-shirt, pair of pumps or whatever, save the rest for the launderrette.

Often hotels are reluctant to tell you where the nearest launderrette is or flatly refuse. This is because they make so much money on the people who pay $2 to wash a pair of socks.

Avoid.

 

Mini-bar

One way hotels save money it take the cooling elements OUT of the minibar, turn the fridge elements off, or just leave the lights working to save them that extra cash. You may have noticed this when you grab a nice warm beer or that tepid bottle of water.

It's not a weird co-incidence, hotels will do this on purpose. All very well, but when you're paying 5 stars, you expect the fridge to work and the drinks to be cold.

Sad little hotel scam.

 

Internet

This has got to be the biggest scam of the lot.

How much does it cost to connect to the Internet at home, $20-30 a month for unlimited connection?

Unless you're connecting from Tibuktoo through satellite uplink, you're getting that identical connection, multiplying that by say 10 guests paying $20 per day, that's $6,000 per month for that same connection.

Big money for the hotels, rip off for the common consumer.

Windows Live Writer - Blogging Software

Installed this at the beginning of the trip, and, as promised I'd inform you about it usefulness how much I hated it, why you should buy it etc.

Windows Live Writer- for Blogger

You install the software and give it the URL for your blog.

Your Google ID and password. The wizard then goes off and takes an imprint of your blog and stylesheet.

Also included is the bits and pieces for formatting and reviewing without a connection, providing previews on WYSIWYG, always handy for previewing those images, tables, maps or videos.

This has been vital in that without a connection, usually you're limited to a Microsoft document and having to do the CSS styles, guess at previews of images tables, CSS conflicts all the rest of it, it's pretty much guesswork until you get online.

With the live writer, this trip, I've not had the normal pressure of finding good connections at every stop, the workload has been dished out in a regular fashion.

It's like a desktop publishing software for blogs. Save your documents and publish when you've got a better connection.

Advantages

The Live Writer has a couple of advantages over the Google platform alone.

I can't say whether I'd use it as much at home but on the road the answer to the Question: - Are Americans clever?

In this case has to be: Yes.

http://www.download.com/Windows-Live-Writer/3000-2068_4-10572482.html

Best and Worst - Hotels in Egypt

Having travelled the length and width of Egypt roughly 7,000km, I feel I'm in a position to give information on what I found to be the best and the worst hotels in Egypt.

Best hotel in Egypt
Iberhotel - Luxor: $100 per night. View over the Nile. 10 minute walk into town, what more could you ask for?

Shot of the Iberhotel Luxor

Book Here:-  Iberhotel Luxor

Worst hotel in Egypt
Hyatt - Cairo: $400 per night. Rude service. Domineering attitude. Made life difficult at every opportunity. A poor choice for any non-arab staying in Cairo. 

Hyatt Cairo

Book Here:-

Religious sites in Egypt/Jordan/Israel

I intend to keep this up to date; giving clear GPS fixes of the most important religious sites in Egypt.

Mount Sinai
Where Moses received the ten Commandments.

Located: 28.539 33.975

Monastery of St. Anthony
The oldest surviving monastery.

Located: 28.936 32.352

Towns of Sodom & Gomorrah
God's destruction upon early buggers.

View Larger Map

Dead Sea Scrolls
Testament by the Essenes to the Second Coming of Christ. 

Located: 31.77369 35.2039

Church of the Nativity
Site of the Birth of Christ

Located: 31.70431 35.20736

Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Site of the death of Christ

Located: 31.77802 35.22980

Mark a Miracle

Yes that's right, Mark a miracle.

I've seen this one before.

St. Helier 1999, the Total Solar Ecilpse. A true miracle, a perfect circle of pure blue sky appeared cutting through the clouds obscuring the eclipse from our view.

Anyone on Jersey that day can testify to the event.

Cloud or Trial?

This one looks almost as bombastic and almost as well timed. Amazing.

I'll let you make up your own minds.

Wow - Is it a Miracle!!

Mark a miracle, find it on the map!

Church of the Nativity - Bethlehem

KML 31.70431 35.20736

Or Bet Lehem if you are catching a bus.

This is one of the most sacred cites for X-tians as it represents the spot where Jesus was brought into this world through the virgin Mary.

I travelled up here by taxi which cost 60Nsi.

There are no buses all the way and the taxi driver tells me it's violent compared with Jerusalem a 10 minute journey away.

History

Again, like the Church of the Sepulcher, this was built in the rule of Constantine.

The site demarks some caves on which the initial basilica was built and further expanded and embellished at the time of the crusades.

Again, like the Sepulcher, it is divided up and in generally poor condition.

Doesn't stop the tourists.

Downstairs you have a star demarking the actual site of Christ's birth, then you have a marble shelf right representing the manger where the child was situated.

It's all very interesting and touching, and after a while of reflection, I make my way upstairs.

The church is situated in the West Bank and is Palestinian.

You will need a passport if you want to travel here.

Eating out in Jerusalem

Since there seems to be so little about this on the Internet, I'm going to introduce you to a well researched list along with exact locations of some of the finest, cheapest or most popular eateries in the city.

Beni's Fish Restaurant
1 Mesilat Yesharim, Jerusalem
Located in the Abu-Kosh district of town along with some other popular restaurants, Beni's serves fresh fish Kosher style.

There wasn't a massive selection on the menu and no starters. I had grayling, surrounded by humus, garlic pita, tadziki, boiled eggplant and french fries.

The fish is fresh, topped with paprika and coriander fresh from under the grill. Took about 20minutes in all.

A fish supper with a bottle of water and coffee came to 87 shekels or £11.

KML 31.78073 35.21427

View Larger Map

Armenian Tavern
79 Armenian Orthodox Patriarchal Rd, Old Town, Jerusalem

Listed by the Lonely Planet guide, I checked this Café because it's right near St. David's tower and the Jaffa Gate, making it an in-out job.

One of the best meals I've had was a veal in red wine sauce sauteed with shallots and mushrooms at this hotel in Dodge City when visiting the Rushmore Memorial. Just thought I'd let you know.

View Larger Map

Anyway, back to matters in hand, the Armenian Restaurant has a terrific waitress/owner you could visit just for her. But, the food is good also.

I had Vine leaves with mince and meal stuffing, served with a creamy sauce, pita breads and mushrooms. The rice and pita soaked up all the sauce and my plate was clean by the finish.

It's a nice restaurant to visit because of the authentic decor and prime location, wooden panelling and sepia photographs, historical, almost like a gallery in itself.

Stuffed vine leaves + 2 beers cost 75 Shekels or £9.

View Larger Map

KML 31.77544 35.22882

The Minaret - Lebanese

Located slightly outside the main walls, the Minaret is set slightly back from the road in a small arcade.

It serves authentic Lebanese salads, dishes and sweets. Obviously quite popular, there were a few people of different nationalities, English and Italian and American. Some dishes were sold out went I got there.

The food came quickly, I had a pita with olives and gherkins as a side starter. Every time I've eaten in Israel they've brought out this salad like a starter, be it humus and a few pita or fried eggplant, olives etc. until the main meal arrives.

I had a Sinai, which is ground lamb and meal combined in a large meatball with garlic, coriander in a tomato sauce.

Simple but effective.

Washed down with a Retzina the meal came to 70NSi or about £8.

Also had some Jelly Babies - 1NSi.

View Larger Map

KML 31.779 35.222

Shabbat

Was going to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel has other Ideas and is celebrating Shabbat which means everything, (even B&Q), closes down for the day. No buses, no nothing.

The streets are silent.

Nature is in recovery.

Jerusalem - Old City

So much to see within the City Walls, it's an experience in itself.

Old City is built in a valley, made up of a series of walkways, divided to 4 quarters reflecting the religious persuasion of that sections inhabitants.

I've devoted my attention to visiting the three most important sites in Jerusalem Old City:-

• Jews - The Wailing Wall [Part of the Holy Temple of David site of the Holy Holies]
• Christians - The Church of the Sepulcher [Built on the site of the Crucifixion]
• Muslims - The Dome of the Rock

Jews - The Wailing Wall or Western Wall

KML 31.77607 35.23377

Originally making up part of Temple one for David, this Western wall is all that remains of the structure after being sacked by Titus Caesar of the Roman Empire, leaving a small part of the temple wall to give camp to his troops.

It is said that God offered his protection to the Temple in Midrash saying it would never be destroyed for when water ran from between it's cracks, it symbolised the coming of the Messiah.

Jews approach the wall whilst bowing and kissing, some place hand written notes in the cracks. When they are finished bowing, kissing and praying they must back away still facing the structure.

This is tradition.

Western Wall - Wailing Wall

Christians - The Church of the Sepulcher

KML 31.77802 35.22980

Built on Golgotha site of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ around 333 by Emperor Constantine and the Bishop Saint Macarius. The church was fully destroyed in 1009 Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah and Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad) until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099.

The church fell back under Muslim control after Saladin who assigned responsibility for it to two neighbouring Muslim families. The Joudeh were entrusted with the key, and the Nusseibeh, who had been the custodians of the church since the days of Caliph Omar in 637, retained the position of keeping the door. This arrangement has persisted into modern times. Twice each day, a Joudeh family member brings the key to the door, which is locked and unlocked by a Nusseibeh.

Status Quo

In 1555 the Franciscan monks completed a transformation and a power struggle broke out within the various Christian factions for overall control of the site.
Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox all jockeyed for power and rights, resulted in common area's becoming a 'no mans land' where Status Quo reigned, no work is undertaken, and conflict, often violent, is regular.

Divided into different sections, you may want to take a guide, although the church still has impact without it and is graced with many thousands of visitors every day.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Inscription in the Triportico

The Edicule of the Holy Sepulcher

Pulpits - Rock of the Calvary

Golgotha - The Rock of Calvary - Site of the Death of Jesus  

Muslims - Dome of the Rock

KML 31.77607 35.23377

This Golden Dome is only accessible by Muslims. Heavily guarded, you will find most of the hostility surrounds this structure and it's construction on one of the most holy sites of the Jews.

It is the oldest extant Islamic building in the world built in 691 on the spot where Mohammed is said to have ascended to heaven.

The dome is said to have been inspired by the other basilicas around the city, and initially built using 20,000 gold pieces "whose shine could not be witnessed by the bare eye".

Non-Muslims are not allowed into this section.

Dome of the Rock

These are the main sites, though there are many, many more.

You should spend a few days trying to discover them all.

Israel Museum

KML 31.77369 35.2039

Located in West Jerusalem in amongst the government buildings, rose gardens and bird watching sanctuaries, the museum of Israel has a small number of exhibits of particular interest.

Airy breaking up

You could be forgiven for thinking you were in an ornamental gardens for there seems to be a certain pride here for all things green. but the gardens are light and airy breaking up the different sections of the museum.

The 'all in good time exhibition' - Art

An art exhibition drawn from private collections and national galleries documenting the 'all in good time' .
There are a number of works of art which have looked at different aspects of Israeli life, some videos which you can sit and watch on your own in quite auditoriums, large two story sculpture of Ethiopian Jews to the backdrop of various smaller works on canvas through different mediums and different countries.

Perhaps by selecting the best of Jewish art, a lot of the stuff is ethnic, culturally original and diverse making it easy to wander round without hurrying from piece to piece, perhaps why they called it the 'all in good time exhibition'.

Live Model of Jerusalem

Model of Jerusalem

A to scale model of the old city of Jerusalem with the important landmarks belie the cities ethnic divisions, Golgoroth the site of Jesus's execution and other bits and pieces like the Temple and battlements various pools, theatres, houses, stately buildings. Mostly Hellenistic built around the time of Herod.

For this part, you can get an audio guide. Handheld, this can give you some handy information backed up with a map free of charge.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Probably one of the most important discoveries of the century, parts of dead sea scrolls were available in markets across Asia minor from the periods of the first crusades and before. The old testament is based on them.

The major period of interest was sparked in the discovery of a number of text attributed to the Essenes, documenting the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, in a cave in 1947, said to be part of true and original scripts of which there were 1,000.

These are the only publicly available exhibits in existence.

The Isaiah Script and the Temple Scroll that lie here in the museum basically talk about:

• The Children of the Light
• The Children of the Dark
• The Son of Truth or Righteousness
• The Wicked Priest
• The Man of Lies

These are excerpts from the original scripts of Isaiah -

"And, on the whole, from among those who profess to be Christians will rise up then false prophets, false apostles, impostors, mischief-makers, evil-doers, liars against each other, adulterers, fornicators, robbers, grasping, perjured, mendacious, hating each other. The shepherds will be like wolves; the priests will embrace falsehood; the monks will lust after the things of the world;"

"For great jealousy will prevail in the last days, for each will say what seems pleasing in his own eyes. And they will set aside the prophecies of the prophets, which were before me and also pay no attention to these my visions, in order to speak forth from the torrent of their heart."

Of 1,000 scripts found, those scripts that didn't fall into the hands of untraceable private dealers were governed by a 'Secrecy Rule' up until 1991, when Robert Eisenman and James Robinson published a number of documents followed by Dutch scientist Emanuel Tov laying bare 7 of the scrolls, after which the rule was scrapped and those scripts that are available are mostly published in part, or in the case of the Isaiah Script and the Temple Scroll, in full.

Plenty of links out there, use http://www.yahoo.com/

SO here I am..

KML 31.78506 35.20276

In Israel, located at the CP for special rate. Took border crossing over the KHB or King Hussain Bridge. Got some border drawbacks, as usual I was stopped, for more than 6 hours this time.

I worked my way over the border by shuttle bus arriving at the Israeli side for about 11am, it must have been about 5.30pm by the time I passed through customs and only because the border control girl liked me.

Passed through Jordan, now in Israel real.

The next few days will be action packed as I visit all the top spots, cheap eateries and what not's. Jerusalem seems to have some real character, hopefully I'll be able to convey this with some good pictures and observations over the next few days.

Be kind to Strangers - The Tale of Sodom and Gomorrah

Perhaps this is a story for Israeli Intelligence who striped me and swabbed my stuff for 6 hours on my first entry to Israel.

Background

The Tale of Sodom and Gomorrah is based on two towns of around the dead sea basin. Now no longer in existence.

It goes a little something like this..

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

—Jude 1:7

The inhabitants were especially cruel and unkind when strangers visited, if they were too short for their beds they would be stretched to fit. And if they were too long, their legs were shawn off.

As well as this, they had a particular jealous streak and sought to violate and destroy the looks of young boys subjecting them to sodomy, cruelty and violence onto the flesh to lessen their natural beauty.

A pretty cruel and jealous bunch, God, through the Jews, said he was going to destroy the villages unless they, Lot and his sons, could find ten good men.
Through days of searching, they found not 50, 40 or 30 but just one good man in the whole of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Don't do backwards

God instructed Lot to leave as he had done his bidding, he would be spared.

With his wife, they were instructed to leave the city, and never turn back.

Unfortunately, on the road away from the city, Lot's wife turned to view the fire and brimstone which was reigning down on the two cities bringing about their destruction.

God, in his wrath turned her to a pillar of salt.

Lot's Wife - http://flickr.com/photos/charlesfred/

Now this country is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to come to it... It was of old a most happy land, both for the fruits it bore and the riches of its cities, although it be now all burnt up. It is related how for the impiety of its inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; in consequence of which there are still the remainders of that divine fire; and the shadows of the five cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing in their fruits, which fruits have a colour as if they were fit to be eaten: but if you pluck them with your hands, they will dissolve into smoke and ashes

—The Wars of the Jews, book 4, chapter 8.

The sites of Sodom and Gomorrah

Are slightly more difficult to locate than the background text.

You're going to need and Israeli visa and enter from the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge checkpoint

View Larger Map

I've marked the two sites on a map. I've not been able to visit today, but the story's a nice one.

Happy Easter from the Dead Sea!

Here's a couple of pictures to remind you what I look like!

 

 

 

KML -1226ft 31.71971 35.5857

Petra - Crazy Camels

Had good chance to have a look at these strange and amusing creatures.

I suppose the Arabs love their camels like the south Americans love their Alpaca, long neck, big ears, dopey yet amusing faces.

These two camels have stopped for a rest, one of them stands whilst the other sits.

Crazy Camels 1&2

One on the left spreads it's rear legs, [pictured]. 
As it struggles around in this stance, I wonder whether it has a version of mad camels disease. It's austere looking friend remains seated.

camel 1

Sitting camel has a regal look as it checks out passers by.

 
camel 2

No doubt these camels are friendly, but I don't get any closer as they are a bit smelly.

You will come across these camels on your travels, you can easily ride them, but take it easy with the crazy one is it might dump you off the back.