bwaaaahblbabl...

We are back to Civilization! Drunk tourists, expensive beer, dumb American women and overpriced food, what more could a man want! You might have guessed it, we arrived in Israels party metropolis Tel Aviv! After three weeks of soberness and abstinence, we got completely wasted, I went skinny dipping in the Mediterranean (I have never seen so much horror on an American face before, they must be very small there...), lost my glasses in the water (so I'm blind now) and just retrieved my wallet from a police station 20 kilometers from Tel Aviv. Fabian got kicked out of a club because he puked on the dance floor, he fell asleep on his way home and Henning didn't even make it that far but passed out on the roof of our hostel. We might have slightly underestimated the impact of three weeks without alcohol on our constitution...
A few days of standard tourist life however are a good break from our marathon through the ancient sites of the middle east. Therefore we skipped sightseeing here (as well as taking pictures, the two you see here are taken from our hostels rooftop where we sleep). Two days of it are enough, though. Today we will leave this Babylon and head for northern Israel, I will try to visit a Kibbutz and the girls will probably head up to Haifa. Only three days to go so we have to make the most of them!

More capitals

Hey!

Just a quick recap of the cities we've stormed through on our way to Israel (where we are right now). After Palmyra we went over to Damascus, wondering whether we'd see less bedsheets on faces. We hardly did, but Damascus gave some hints of the westernness that was to come, despite the lack of a nightlife there. There was some flamenco and jazz at a castle, which i liked and the others complained about, we slept on a rooftop for the first time and enjoyed the muezzin singin at 4 in the morning and left Syria for Lebanon.

The weirdest city so far, and as much contrast as you could imagine. After weeks of cheap living and lousy nightlife, Beirut is the perfect opposite of the other eastern cities so far. Newly built office buildings and posh squares, beautiful people, expensive cars and bars that seem to explode over their perfectness. Then again, the war never seems far away, as heavily armed soldiers guard just about any place and tanks patrol crossings. All in all, the city may at most be something to come back when rich and famous.
The photos to the right show the bullet-ridden statue of martyrs and below the newly erected rolex-clocktower one square further :)

Our last stop before Israel was Amman in Jordan, where we stayed on a rooftop for 3$ each and saw not a single sight. The city seemed nice though, but we were already amped up for the checks at the Israeli border. After being driven past half a dozen buses with palestinians, we enjoyed being checked by beautiful soldiers (which the Israelis seem to employ there to piss of the palestinians) and interrogated by a nice agent for a minute. We had expected hours in dusty back rooms, imagine our disappointment. After a few hours, we arrived in Jerusalem, check in later for more.

Henning

In God we Trust

Hey there!

Yesterday we have finally surpassed the lonely planet level of our tour and (after a hint from the omnipresent Jamil) found the monastery Mar Musa in the mountains of Syria. Completely secluded we could eat and spend the night there for free and enjoy the unique athmosphere. Met many other travellers there and while the girls lay around in the shade I thought it would be interesting to join the monks for prayer and meditation. After three (!!!) hours of sitting with my legs crossed (I am beginning to walk again now, 12 hours later) I decided that I am more the sinner than the saint and skipped worship the next day... At least it was in arabic so I did not have to bother with the content. The athmosphere however was amazing! After a night in a small niche in one of the monastery's rooms, we had breakfast and enjoyed the sun (shade) for a few hours. With revitalized spiritual powers we are confident that the Islamic influence will not distract us from the path of righteousness and continue our journey in best faith. We lost Henning temporarily but after we found him Doug and Gonny were so nice to take us back to Damascus in their car and provided us with many tips for our stay here. Things are rolling!

See you,
Jakob.

Ave

The Romans sacked it! Those damn Italians... All that is left of the pearl of the desert are Ruins. Very impressive ones, however! Impressive enough for us three to get up at 4:30 (read: Four Thirty) in the morning to visit them at sunrise. The first picture is taken from the Arabic Citatel and on the top you see the oasis from where the third picture is taken (on which you can in turn see the citadel ;-)). On the second there are the actual ruins of this once magnificent city. So from the arabic citadel we walked through the ruins to the Oasis and there really is water! A steady stream flows through the Oasis and we immediatly started to search the lake where the water would be coming from. The 'lake' (a diesel powered water pump) turned out to be less impressive than expected but the Oasis was incredibly beautiful. Keep in mind that more than 150 kilometres in every direction there is only desert and you are in a paradise of olive bushes, fig trees and pomegranade growth. After watering our horses we continued our crusade to Damascus. There we just visited the bus station to get ripped off a bit before we continued to Mar Musa.

Blame it on the crazy nights!

As Salam Alaykum infidels! Much has happened since we could last report from the tales the the three adventurers encountered in a place far far away. As the Internet has not entirely arrived in the strange world we entered (but mainly because of our lazyness), It is only from Damascus, arguably the oldest city in the world that you get some signs of life. After the three crusaders were struck down by a very evil kebab, whose meat was probably more alive than dead, we finally learned (had to learn) how to use arabian toilets (except Jakob, who doesn't have a sense of balance). The beautiful Olympos where we stayed in a treehouse, was therefore not much fun for Henning, who slept for 72 hours at least with only short breaks to see the toilet. The picture was taken in one of the few moments Henning was conscious. After a week of doing nothing which really got on my nerves in the end, we more or less recovered by the end of the last week and had finally some action. In no particular order we did some of the following:
We gloriously became last in a beachball tournament (as all of us but Henning had no skill whatsoever in beachball, we had to have a few beers before we dared to enter the field. That probably didn't help as well.) We went Sea kayaking which was quite expensive but great fun. We jumped of a cliff, except for Henning whose fear of heights is a constant soucre of amousement (for Jakob). Fearless Jakob jumped of a 10 meter cliff lateron which was admittedly very impressive. Kayaking we met Erkan, an art teacher with limited english skills, who nevertheless became our compagnion for the rest of the stay in Olympos. After some exhausting conversation we found out that he just broke up with his wife but already has a new "darling" an english teacher, who he called repeatedly to tell her that he was speaking english with us (a lie) to impress her. Last night in Olympos, Erkan asked us to go to a concert of a band that sounded like a mixture of new rave and modern talking (very good nevertheless). Erkan, who probably hasnt gone out for the last 15 years told us the concert would start at 9 o'clock. Ofcourse it didnt and we had to kill the time until 12 or so when the concert started. We decided to sit on abench and talk very little. When the concert finally started, Henning said he didn't feel good and left. Jakob and me as usual started dancing very bad but probably funny looking at least. While the (small) crowd didn't seem too motivated in the beginning, in the end at least four people joined our dance session. The band consisted of one very cool black guy who played guitar and one very uncool white guy who provided the Dieter Bohlen like lyrics. Their trashy smash hit "crazy nights" will probably be stuck in our heads forever. Some time I left and continued partying in kadirs tree house resort where we stayed. Great fun. Next morning we left for Antalya from where on we headed down to the middle east finally. Did we finally learn how to tie a Turban? Stay tuned for the next at least 90% true report on our crusade.

Sweat Sweat Sweat

The crew decıded to leave Hennıng to himself to discover the good sıdes of Sofia for a day. (I'm not entırely sure he managed though). Jakob and myself set saıl to one of the most magnıfıcıent ports that my eye has ever put gaze upon: Constantınople! While Sofıa's hıstory (archıtecture wıse) seemed to have begun ın the early 50s, Istanbul represents a much more exıtıng outlook on a ancınt history. Nıght traın from Sofıa was very confy, we met two spanıards on the traın, who ıntroduced us to argentinıan mate tea, whıch you drınk from a hashpıpe shaped cup. Yummy. Arrivıng ın Istanbul, we got blown away by a wave of heat but as soon as you get over that, the cıty ıs very ımpressıve. After not managıng to fınd a couchsurfıng host once agaın, we decıded to stay ın a hostel ın Sultanahmed, the tourıst quarter, whıch was surprısıngly cheap. Everybody else ın the quarter seems to be eager to rıp you off there... Jakob and me went to the grand bazar, whıch turned out to be a collectıon of copıes of ugly Ed hardy shırts. Sedef, one of the couchsurfers ınformed us about a cs pıcnıc that was beıng held at the asıan sıde of ıstanbul somewhere. Was great fun and we met some people from Istanbul fınally (even though most of them dıdn't seem so eager to make contact with us) and pople . As ıt was Saturday nıght, there ıs only one place to go ın Istanbul: Taksım. In the bar and club quarter of Istanbul, there were more people on the street at nıght than lıve ın Maastrıcht ın total probably. After we realızed that I forgot our money (card) ın the hostel and we turned back, we arrıved ın Taksım at 12:30 or so, got ın a rooftop bar wıth a magnıfıcıent vıew, ordered a large beer (whıch turned out to be .7). That moment Sedef called and told us the way to the club where the CS gathered. Jakob very quıckly spent our money on 6 lıra (3 Euro) rakıs and the nıght turned out to e a real hıghlıght. I'm off to go sea canoıng now. Stay tuned to fınd out where you can stay ın treehouses and why you shouldn't eat street kebap that has been bakıng ın the sun for days...

Night train to Sofia

He!

We left Belgrad on Thursday night on the night train. Great way to travel, more so as we found out that our seats could be turned ınto beds. Well-rested we arrived in the probably most depressing city in Europe: Sofıa. The train station could have been designed by Kafka, and the taxi drivers are the first of many ripoffs. Either way, as soon as you get further into the city, things lighten up a bit. The other two left the same night with another night train, whereas I thought ıt mıght be good to get to know the cıty I'd spend next wınter ın. So I stayed wıth Stefan Kroll, who's doıng an ınternshıp wıth the german embassy there and was so nıce as to let me stay on hıs couch and show me the cıty. I left wıth lıttle more enthusiasm, but the student dıstrıct seems to be not so bad after all. I'll see ın September.

Hennıng

Kickoff in Belgrade

Hey there!

it's been a couple of days, but let me recollect our first day in Belgrade: After Zlatko had given us food and directions, we found a cozy hostel in the middle of that smelly city. Without much orientation, the night started out confusing, but after a short sniff into a hard rock bar we asked two guys for directions. They told us to follow them, and after an hour of fearing to be mugged, we ended up at a balkan music party in the university courtyard. Great music, nice people, very pretty girls, perfect first night. The next day we went on a walk through the city, threw some spears and axes in the fortress and fınally witnessed live prostitution in our backyard. Nice city anyway, I'll surely come back when in Sofıa.

Hennıng

Beef

There is just so much of it! We arrived in Croatia, the girls made it. On the bus to Belgrade we immediatly met Zlatko who went to a nice restaurant in Belgrade with us where there was so much meat. So much. Now we are digesting at a hostel in the centre with some people from Britain and Sweden and are waiting to be able to move again, it will take time.

See you,
Jakob.

Last minute preparations

Hello from Germany (still).

We are going to leave for Croatia tomorrow! If Fabian manages to fit his make up kit into the airplane and Henning quits screwing around (he screws around to much), us three will embark on a Journey right into the heart of the Intifada to take some pictures. We heard they have pretty colours there! The plan is to make it to Belgrade tomorrow but until now I'm not even sure if the two girls mentioned above will even make it to the airport. We will update you as soon as we are in Belgrade!

Bye,
Jakob.