On to Tel Aviv!

Last time we left off, we had gone to Phili temple for the sound and light show.

The next morning, we woke at 3am to go to Abu-Simbal. This was interesting b/c we travelled there in a convoy of 40 vans. We saw two temples here that were dedicated to Ramses II and his wife.

That night, we flew back to Cairo and went back to the Berlin Hotel....don't ask me why we went back to that hotel...the Berlin Hotel was horrible that night! While we were gone, they had "fixed" the elevator. After opening the sketchy doors, we put our luggage inside and hit the up buttom. The lights went out and the elevator moved upwards and the lights came back on. At the top, the elevator stopped and the lights suddenly went out again. Irene and I screamed! We thought that the elevator was going to go plunging to the ground but...nothing happened and the lights came back on again. When we got out of the elevator, two ladies who were watching us were laughing at us. We ran out of that elevator as fast as possible.

We stayed in a different rooms this time but the AC didn't work very well and there were ants crawling in my bed. After complaining to the manager, we were switched into a different room at 4am. We woke at 9am to go to the airport.

Irene and I left to Tel Aviv and Dave went back to Canada to start school. Before we arrived in Tel Aviv, we had a 10 hour stopover in Jordan. The plane ride from Cairo to Amann was quite turbulant and I was looking quite pale after the ride. If it wasn't for Irene's quick thinking and accupressure points, I would have tossed my cookies for sure!

We finally arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday night. Tel Aviv is modern, unlike Egypt and it reminded me of Canada or Europe, except for the Hebrew signs everywhere.

Eric came to meet us at the airport with his car and diplomatic plates. It was so nice to see a familar face! They sure do ask a lot of questions at border control, why are you here, who are you staying with, where are you staying, how do you know them, etc, etc.

Eric took us back to his styling pad paid for by Canadian Tax payers and Irene and I had the best sleep since we left Canada. The next morning, we walked around the markets buying fruit and looking at arts and crafts. In the afternoon, we went to Jaffa which is the arabic part of town and I was not feeling well so I had to go back to Eric's. The heat in Tel Aviv was not as intense as Egypt but the humidity is INSANE and you were sweating just standing in one spot. After napping, I felt better and we went to eat at the Brewhouse.

The next day was spent on the beach. The water was warm, salty and a clear, clear blue. We spent the whole afternoon on the beach. We also met one of Eric's friends from Canada who had just come to Tel Aviv to work at the Canadian Embassy, like Eric. For dinner, we walked around the old port and ate seafood. On sat night, we went to a club called Lima Lima where we watched Isralie's dance with no rythm. We left after 15 minutes to go to Clara which is a club right next to the sea.

Tel Aviv was definately more relaxing than Cairo, thanks to Eric and his hospitality.