Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Israel Trip in snapshots!

I know it is difficult but I will try to write as less as possible here :))

I went to Israel with no expectations but returned with heart full of excitement, stories and wonderful memories! See Israel in my words and pics..

Israel is a developed country in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. But you need to use magnifying glass to see it on map :))

As described, it is located on Mediterranean Sea. And we stayed in Tel Aviv, the heart of Israel and ofcourse the most beautiful city as well.

We stayed next to beach.. nothing special as the entire city is located next to beach! The view was just awesome. Have a look.

View from the hotel balcony. I have zoomed little bit.


This beach was not even 2 minutes walk away from the hotel.


Sun is always surreal, isn't it?


Nobody can afford to miss Jerusalem city on the trip to Israel. The MOST DISPUTED place ON EARTH. Have a look.

Jerusalem as viewed from Mount of Olives


The city has a history that goes back to the 4th BC, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people. And contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites, and is considered the third-holiest city in Islam.

Archeological Remains of Southern Wall.


Pictures telling the story of Jesus.


Place where Jesus was buried.

You will find four religions' quarters - the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim at the same place!! That's Jerusalem. I was truly thrilled to see this place.

Our next destination was Dead Sea.

Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth dry surface!! Oh I was so excited to see Dead Sea. They say it is sooo saline that no living being can survive in there. And that is the reason, it's called Dead Sea!



Even after knowing all these things, I wanted to swim!!! What a foolish decision! You can never swim there.. a minute single drop of water can make you run and cry :) And it happened with me. The water is very rich with minerals and salt. So you have to be really careful when you go in.

I had tough time initially but then later started floating. And that was an amazing experience to float in Sea :)

After roaming in Israel, we finally decided to check Eilat. Eilat is the Goa of Israel.



Eilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. I was awestruck to see this city. Eilat is desert + Red Sea :)

We tried few water sports in Red Sea. And I will never forget my Parasail and Scuba Dive experience.





Scuba Diving was the best experience!!

After Israel, we started our journey to Eygpt. A complete different country with perfectly contrasting lifestyle and culture as compared to Israel. Meet you with the Egypt story in the next post :)
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tit for Tat!

I enjoyed the Israel trip to the hilt. But some incidents left impressions on my mind! And one of it was during our return flight to India.

I was dozing!!! I bet.. You leave me anywhere and I will sleep off! So Darshit was bored as I was not able to give him the much needed company. But then flight journeys are meant for sleeping, atleast I feel so. Dreaming of chat-pati pani puri, all types of chaats, Darshit was counting hours. And I was feeling the dim lights, soft blanket wrapped around me, light Indian classical music and a full stomach.. zzzzzzzzz! So obvious!

Suddenly, a disgruntled man disturbed my sound sleep! His pitch was going higher and higher till it became clearly audible. It caught attention of all the passengers and the crew members including me! I asked Darshit about the matter. He was beaming with anger when he recounted me the incident.

The flight was not completely full. All the passengers were sleeping in their own seats except one Israeli man. This guy had luckily got all the 4 seats free next to him! I had noticed him the moment flight started moving. And envied him too. Obviously 4 seats to sleep for 12 hours! Wow!

Now this person was sleeping on all the 3 seats with both his legs stretched. 4th seat was still empty. Little later an old Indian uncle went and sat on the 4th one. This is when the Israeli guy erupted! He asked the old uncle to leave immediately as uncle's presence was disturbing his sleep. The uncle responded that his seat was in the back side and that he was not able to recline his seat. He continued to sit on the 4th seat! The Israeli guy started calling names! And you know what names - B*****d, F****** Indians and many more. The old uncle didn't utter a word. Since the disgruntled man was still not satisfied, he called the hostess and asked her to ask the old uncle to vacate. The hostess denied doing so as the 4th seat was a vacant seat and anyone had the full right to sit there.

The disgruntled man was not yet satisfied by the drama! He went to the head of the crew members and started squabbling! He warned the airline guys that he will sue them! But still none of them supported him! The old uncle also didn't budge. Obviously he was not wrong. I completely supported him.

Almost for 8-9 hours, this guy kept on cribbing. I could not resist, I also started cribbing about him to Darshit in a very audible manner ;-) hehe! And few times, he even turned towards us. But who fears.. He was very rude to the old uncle without any reason!!

We both didn't realize when time passed! Pilot announced the descending of the flight. I and Darshit were still not able to control our angers. We wanted to belt that guy left right. I started thinking in those lines too. We had our luggage in the overhead bin and the disgruntled man was sitting very close to that bin. I thought while getting down, we should deliberately hit that guy!! Yes!! We should do that! But then I controlled myself and didn't tell my plan to Darshit.

Plane landed. We all got up to get our bags out. 'Bang'!!! Hahahahaha.. it hit that disgruntled man! Oh my god!! Darshit did it!!!!! I laughed instead of feeling sorry! I was the happiest! And I was very proud of Darshit.

We didn't speak of the incident. I do not know if Darshit did it deliberately and I never asked him. I just felt relieved! We can't be always at the receiving side, you see!!!
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Thank God its India!

Huh!!! Yeah I am back after a long, long hiatus. Blame it on my trip to Israel, my house shift, Diwali @ new house with entire family, Darshit's Birthday or Airtel Connection :)) Everything added it's bit to my laziness to write in such agile surroundings!

Believe it or not, after experiencing all the above events, the words that come out of my mouth are 'Thank God its India'.

One day I and Darshit decided to move out of our existing house to a new one! Don't ask us the reason. We both were really excited. And we both were really exhausted. We had just returned from our Israel trip. But then we had to move out of that house before Diwali.

This is when I happen to mention about my house shift program to one of my friend who doesnt stay in India. And... it just added to my exhaustion! She described what an uphill, tiring and frustrating task it was for people staying there! You have to pack, load, unload and arrange things on your own. And it didn't stop there because you do not get such cheap labour anywhere else. So cleaning the old and the new house is your job!

I got jittery! Diwali was just 4 days away and all our family members were joining us for Diwali celebrations!! I was speechless at the very thought of shifting!!

We had only 2 days left to shift when Darshit got a Movers & Packers number who agreed to move the entire house starting from packing, loading, unloading and arranging in minimal amount. Yeah they arranged our house! It was quite a smooth shift as cleaning the new, old house and arranging all small, big items didn't cost us much time and energy. Our family joined us in the new house for Diwali and they were so happy to see such an easy shift to a new place! And within 2 days, we found maid, cook and grocery/vegetables door delivery service! No wonder I was in India. The shift was followed by Diwali and then Darshit's Birthday! And we could manage to celebrate both with a bang! At the end of it, I could only say - Thank god I am in India :)
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