Day 2 was pretty much just a bunch more of me walking around the local area.  I walked to a Catholic Church where I thought that there would be a daily mass, but I read the sign the day prior all wrong.  So, I just sat there and gazed upon the architecture and mediated a little bit then headed out again. 

Walking towards Chinatown, I had the chance to really experience the local grocery / shopping life with little tourist influence.  I was fascinated by the various types of fruits that one could choose and how relatively inexpensive they were.  Shops were lining up the streets, some with refrigerators filled with cut fruit for the on to go shopper and other with the latest an greatest in technology.  There was dried fish, an Apple iPhone store, dead fish, live fish, hanging ducks and chicken, plasma television, and some other herbs and random items that I have never smelled or seen before.  It definitely put me on sensory overload.  I saved all the shopping and fruit tasting for a latter day and after walking around for almost 2.5 hours, it was time for lunch.  I headed back to Central Mall to meet up with my friend. 

We headed to a mall food court and ate at a Japanese Hot Plate restaurant which was quite delightful.  Making it a short lunch, we bought some donuts on the way out and then I made my way back to the hotel.  The day was so hot that I once again found myself being a little lazy and took a nap.  The plan for the night would include hanging out with Charmaine’s co-workers at a local restaurant followed by some true Singaporean Clubbing. 

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After learning how to list for the jumpseat from a very accommodating United Captain and First Officer, I boarded flight UA803 from Tokyo to Singapore.  I was assigned to a Business Class seat, but as the doors were about to close, the FO came back towards the aircraft to where I was sitting and then told me that there was an opening in First.  First had the full lie flat beds and I have to say that it was awesome!  I’ve never gotten bed head from sleeping on a plane and I was just loving every minute of it.  I’m definitely getting spoiled traveling the way that I have been in the last two trips. 

I arrived at 11:30PM on the night of the 18th, met a friend who picked me up a little later than the proposed arrival time, and we took a cab straight to my hotel.  After a quick conversation, I opted to go to sleep so that I could start the day early and head out.  Pictures if you click on “MORE”

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I’m going to stop saying sorry for updates, but looks like I’ll finish up the Eilat / Cairo blog and insert it right before this post.  As for now, I’m sitting in the ATL airport after coming in on a Nap (ATL-BQK-ATL in 14 hours) headed for NRT then connecting to Singapore on Northwest or United.  I tried picking up an ID 75 on Singapore Airlines but it would have costed me ~$600 one way!  So, now I’m trying to book a hotel because it is looking good that I might be able to make the NRT trip, but then we’ll see from there.  I’m trying to jumpseat because I don’t want to use the rest of my transoceanic flight privileges which were degraded last December.  Wish me luck because I’ll be needing all of it.

Update: I just got assigned 11A only because the gate agent was nice enough to tell me that if I jumpseated, I would have been sitting in the back.  I just hope that this doesn’t hit me in the butt when I try another transocenaic trip later on this year.  I mean, in reality, I don’t think that I’ll be hitting up Asia or Europe more than 1 more time this year.

Well, the 5 hour bus ride wasn’t that bad at all, but being that it almost cost the same amount as riding (ID90) on Arkira, Israel’s domestic flag carrier, I still thought that it would be better to hang out with my buddies.  I caught some good glimpses of the desert, then more desert, and that was all there was to see really.  We stopped a few times for restroom breaks and snacks, but soon enough, it was time to say goodbye.  We tried quite a bit to find better methods of transportation to the airport but it was still early Saturday afternoon and the trains weren’t in service because of Shabat.  We negotiated with a cab down to $50 and he made it seem like it was far, but once we got on the freeway, I saw a sign that said Ben Gurion was only 15 KM!  I was pissed.  What kind of country or business charges that much for travel.  I guess that fuel is quite a bit, but it was ridiculous!  He didn’t even help with baggage which I guess was normal in Israel.  I was lucky to get on board again and saw some familiar faces from the trip prior and that was that.  To sum it up, I’m going to have to head back to Tel Aviv and actually do the Holy Land Tour but I’m definitely going to be taking a significant other!

Afterthoughts:  I can’t say that I was too pleased with the level of service that a country like Israel had.  The cab drivers were rude and ready to take your money.  They weren’t friendly at all and didn’t even move a muscle to help you out with baggage.  They would even charge more for bags!  The prices of drinks, food and hotels were extremely overpriced, but I guess that my story is bias being that I went to a resort town.  The initial impression of Israel wasn’t a too positive one, but I never shut things out.  I’ll definitely give it another shot.  Maybe later than sooner, but for sure I will.  Egypt was for sure a one time deal, but like I said before, I would do it again only if there was a large group who wanted to know and learn more about the Nile and its surrounding economics and history.  I wouldn’t recommend the tour again as we probably could have done it ourselves for cheaper, but 20/20 hindsight, it made it that much less of a hassle to travel around Egypt. 

DONE!!!

Now onto Tokyo / Singapore / Manila / Hong Kong!

We headed for the Queen of Sheeba relative early (Friday check-in) in order to feel what it was like to live the “better” life of glitz and glamour.  Bottom line, we just wanted a good pool at a nice hotel to chill at.  The Red Sea is awesome but it was a little cold and man the Hilton was amazing!  We checked in, headed up to the business suite, ate a little bit of what they offered for appetizers, played on the Internet, booked out tickets back on the bus for Tel Aviv and then went up to the room once they handed us the keys.  Our room was gorgeous!  It had two separate rooms each with its own bathrooms, a kitchenette, huge balcony, living room, and even dining room.  Yes, it was truly amazing.  I ended up getting an upgrade because of my gold VIP status and what a room.  We started getting little gifts for Shabat (a large loaf of bread and wine), bottles of water, a thank you card, a welcome card…people just didn’t stop coming into the room! 

We got dressed and headed for the pool.  It was just a great afternoon to hang out and relax.  I had a chance to recuperate from the bug that was still eating my stomach poolside and I couldn’t have had it any other way.  One word sums it up…beautiful…young men and women of Israeli descent hanging out poolside with their oversize Gucci / Louis Vuitton sunglasses, owning the world.  It was ridiculous.  Everyone there was with a significant other except my colleagues and I and it really just made me miss Adelle a lot more.  Prior to the trip, I was really egging her on, but the instability of the region wasn’t a highlight in the trip proposal and I didn’t want to fight it that much so it was known that I would be traveling by myself.  We spent the entire day at the pool with the idea of hitting up a local nightclub and of course, I still went out thinking I was going to dance the last night in Israel away, but I called it a night after standing in line for a couple of minutes.  I walked back, enjoyed the sights and went to bed.  I woke up just before breakfast was to close and was greeted with a huge buffet!  First class for sure.  The difference was was that I had an appetite and ready to get some food in me before the 5 hour trip back to Tel Aviv.  I had my fill, packed up quick and headed for the bus station.  The trip was coming to an end. 

Wednesday:  We headed straight for the hostel that night after the 5 hour van ride back to Eilat from Cairo.  Crossing the border on the way back wasn’t that much of an issue at all compared with the day prior.  With just a few questions asked and after they found out we were students and that my colleagues were on the Israel Birthright (Taglit) trip, it was all good. 

Arriving that night, I was feeling a pretty good headache coming on.  I don’t recall anything that was notable at the moment but I know that we ended up hanging out for a bit and then I called it a night.  Actually, we got some food by the beach around 11:00PM where we were entertained by the European Finals Soccer Finals - Manchester vs. Chelsea.  It was a great game and the food wasn’t that bad either. 

I couldn’t really eat anything that morning at breakfast, but I tried.  We figured we would hit up the snorkeling / scuba diving thing, but by then, my stomach had already turned over a couple of times.  Heading to the beach, I still didn’t feel right and almost thought that I shouldn’t go at all, but I tried to be a sport.  Trying to analyze what was causing my demise, we could only pinpoint it to shawarma, milk in my coffee from the breakfast in Egypt or maybe, maybe the dressing on the salad.  I’ll award the bug to the fast food side shop in Egypt. 

The little spot of sand that was out there proved to be quite pricey.  After renting out some chairs for the afternoon at $15 each and then looking at the snorkeling stuff, it wasn’t going to be cheap at all!  The drinks were over priced and ridiculous.  Bobby had some goggles and I jumped in after a bit of resting / tanning and swam for a bit.  I saw all the fish I cared for and called it quits.  I wanted to get some physical activity as I as already acting like a dead fish.  I was on vacation darnit and didn’t want a little stomach bug to destroy that but it was getting the best of me for sure. 

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The pool at the hotel was a definite bust as the bottom was dirty and we just weren’t feeling it.  After a tiresome van ride, bogus shop tour and quicky museum trip, we just wanted to kick back Egyptian style.  Our tour guide had a hard time understanding that we wanted to see the nightlife and just hang out, but we ended up calling it a night after a dinner at the hotel.  We woke up early the next morning to a breakfast buffet where I had quite a few cups of coffee with some milk.  More on that later.  We headed straight to the Pyramids at Giza where we had a chance to ride some camels and even race a little bit.  The pyramids were definitely quite an awesome sight.  You really don’t get to realize them in all their glory because of how fast the tour is and I guess it’s safe to say that I’m still amazed that I even got to check them out.  I do have to admit though that it is a one time show.  I’m not going to be aching to go back anytime soon.  Maybe it was the heat or just the general mess but maybe with a bunch of other people on a 1 week Egyptian safari to Alexandria and the rest of the Nile might be worthwhile.  Here are a few pictures below.     

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