[guide.chat] my holiday in Israel
- From: "M BOWKER" <bowker288@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Guide Chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:44:04 +0100
Last one.
love Malcolm. xxxx
A Journey Of a Life Time.
I went out to the shops one day and got this feeling to call into the local
church to see where my parents got married back in the thirty's. As I wasn't
born round here I wanted to find out what I could. Anyway it was a Wednesday
morning and it was the weekly social club. They turned out to be very friendly
and I decided to go every week as it got me out once a week. Then I was asked
if I would like to go to Israel with them . As I had never been abroad before
my wife and I decided that I should go. She wouldn't go as she didn't like the
idea of flying. So this is how I came to go to Israel with the church holier
than thou doesn't it.
I must admit that I am not shore about religion one way or the other. The
bicker is Chinese and called Roy, and very laid back. Anna. the other vicar
is very nice but very serious.
There was ten women and four men going on this trip. We had meetings working
up to going on the trip to organize things. Anna had done some research and
came up with the idea of taking medication for the Palestinians in the occupied
parts of Israel. It was decided that we should all take a small amount in our
cases and declare it at the airport as personal, because if the authorities new
where it would end up we would be in big trouble. If you saw us all together
you wouldn't think they were church goers, more like the mob out of Ocean's
Eleven. So the Sean is set.
Watch this space
Part 2.
Journey Of A Life Time.
Note.
1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel Iraq has attacked two Israeli cities with
Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War.
Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the
attacks, which began at 0300 local time (0100 GMT), when most residents were
asleep.
Reports from Tel Aviv say the air was filled with the wail of sirens and
minutes later up to eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame.
Residents scrambled for protective clothing and gas masks, issued to most of
the population before the conflict began.
This was a couple of weeks before we left for Israel.
February, 9th 1991. Monday, 6 am.This was the day I had been waiting over a
year for. The day of mew adventures. Was about to embark on a journey of a
lifetime, in a way that I had never done before. I have never been abroad
before and had never flown either. The fact that I am totally blind as well,
was giving rise to some concern. Would I get a good guide, would some one
describe things to me, would I be able to cope with the money, and so on.
A knock at the door meant that the mini bus had arrived to take us to the
airport. I said my good bye's to my wife and the journey had begun. We arrived
at Manchester International airport at about 10 am, and went to the check in
desk.. Anna Humphries helped me through customs. This part, to me was a maze of
desks, x.ray machines and interviews. Because of the air strike on Tel Aviv
from Iraq. couple of weeks ago. Security was on high alert. Anna told me that
every where you looked in the airport there were police with machine guns. and
every suit case, hand bag was empted and all the small bags , clothes etc were
searched.And we were quizzed about the medication, which we said was for
personal use.
They even took my symbol and long Cain away to check them out.
All cleared we went into the departure lounge.
With that part behind us we found the others and we had time to have something
to eat and drink. Then our flight number was announced and we had to get on the
plane.
This, to me felt like walking down the middle of the Metro.Link tram. When I
found my seat I sat down, fastened my seat belt and waited for take off.
After a few minutes the engines started and the plain taxied down to the
runway. I gripped the arms of the seat and tensed myself reedy for take off.
The engines roared and we were moving. As the plain lifted, my ears started to
pop. Then we levelled out. I was flying high. I had worried for nothing, it was
great. After about an hour the stewards came round with the meal. This was
quite awkward for me to eat as there wasn't very much room. With the meal out
of the way, I settled down and Eric who was sat next to me started to tell me
what he could see below, as he was sat next to the window. He told me that we
were above the clouds which looked like a blanket of snow and that there was a
bright blue sky and a very bright sun. He described the Swiss Alps and
everything else that he saw. Apart from my ears popping again, the descent was
easy and we had landed in Tel Aviv airport at about 10 PM. their time.
Watch this space.
Malcolm from Hyde. Cheshire. England.
Skype name. malcolmbo1
Part 3.
Journey Of A Life Time.
After going through customs again with Anna we went outside to meet our guide
and get on the bus. While all the luggage was being loaded we all got on the
bus and then the guide introduced himself to us. He said his name was "Mendy".
He gave us all a plastic bag containing a map of Israel and a bright yellow
base ball cap to wear, so that he wouldn't loose us in a crowd. If we had all
put them on we would have looked like a flock of yellow beaked ducks. Two armed
soldiers got on the bus. They were are guards incase anything happened on the
way to the hotel. Mendy started the bus and took us through the West Bank area
into Jerusalem to our hotel. We arrived at about 11.30 p.m. and were informed
that a meal was waiting for us, and I think we were all ready for it as we
hadn't eaten since about 2.30 p.m. After the meal we all went to bed.
Tuesday.
After breakfast, we ordered a taxi to take us to St. George's Cathedral. We had
a private service and gave our gifts off medical supplies etc. These were all
put into a big box and taken into the occupied area for the refugees. After the
service we went and had a chat and refreshments. We left the church and walked
through the grounds and out through the gate. This brought us out onto a main
road (that we walked for a few minutes). Suddenly we realised that we had come
out of the wrong gate and that we weren't where we were supposed to be. We
decided to split up into two groups and go our separate ways. Anna, Pauline,
Carl, Hyacinth, Val. and myself started walking and found ourselves eventually
at the Damascus gate. There were lots of young men hanging about, just leaning
against the walls as though they had nothing to do and lots of soldiers with
machine guns. These were Palestinians waiting to go into the city to start work.
We went through the gates and found ourselves in the old city of Jerusalem.
The streets were very narrow and were full of stalls and steps. After walking
around for a while, taking everything in the whole atmosphere felt as though we
had gone back in time. There was a lot of shouting in a foreign language which
made me realise that I was in another country. At one point, I had a young
child pulling on my arm begging for money. We carried on for a while, then we
went and had a meal in a restaurant. After the meal Pauline took me to the
toilet. When I came out, Pauline said that she had put me in the ladies toilet
by mistake, but not to worry because she had gone in the gents. We did some
more sight seeing then got a taxi back to the hotel. After the evening meal we
relaxed and swapped the days events with each other.
We were all up early the next day and after breakfast we boarded the bus and
set off to Bethlehem. to see the sights there. Then we went to visit the dead
sea. This is 1000 feet below sea level. The lowest point on earth. At this time
of year it should have been very hot, but it was windy and quite cold. But we
had come all this way so we weren't going to miss having a swim in the dead
sea. Beliave me you bob about like a cork. Its nearly impossible to go under
the water, because of the sulphur in it.We decided to make a circle all holding
hands and then lifted our feet off the bottom so that we would make a star
shape with our feet meeting in the middle. But as soon as our feet left the
bottom we came up that fast we ended up in one big tangle of legs and arms
bobbing about on top of the water.
We left the dead sea and carried on to Jerry co then back to the hotel for the
night.
The next day we were up early and after breakfast we were off again. We got on
to a road that had 30 foot high fencing which was on both sides of the road
and stretched for about 100 miles. This fence was electrified and there were
watch towers and search lights where soldiers patrol up and down 24 hours a
day. This is the boarder between Israel and Jordan.Mendy told us that if we
were shot at we had to get on the floor of the bus.
We arrived at Nazareth then on to Tiberius, where we stayed over night. When I
came down to breakfast I was told that two missiles had landed here in the
night, fired from the Garser strip. By this time we were getting use to hearing
shots and explosions in the distance. Helicopters and American jet fighters
flying around us day and night. Its surprising what you can get use too.
Sunday.
Sunday morning we went to the sea of Galilee. it was cold, and we boarded a
boat and went out to sea. We had Communion here. Its said that the only life in
this sea is the Saint Peter's fish.When we returned we went to visit the mount
where Jesus fed the five thousand this we went to the Ka buts where we had
dinner. This is like a big farm and run by young volunteers. We had Saint
Peter's fish and chips. I cut my fish and was about to put it into my mouth
when Pauline stopped me. She said I was about to put the fishes head , eyes etc
into my mouth.
After dinner we went From there through mine fields and passed lots of Israeli
soldiers and tanks. We carried on up into the Golden Heights, and onto a Drew
village where we had a traditional meal. On the way back through the Heights,
we went through some more mine fields and back to the hotel. After dinner,
Mendy took us to the National Diamond Centre.This was very heavily guarded by
armed soldiers and we were searched on the way in and out. This is were all the
gold, silver and diamonds are sent to be cut and polished. We were shown rough
cut diamond the size of golf balls, waiting to be cut, shaped and polished. It
was very interesting. When I bought my gold cross for my wife they put the
cross into a sealed package and told me not to break the seal. They would send
a document to customs and I had to give this package to the customs which they
then checked it with the document which was sent to them. Once this was done I
got my package back.
Monday.
Moved on again to Netanya. On the way we visited Megadom and Carmel.
Tuesday. We spent the morning looking round the shops and the afternoon on the
beach. I went for a swim in the twelve foot high rollers. I couldn't have done
it without the help of Eric and Michael. (Thank's lads!).
Wednesday.
The day was spent sight seeing and after wi had to pack ready for the flight
home. We had to be on the road again at 4 30 am, back to the airport and home.
I would like to thank everybody and most of all to Pauline for the help given
to me. She was so good at guiding me that half the time I didn't actually feel
blind. Thank you Pauline. You certainly made it a JOURNEY OF A LIFE TIME. Thank
you.
Malcolm Bowker.
love Malcolm. xxxx.
Hyde, Cheshire,
skype name,
malcolmbo1
You Said.
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