Israel

Here are some photos from my trip to Israel during Thanksgiving week 2003.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

Day 5 - Wednesday November 26, 2003

We woke up early today and had free breakfast with some Israeli girls.  The first shot is our view from the hostel.  We stopped at the first public beach we saw on the dead sea and Eran went in the water.  It was about 10 in the morning and it was hot!  The land around the dead sea is actually the lowest point on land in the planet.  It was really rocky at this beach and you could see a thick layer of salt on the rocks near the water.  Next, we went to the best public beach near the expensive hotels and we both went in.  What can I say, it's an experience you can't have anywhere else in the world.  Your legs pop right up and float on the water.  If you try to keep your legs down and straighten out, the water will come up to about your chest and you will just float there without touching the bottom.  It was great because I can't swim.  After our dip in the water, Eran got a massage from some fat old lady while I fell asleep upstairs on the couch waiting for him.  The lady made him shower 3 times because he had salt all over him.  I left the salty film on me for the supposed rejuvenating properties.  The sea is actually 33% salt and other minerals.  That's why you float.  Next we began our trek through the Negev desert and mountains to Maktesh Ramon which is basically a huge crater almost the size of the grand canyon.  On the way Eran spotted a bunch of buses at the side of the road at this attraction called "colored rocks".  So we stopped by and there were a bunch of school kids there.  We walked through the mountains and the desert rocks were actually different colors.  Next, after almost hitting a wild ass on the road, we headed for Maktesh Ramon and saw a hot girl with a machine gun there.  There was a sort of info movie to watch, but we were the only ones there so we had to advance to the next segments ourselves.  When we got back to the car, the window was smashed.  It looked like someone broke our window, but didn't steal anything.  So Eran called the rental company and they would get a new car for him.  Our next stop was Eilat, the southern most tip of Israel on the red sea.  When we got there we stopped for some schwarma and caught the next casino boat on the red sea.  I won $50 and Eran won $20 his first time gambling.  We then drove around looking for a place to stay and found a cheap hostel.