We are back in NZ, fully ensconced in Auckland life - starting jobs, looking for a house, catching up with friends, enjoying a NZ summer. But often our thoughts are back with our travels, particularly as we hear more and more disturbing news of Gaza and the Israel/Palestine conflict. While life has been going full steam ahead, we have managed to get well and truly behind with our video posts. Here is the latest - a present for John and Maree Panckhurst - of our travels with them in Turkey a few months ago.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Monday, 5 November 2012
Singapore/Bali - the last post
As our trip had to be curtailed due to pending work
commitments in Auckland, we decided that returning to Asia would be a good way
to wind down and soften the blow of hitting the real world again. Singapore
brought out the inner child in us as we headed to the Zoo. Lions and tigers and
bears (oh my!) plus many other animals made the jetlagged early start very
worthwhile.
Bali, although more chaotic, was a familiar haunt and once
again we were lucky enough to be well looked after by Laura’s brother Michael.
We hired a scooter and relived our South American days driving 1.5 hours north
to the village of Sidemen, tucked amongst rice paddies and stands of coconut
palms. Here we visited the tiny village
of Telengis and saw the community centre (Banja) which was built with money
that Michael had fundraised in NZ. It contains a medical clinic and soon to be
opened pre-school. Sami, our local contact, was a great host and took us around
several schools in the area – even taking advantage of our English to try out
some of the older students' language skills. Later in the evening we went for a
wander through the village to meet the locals, coming back with giftbags full
of fruit and stomachs full of Bali Kopi (coffee).
We are writing this back on the coast in
Seminyak, from one of Michael’s luxury villas. Soon we will head out for what will be our final meal in Bali. Our amazing adventure is fast drawing to a close and despite
knowing that the next few years at least will be heads down with study, work
and mortgages, it is hard not to be planning our next adventure already. With
so much of the world yet to explore and so many people to meet the only way to
console ourselves is to know that someday we will be off exploring again.
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Walk like an Egyptian
Finally making it across the border two days later than
planned, thanks to many Jewish and Muslim holidays, we headed straight to Dahab, a
diving/backpacker resort on the Red Sea Coast. Through a recommendation we met
up with the team from Seadancer with whom we spent a couple of days diving. The
water was amazingly clear and warm, and the coral reefs were phenomenal. We
found all manners of sea life (actually the dive instructor did, we just
looked) and really were sad we couldn’t stay longer - especially because we
know the water will only be colder in NZ!
Following from this we took a very
long bus ride to Cairo. Straight away we hit the hustle and bustle of the city of
22 million when our driver dropped us in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully,
(the word of our trip) a taxi driver found our hotel. This was coincidentally
located close to Tahir square and offered great views of the ongoing post
Friday prayer protests which are happening in Egypt still. Of course we took in
the sights of the pyramids, antiquities museum and Nile but perhaps the best
thing we did in Cairo was join our (now) friend Modi for a tour around the
sights that were pivotal in the January Egyptian Revolution. Modi was heavily
involved with the organisation and he gave us a blow by blow description of
what was required to overturn the government of Mubarak (don’t worry John, we have
no intention of instigating anything in NZ …) Modi also showed off the best of
Cairo in terms of the old city and it's beautiful parks, and helped us acquire our
prized Egyptian possession – a tabla (hand-held drum). While walking around Cairo we became aware of
the downturn as a result of the revolution. We hope for the sake of those that
rely on tourism that people realise travelling here is no more dangerous than
any other country.
The upper Nile cities
of Aswan and Luxor were equally interesting. Perhaps the highlight here though
was our tour through the Valley of the Kings. Here tombs that are thousands of
years old are so well preserved they look like they could have been made
yesterday. Our final destination city was Alexandria – once home to the famous
library and lighthouse. For us it was a stepping point to see the battlefield
of El Alamein and pay our respects at the War Cemeteries. It was quite a shock
to see so many New Zealanders represented, perhaps the most we have seen of the
War Graves we have visited so far.
Our thoughts on Egypt were mixed. On one hand you cannot
neglect the constant hassle and occasional underhand attempt to prize money
from the unsuspecting. But we feel this was well and truly outweighed by the
care we received from our hosts, our feeling safe on the streets, and the
experience of being surrounded by such a rich and ancient culture.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Fence Sitting Israel Palestine Styles...
As per usual Lou and I came to
this area with a vague plan, and as per usual this ended up changing in its
entirety.
We made it unscathed across the
border and headed straight to Jerusalem. This is an amazing city and is an
instant education from a historic and religious point of view. We visited the
Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Ancient Souq and much more. Also while in
Jerusalem we attended a Yom Kippur Synagogue service and experienced the city
shutting down for this day of atonement.
We then headed to Bethlehem where
a fantastic taxi driver gave us a great introduction to this tiny town. We
checked out Manger Square and then headed out to visit the Refugee camp and
security wall – a sight that reminded me of the prisons I had seen in NZ. We were also lucky enough to be given a tour by a local student around Hebron - a city that lives in constant conflict due to encroaching settlers.
From here we headed up to Nablus
where a two day stopover turned into a week-long volunteer stint. We painted two murals with school children
from the Girls’ School at the Balata Refugee Camp. This was a fun time where we got to know the
children and had a little insight into their lives. We also met a fantastic
teacher called Raneen, and volunteer co-ordinator called Nizar who showed us
the sights (and the delicacies) of Nablus.
Following a great Oktoberfest at
the tiny Christian town of Taybeh, we headed back to Israel and hired a car for
a couple of days. The north of Israel is green, lush and fertile. We tasted
wine, hiked and explored the northernmost reaches where Lebanon and Syria
almost surround you.
It is impossible to enter this area without
having some idea that this is problem central. Collectively the ongoing
conflict in this region has accounted for more headlines per capita probably
than anywhere else in the world. What we came to realise whilst travelling is
that it is not possible to understand the conflict from newspapers and books.
And it has not been possible to understand it in the just over two short weeks
that we have spent here. So what do we understand? We understand that there are
many minority factions from both sides driving a lot of the violence and
oppression. We understand the balance of power lies too much with the Israeli
government. We understand that the security wall is an abhorrent injustice
serving only to suppress, humiliate and strip people with no aggressive agenda
of their civil rights. And we understand that there are many people on both
sides of this fence (excuse the pun) who sympathise with each other, and want
to work toward a long term peace.
Remember that this is a country
that prior to British and UN intervention had people from Jewish, Muslim and
Christian faiths living peacefully side by side. It is now a country where
barbed wire and assault rifles are common place, held onto by soldiers that
barely look old enough to be driving - let alone deciding over life and death. It
is where our Palestinian guide was forced to walk down the non-settler side of
the road, while we could walk wherever we wanted, and where a whole population has
access to water, fuel, food and travel restricted. These restrictions are decided
on by the same force that is protecting Zionist settlers who are slowly, but
surely, encroaching upon and taking over land and homes that are not theirs,
despite what they might say.
Little is offered from the
international community to protect those who need protection and it seems now
with so much bloodshed, injury and death sustained from both sides that a ‘one
state’ solution just couldn’t work. So
what now? We don’t have a solution and
unless there is compromise we doubt anyone else will come up with one. We certainly
hope for the sake of all those who have been affected, in all ways, that something
is thought of soon. We also hope that more people read beyond the headlines to
understand better the lives of those living in this awful situation, and
perhaps offer some support to those that need it most.
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