Sleeping with Camels this piece can be heard as it was radio broadcast on npr’s “the savvy traveler” on december 7, 2001. click http://www.savvytraveler.org/show/rundowns/2001/20011207.shtml then click “Listen to the Whole Show”, and fast forward to 32:40. “sleeping with camels” is…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 12, wadi kelt, jericho, marc chagall, & silence
“gold sky jerusalem” by yitzhak greenfield may 26 – june 1, 1999 jerusalem it’s the next day. i’ve taken the “long” bus ride back to jerusalem from the upper galilee through tiberius, the “big” city on the “kinneret” (hebrew for…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 13, the great sinai
june 2 – 6, 1999 finally. this is the place i’ve been hearing about since arriving in israel almost a month ago. everyone, absolutely everyone, says “go to sinai.” they say “the best” israelis go to sinai. the holy no-man’s…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 14, cairo, mother of all cities
june 7-9, 1999 cairo so i never make it further south to another bedouin camp in sinai. i’m too full and content with my own ras es-satan/head of the devil. i do hitch a ride to terabin for a few…
Alexandria, Egypt, 1999 Middle East Chapter 15, Looking for Larry 2,
june 10-11, 1999 alexandria so now i’m on the 11:30 a.m. express to “alex”. alex–andria. pride of the conquering alexander the great in 333 b.c.. home of cleopatra. marc antony. julius caesar. seat of learning of the entire ancient world.…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 16, alex to jerusalem, the history of the tower of david
june 12, 1999 alexandria, egypt it’s 4:30 in the morning. the sky is pitch black. i’m at the main bus station in alexandria. i have twenty four hours to make it back to jerusalem for lihran morav’s bar mitzvah. i…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 17, the kibbutz on the golan heights
june 15, 1999 upper galilee, kibbutz machanayim alright. now well-armed with millennia of bloody middle eastern history, i bus my way up north to the refreshingly green and fertile upper galilee, right on the southwest border of the also lovely…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 18, the sea of galilee
june 17, 1999 holy christian sights in the upper galilee well, with a good night’s sleep in quiet machanayim, i take advantage of my two day car rental and start out the next morning, heading south along the west coast…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 20, belly dancing in amman
june 23, 1999 amman, jordan i’ve lost track of time in the magical forests of mitzpeh amuka for almost a week. so, waking up in the cool morning air one eventful morning, i decide to re-immerse myself in harsh mideastern…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 21, pissed on and off the kings’ highway
kings’ highway, jordan june 24, 1999 i’m rolling along the kings highway – racing the sun south – from amman to petra, the fabled rose-colored, sandstone-carved city of the ancient nabateans. getting a rental car on friday, in closed-for-sabbath amman…