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Israel and Jordan 1998

Trip to Israel and Jordan for the Feast of Tabernacles 1998

Part 1

Saturday 3 October 1998, Dead Sea — As I sit here in my very comfortable hotel room at the Crowne Plaza right next to the Dead Sea here in Israel, I will try to tell you my experiences so far. But first let me describe the magnificent view from the window. Down below, at the rear of this 4-star hotel, is the swimming pool, surrounded by palm trees, long reclining seats and many happy guests. To my left and straight ahead lie the wonders of the Dead Sea (its surface is 400 metres below sea level) and the Jordanian mountains on the horizon. Beyond this small pocket of civilisation I see little in the way of life — just an empty terrain, water and rocky and sandy outcrops in the sea, as well as various people (the only life in the Dead Sea). The sun is shining, and it must be about 40°C at least, certainly a lot hotter than anything I have previously experienced! Menorah at Tel Aviv Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel

It all started on Thursday morning, when I came out with a lightly-packed suitcase and shoulder bag, making my way to London Gatwick Airport. I met my travelling companion, also from London, Paul, at the airport. Our flight to Tel Aviv departed at around 1 pm on board a Caledonian Airways Airbus A320. Our 4½-hour flight ended in Tel Aviv, after sunset. Here we disembarked at Ben-Gurion Airport, put our watches forward one hour, and felt the incredible heat of Israel, despite no sign of the sun.

An indoor indicator showed the temperature to be 25°C, with 59% relative humidity. It was by now 19:00h local time, and we waited in one of many long queues to get through immigration. To my surprise they let us through easily, just stamping the relevant papers and passports. We collected our suitcases and looked for a baggage room to store them for the night. Then a bus into Tel Aviv to look for accommodation. We were obviously going to have accommodation on the tour, but for the night before and after we needed to make our own arrangements, preferring to stay somewhere cheap rather than a 4-star hotel. The main tour party was scheduled to arrive at the airport here Friday afternoon.

We arrived at a bus station in Tel Aviv, complete strangers to the country we were now in. We looked around for clues to a cheap place to stay the night, asking at two information desks within the shopping center without success. Then a local woman offered to help us find the tourist office, which she did; however, it had already closed for the night, so no luck there. She suggested taking a taxi, as taxi drivers were bound to know good cheap accommodation. Immediately we stepped outside an enthusiastic Israeli taxi driver approached and Paul explained what we were looking for. He made some suggestions as we drove and offered to take us to a cheap youth hostel for a $40 fare ($20 each, which we were later informed was a rip-off). On the way there I was startled to hear a loudspeaker behind us on a car saying something in Hebrew, accompanied by sirens. The taxi driver pulled over out of the way and explained that it was the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu), hence the bodyguards etc with guns in the cars which followed the police car.

Arriving at Tel Aviv Youth Hostel we got a dormitory room (for 4 people) at a cost of 82 shekels each (about £13.50, US$22.20 each), although we were lucky and got the room to ourselves. Being in this strange place I think we suffered a little from culture shock (I had experienced the same thing my first night in America in 1997). After a reasonably good night’s sleep we left in the morning after breakfast for the 222 bus to the airport to meet the rest of the tour group. As the day wore on we came to experience just how hot it gets here and sat around drinking juices and tea. There were soldiers everywhere — here in Israel everyone is called up for national service, and with constant security threats, seeing soldiers everywhere in Israel is not a surprise. They all look about 18 to 20 years old, and all carry M16 machine guns with ammunition, and I am certain that I would not want to mess with one of those guys.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, by the Dead Sea, Israel After having lunch, we checked the arrivals board inside the airport and saw that the El Al flight from New York were delayed half an hour. At 15:10h, the time it was then due, I saw the 747 descend to the airport from outside. We then retrieved our luggage from the baggage room and entered the arrivals area, to sit and watch the big screen of people arriving. After a while I went to look to see if there was anyone from the United Church of God on the other side of the arrivals hall. I saw Ronald Kelly, the minister organising the Israel Feast tour for the Worldwide Church of God (from which United Church of God broke away in 1995). Then I spoke to a woman who looked like a Church member, she was actually Mrs Kelly of WCG, but she was able to tell me that the UCG coaches were outside, so I went off to collect Paul and my luggage and then we met up with Maria Murray, the main person in MTM who had organised the Feast tour for UCG. Also her husband Jim was there, and he took me out to the coaches, which Paul and I then boarded. We had to wait a while though for the others to get on, and it was getting near to the Sabbath as the sun started to descend to the horizon.

On the way to the Dead Sea, our Israeli tour guide Nicole (who was actually born in France and thus spoke English with a mixture of French and Israeli accents) told us about Israel and the local areas that were driving through. The sun set very quickly before we got very far, and it was dark long before we got to the Dead Sea. We passed through cool mountains where settlements were built for those who worked in the Dead Sea area, to give them a cool place to go after work, because the Dead Sea is so hot, especially as it is below sea level. Around 20:00h we arrived at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza hotel, got our room numbers and key cards, and went to dinner.

Dinner was superb! A first-class buffet-style meal, we could help ourselves to a huge variety of foods, vegetables, salads, meats, and so on. Afterwards I met an old friend whom I did not expect to be here, Heather, who had studied previously in London and had attended my local congregation. She was there with her parents and brother. She had been in an advert for M&Ms with Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) which she had actually never seen, as it was not distributed in America, so I told her I had seen it in the UK at the cinema, which she was pleased to hear about. The Dead Sea at sunrise, seen from Israel

Today (Saturday), after a wonderful night’s sleep in a king-size bed, I had a large Israeli breakfast. We had the Sabbath service at 11:00h, with an excellent sermonette by Howard Wills about not forgetting God, and a sermon by Rex Spears about making sure we remember to pray and involve God in everything. I met a few people afterwards, some of whom are pictured on this web site further on in this travelog.

In the afternoon Paul went for a float in the Dead Sea, and a swim in the pool. I sat around for a while, then went outside the hotel and crossed the street to a small shop and café facility called Petra. And all the time outside it was about 40°C at least. Probably about 35°C in the shade, but much cooler in the air-conditioned shop. Inside I met more church members, and as they left I ordered lunch and then returned to my room to write this. My room-mate Don just returned and told me about his afternoon in a taxi with a Bedouin and other church members. It is now getting dark, the Sabbath is over, the moon is out and dozens of people are still in the Dead Sea. Tonight another fine dinner and early tomorrow morning we will set off for Petra in Jordan.

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