Israel Arrival

Israel Arrival

27 December 2012

We started out from the hotel relatively late this morning, 10:00 AM, headed for the Jordan crossing of the Israeli/Jordan border.  The two hour trip was interesting in that as we drove further from Amman and closer to the border, the towns became progressively seedier and destitute.  While Amman itself was somewhat modern when compared with the west, the towns closer to the border did indeed look impoverished. 

The actual crossing between the two countries took about two hours and was a rather chilling experience, especially since on both sides it seemed very arbitrary and capricious, with each next step rather ambiguous; it was as if they were reinventing the process with each step.  Other than our tour group, there were very few other travelers making the crossing, which in and of itself made things feel a bit odd; it definitely would have seemed even more bizarre had I been doing it on my own rather than with a group.  One the Jordan side, they first sent an unarmed guard on the bus who looked at our passports, after which they had each of us disembark and put our luggage through an X-ray machine.  After that, we had to walk 100 meters or so to another building for the formal passport check.

Our guide had warned us ahead of time that if we wanted to travel to other Arab countries in the future, we needed to make sure there were no indications of Israeli travel in our passport.  This meant, among other things, that we request the passport officials in Israel to stamp a separate piece of paper rather than our passports, and we also needed to make the same request on exit from Jordan since the stamp would indicate the Jordan crossing, which would clearly reveal we had entered Israel.  The passport official in Jordan at first balked at the idea, but our tour guide spoke with him in Arabic and eventually persuaded him to do so.  After that, we boarded a different bus which drove us to the final Jordanian exit point, where they collected our departure tax and let us pass into Israel.

While the Jordanian exit experience was a bit tense, it was in Israel that it became clear the security and war mentality was much higher.  We passed through radiation detectors, then the bus stopped shortly thereafter, and we sat for several minutes for some reason that never was made clear.  What was clear, however, was the young man with very short hair, dressed in civilian attire, who was walking around with an automatic assault weapon.  (BTW, in the US we often use the phrase “automatic weapon” when we really mean semi-automatic, but this one was, indeed, fully automatic.)  Finally they moved the bus forward, and we pulled up to the passport control building.

We disembarked the bus, but unlike every other stop in Jordan, nobody was there to offload our luggage from the undercarriage of the bus, so a few of us became honorary baggage handlers. 

Inside the building, we first were questioned by a passport agent behind a podium.  The questions I was asked were fairly standard (“How long will you be here?” “Where are you going?” “Are you with a group or own your own?”), but several of the other passengers were asked some rather bizarre questions that the agent had no way of verifying in any case:  “What is your grandfather’s name?”  “Where was your mother born?”    Also, age was no restriction on the extreme questions:  Both the elderly (in their 70’s) as well as the young (down to 9 years old!) were quizzed in this manner.

In any case, after my relatively light experience with the first agent, I put my bag through another X-ray machine and walked through the X-ray machine myself.  Though I did not set off any alarms, they did insist on going through my bags, not missing anything:  They were very interested in the Jordan and Israel travel books I had with me, and they did a very thorough job of going through my dirty laundry bag.

Eventually they cleared my luggage, and I went on to another passport official behind a window.  I asked her to provide a separate paper and not stamp my passport; she asked why, I explained, and she did not question me further.    I finished clearing, but since I had been at the front of our group, it would be another hour before the rest of our team cleared.

We were met by a rather gruff representative of some agency, who announced he was “Daniel,” and that was about all he said. 

I had not taken any pictures of either the Jordanian or Israeli border crossing facilities up to this point, so once I exited the building and was officially in Israel I took out my camera to take a picture, but the bus driver told me “no” as even the outside area was still considered off limits to camera

Once we drove off from the checkpoint, it immediately became very obvious that this was a totally different world.  For starters, while Jordan had been dry and desert-like all throughout, Israel was green from the very beginning.  In the first few seconds, we saw more greenery than we had seen in three days in Jordan.

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 3:00 PM and checked in to the Sheraton.  This hotel is a whole lot more fun than the Marriott:  It’s not as luxurious and definitely shows some wear, but it is right on the Mediterranean shore, with a view of the Med right from my window.  This is very much what I meant in the previous post when I said I wanted to be able to walk out of the hotel and have interesting places to go to right outside!

As an added bonus, I scored a rental USB modem and TWO SIM cards that work with my new phone.  I guess I am internet addicted, but this connectivity makes me feel much better, as if I am back in touch with the rest of the world again.

I first went to McDonalds, where the burger was delightfully greasy, something which is not at all like what you would find in a US McDonalds.   I walked around a bit more, and in spite of my burger I was still hungry, so I entered a restaurant for a drink and what I thought would be a light snack.  I ordered a fish and chips dinner, which I though would be light, but I was very wrong about that!! The dinner started off with a bowl of lettuce and tomatoes that would have been a decent meal in and of itself, then she brought out appetizers:  Carrots, humus, cabbage, bread, a big potato with some sort of a cream sauce on it, and four or five other thing I did not recognize.  I was stuffed at that point, but then she brought out my entrée:  There was a plate loaded with French fries, probably the equivalent of (literally) ten of the small sacks you would get at McDonalds.  The two pieces of fish were buried under that stack, and though it was breaded, it was not the normal cod you would get in US fish and chips.  I actually appreciated that when the bill came, she had penciled in the service (gratuity) charge.  Sure, it was a bit presumptuous, but it also relieved my uncertainty over how much to add (and, it was less than I would have entered on my own).

To compare the two countries in theses first few hours in Israel, I would have to say that the Jordan people win in terms of politeness and friendliness, but the Israelis know tourism and decadence.