Mon, May 26 - Tel Aviv to Madaba

The walk to the bus station is deceptively long, taking the better part of an hour. This includes a couple of course corrections along the way. The bus station is, well... the Tel Aviv bus station is to other bus stations what the Chicago Tower is to other sky scrapers, namely, immense. It is comprised of 7 floors. Buses go up a circular ramp and at any given time there are 200 buses at the station. Inside, the building contains 800 stores. This is like no other bus station on the planet. Like all other public buildings in Israel, you need to be screened to enter the complex. 

I'm tired of breathing through my mouth and tentatively blow my nose, having massive quantities of toilet paper at the ready in case it is necessary to staunch a gusher of blood. Not to worry, my nose is tired of being sidelined for the past week and cooperates. My black eyes have also healed and despite my nose being a bit tender (the doctor told me not to get hit in the nose for 6 weeks after the incident), I'm pretty much back to normal.

A taxi driver quickly finds me in the Jerusalem bus station and almost has me convinced to pay his high fee to the border. Something about him pisses me off and I refuse at the last minute. He goes on and on about all the hassles I will face at the Jordanian border. I turn to him and tell him, "That's part of the experience. I want all the hassles and delays they can throw at me!" This may be the first time he encounters this line. He's stumped and I stalk off, finding a bus that stops close to the border. It ends up costing me 35 shekels to get to the Jordanian border versus the 250 he was charging. And the hassles....

The bus lets me and a couple of Swiss travelers off at a lonely bus stop, two minutes walk from the Israeli check point. We pass through the checkpoint easily and then wait for a shuttle which is to take us to the Israeli exit booth, where they stamp passports and make sure you are not smuggling national secrets out of Israel. We paid 11 shekels for a 40 minute bus ride from Jeruselam, the shuttle driver demands 30 shekels each from myself and the Swiss for a 2 minute ride. Then he changes his story and asks for 50 shekels to cover all of us.

The Swiss guy is pissed and hands the driver 10 shekels to cover the three of us. We pass through the exit procedures quickly, then the driver returns with his boss, and a woman who runs the border post. She informs us that we need to pay the driver 13 shekels per person for the shuttle. A long argument ensues. We claim we could walk, she says we can't walk because the area has  not been cleared of land mines, we claim the road has been cleared else buses could not traverse it, she tells us if we do not pay, she will send for the police. We end up paying the 13 shekels each and are glad to be passed this point.

Mt. Nebo & Madaba

People are friendlier on the Jordan side, I'm given some Turkish coffee as I wait for my hotel's driver to show up. We stop at Mt. Nebo on the way to Madaba. Mt. Nebo is where Moses first viewed the forbidden Promised Land. He later died and was buried here. 

They have some good mosaics here, and there is a bronze memorial symbolizing the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross and the serpent which 'Moses lifted up'. 

Madaba does not disappoint.  One of the world's most famous mosaics is located in St. George's Church, dipicting a map of the region. The map is quite accurate and has lead to the discovery of more than one biblical city which had been previously lost from record. The center of the map is Jeruselam, and the city as shown in the map has not changed much in the 1400 years since the map was created.

I have dinner with a couple of women travelers staying at the same hotel. We chat for a bit before they get tired and retire. I try a nargila (water-pipe). The taste is quite good and the smoke having bubbled through water is cool, but after a while I begin to feel light-headed, and not wanting to pass out in the restaurant, I stagger up to my room. (It's OK to make a scene in my room where only I will see it, not OK to make a scene in a public place, where I might be able to get help. I wonder if all males are wired the same way?)