Palestinian Microbreweries: Taste the Revolution!

"I haven't even been in Palestine for 5 hours and I'm already half-drunk, alone, in some backwater Christian village."

There is one part of my trip that I haven't told anybody about, and now that it is over I feel free to spill the beans. Although I crossed over into Israel a week ago, I've spent most of my time in Palestine. The West Bank, to be specific. Is this safe? The short answer is, yes. And since I'm feeling lazy I won't give the long answer (which would involve a long, drawn out discussion about Fatah vs. Hamas, Gaza vs. the West Bank, Islam, perceptions based on the media, European tourist habits, etc., that most people would stop reading about now).

Instead, I will just tell you what I did and saw. I've tried to select photos that really represent how I've perceived the West Bank, and will try my best not go on political diatribes that would only serve to bore or anger. Some of these photos actually look quite intimidating and frightening, and although they are representative of my experiences here, it's hard to capture reality with photos alone. It's not as intense as it looks, and never once did I feel unsafe.

**My travel to the West Bank was not meant to be a political statement, and any seemingly pro-Palestinian leanings here are not intended as such, but merely what I experienced first hand as a traveler. I am not against the Israeli state or people, and realize my travels have only seen one side of the coin thus far. I am open to discussion or correction, but at another time.**

I know this entry is long, so I've broken it down by location.

So here we go...

- Ramallah & Taybeh -

My second morning in Jerusalem I decided to take a day trip to Ramallah, the administrative center of the Palestinian Authority (both Israel and the Palestinian territories claim Jerusalem as their capital) only 12 km from Jerusalem. I went alone. I caught Palestinian service (shared taxi) No. 18 from the Damascus Gate, and aside from a Catholic priest (with the biggest bling cross I've ever seen hanging from his neck), I was the only foreigner. We drove through East Jerusalem, and in 15 minutes we were at the Security Barrier (the Wall)...

The Wall - Not Pink Floyd

I kept thinking, "Will they let me through?!?" The bus drove up to the gate, the guard waved to the drive, and passed right through the checkpoint. Before I even knew it, I was on the other side--no one checked my passport or anything. It couldn't have been that easy, could it? (It turns out to be very easy).

The wall is a very contentious issue worldwide. You can see the route it takes around the West Bank by clicking the map below:

The West Bank - Very Complicated

The Israelis say it is a temporary barrier not representative of a political boundary, to be demolished pending a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It's purpose is to decrease attacks within Israel--and the Security Barrier has been stunningly successful at that, with terrorist attacks plummeting. On the other hand, it is responsible for severely limiting the ability of the Palestinian people to travel (the majority of whom are not terrorists nor religious zealots and I found to be gracious, kind, and welcoming) while also separating communities from their land, their neighbors, jobs, and the outside world--making economic development and any semblance of normal life near impossible. They view it as another land grab, akin to the settlements, and see the claims of its temporary nature as a obvious farce (it's twice as high as the Berlin Wall).

Graffiti I Saw on the Palestinian Side

Anyways, I said no politics (I'll say that is background information). I had made it to the other side, with no problem or delay. The clean, gray slabs of concrete suddenly were covered with graffiti, much of it political.

"I am a Jelly Doughnut." JFK, 1963

Another 15 minutes later, I was in the city center of Ramallah. I had vague memories of watching the news when I was younger and seeing Israeli tanks roll into Ramallah, but when I arrived the city was bustling with activity. My first thought: this place is more developed than Egypt, definitely cleaner. Several foreigners live there, working for the UN or NGOs (In Jordan, I met an American girl from Iowa living in Ramallah). I walked to the Palestinian Authority headquarters and saw the tomb of Yasser Arafat, not because I have any particular fondness for him, but because it was close and he was an influential figure in the region.

Ramallah

I walked around for a while more, wandered into some nice shopping malls stocked with designer goods, and wandered aimlessly (there really isn't anything to see in Ramallah). I stopped in the Stars & Bucks cafe and got an iced coffee--how can an occupied territory do a coffee shop better than everywhere else? Ramallah did not seem radically different from any other Middle Eastern city I've visited.

Stars & Bucks - Better than Starbucks!

Since I had time, I decided to catch another service taxi to the small Christian village of Taybeh, a dozen kilometers north of Ramallah, to visit the Taybeh Microbrewery! Beer! The countryside along the way was beautiful, with rocky hills terraced into olive tree groves, green fields, and pine trees. I can understand why people have fought over this land for millennia.

Olive Groves & Pine Trees. This photo doesn't do the countryside justice.

The taxi driver asked me why I wanted to go to Taybeh. I didn't want to say, "I'm an American alone in the West Bank and I want beer!" so I tried a more diplomatic, "For the brewery." He dropped me off in the middle of this village and told me in broken english to walk down some random street. It did not look like a place for a microbrewery... but after 2 minutes, I happened upon a large wearhouse. I walked by... no one was there. I walked in... dimly lit beer brewering equipment, I didn't see anyone...

Taybeh Beer

"Hello!" Oh, I must've missed the cute girl sitting behind the desk. Her brother showed me around, gave me beer, and even said that his father (the brewer/founder) took a few classes at UC Davis! And he (the son) had been accepted to Harvard and MIT but didn't know which to attend... then he showed me the Jewish settlement occupying a nearby hilltop. I left after an hour to make it back to Jerusalem before sunset.

Crossing into Israel

While crossing into Palestine was easy, crossing the wall into the Israeli side was more complicated. It was like an airport security check, but in a military zone and much more controlled. We were only allowed one by one into the screening room, following the orders of a young Israeli woman behind a window at a desk (do the Israelis only hire women for border duties?). However, as a foreign passport holder I had no delays and crossing was just a nuisance. I can't imagine it for the people that live there.

- Jericho -

Two days later my friend Keira and I decided to go to the city of Jericho, the lowest and (perhaps) longest continually inhabited city on Earth. As there is no direct bus from Jerusalem, we caught service No. 18 again, ate lunch in Ramallah (at my favorite shawarma place) and caught another service to Jericho. I was a little hungover and the windy road was not helping...

Keira informed that right outside the city is the Mount of Temptation. Hmm, Temptation, I thought... that sounds fun! Turns out it wasn't the type of Temptation I was hoping for! It refers to the desert mountain where Jesus was tempted by Satan, still fun to see.

Mount of Temptation near Jericho

We arrived in Jericho, passing a sign that said "Illegal for Israeli Citizens to Enter, Under Israeli Law", then sat in the city center a bit (having heaps of Palestinians offer us their food and drink!) and started walking to the Mount. While Jerusalem was cold and breezy that day, Jericho, situated on a flat, desert plain, was very hot. I've never been to Mexico, but I imagine a small northern Mexican town would look like Jericho.

Cable Cars up the Mount of Temptation

We took cablecars to the top of the Mount, along with a Palestinian Christian couple. The guy, Osama, was having a serious problem facing his fear of heights! I felt like saying, "I'm an American in Palestine, we all have fears to face!"

The view from the top covered much of the Holy Land, the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea. The Monastery was closed, and as a large group of disappointed Palestinians (and Canadians) gathered outside, I felt tempted to yell to the monks, "Open the gates! The Muslims are getting angry!" I guess we all get tempted on the mount.

- Bethlehem -

Here we go again...

The next day Keira left and I decided to go solo again, south to Bethlehem. I had to pass through the wall on foot, exiting into Palestine in a cage-like maze.

Exiting the Wall into Palestine on Foot

In Bethlehem, I entered the Church of the Nativity, which claims to mark the very spot on which Jesus Christ was born (I'm personally a little dubious about all these claims), and was the scene of a major seige in 2002. Nowadays there are huge tour buses rolling through with pilgrims and tourists from all over the world. It was a little odd at first seeing so many Muslims enter the church to view the birthplace of Jesus, but for Muslims he was the major prophet before Mohammed.

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

- Hebron -

In Bethlehem I decided to accompany an Austrian guy I had met on the bus on his way to Hebron, the major southern city in the West Bank, and perhaps the most tense. We hopped into another service taxi to start the short but time-consuming drive south.

You see these all over the West Bank

Along the way we passed several Israeli guard towers periodically stationed near the highway, sometimes accompanied by checkpoints, and could easily see settlements on the neighboring hilltops. The highways are controlled by the Israeli military, who control access to and from the settlements or Palestinian villages. Foreign passport holders can go almost everywhere, but both Israelis and Palestinians are severly limited in where they can travel.

Olive Grove with Jewish Settlement on Hilltop

The Jewish settlements (I say Jewish and not Israeli, because although often protected by the Israeli government, the settlements are often inhabited by religious Jews who started them on their own after the 1967 war... that isn't true in every case) were often easy to distinguish from Palestinian villages by the types of houses--that is, if it looked like California, it was a settlement. The settlements are, obviously, another controversial issue.

Israeli Soldiers on Patrol in Hebron

Hebron is a visibly divided city as there is a settlement in the center of town, protected by the Israeli military. Several local Palestinians took us (and some other foreigners we met) onto a rooftop to see Israeli military guard posts watching over the city on the hill, and where they claim that a settler threw a molotov cocktail into a Palestinian house. As we walked towards the settlement, we saw armed soldiers on the street and guarding the Ibrahimi mosque & synagogue. Hebron felt like a city under occupation.

However, the Israeli soldiers are there to quell violence between the settlers and the Palestinians, which flares up often and sometimes dramatically. While I was there, I saw them arrest a young Palestinian boy involved in some scuffle with the Jewish settlers.

There is so much antagonism and violence between the two sides that there is a large international presence just to monitor acts of aggression committed by anyone in Hebron. I had a very brief conversation with an Israeli soldier, who basically said in broken English that the Palestinians are not nice and the settlers are not nice, which I took to meant he did not like either side and was stuck in the middle.

With all this tension, it was surprising to see a fair number of tourists. I was far from the only foreigner visiting that day.

- My Hostel -

After experiencing all of this, I decided to stay a couple nights in Palestine! I found a hostel in a small town near Bethlehem, connected to an organic permaculture farm run by a few Brit expats. Hmm... sounds like the Bay Area.

My Hostel in Palestine, Bustan Qaraaqa

The surrounding farmfields and countryside was beautiful. The farm attracted a diverse crowd, from hippy alternative types* to Texan expats living in Palestine and a Lutheran (from Colorado) running a school in Bethlehem, as well as a few local Palestinians. I had a bbq with them, which included roast bird, and saw a number of local families celebrate Orthodox Easter that day.

*Want to discuss the shamanistic use of mushrooms to commune with the spirit world? Glad I had watched the History Channel special on that...

- Nablus -

From my hostel, just south of Jerusalem, I decided to take a day trip to Nablus, the northern population center and historical home of the Samaritans (remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan?). The Samaritan religion is still practiced there.

Nablus has been a hotbed of resistance to the Israeli presence (or occupation, depending on your beliefs) and the city is ringed by seven checkpoints. Two and half hours and ~100 km after leaving Bethlehem, I arrived at the Huwwara checkpoint, the only foreigner in sight.

Nablus

From the checkpoint, I took a service taxi to the city center and found my way into the bustling souq (the Arabic word for bazaar). Nablus has, by far, the largest souq of any city I've seen, and surprisingly I was the only foreigner I saw in it all day. Everywhere else in Palestine there were usually other tourists or foreigners working and living.

While there I found several Martyrs Posters (those frightening posters of those who had died fighting Israel).

Martyrs Posters in Nablus Souq

Nablus was the first place I had seen anything like that, and the photos look, to be honest, frightening. But what isn't shown here is the lingerie on sale next door (that can't be!) or the children playing soccer or the goods on sale described, surprisingly positively, as "American."

Now you'd think in this environment I would lie about my nationality, and to be sure, I did not try to advertise it (it was obvious I was a foreigner--most people guess German). However, the first shopkeeper I talked to, when he found out I was an American, excitedly dug up a business licencse he has in Dade County, Florida. "I lived in Miami!" And the second, after getting over his surpise that a Californian walked into his store, went off on how much he loves Obama.

Everywhere I went, Palestinians were always kind to me even after (sometimes, especially after) learning my nationality. Some even went as far to say that Americans are always welcome, even if in the next breath they derided US policies. Several had family living in the US, and it was never hard to find an English speaker.

I crossed the Huwwara checkpoint out of Nablus in a scene like this

I left Nablus again via the Huwwara checkpoint back to my little slice of hippie paradise in Palestine, setting my thoughts to this blog as quickly as I could in order to bore anyone who made it this far!

My travel to the West Bank was not meant to be a political statement, and any pro-Palestinian leanings here are not necessarily intended as such, but merely what I experienced first hand. I am in Israel now, to see the other side of life...

Jerusalem: New and Old

It's Not Very Welcoming

I woke up Easter Sunday in Amman, and after politely refusing the invitation from three cute women I had met in Jordan to spend Easter with them (perhaps, in retrospect, a mistake?), I decided to trek on to what I've been euphemistically calling in the Muslim world "the place that shall not be named" or "the land to the west of the River Jordan." Although Jerusalem and Amman are only 45 miles apart (the distance between my work and San Francisco), I knew the journey would take longer than expected, especially as I planned to take the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge border crossing. The King Hussein crossing is exclusively for Palestinians, and, although not widely advertised, other foreigners. It is illegal for Israelis, under Israeli law, to cross there.

Guard Tower Crossing the Jordan River, facing Jordan

I had been warned the day before from two Israelis that crossing the border here would not be possible, however I decided to have a go anyways. I said goodbye to everyone I had come to know in Amman and caught a taxi to the border. After waiting an hour just to get out of Jordan, all the foreigners were loaded on a bus and we began the 4 km ride across the no-mans land (still housing a mine field?) to the Israeli occupied West Bank. We drove over the Allenby bridge and were dropped off to complete chaos. Now I've never organized a border crossing, especially one for Palestinians, but it couldn't have been the most efficient way to do things (or given the best impression of Israel): crowds of people shouting and yelling in Arabic around a wide open but roped off wearhouse door, throwing their luggage at Israeli border guards who take away it away to an unseen back room; metal detectors and chemical sniffing machines; Israeli women in their early 20s all in charge; soldiers; no one telling you where to go or what line to get in next; luggage, after screening, tossed all about the ground next to groups of devout Muslims performing the mid-day prayer. Despite the chaos, for me it was an experience and quite easy getting through. Only an hour!

Road Signs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

By 2 pm I caught a Palestinian shared taxi to Jerusalem. Climbing the mountains in a wide, nicely maintained road, you'd have no idea that you weren't in Israel proper. You could see Jewish settlements topping some the hills (with California-like houses). Before entering Jerusalem we were stopped and soldiers checked everyone's ID (I was the only foreigner), which after they left, launched my taxi driver in a long and angry Arabic tirade as we ringed the hill in view of the Old City. It was all good fun!

Old City of Jerusalem, facing the Dome of the Rock and the Mount of Olives

I had made it to Jerusalem on Easter. I was dropped off right outside the Damascus Gate, and quickly realized that arriving for Passover and Easter meant tons of people crowding the narrow, confusing streets of the Old City. My first impression of the Holy City was actually really negative: it felt like a shopping mall. So many vendors selling cheap toys, tacky souvenirs, touristy food, clothes, bras, jewelery, trying to get you into their shop with the ferocity of Egyptians (and that's a high standard) within a stones throw of the holiest sites of Judiasim, Christianity, and Islam! Jerusalem from the ground felt the opposite of reverent or awe-inspiring.

Western Wall of the Temple Mount

However, when I got to the roof-top of my hostel above the fray of the bustling markets, my opinion changed. The Old City was calm and serene, overwhelming peaceful. It looked and sounded like you think it would in the movies, with the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ringing, the call to pray from the many minarets dotting the skyline, and the sun glinting off the Dome of the Rock. At sunset, the bells of the city rang for half an hour! And the markets have probably existed for centuries, another fabric of Jerusalem.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Old City is so compact that the three religions are basically colliding into each other here. Synagogues, mosques and cathedrals compete with each other on the crowded streets. Hasidic Jews pass Ethiopian Orthodox worshippers next to Muslim storefronts.

Hasidic Jews

For Jews, the Temple Mount is the most sacred spot on Earth. They pray at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, believing it is the closest wall to the Holy of Holies. Many Christian denominations believe that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the hill upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. The Church is unique in that it occupied by several different and competing denominations of Christianity: the Greek Orthodox often fight the Latins (Catholics) over who has control of what part of the Church, the Armenian and Syrian and Coptic (from Egypt) churches all have chapels, and the Ethiopians have transformed a nearby section of rooftop into an Ethiopian village.

Ethiopian Orthodox Priest

And for Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is the spot from which the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven to commune with God.

Mount Zion in Spring

While in Jerusalem, my friend Keira (who I had met in Egypt and Jordan) by chance stayed at my hostel. We spent a few hours trying to find Oscar Schindler's grave (to spoil the surprise, it was closed when we finally found it) around Mount Zion. The Mount affords great views over the dramatic rocky valleys and mountains of Jerusalem. The city is very green in spring, with pine and cypress forests all around. I've never been to a spot before that has looked exactly like Jerusalem.

From Mount Zion, you could all see the security barrier ("the Wall") that separates many Palestinian communities from Israel. The wall does not represent a political boundary, and even the Israelis admit that. I'll write more about that another time...

Security Barrier as Seen from Mount Zion

Jerusalem is more than ancient ruins and crusader cathedrals. The Old City occupies a very small portion of Jerusalem, and most Israelis live in what's called the New City.

Ben Yehuda Street, New City

In the New City, you'll find highways, nondescript modern buildings, bars, cafes, and everything else you'd expect. The New City feels like a marriage between a typical American and typical European city. It's where the vast majority of Israelis in Jerusalem live (the Palestinians in Jerusalem live in East Jerusalem). I stayed a few nights near Ben Yehuda street (the scene of some terrorist attacks in the past), and found it very cosmopolitan. I ate Ethiopian food one night and Japanese food on shabbat (I even tried ordering pork! Not surprisingly, they didn't have any... ). Basically, the New City is just a city.

Highway in the New City

My next post will be exciting. I promise!

Couchsurfing in Amman

Roman Ruins in Amman

I decided to try something new in Amman, the capital of Jordan: instead of staying at a hostel, I would stay with a local by couchsurfing. Before I left home, I contacted a German expat living in Amman named Selmo, and he offered his couch... or more precisely a mattress on his floor. He gave me directions, and when I arrived in Amman I found his house. His French roommate let me in, gave me tea, and said, "So you're Brendon, from California, yes?"

"Yeah, from San Francisco."

"Yes. The Yoga instructor."

(spits tea) "The what?"

"Yoga instructor. We've all been waiting for you!"

"Oh... uh... I'm not a Yoga instructor... "

"You're not? You mean you don't know Yoga?"

"No... "

"Oh. We were going to have you host a lesson on our roof... guess it's a good thing we didn't invite everyone we had planned... "

Luxury Hotel in Amman

So it sounded like a bad start. But Selmo bought me some Sufi music tickets for the night and I got to see a bit of Amman. Amman is another huge city, but infinitely calmer than Cairo. Whereas Egypt feels like the developing world, Jordan feels like the developed world. The cars are modern and follow some semblance of traffic laws. The streets are clean and the city is just quieter.

Mosque in Amman

Amman is built on several hills, somewhat like San Francisco but the hills are rockier and more dramatic, creating some great vistas. It was originally inhabited by the Romans, for whom the climate and hills were reminiscent of Rome. Amman, too, was supposedly built on seven hills.

Supposedly world's largest freestanding flag

But what struck me most about Amman was its connections with the United States. All types of US government agencies have offices there, and I met heaps of American students studying Arabic. I've most the most Iowans in my life in Amman. Selmo's roommate was from Des Moines; on the bus I met a guy from Iowa and two girls from Chicago and Oakland; at a restaurant the people behind us were from Minnesota. The place is oozing with midwesterners.

Jordanians would stop me on the street, ask if I were American, and then tell me all about how they lived in the US! I found one Jordanian who had lived in Walnut Creek, and when we got lost in the small town of Ajlun in the north, the fruit store we happened to walk into was run by a Jordanian who had lived in Texas!

Add to this mix Palestinian and Iraqi refugees (some of them quite well educated and wealthy, others taxi drivers [I had an interesting time explaining to a Palestinian taxi driver that I needed to catch the bus to Israel... ]) and Israeli tourists and you create a very interesting place.

Ajlun Castle

I took a day trip to the north of Jordan with an Aussie girl and a Canadian girl and another American guy to visit the fortress of Ajlun and the Roman ruins at Jerash. Ajlun is fewer than 10 miles from the West Bank and fewer than 20 miles from Syria! The castle was built by the nephew of the great Muslim warrior Saladin to counter the Crusader castle in Tiberias, and after the Crusades it was destroyed by the Mongols (you know, those nomads from the steppes of Mongolia, that country way over to the north of China). This area was home to great Biblical kingdoms. While much of Jordan is desert, the north is green and brilliant in spring. Ajlun felt like Italy, with green hills, pine forests, and olive groves.

Northern Jordan in Spring

The ruins at Jerash were also cool, and if they were in Italy would be known world-wide. We went on a Friday (the day of prayer, and first day of the weekend) and found that all the locals go out to have barbeques next to the ancient temples!

Roman Ruins in Jerash

The next day we took an epic 3 car road trip to the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Imagine a small convoy with 3 Israelis (one Arab Israeli), one Syrian, one Lebanese, one French woman and German guy, two Americans, an Aussie and a Canadian bumpin' American rap (from the Kingdom's number one music station) and Michael Jackson down the Dead Sea highway within view of the West Bank.

We had to play musical cars to make sure the Syrian and Lebanese were in different cars than the Israelis, since it's illegal for Syrians and Lebanese to associate with Israelis. As there is a police checkpoint that checks passports, if word got back to the Syrian or Lebanese governments it would be bad news for them! (Jordan and Israel don't care, but you still don't want to take chances in this region).

The Dead Sea

We found a remote beach and got right in. It really is incredibly easy to float on the Dead Sea. You can literally sit legs crossed and just float, no effort at all. Salt was crusted all along the beach, and cut your feet on it when you got in the water. The Sea is receding a meter a year (the dead sea is dying) and so getting even saltier.

We found a nice patch of mud, and did as the locals do... covered our body in it, let it dry in the sun, rolled around in the sand and jumped back in (and yes, I do have photos of this).

Salt Crystals

Afterwards we hiked up a canyon fed by a warm water spring to wash all the salt off our bodies. We drove up to the top of the mountains during sunset, and from there you could make out the no-man's land between Israel and Jordan, see the Palestinian cities of the West Bank (especially Jericho) and easily see the lights of Jerusalem in the distance. This area of the world is incredibly small: we were fewer than 20 miles away from Jerusalem, but seeing it from a different world...

Crossing Two Borders

Crusader Castle in Taba, Egypt

I haven't found the time to update lately, and now I'm writing from a French keyboard in Amman (if you've ever used a French keyboard, you know this will be difficult). I caught the bus from Dahab to the border town of Taba, along the way passing a crusader castle, and visible across the gulf in Aqaba the second tallest freestanding flag in the world (the Jordanians are fond of big flags; the tallest freestanding one is within sight of me in Amman [the tallest one is in North Korea, but they're cheaters and use cables to hold up the flagpole!]).

Aqaba Flagpole as Viewed from Egypt

The border between Egypt and Israel is lined with barbed wire, guard towers, and machine gun nests. It all looks very imposing until you see that the border guards (with guns) on both sides are completely bored!

Looking back to Egypt as I leave

I left Egypt without a problem and crossing the border was a study in contrasts: in Egypt, I left a roomy and open building filled with officious looking border guards, all men in black uniform with black moustaches, and entered the air-conditioned Israeli terminal (it was not a hot day) manned with 20 year old Jewish girls dressed in blue polos grilling me with questions! They apparently weren't happy that I was only staying in Israel just an hour...

Eilat, Israel, with Jordan visible in the background

I crossed over into Eilat, a complete beach/party town nestled comfortably between Egypt and Jordan, caught a taxi with a German girl I had met on the bus to the central bus station, said goodbye to her, used the ATM and toilet, and immediately caught another taxi to the Jordanian border.

Welcome to Jordan

From the border I crossed a no-man's land between the two countries (this did not exist with Egypt), as seen above. I was greeted by a Jordanian guard with "USA Obama!", waited for the border official to get back from prayer, got my visa and I was in! I took an overpriced taxi to Wadi Musa ("Valley of Moses") next to the Nabataen ruins of Petra. I was still sick, which made hiking around Petra and then the desert of Wadi Rum a complete slog. The place felt like a Star Wars set. I met a Canadian girl named Kari and stole some of her photos, which you can see below:

Call me Sheikh Brendon

The Treasuy at Petra

Kari and I hiking up a mountain

Camels Camels Everywhere