Category: Holidays

Ethiopia Tour: Transport

This is one of several posts about my recent trip to Ethiopia. The others, so far, are here and here.

Planes

Naturally, we flew from Tel-Aviv to Addis Ababa. In just four hours – less than the time it takes to fly to London – we landed in another world. This shouldn’t have surprised me. I’ve crossed borders to Egypt and Jordan, where differences are also obvious. But Ethiopia is more different; and more friendly.

There were also some internal flights. Security is tight. If you don’t like taking your shoes off, imagine having to do it twice before being allowed on a plane. We got to see some tiny airports. In Arba Minch Airport, the second security check was done by hand, reminding me of the not-so-good old days. A woman rummaged in my rucksack and brought out

“What’s this?” she asked. “It’s for wiping hands,” I replied, miming the action in case she was still in some doubt. She tried to open it by unscrewing the top – which isn’t how it works – but soon gave up. Some of the Chinese had walkie-talkies, which were taken away from them, hopefully to be returned after the flight.

Then we sat in the airport lounge.

On the left, you can see them rummaging. In the centre, a light hanging from the ceiling is tied to a column. Good thing the hall is “Under mentenance.”

All the flights were as comfortable as flights can be and seemed safe. The views were interesting and varied. This is an aerial photo, although you wouldn’t know. It was taken before landing at Arba Minch.

32873824415_ac6daf684f_b — Photo by David Drori

Minibus

On good roads, we travelled mostly by minibus. The advantage was that the guide could tell us things on the way.

Jeep

In the desert and other unpaved roads, we were separated into jeeps. They were nice and modern and the rides were as comfortable as they could be in the circumstances. Only once did a jeep get stuck in the sand.

Light Railway

Addis Ababa has a light railway system. David (hubby), who is keen on trains, told the guide how he wished he could travel on one of the trains to get a feel for it. “Don’t wish too hard,” the guide replied. “Trains come about once every thirty minutes and they’re extremely crowded.”

Added on 15 March 2017. How did I forget?…

Boats

We were taken on two very different boat rides. The first was to cross the Omo River to reach Wakonos Village, which is arguably in Kenya. They gave us a choice of boats and we chose to travel like the natives in one of these:

Crossing to Wakonos village — Photo by David Drori

It wasn’t comfortable stepping in mud to reach the boat, squeezing in, knees raised, but we made it to the other side and our bottoms soon dried in the sun.

The other boat, from which we viewed crocodiles and hippopotamuses on Lake Chamo, was more comfortable.

Tags Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, jeep, minibus, plane, tram

Holidays

Anecdotes from Ethiopia

I didn’t take many photos on our recent trip to Ethiopia. I generally left that task to my husband, who takes much better photos. That left me more time for taking notes. He needs to organise his photos and I don’t want to write about the trip in detail before that.

In the meantime, here are a few anecdotes:

Fast what?

In Bahir Dar (or Bahar Dar) Airport, we saw an interesting advertisement with several mistakes. One of them, in particular, caught our collective eye.

Stuck…

…in the sand in the Dannakil Desert.

Surprise

Modern amidst ancient in Lalibela.

Lemon

There was an enormous run on lemons wherever we went. Lemon with tea, with soda water, with cola, with fish. The “…with lemon, please” always pronounced the o as an o, which is not what we native speakers do. Israelis tend to copy each other. (Perhaps that’s why some of us like folk dancing.) On a previous trip, it was ginger.

Honey

In one village, we saw honey that was produced on the spot. The local guide dipped his (unwashed) finger into the pot and offered it around the group, for anyone who wanted to lick it. No one did.

Rhythm an’ me

I thought this was a cute slogan. I didn’t realise I’d be in the photo, too!

Tags Bahar Dar, Bahir Dar, Dannakil Desert, Ethiopia, honey, Lalibela, lemon, rhythm

Holidays Music

The Black Country

Surprise! I’m back and ready to reveal all… within reason.

I’ve just returned from a wonderful and intensive tour of Ethiopia, which means: the black people. It’s an amazing country, full of archaeology and history, volcanoes and lava, camels, donkeys and birds of many sorts, religion and tribes, music, dancing, paintings and much more. Although we were busy every single day of the nineteen, I’m sure there’s plenty we didn’t see. In fact, there were two things we expected to see and didn’t. More about that later.

This is the notebook (given to me by my friend, Marallyn) in which I recorded activities, impressions, etc. Some of my scribblings are legible, I think. Some of them can probably only be deciphered by me. They were written while bouncing around in a jeep in the Dannakil Desert.

There’s even some music.

I plan to find a way of using it all – after writing everything else I have planned. In the meantime, when we’ve sorted out the photos, I’ll post some of them here.

What didn’t we see? The lava at Erta Ale as shown on YouTube. That’s because there was an eruption on the day we visited. (The previous eruption, we were told, was in 2005, although Wikipedia says 2009.) We climbed all the way up, but weren’t allowed to get near enough to see bubbling lava, although we watched the eruption from afar. We also weren’t allowed to sleep at the top, as planned, and had to walk down again the same night. We were lucky, though, because groups arriving after us weren’t allowed up there at all.

We also didn’t see a regular ceremony that includes bull jumping (that doesn’t harm animals, we were told) and dancing. The ceremony didn’t take place that week.

But the trip was amazing and I’ll definitely write more about it. Stay tuned…

Tags Ethiopia

Holidays The Women Friends

Trip to the Vs

My recent trip to the Vs was exciting and fascinating.

Vienna

I’d never been to Austria before and probably wouldn’t ever have gone if I hadn’t written about this city in The Women Friends. But I left my qualms at home for four days and prepared to enjoy myself while conducting my research.

Four days weren’t nearly enough, but we managed to do quite a lot.

We ate traditional foods. Well, we had to eat something, so why not? And we ate in the famous Café Central.

We went walking in the mountains near Vienna, along with my nephew who lives there.

We saw lots of paintings by Klimt, because that was one of the reasons for going there. The one that excited me the most was Death and Life, because it’s featured in The Women Friends.

img_20161021_121203 — Vienna Jewish Museum: Herzl’s Bike

We saw the Jewish Museum and the Hundertwasser Museum, the Town Hall, Schönbrunn Palace with its fabulous gardens and palm house.

We even saw Karl Marx Hof, which, as the sign says, is Vienna’s largest residential building of the inter-war period. Wikipedia says it’s the “longest single residential building in the world.” It’s in The Women Friends.

praterpark-wienerriesenrad — Prater Park: Wiener Riesenrad

And the Prater with its big wheel, which is also in The Women Friends.

Venice

This was my third visit to this unique city, defined, above all, by the fact that all travel is water-based. We saw ambulance boats, funeral boats, delivery boats and of course passenger boats, which we used when we weren’t walking our feet off, because the mainland of Venice is all about shopping – window shopping, in our case – and anyway, we love walking.

We visited the cemetery island – Cimitero di San Michele – Burano and Murano, famous for glass production and also very beautiful.

Even the trip to the airport was accomplished by boat. At the airport, a surprise awaited me: an upgrade to business class. What a wonderful ending to a wonderful holiday!

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About The Women Friends

The Women Friends is a series of novellas based on Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece of the same name and written by Emma Rose Millar and Miriam Drori.

The Women Friends: Selina will be published by Crooked Cat on 1st December and is available now for pre-order.

The Women Friends: Janika will be published by Crooked Cat in 2017.

Tags Death and Life, Herzl, Karl Marx-Hof, Klimt, Prater, Sachertorte, Venice, Vienna

Holidays

A Misunderstanding in 1663

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Oct 18, 2016
7 Comments on A Misunderstanding in 1663

As Jonathan Sacks (who is himself quite famous) wrote in The Algemeiner, the famous English diarist, Samuel Pepys, paid his second visit to the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Creechurch Lane in the city of London on 14th October, 1663. This was only shortly after Jews had been allowed back into England after being exiled in 1290, and this synagogue was in a private house. Pepys’ first visit had been for a memorial service, which was, of course, somber.

This visit was very different. This is how Pepys described it in his diary:

… after dinner my wife and I, by Mr. Rawlinson’s conduct, to the Jewish Synagogue: where the men and boys in their vayles [i.e. tallitot], and the women behind a lattice out of sight; and some things stand up, which I believe is their Law, in a press [i.e. the Ark] to which all coming in do bow; and at the putting on their vayles do say something, to which others that hear him do cry Amen, and the party do kiss his vayle. Their service all in a singing way, and in Hebrew. And anon their Laws that they take out of the press are carried by several men, four or five several burthens in all, and they do relieve one another; and whether it is that every one desires to have the carrying of it, I cannot tell, thus they carried it round about the room while such a service is singing … But, Lord! to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this.

Oh dear, Pepys. Why did no one tell you? 14th October 1663 was the festival of Simchat Torah – the Rejoicing of the Law. It celebrates coming to an end of the annual cycle of readings from the Torah and starting a new cycle. It’s a time for rejoicing, for dancing and singing in the streets (in some places) and in the synagogue. This and the festival of Purim are the only two days in the year when people go wild in the synagogue.

Where Judaism goes, misunderstandings are probably many. I remember, as a child, watching a rare TV documentary about Jews. The programme was about the differences between orthodox and reform Judaism. The documentarist (yes, it’s a real word) – as if to prove another difference in reform Judaism – pointed out that the children study the religion on Sunday and not Saturday. I burst out laughing when I heard that. The same is true in orthodox Judaism. How could children study on a day when writing is not allowed?

While misunderstandings are funny, they can have serious consequences. But I won’t dwell on that now, for next week is Simchat Torah – a time to rejoice.

Tags Samuel Pepys, Simchat Torah

Holidays

A Thought about Holidays

In my last post, I wrote about my experience, at the age of eleven, of the Jewish holidays

honeycakeandplumsreduced — Honey cake and plums from the garden

that come in September or October. That year they began early in September and I took seven days off school. I remember the years when my children had only just started school after two months of summer holidays and they were home again for more holidays.

How did this state of affairs happen? Whose crazy idea was it to have days off when the school year has only just started? Perhaps the answer lies in a post by Jo Carroll (see below) in which she wrote about needing a holiday to recover from the holidays.

Just a thought…

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Author of the Day

Jo Carroll is an intrepid traveller. She goes on her own to places that are far from safe. Those of us who are less daring can read about her travels from the comfort of our homes, because she has written several excellent books about her escapades.

And now Jo has surprised me again by announcing that she’s written a novel. I wonder how she kept that under her hat for so long!

Tags honey cake, Jo Carroll, plums

Holidays

Thrashing and Rosh Hashana 5777

Post author By Miriam Drori
Post date Sep 28, 2016
2 Comments on Thrashing and Rosh Hashana 5777

In the days of primitive computers, these machines could do only one thing at a time. They would complete one task and then move on to the next. Then came a wonderful invention:

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking meant that computers appeared to be able to perform several tasks at once. They couldn’t really. They still did one thing at a time, but they’d do part of a task, go on to parts of other tasks and return to continue the first task. And because they could work very fast, it seemed as if they were working continuously on the first task.

In order to accomplish multi-tasking, a computer has to replace pages of its memory with those of the next task. This is called:

Paging

If the number/size of tasks to be completed becomes too large for the computer’s memory size, the computer will spend all its resources on paging and will never get to perform any of the tasks. This state is called:

Thrashing

Why am I mentioning this? Because I feel I’m in that state now – going from one task to another and not getting anything finished. And the books I really want to write keep getting pushed back by other stuff.

I’m hoping tasks will diminish soon. Whatever happens, I’m going to shut down for a couple of days for the New Year- 5777. It’s late this year. In the year I turned eleven, my first year in secondary school, Rosh Hashana was very early – on Monday, 7th September.

On Friday, 4th September, when I was still overwhelmed by the newness of everything, the headmistress requested all the Jewish girls to remain after assembly. “The Jewish holidays begin on Monday,” she said in a voice that made me quake. “I hope that most of you won’t take all the days off, as it disrupts the lessons.” She distanced herself from me on that day and never got any closer during the seven years I knew her.

pomegranates — The pomegranate is one of the symbols of Rosh Hashana

Happy New Year!

Tags multi-tasking, New Year, Paging, Rosh Hashana, Thrashing

Holidays

Russia and its People

Despite the title of this post, I wouldn’t presume to pass judgement on this vast country or its 143.5 million people. We spent just a week there and stayed only in the two largest cities. All I can do is to share my experience of a very enjoyable week. In doing so, I have to make generalisations based on my very limited experience. But I’m aware that’s what I’m doing, so I hope that makes it “all right.”

Both cities are perfect for tourists and have plenty to see. They are also full of enormous parks – something I miss in my little country. We saw some of the famous sites.

The next three paragraphs were originally published on Tim Taylor’s blog.

As a child, I heard a lot about Russia. My brother visited and then studied there. My aunt and uncle visited. I heard about stern officials, supermarkets only for foreigners while Russians queued for meagre supplies, Jews in a synagogue too scared to talk to foreigners.

Russia is very different now. The two cities we visited, Moscow and St Petersburg, look like thriving European cities. Moscow’s Jewish Museum is modern and prominent; interesting, too.

A couple of things I saw fit with my impressions from the many Russians I’ve met here in Israel. One is that they smoke a lot. The other is that sometimes they have a strange way of thinking; things that are obvious to them are not for anyone else. In what other capital city do you exit the metro and spend half an hour looking for the train to the second biggest city in the country? No, this wasn’t a language problem because OH knows how to read Russian. There simply wasn’t a sign.

I have another observation about something – or rather some people – who I found lacking. In Israel, I’m used to seeing people of colour on the streets. There are Jews from Ethiopia. There are also Jews whose families are from Iraq, Iran, Yemen, etc. There are non-Jews from Africa who generally come for a limited time to make money. I’m also used to seeing people who are identifiable as Muslims.

I saw about one Muslim and two non-white people during my visit. I don’t think that shows there aren’t other populations in Russia, but only that they don’t live in the two largest cities.

One day, I would like to return to Russia and visit other places. Maybe I’ll even find out where my grandparents came from.

Tags Hermitage Museum, Moscow, Peterhof Palace, Russia, St Petersburg

Books Holidays

Russia and Headaches

I will write a post or two about my recent trip to Russia, as soon as I can find the time.

In the meantime, you can read my 100-word story on the theme of headache. It won first prize in Morgen Bailey’s competition.

Tags 100 word story, headache, Morgen Bailey, Russia

Holidays Rhymes

Hong Kong Whirl, 2016

Hong Kong Whirl

Despite not having packed my case,
I spent the morning at Esther’s place,
Where, guided by our experienced mentor,
We budding writers, who number four,
Ate, drank, talked and laughed,
Our misunderstandings often quite daft.

Our driver, Ilan, carted luggage and all,
And talked all the way to the terminal,
Where we boarded our El Al 747,
Stomachs full of sushi heaven,
And sat in seats our boarding cards did show
Only to be told we’d got the wrong row!

Eleven hours later we travellers three
Arrived in a thoroughly modern city.
Soon clutching train cards, money and SIMs,
On the Metro we dragged our weary limbs
To our hotel suite with a view that was lacking,
Though we found the inside to be quite cracking.

Son promptly lay down and soon was out,
But the two of us needed to get out and about.
Along one long street we exercised our paws,
Amazed to see so many jewellery stores.
At the end we reached the view we did seek:
Over water to the island and Victoria Peak.

Next day we walked on an island called Lamma
In temperatures that felt almost like summer.
Lamma for us means why, oh why
Do we climb up and up and up so high,
Only to get to the top and descend
Once again to reach the end?

Every day, without fail,
We walked along another trail
Dragon’s Back and Maclehose
And Hong Kong are some of those.
The amazing views from Victoria Peak
And Lantau Island are unique.

Each evening we ate with a new ambience:
From Italy, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and France.
The hotel breakfasts, laid out as buffet,
Gave us plenty of choice every day.
The food on the plane, on the other hand,
Was aeroplane food, okay but bland.

On the last day, we visited Kowloon Park
Before we really had to embark
On a journey that took us all the way back
To the place where our cases we could unpack.
Not London, Paris, Madrid or Rome,
But Jerusalem — home sweet home.

BlossomingPlumTree1Resized — Welcome Back! (From our plum tree)

Tags Dragon's Back Trail, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Trail, Kowloon Park, Lamma Island, lantau island, Maclehose Trail, Victoria Peak