hahaha, more shopping!!! decided to just go lah, take a look at jewish shopping culture, experience their lifestyle.
we bought some stuff.. presents for people back home, and a very beautiful holy communion set. think that's my favourite buy of the trip. very pretty. next time come my house and see hahaha..
spend 1.5 hours there. i think this is the MOST number of hours of shopping i have ever done at one go in my entire life!!
we had a propaganda talk by a christian newsletter by the jewish people called Israel Today. think most people from the tour weren't exactly looking forward to it because it had been a long day already, and they weren't quite into propaganda talks.
but i personally did want to see what it's like.. their media business and operations..
30 employees at Israel Today. not all are believrs. 5 languages of publications: Dutch, German, Japanese, South Korean and English.
their main point is that there IS a difference between views of the muslims and the jews, like it or not. and this difference will ALWAYS be there, like it or not. he likened this difference to parallel lines. they will NEVER meet. and i guess there is truth in it lah. neither party will succumb to the other party. not in general.
there is the political conflict, but also the spiritual conflict. and the reason these lines are parallel are the SPIRITUAL conflicts, and that's why they can never meet. the western world, and most of the world, only understand the political side, but not the spiritual side. that's why it's so hard to make peace.
Jews believe their God has chosen Israel and the Jews to be His chosen people. Muslims of course believe otherwise. and that's why there's this disagreement.
something i wrote down: "what Israel needs now is a leader like Moses. Instead of asking for the people's opinion, he should hear from God directly."
whoopieee!!! one of my favourite highlights of the trip. the DEAD SEA experience!!!
started with shopping, which was honestly oh so boring by this time. sorry people who love shopping. more dead sea products. the cheaper range, and quite a wide variety too. bought lots of mud soap hahaha.. and bubble bath! yippie!
and then the fun began.
to be frank, i didn't really want to get into the sea. coz it was so messy, and it WAS so messy. really messy. didn't want to have to go through the hassle of changing, of washing up, of bathing almost. and i'm not exactly your beach/sea person. but piggie made a great point: i would so regret it if i didn't go in.
and that's so true. how many more chances would i have?
so i decided to hop right in! changed into my throw-away clothes, and oh my goodness the mud is SO SQUISHY!!! it engulfs your legs. not toes, not feet, your LEGS. all the way till almost your knee level!! quite terrifying, the first few steps. coz it's almost like you can't pull your leg out of the mud. or at least, you need a huge amount of effort to do so.
thrilling it was. keva and krti were very sweet in being so encouraging, leading me to the softer mud areas hahaha.. and then, i decided to smear mud on myself!!!
as i was just about to go in.. put one foot in, and the mud engulfed my shoews, so had to take my shoes off!!
look at everyone enjoying themselves! hahaha..
with with mud all over myself HAHA
then auntie pat helped smear my face with mud. apparently it's great for the skin, though it did burn as i had quite severe sunburn. but was still a thrilling experience! =D
(clockwise from left) auntie kezia, auntie pat, and me!! =D
with mud on my face!!
me floating..
a video
mom was there too, but she didn't want to go in. think that was a wise choice too, because even i couldn't keep my own balance!! mud was too soft already. mushy. but mom smeared her hand with mud too! hahaha.. so she had ONE muddy hand.
close up of her hand
my mom with her many poses
mom slapping my muddy face with her muddy hand
just to PROVE i do wear berms (to those from PL)
look at how dirty my berms were!! of course i threw them away, together with my shoes and tshirt
took lots of pictures, floated on the water, played with those there.. and just enjoyed the entire experience!
and before i knew it, it was time to get out already!! so fast!! well, partly because i went it late also lah. but since i'm IN already, i didn't want to get out so quickly!
went back to change. and was actually doing quite okay for time, even though i was like the last one in. BUT my dear dear sister just had to run away with my bag of clothes, leaving me CLOTHES-LESS for a good 10 minutes or so! and everyone was like almost done already, and i was in there with my towel wrapped around me wailing for my bag of clothes. thank God for people like wanru who volunteered to call for MICHELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
best part, she came in, and didn't even feel it was her fault. but ahhh.. shan't elaborate here. suffice to know there was a disagreement. yes, we both do fight. sometimes.
overall, the Dead Sea experience was THRILLING!!! hahaha.. i'm so glad i did go in eventually. piggie was right. i would have sooooo regretted not going in.
one question, why is the dead sea salty? because it is LOW. salts and minerals can only "Survive" in low areas, the lower it gets, the more salt there is. that's why the Dead Sea is sooooo salty, because it's the lowest point of the earth!
and if you're asking if my skin did become smoother, my answer is, not really, or not for long. it was rather painful though, because i had sun burn already, and the sun was super hot too that day, (which was nice since the temperature was slgihtly cool) so my face was Burning. but well worth the burn! hahaha..
i remember walking into the toilet, with my face still full on with mud, and there was one of the aunties in there STARING at me, and then she started to burst into laughter. can't remember exactly who, but i so remember the expression of disbelief almost, and a huge shock. HAHA. don't blame her. i must have looked... weird.
The place where the dead sea scrolls were found. remember the story about the shepherd boy in search of his lost sheep? well, the place of that event was QUMRAN.
the YUHAD community used to live here. they were one of the essene tribes/groups, very in the style of John The Baptist's Disciples. Simple life, small community, share your workload and profits, read the scriptures, be in no lack or want. they were essentially scribes, who took pride and passion in copying all the scriptures to make copies. your very basic photocopying machine.
we watched a video that suggested how John the Baptist might have come across this community, as they once came across this man called John. very much like John the Baptist too. but anyway, this group of YUHAD people led very simplistic lifestyles. they had a baptism pool where they would be cleansed, almost like a communual bath, and then spend the rest of the day in meditation, and then copying the scriptures.
their baptism pool / communual bath
interesting fact: only right-handers are allowed to be scribes.
the caves from afar
close up of one of the many caves
the view of the surroundings of the caves. very near the dead sea, that's why it's called the dead sea scrolls
the fact that these scrolls were only found like 2000 years later proves how well stored they were! so one storing place was uncovered, and soon, all the others around the area were also found! it was like striking some gold mine haha.. more precious than gold!
Had lunch here. very set meal style once more. and did more shopping. dead sea products haha duh. but the more atas ones. so didn't quite buy very much.
Yes, one of the further places we had to drive to. think the journey lasted slightly more than an hour. but very worth it! :)
Here, we met our two friends that Ziyi was telling us about - the Hybax and the Coney, or Rock Badger. very cute animals.
Hybax - Looks more like a deer
Coney - Looks like cute little furry beavers. i lovee!!! =D so tempted to pick them up and cuddle them!
one coney up there on the tree, actually, there were many
so many of them!!
Ein Gedi also had heaps of Acacia trees, which are believed to be where the Romans got their Crown of Thorns from.
the branch of an acacia tree
a crown of thorns, pierced through your temple.. and there i am smiling. =X
uncle sidney took one of the twigs, used the thorn to wham it agaist a rock, and Gosh!! the thorn REFUSED to break or be dented! it was still SUPER SHARP!!! can you imagine then how painful it must have been for Jesus. such strong thorns that pierced through his head. ouch..
Acacia is also the wood used to build the Ark of Covenant. Strong wood really!
So what's so significant about Ein Gedi?
1 Samuel 24:1 - David in the wilderness of Ein Gedi, when Saul was chasing after him for his life..
also, 2 Chron 20:1
we (or most of us) climbed up the mountain. think the walk took easily 45 minutes? helped some of the aunties along the way. was quite scarey, the climb. very very slippery, and not all places had railings for you to grab onto. there were little brooks and streams crossing our paths, and sometimes the water trails down the pathway, which makes it muddy and REALLY slippery. i myself almost slipped quite a number of times. and you've only got grub and shrubs to hold onto. quite an experience.
scenery, on the other hand, was fabulous..
that's dad, piggie and me up there, with mom in foreground. don't even think you can see us right!! hahaha..
from mom's POV
from our POV
mom with all the cute aunties! :)
scene photos
of me, since it's my blog after all hehe..
of our climb
and we reached the top, our destination!
the beautiful waterfall :)
when we reached the top, we were all hot and sweaty, though the temperature was rather cool, especially up on the mountains. but execise sure kicked in! and good also lah, helps balance the severe over-eating.
had worship there, just at the waterfall.. breath-taking.
apparently, if you wanna get to where King David hid from Saul in the cave, it's like a 4 hour climb. WOW!!! actually, i wouldn't mind. but maybe not with such a huge group lah.. hahaha.. :)
another 45 minutes down. had a chat with Chong Ern. another media dude. and more qara moments.. right place right time. nice to hear his take on the singaporean media landscape, and his dreams and ambitions. i always love to listen to people's passions.. :)
Waking up earlier than normal this day, we left our hotel at 710am, and i'm glad we did, because we were therefore the first group to reach our first destination, and thankfully so!
woke up not believing that this would be the 2nd last full day. so fast!!! and once again, it's a mixture of "i've seen so much already" and "there's so much more i wanna see!". i miss that place.
anyway, along the way to Ein Gedi (our first location), we drove past the Judean Wilderness. take a look!
