Imagine Life. Take Time and Ponder.

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"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

This Fab Trek, photography and journey. A travel blog.

I am Manfred. This is the fabtrek site, a road journey since 2004. Moments in life, places in time, a voyage preserved in pictures.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

After more than 3 years in Africa in a 6-wheeled Land Rover, now overland to India, in a Mercedes 307, if I get there. For frequent updates follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Share it round if you like it.

10 Mar 2010 - Limassol, Cyprus.

I am on a cargo boat from Haifa, Israel to Limassol, Cyprus. I have left the lands of the guns and gunslingers, of automatic rifles hung over any bodies’ shoulder. The holy lands, the lands of religions and religious wars and religion induced conflicts, the killing fields of thousands of years! Whose God was it good for? Was it worth it? Well Cyprus will not be too different, another one, another ongoing story, but this is another story.

So is this Greek cargo ferry; Sunday Alicia from the Agency calls me and reports in her broad Hebrew or Greek accent the boat is canceled, Monday she calls again in the morning, “Did I wake u up? We have a boat, come at 3.” The Greek ferry is a cargo ship, loading takes forever, I board a 4 p.m. Dinner at 5. “We leave at 10.” Tells me the old Israeli who with his wife are the only other passengers on board. He smokes a lot, walking is painful; he is beyond his 60s. I admire them on this ship that lacks all comfort. The cargo is noisy, oily, rooms from the 70s, hammered together like my van, no key for my room, the guy comes twice with a screw driver to break it open, till I leave it open. The flush in the toilet does not work; when I pee water comes out from the drain in the ground. Meals are with the Greek, Indian, Egyptian, Ukrainian crew, but food is good, family cuisine by the Egyptian cook, for the 450 Euro price tag I expected 5 stars, - but got the cargo ship experience. So it is.

The old Israeli couple has travelled the oceans of the world. The wife looks even older, must have taken her forever to climb the narrow staircases of the cargo, “We always take this ship. My husband is claustrophobic, cannot fly.” Her husband is born in Israel, she is not; she is Polish but born Tadzhikistan. “That far my parents had to run from the Nazis. We came back to Poland when I was 3. - But to find there was no family left anymore.” She emigrated in 1957.

Investigating where, how I travelled, she shakes her head “We [Israelis] cannot go these countries [Syria, Lebanon], it would be nice to go overland to Europe”. On whether they could go to Palestine, she replies “Palestine does not exist!” There is so much mistrust, unconscious hatred, non reconciled fears on both sides in Israel/Palestine. 60 years after 1948, Israel’s war of independence, for Palestinians the Nakba/Catastrophe, Palestinians still feel like Palestinians even those living inside Israel feel like Palestinians and not like Arab Israelis.

“We leave at midnight”, they are still boarding all the fruit and veggie cooling containers, Israel’s exports. I once read on an old displaced Palestinian who admired in disbelieve Oranges from Jaffa in Switzerland, “Oh, we must be rich then,” well he was not.

I take a shower despite the water resurfacing, lie down, doze off wake at 3 a.m., we have left Haifa port the sea is a bit windy, large dunes of waves. Crawl out at 7, sea is big long waves as before, heaves the 150m long boat up and down, Haifa was sunny, now is a misty morning, all is grey, crawl back in my bunk. Limassol comes in sight around 10 a.m, very misty. I had breakfast, eggs on toast, fried sausage from the can, cheese. 12 we have lunch. Later we enter Limassol port, later we roll out again, 4 p.m. we sit in waiting far outside, 5 p.m. dinner is being served, still hearty good. At 7 we go on shore, driving off the van a stupid stops me, wants 320 Euros, then 450 Euros (he is nuts). They lock my car away, there is a rule never pay on first demand, but means I have nowhere to go to sleep. Leave the port, find a beer at 9, walk 4 km to town, find a cheap guest house run by an old white haired Greek lady in the old city for 12 Euros, it is 10 o’clock.

There are times when the spirits go wild, or you just have a bad run, but then you never know what it is good for, this means keep the bets low, accept. The night usually seems darkest just before dawn. And this is what goes through my head, just before falling asleep in the stylish Ikarus hostel with clean sheets: “Hey! Today was actually the cheapest day in many weeks (because I deferred the big payment to tomorrow) and I have eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner, 3 full courses!” And I escaped the guns, and I sleep so well.

Later after fighting off demands for high cash, I managed to trick my way through, port authorities lower their fees to a mere 29, just the ferry company asks for 120, which I pay, this should have been made clear to me on the contract/ticket, “Additional fees apply on debarkation!” Consumer protection laws! So was an expensive exit from Israel/ME. 600 Euros and only managed to get to Cyprus. But Cyprus appeals and I am looking forward to it. Red wine is amazing.

08 Mar 2010 - Haifa, Israel. After Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus West Bank.

Taking the ferry which is actually a cargo ship to Cyprus.

04 Mar 2010 - Tel Aviv, Israel.

Christina has left for Amman. A new the on-my-own-again journey .... Have a few plans, Cyprus, Turkey, then Vienna; spend time with my boys, spend summer with my boys, Greece maybe. All summer with my boys. Then… Africa? So the India journey has definetely changed to a Middle East and back.

03 Mar 2010 - Jerusalem, Israel.

26 Feb 2010 - Jerusalem, Israel, cold, wet, thunder storms.

The sun and 30°C was short lived, the blue skies gone quickly and as prophesized by Georg Suisse who is instructor in the Golan temperatures dropped. Still we go on extensive walks, in Ben Jehuda, commercial centre we find finally a good sharwarma and falafel place, prices are about 10 times those of Egypt, we are missing Egyptian street food already. We drop into the Orthodox Jewish quarters, Mea Shearim and Geula, Haredim (conservative Jews) study all day all their life, Torah and Talmud, most are exempt from the military, many are against an Israeli state as it would be inappropriate before the arrival of the Messiah. Many don’t use Hebrew which is deemed too holy for everyday use, speak Yiddish instead. But all this is not so clearly cut, some 125 sects/confessions/rabbinic schools and thoughts exist, and as some new Israeli, newly arrived American Zionists tells us he is still "so very confused after 2 years here."

We switch into the Arab quarters in East Jerusalem another day, try the falafel there, has little beauty. In front of Damascus gate things are extremely quiet compared to 12 years ago when I was here; has lost its buzz completely.

Thursday we take the bus to Ramallah, is just a 15 km ride, there we find a very friendly Arab town as we know them so well. Yasser Arafat is alive on the Israeli wall and on posters and through his foundation. At least here in the "capital" his fame has not abated. We circle in large circles for 2 hours, the biggest and best fresh sharwarma sandwich fills me for the remainder of the day. But the rains have arrived; continue to pound, is difficult. We take taxi to Jericho (35km), it rains, so into a bar, guy organizes Palestinian beer, Taybeh, means delicious in Arabic, is delicious, amber, tasty. We take a hotel, this was planned, first shower since 4 weeks if you don’t count in the one on the beach in Eilat.

The rains won’t go away. There are the oldest excavated settlements in Jericho, Tell es-Sultan, from 8500 B.C down to 2500 B.C., surrounded by so many tour busses. I have my problem with very old towns, as significant as they may be you can make out only so much. All the mud brick stuff has the property to go back into the ground. Hisham palace some 2kms away, we walk, are lucky don’t get wet, is more what I can appreciate, Umayyad, ground mosaics are artistic, remind of Persia, Zoroastrian. NOBODY goes there, not because of the rains.

There is a Greek Orthodox church in Jericho’s centre, a monastery on the mountain; we need come back, it just rains too much, then I will take my van. Arrive back in Jerusalem after taxi and bus 40 minutes, including getting off at the check point. While we walk "home" the thunder storms start raging, hail, high speed winds, the lightening followed by immediate thunder, we are right in the middle of it. Shabbat Shalom, let’s have some red wine, wisely purchased in advance.

20 Feb 2010 - Jerusalem, Israel. 30°C blue skies.

Sunday morning a Latte to go from Beano's and Christina and I ride out of Cairo. Nobody stops us, no problems with my half-good car papers. Under the Suez Canal, over the Sinai Desert and we rethink our options, change our plan and go straight into Israel. It would be a mistake in this journey through history not to enter Israel and Jerusalem, holy city to the 3 monotheist religions.

But first we travel through the Negev desert, along the Dead Sea shore, the depression at 400m below sea level; a hazy morning is followed by a hazy evening. Further north into the valley of the Yarmouk River, border between Jordan and Israel; I drove the other side more than 2 months ago, very rainy then, so lush and green then and now. Always startled when going from desert to greenery so quickly!

Further north over the plateau of the Golan Heights; all this was Syrian till the 1967 6-day war between Israel and the Arab states (most of them). Syria till today is laying claims to the land. Further north to the base of Mount Hermon and the Druze village of Majdal Shams (tower of the sun), at an altitude of 1,000m; this is the farthest northern point in Israel. Somewhere I read that Yitzhak Rabin and Hafiz al-Assad had been quit close in striking a peace-deal just before his, Rabin's assassination in 1995.

Today nothing could look further away than a deal; the war of words seems unabating, seems intensifying in recent weeks and the Druze up here, most of them tend to support the Syrians, take it with ease. "Salam, peace, thanks it is here, may it last" explains the shop owner where we buy our honey; he invites us in for coffee. Druze speak Arabic so conversation is possible, they do not consider themselves Muslims, their sign is the star in 5 colors, the 5 colors fly on every roof top in Majdal Shams. He has two sons working in the US, he has travelled to New York, Washington and Ohio, but what America does in Afghanistan and Iraq, "Crazy, crazy." Photography on the wall shows him with a local politician, "a member of the Knesset, my friend," also a large Gamal Abdel Nasser and a Hafiz al-Assad decorates the wall. Damascus is only 50km away. Here on the Golan Druze are in charge, they own the land; the large apple orchards, the cherries start blossoming already, it's a beautiful morning, before it gets hazy again, and hot, 30°C.

On our way south we touch the Lebanese border several times, the mountains on the other side are near. Since 2000, since Israel abandoned its nearly 20 year long Lebanon adventure, the war between Israel and the Shia Hezbollah has not stopped, rather has flared up unexpectedly too many times, with each side still accusing the other of initiating the conflict and the sad result of bombings and rocket attacks killing thousands of civilians on the Lebanese side and hundreds on the Israeli.

On the way further south Tiberias is worse than Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheick; but Maimonides, greatest Jewish philosopher 13c., is buried here. Capernaum on the Galilee Lake is the area where Jesus is said to have spent a lot of time, chose his disciples, accomplished miracles, many Christian tour busses come here, a 1970s style concrete Catholic church was built over the ruins of a Byzantine church and the ruins of what is believed to be St. Peter's (the apostle's) house, a 4c. synagogue is near-by, the tour busses unload one load after the other, no peace. Peace on the shores of the lake is found 200m further north, a Greek Orthodox church is where nobody goes, the gardening monk puts up sacral music inside, heavenly, the lake's haze blends in with the dusky sky and then right in front, divinely sent a flock of about one thousand ducks land on the water first ten then a hundred then more and more till all is quiet again.

The morning is hazy in the depression of the Lake Galilea and the Jordan valley. After climbing nearly 1000m the desert biblical mountains to Jerusalem the skies clear up. And we are in Jerusalem; enter the Old City through Jaffa Gate, head around the Armenian quarter's city walls to the Jewish Quarter and the Western Temple wall. Haredi (religious/orthodox) Jews meditate, any foreigner, non-Jew (Gentile) can enter, I enter, touch the Wall; feel the energy of thousands of years of mourning and waiting for the Temple to be rebuilt. We pass security again (scores of tourists push their way in), National Geographic TV have a huge video camera planted in the way, another boring documentary well made. We enter the Arab quarter, the Souk is quiet at this hour, you turn left and it is the Christian quarter again. 5 o'clock, the shofar (horn) is blown, still time till sunset, this is Friday; the horn marks the beginning of Shabbat. The holy day of resting in Judaism, it last till the next evening, till at least 3 stars are seen on the nightly sky on Saturday. Pious Jews will not do anything that may faintly resemble work. Jewish law prohibits 39 activities directly, many hundreds more indirectly. The day will be passed with the family, in prayer, in enjoyment. Saturday all is closed, as expected. Shabbat Shalom.

"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country ... There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? …" - First prime minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion in 1956 explaining why Israel needs a strong army to counter difficulties on road ahead (wikiquot).

"Along the Syria border there were no farms and no refugee camps — there was only the Syrian army... The kibbutzim saw the good agricultural land ... and they dreamed about it... They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land."

"After all, I know how at least 80 percent of the clashes there started. In my opinion, more than 80 percent, but let's talk about 80 percent. It went this way: We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance farther, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was. I did that, and Laskov and Czera did that, and Yitzhak did that, but it seemed to me that the person who most enjoyed these games was Dado. We thought that we could change the lines of the ceasefire accords by military actions that were less than war. That is, to seize some territory and hold it until the enemy despairs and gives it to us." - Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan at the time of the 6-day war 1967 (wikiquot).

... hard to stay clear of politics when in Israel.

Below some highlights. Images are linked to stories.

Plans for the future ... as always, vague and uncertain ...

I am back from Africa, ideally a journey to Asia next...

Photography and Journey.

The mind, when pondering at night has always asked those questions: What are you doing in corporate wonderland, banking, university, office, church? Who is the other animal asleep inside, thinker, punk, creative, vagabond, healer, anarchist, artist, writer, rebel, photographer, intellectual? Oh God dare you to think.

So before checking out into the real world I was a financial markets derivatives trader, a cowboy trader, a clown, an anarchist, almost schizophrenic. But to get it right you need to be all of that. Read between lines to read the lies. Until you discover it's all statistics, gamble, manipulation and too many lies to see through, right what they taught back in university.

Knowing sure there'd be something I could do if walk out, I take the decision following the old old dream and leave on 22nd of July for a multi-year journey, intend to explore the world traveling overland. Leaving is easy, not special. Take on what comes.

I am father to twin boys Daniel and David.

As a photographer, writer - I have a long way to go.

The fab trek is ongoing. Enjoy. I take you on this journey.

The journal entries top right tell the story - or you start right where it started.

How to navigate?

The story is best understood reading from Prep time on, back to front. Or just jump in it where ever you feel like. Click on the Maps.

Left top Navigation bar (<--), look up "journey", you find continents and countries. Guinea, Africa.

Right top Journal bar (-->) lists pages as they appear online. The journey in chronological order. Also try the years pages: 2007.

Try the Galleries, e.g. Mali-Gallery.

Try Google ThisFabTrek (<--). Just under the Nav pane.

How to get most of it? Download the latest browser version, no matter which one, just stop using the old crappy versions. Expand the browser window to maximum. Try hit the F11 key.

All images are clickable (open a 1536 x 1024 image). All links and images open in the same browser tab/window. Use the back button of your browser. To open links in a new tab hold down the Ctrl-key or right click.

Enjoy!

www.thisfabtrek.com