“I hate the name Pavan“, I told a friend last night.

If you are an extremist Hindu OR a self-declared-guardian-of-religion OR someone who imposes their ideas of right and wrong, then buzz off.

I woke up to loud noises today morning at 5. Out of curiosity, I went to the window of my bedroom to checkout what was happening. It was too foggy but I could see lot of dust in the air. Suddenly a mid size branch of a tree came zooming by and crashed on my window. Although I was safe indoors, by reflex action I ducked. FYI, my apartment is on the 17th floor, so I am sure someone cannoned the tree branch. In a microsecond, all my laziness vanished and I became more alert than I’d have been after 3 cups of coffee (partly due to the panic, partly due to the excitement).

Later, I was walking as fast as a snail (almost) to my bus stop this morning at 6, stomping my feet hard on the snow-covered damp grass. Walking on the walkway was out of question since it was covered with ice and I didn’t want to play घसरगुंडी / फिसलपट्टी / slide at this age. The wind was too powerful and confusing – it seemed to blow from all directions and was particular interested in me. Since it was cold and windy I was covered from head to toe with winter jacket, boots, hat, gloves and scarf, leaving just a little opening for my eyes (I looked like those Afgan women wearing an Abaya, except that I don’t cross-dress) yet, it was simply impossible to walk. I was almost getting blown away.

Ah, then I realized.
Pavan पवन aka Vayu dev वायु देव, the Hindu God of Wind decided to tease me today.

So, what happens when Pavan decides to be naughty with me?
(Puku is my nickname btw)

He blows strong wind (phooo….) and sweeps me away!

But hey, who’s complaining??

Now, since the City of Toronto isn’t getting any better (yeah yeah, I’ve started bitching about it like any Torontonian), Pavan dev took matters in his own hands winds.

But, ultimately the God is a guy, and boys will be boys. After all that work, he decides to cool off…

Thanks! Pavan dev

- - -

Today was a very windy day in Toronto. Wind speeds reached as high as 50 kmph with local gusts upto 65 kmph. The cold winds stretched the temperature to -19 deg C (feels like).

I enjoyed walking in this brutal weather during lunch time, there was almost nobody on the street!

• The Geese are here! (24)
• Feeling hot hot hot (3)
• Toronto Islands - I (8)
• Toronto Distillery District (0)
• The sky is blue, so is the water (5)

This travelblog post is part of my Israel travelog series. I spent 3 weeks in Israel during Dec’07-Jan’08 and all my travel stories and pictures are recorded on this website. Please visit the Index page by clicking here to get a complete Israel travelogue. Thanks

A 72km bike ride along the Sea of Galilee coast checking out prominent Biblical sites.
Caution: This particular blog-post is going to be excessively long.

7:30, I start with the sunrise.

Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee (गॅलिले), slso known as Lake Kinneret (किनारेट), is the largest fresh water lake in Israel. This lake is 209 m below sea level, the second lowest lake in the world after Dead Sea (also in Israel and I’ll post abt it). The lake has several sites of Christian significance around it in addition to being historically important for the Jewish.

Biking
I rented a mountain bike from Hostel Aviv for 50 NIS and started on this route equipped with a map. The route going along the lake is 65 km long but since I took a detour, I had to travel about 7 km more. The terrain is uphill for the initial part (upto Capernaum) and then more or less a flat ride. Since I took liberal breaks at different sites, I finished the journey in 8 hours, but my average speed on road was abt 14 kmph, not bad! If you are visiting this area then I will definitely recommend a tour on bike, it is very refreshing

Measurements

Ginosar: The Jesus boat

Jesus boat and me

In 1986, two fisherman brothers discovered the remains of an ancient boat that dates back to 1 CE, believed to be Jesus era. 27ft long and 7.5ft wide, this boat is delicately preserved at the Yigal Alon (यिगाल अलोन) Museum in Ginosar (गिनोसार). There is an excellent documentary that shows how the boat was excavated, removed, cleaned and reassembled - a process that took 7 years. This was my first stop and I met some people from a neighboring Kibbutz here. I had only read about Kibbutzs before and it was good to talk to real people working there.

Mt. of Beatitudes

Church of Beatitudes

It is believed that Jesus delivered the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ at a place around this location around 30 CE. This sermon is said to contain the central tenants of humanity, something that is shared by many religions. For example - ‘turn the other cheek’ or ‘resist not evil’, ‘judge not, lest ye be judged’ or the Golden rule. Mount of Beatitudes (बेटिट्युड) is located on a hill. The church is very beautiful, and the surrounding garden gives me amazing peace of mind. Also, the climb to the mountain top was an overkill and I was sweating like crazy when I reached here. I shed my clothes, but then it was cold, so had to wear them again (hehehe). The restaurant sells stuff that is bound to burn your pocket, and I got mine burnt.

Tabgha: Miracle of the Multiplication

In this fruitful garden, Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Nice Church at (टॅब्घा/ताब्घा).
There was a little water fountain outside and I had a quick shower there while tourists/pilgrims who were arriving from big tour buses looked at me with disgust admiration and astonishment. Ah, it felt so good.

Primacy of Peter
This was a mystery as I did not have information about this chapel in my guidebook, nor did any tour bus stop here, so it was deserted except me, my bike and statues of Jesus. All I know is Peter was the favorite Apostles of Jesus of Nazereth and probably this Chapel is dedicated to him. The sepia picture shows a shepherd begging Jesus saying ‘Feed my sheep’.

Capernaum:

Ruins of an ancient Synagogue (ज्यू मंदिर) where Jesus prayed

Jesus lived in (कपर्नॉम) town along with his disciples after he moved from Nazereth (नाझरेथ). There are several architectural excavations that reveal old Synagogues, Monasteries, houses and courtyards.

Rest of the journey:


I only paused briefly at the Greek Orthodox Church (the distinct red building in the pictures below) admiring the numerous peacocks and the ambiance it had. The Church was closed, but at a table outside, the priest dressed in black robes was having lunch with some visitors. Needless to say I was invited to join them but it was all meat and since ani simkhoni, I had to politely decline.

So, after 5 hours of up terrain cycling, I was pretty exhausted. I ran out of my power bars and oatmeal cookies and water. I did not eat breakfast because everything was closed when I left Tiberias, and unfortunately there were no little stores on this way. God I was starving. I secretly asked Jesus to come back and multiply bread and fish for me, but he didn’t come (maybe it was his Christmas break.)

Finally I found one restaurant on the side of the road - yes very much like our Dhaba! - on the Yehudiya junction (north-east corner of the lake). I was so hungry that I told myself that falafel and humus were the best foods on earth. I stacked the pita bread full of olives, pickles, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, beet, peppers and other veggies. The lady gave me freshly fried spicy eggplant and some other thing (I never found it anywhere again). I had both - freshly squeezed orange juice and mint tea. After a contentful burp, I hit the road again. Wish there was a place to nap (wow a whole paragraph dedicated to my lunch!)

The remaining journey was tiring, probably because there was nothing much to see. But the real cause of pain (pun intended) was the uncomfortable seating of the bicycle. I tried various innovative methods to make my (sensitive, precious, private) body parts at ease but then the whole area became insensitive.

Roads in Israel including this part are in quite good shape. The drivers are also considerate (compared to India, not Canada) but sometimes they like to ‘play’ with cyclists…hehehe. Only on a few occasions I was forced off the road, but it was fun nevertheless.

Kinneret beach was beautiful, but I had painful reasons to reach back to the hostel asap.

Tiberias!

I was back to Tiberias before sunset. What a wonderful day it was Cycling and walking gives me a strange feeling of connection with the area, something that I will always prefer over booking a tour bus. (Maybe its a good thing to do after 40 years when I am old.)

Update: While I was riding from Kinneret to Tiberias, another cyclist went speeding past me. I don’t like when someone overtakes me for no reason and I sped after him. But I couldn’t match. Later I spotted him relaxing on the promenade just before Tiberias and since he seemed friendly we started chatting. I made a very good friend Yair who comments here regularly. Others - if you are reading this but not commenting then I hate you (nah, ofcourse not )

Next day I left to visit the ancient city of Beit She’an (बेट श्यान).

This blog post is part of my Israel travelog series. I spent 3 weeks in Israel during Dec’07-Jan’08 and all my travelogues and pictures are recorded on this website. Please visit the Index page by clicking here to get a complete Israel travelblog. Thanks

• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 9 : Beit She’an (25)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 7 : Tiberias (20)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 6 : Old City of Jerusalem (17)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 5 : Bethlehem (16)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 4 : Mount of Olives (9)

This blog post is part of my Israel travelog series. I spent 3 weeks in Israel during Dec’07-Jan’08 and all my travel stories and pictures are recorded on this website. Please visit the Index page by clicking here to get a complete Israel travelogue. Thanks

From the desert to the green belt.
Continued from previous post.

Moonrise over the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias

Don’t get terrified by the edited picture above. Spending an evening in Tiberias on the bank of the Sea of Galilee watching the moon rise is very pleasant.

Tiberias (तिबेरीया / टायबेरीया) is a town about 180km north of Jerusalem. Located in the Lower Galilee region, Tiberias is a quiet, mid-size centre on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. This region is full of green trees, mountains, valleys and rivers, making it very beautiful compared to the desert city of Jerusalem.

Boarding a bus on Sunday morning, Mumbai ishtyle

Yours truly, sitting in a crowded bus

In Israel, once a Jewish youngster turns 18, s/he has to serve for 3 years atleast in the compulsory Israeli military service. In Israel, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday, the days when hundreds of these young soldiers return home. On Sunday morning, they go back from the cities to their military camps. And this is exactly what I didn’t know…

I went to the Jerusalem central bus station, and got a student (discount) ticket for a bus to Tiberias. The whole bus station looked like a military camp - there were simply no civilians there. Anywhere you look, you could see only soldiers and guns and huge bags. I was confused. There was a young guy who was at the bus station with his parents. They clicked a picture together before he was leaving and everyone was quite emotional. Maybe it was the beginning of his military service?

Minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive, the platform was brimming with soldiers. When the bus arrived, the soldiers rushed onto it from all possible sides - like a swarm of locusts devouring a farm. I was simply standing there (in what I thought was a queue, but there wasn’t one), just blinking and staring foolishly at the mess

Then I smiled and suddenly became nostalgic. It reminded me of my 7:21 Kalyan fast, the train that I took every morning to go to work in Mumbai (read this and this - Commuting every morning). I plunged into the crowd, hoping that my boarding-the-crowded-vehicle skills were not rusted during the one year stay in Canada. Soldiers - guys and girls - were fighting to get inside the bus. Elbows, palms, head, everything was being used to push your way in thru the narrow door. The bus driver was sweating. I was struggling to keep up with this juvenile burst of energy. Just after I grabbed hold of the bar near the door, the bus started moving. The driver was shouting vigorously and I guess he was saying चला चला मागे सरका (comeon, move back) or जागा नाही! (no space in bus). Having plenty of experience in all this, I was happy to have gotten some space to rest one foot and grab the bar with one hand. As the bus pulled out of the station, everyone was sucked in, while soldiers left stranded were protesting angrily. There were few other tourists from US at the bus station, but they couldn’t take the cultural shock I guess, which is very natural. So, finally it was a bus full of soldiers and me. phew!

After a while, people started talking to me. Where are you from? Where are you going? Wow India! I am going there in summer. I am going too. Me too. Himalayas very beautiful. Goa, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Rishikesh, Manali…. wow, these guys knew a lot about India. Apparently there is a trend to go to India after the military service (to cool off and smoke ganja), something that I learnt on my 2006 trip to Himalayas. I got snacks to eat, water to drink and lots and lots of entertaining things to do The bus started dropping off soldiers at various locations - probably where they were supposed to report at.

Within 2 hours, I was in Tiberias.

Road to Tiberias

The city reminded me of Pune. Don’t know why, but it smelt like Pune. Haifa smelt like Indore. Tel Aviv was like Mumbai or Ratnagiri. It was very soothing to see lush green mountains and a gigantic water body - Sea of Galilee.

Tiberias

A little town, very touristy, primarily concentrated around the Ha-Galil and Ha-Banim streets. I thought the whole city was inhabited only by youngsters - delightfully dressed and extremely fashion conscious (all of this in comparison to Jerusalem). Girls go with girls, boys go with boys, holding hands, arms over each others shoulders and even an occasional kiss. Interesting sights.

Ani Simkhoni
आनी सिम्खो़नी (The ‘ख़’ (kh) sound is made as if you are clearing your throat) is one of the most powerful and essential phrases if a vegetarian guy has to survive in off-center eating places where they don’t know English. I went to one of the lovely looking eating joints which, the guy at my hostel told, had vegeterian menus too. I spent about 10 minutes explaining the waiter that I don’t eat meat, but he wouldn’t understand. Finally I scribbled a horrible wonderful sketch of an animal that didn’t looked exactly (stop lying Priyank!) like a cow and told him I don’t want that. All this was so much fun and the guys at the restaurant were delighted - I got a free cup of mint tea. Yay! The first thing I did then was to learn how to say ‘I am vegetarian‘ in Hebrew.

Later, I made inquiries and gathered data about cycling around the Sea of Galilee and booked a bike for the next day. Thats where I’ll go next - a bike ride along Sea of Galilee coast.

This blog post is part of my Israel travelog series. I spent 3 weeks in Israel during Dec’07-Jan’08 and all my travel stories and pictures are recorded on this website. Please visit the Index page by clicking here to get a complete Israel travelogue. Thanks

• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 9 : Beit She’an (25)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 8 : Cycling around Sea of Galilee (26)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 6 : Old City of Jerusalem (17)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 5 : Bethlehem (16)
• Scrolls from the Holy Land - 4 : Mount of Olives (9)