A Good Run (on the Ice)

Ive been "skeletoning" several times since I got back from my travels... The winter is here and as of November 10th the Skeleton/Bobsled/Luge track at Whistler has been open. Im taking it more seriously this season and am intending to slide at least twice a week throughout the season. Its a lot of driving to and from Whistler but there are a couple of others who I ride share with and Im definitely enjoying it.

Me coming up the finishing ramp

Me in the bottom corner  (#16) at about 125Kmh

 

We have a new coach this year and one of the "tasks" he gave us was to write a detailed account of what a run feels like to us so that he can assess what our current skills are and where we have difficulty/what we are working on... Its really hard for coaches since they can only ever see one corner of the track at a time and we blast through in a second or two (at 120Kmh or so)... Not a lot of time to see whats happening!

Anyway, I thought Id share with you my description of "a Good run"

...

Im in the athlete’s waiting room at the mens luge start. Its between turns 2 and 3 of the 16 turn track…not quite the top of the track but Im sure Ill get there soon enough. Im fully dressed in my sliding gear with my track spikes on, a lycra speed suit, gloves, and my streamlined helmet hanging on the wall… waiting… It’s a few minutes before its my turn on the ice. There are a couple of other athletes in the room but I don’t really have anything to say to them and for the most part I just want to be in my own space… Lots of athletes use this time to “visualize” their coming run, but I don’t really go in for that much and I prefer to just walk quietly around the room. I do try to think through what Im going to do on this run with specifically what Im going to do that I try to always do and also what Im going to do that’s different this time to try to get a better run. I go over my intentions a few times but I don’t really visualize it per se.

Anyway, the tower calls the slider who is up before me to the ice and about a minute after that I collect my helmet and head outside to the track as well… There are less people there and I like the feel of the cold air for a couple of minutes before my run. The other slider is just starting down the track now so I go get my sled and walk it to the edge of the track. We (me and the track crew guy who will “release” me to slide) wait the minute or so till the previous slider has finished their run and the tower calls my name to come to the track. I walk out onto the track and lay the sled down. The track guy sticks his boot in front of one of the sled runners and I stand behind the sled and wait a few seconds more with one more mental run through of the main personal intention for this run… like maybe “hold up for a moment at the end of 6 so I can drive hard across into 7” or some such). The tower announces “one minute to start” and I pull my helmet down on my head, sinch up the strap, check the alignment of the sled and then lower myself down onto the sled in a face forward prone position… I feel the cold of the ice on my face through the visor just a couple of cm away. I feel for my correct position on the sled and inch forward or back just a bit to get it just right. Then I set my heels together and point my toes while tucking my shoulders slightly together and pull my elbows into my sides and firmly grip the hand holds… I stay looking down at the ice rather than forward down the track for the moment. I wait till the track guy asks if Im ready and I nod and start craning my neck so I can see along the track ahead… The track guy pulls his boot away and tells the tower over his radio that the “skeleton is in track”…

And we’re off… very slowly the sled starts to move forward toward the first turn… It’s a very gentle turn and with such low speed I can do little to steer other than drag one or other toe to try to direct my sled to one or other side a bit… I want a good line here because if it’s a bad line the sled will skid and skitter for a while till gravity gets it in the right line and that slows the run time down a lot. I drag my left toe just enough and the sled takes a good line into three and the white track walls slide past smoothly as I gain a little speed through three and then out into a short straight section before a sharper right into four and Im starting to move along now, into four there is still not much I can do to control things but there is little need to anyway… My only concern is to be not skidding. Im running good so I simply self check and make sure my heels are together and my arms are in and Im hanging on… firmly but not too tight… I want to stay flexible rather than rigid. Coming out of four Im now at a speed that I can start to do a little and I give my neck a twist to the left to get ready for the coming twists… The line is now starting to matter and I want to be on the right side (early) but my line is good and I wait till the sled starts climbing the ice at the start of five and then I sort of mentally pull myself through the corner, driving gently down with my right shoulder while I crane my neck a little to the left to try to see around the corner.

Five is short and gentle and as I come out of five I let off the shoulder pressure and Im moving pretty quick and the tendency is for me to want to raise my chest of the sled as I approach six. I mentally resist the urge and push my shoulders back down and again start mentally pulling myself through the corner and twisting my head to the left and craning to look up in the direction of the track as hard as I can. There is the rush of air and the sound of the runners is now significant as I feel the G forces push firmly on me for the first time… Six is longer and stronger than five and the exit is important to get over into seven. For the couple of seconds that Im in six Im again driving the sled with my right shoulder pushing more firmly on the sled than my left… Im feeling the gravity and seeing the white walls scudding buy and Im watching hard to see when Im getting toward the end of the corner and a bit before I see the exit I reverse my shoulder pressure to try to hold the sled up on the side wall just a bit longer than it wants to be there, and then as soon as I see the exit I swap the pressure again and drive my right shoulder down hard… Im out of position here with my left shoulder up off the sled by a couple of cm cos I really want to get as far to the left as I can going into 7. The short straight between six and seven flashes past and I see someone standing there on the right at the corner seven start ramp but I have no idea who it is and I don’t care because Im totally focused on seeing my line and how early I am going to get into 7… This run is good and Im over early and as soon as I start into seven and before I feel the Gs, Ive swapped shoulder pressure again as hard as I can to steer back  right into seven. Seven is long and firm and for me has two or even three “swoops”… I feel the Gs build somewhat and as they peak I ease up on the left shoulder and go neautral as the sled is up on the wall and I just want it to stay more or less there.. But the sled fades down a bit before climbing again and the Gs come on a bit more again and I drive with the left shoulder again... and I hold it all the way through now till Im out into the long and not quite straight eight. Ideally I would not touch the walls here but the risk is that I will come into nine late and that’s hard to fix so my intent is to have a gentle hit on the left wall to reflect me into a good line for an early entry to nine… I hit the wall and hear the grind of the ice and know that cost me speed and also upset the sled… Im instinctively tempted to drag a toe to straighten out the sled after the hit but this time the reflection is pretty smooth and the sled line is on target for an early nine so I just focus for the moment on getting my limbs all back into form with shoulders down and heels together.

Speed is good now and nine is a solid left that gives me a good push down into the track. I resist the push but try not to let my shoulders come up. Im not really driving in this one but as I come out of the turn Im craning to look ahead into ten which is another left that’s stronger because of my extra speed. The short straight flashes past and Im into ten and Im concentrating again just like in six … Im driving around ten with some right shoulder pressure and my mental “pull” but toward the end of the turn I ease up to try to let the sled hang on the wall a little and as soon as I see the exit Im driving as hard as I can with the opposite shoulder to again try to get over to the other side of the track to get into eleven early… I vaguely note the closed barriers of the corner eleven entry point as it flashes past but there is no one there watching this time. Again I seem to have a good line on this one and as soon as I start into eleven I start driving to the right with my left shoulder. The Gs are pretty strong now and I try to ease off on the drive as the Gs peak and I wait through the long dip in the middle before the Gs build up more again toward the end… I drive with the left shoulder again and I also drop my right toe and let it drag for the last pressure hump of eleven. Then its out of eleven and as the Gs abate I lift the toe and get back in form. I see twelve racing toward me at the end of the short straight and there is no time to do much of anything other than to remember that I want an early entry … if not then Ill get a strong hit on the left wall on the other side but again it’s a pretty good line and the short straight flashes past and Im into the sharp left of twelve. Again the Gs push me down and Im struggling to see ahead but I need to so I can time my left foot dab… I only manage to remember to do this about 50% of the time coss things are happening so quickly, but this time I get it right and I hold the left foot down for a few tenths of a second as I exit twelve and I enjoy a good clean exit with no wall hit to unsettle my position or the sled line and Im heading smoothly into the gentle right of thirteen on a great line… With a good line through seven, and eleven and no hit out of twelve Im really moving fast now and things now just come at me and Im largely along for the ride!... I see the entry of fourteen (strong left) rushing up and Im hoping for an early entry… It looks OK and I brace myself firmly, holding on with my arms and resist the surge of Gs in the corner.. I am no longer pulling myself through the corners and Im “driving” by instinct, letting the turn hold down the right shoulder while I resist with the left and Im looking straight down at the ice rather than ahead as the forces try to squish me into the wall… This is a fast run and I literally let out a short loud groan/grunt as I flash through the pressure point and out into the short straight. Im having to hang on quite firmly here as the sled rolls suddenly back to horizontal and then Ive got just a moment to look forward again and brace myself for fifteen which is a mirror image of fourteen… Again I am wrenched around as the sled rolls onto the wall and again Im crushed into the sled… another grunt and Im through the pressure and the sled wrenches my body around to flat again while gravity seems to disappear for a moment and I try to get my bearings… It’s the final corner now and moments later I feel the crushing Gs of the first swoop of sixteen. I know I need to drive here so while Im desperately trying not to get my face forced into the ice, Im pushing down hard with my left shoulder and trying not to let the Gs push in on my right while I am again shouting a long arrrrrgh through clenched teeth.. then the Gs reduce as the sled comes down off the wall a bit as the colours of the painted “Whistler” in the track ice flash past and I try to stop driving right but in truth Im always late letting the steering pressure off… But no time to worry about that now as I feel the second pressure build . I can barely see anything and the world is flashing past at ludicrous speed. Im shouting again and resisting the Gs with all my strength but I know I have to steer here so I drag the right foot till I feel the pressure reducing again and I struggle to get my head into a position where I can see the exit… I lift my foot again before the turn ends and Im flashing out of the corner and into the straight and up the exit ramp. I dabbed that foot just enough and my line is pretty central in the exit run. Im over the red finish line now with speed reducing fast and then out from under the roof and into the open. I can see the track crew and first aid people beside the track as I slide up the finish ramp toward the dock. I know I did a fast run because my speed is holding and Im going to go high …I let go of the sled and raise my shoulders and get ready to get off. As the sled comes to a stop a couple meters below the crest, I get up and push it over the crest and onto the flat. Then I stand it up and undo my chin strap and push my helmet up off my face, wearing it as a hat and I man-handle my 25Kg sled out of the track and rest it on a rack to wait for my next ride to the top.  I head into the warmth of the waiting room with a smile on my face… A good run.

 

... and all that took about 1 minute!, and I get to do that a maximum of three times in an evening for which I have driven about two hours up from Vancouver and will have to drive two more hours back down after the session!...
 

Yeah, I know, Im crazy :)

Gravity Bike

Ive started a winter project...

Im gonna build a "gravity bike" and see how fast I can roll down a hill.
Ive thought about all sorts of possible configurations for things with the ultimate aim of going as fast as possible on a road while being propelled by nothing but gravity.
Essentially that brings two different forces into play with gravity pulling you down hill, and friction resisting your motion... The two forces will balance out at some point and that's your maximum speed... Im aiming for something above 100Kmh.

In order to minimize friction I want to be as stream-lined as possible and with the smallest possible frontal area. To maximize the forces from gravity I want to be as heavy as possible.
... and (letting survivability have its say) I also want sufficient control to be able to avoid obstacles, stay on the road, and stop in a hurry if I have to.

And Ive decided that Ill take the project in steps too so that I can prove out different aspects of my design as I proceed and don't go spending large amounts of money on things that wont work.

Initially I was very attracted to the idea of starting with a recumbent trike that I could modify a bit and build a stream-lined fairing for... But a decent trike is a very expensive piece of hardware (minimum $2000) which was a bit much... So, then I considered building something from scratch but that would cost me a lot too and Ide end up with less functionality than the commercial trike route.
So then I decided Id consider two wheels rather than three, though the idea of getting a flat tire while traveling at these speeds on a bicycle does scare me quite a bit more on a bike than on a trike!

So I looked into recumbent bicycles but they still cost about $1000 minimum.
And so I finally settled on something much simpler as a start point... A BMX bike.

Im going to modify a kids BMX bike as a base platform.
It may sound a bit strange but it has a bunch of the features that I want: Its got a very low centre of gravity with the small 20" wheels. A kids bike is usually well made but uses thick walled heavy gauge steel tubes... which is fine for my application as it adds weight and strength. I can get one with disc brakes too and that makes it way cheaper than having my own set of custom 20" wheels built. And finally of course its much cheaper than the fancier options.

So, I looked at quite a few second-hand bikes on Craigslist and they are often very cheap or free but I couldn't find any disc-brake bikes around (new teck for BMXs). But I did find a relatively cheap new one and I went and bought that for a couple of hundred dollars.

 

The BMX bike in original configuration.

 

And now Im going to modify it significantly for my purposes. But for the moment Im going to try not do make any mods that are permanent so that if things don't work out as Im hoping then I can just put the bike back together and sell it for close to what I bought it for.

So, the mods so far include:
Remove seat, peddles crank-set and chain... I will not be peddling this anywhere :)
Invert the bike frame... It gives the head-set a steeper rake that makes the bike more stable at speed.
Invert the handle-bars... Lets my hands be much lower and further forward.
Add foot rests to the rear axle stubs and put spoke covers on the rear wheel.

And the bike currently looks like this:

 

And while that looks really odd for a bike, its not really a regular bike any more. All I have to add now is some foam padding to the top tube for my body to lay on, a strong rear wheel fender so my back-side does not rub on the rear wheel, and a couple of knee/shin rests that will attach to the seat-post. Then it will be ready for some test runs.

It is ridden something like this (and yes, absolutely, I will be wearing full motorbike riding protective equipment!:

Photo copyright J. Maus

If my road tests are successful then I expect Ill be building a full body streamlined fairing for the bike... I may continue to use the bike frame as is or I may decide to do some cutting and welding to lengthen out the wheel-base (more stable ) and maybe also try a fully prone riding position (probably good for straight runs but not so good for twisty roads).

Oh and just in casy you were wondering, a bike like this is in fact completely legal on the public roads (assuming it does not exceed the speed limits) because it has standard bicycle brakes and can stop and turn the same as a regular bike (unlike street luge or skate-boards etc).

Anyway, that's my gravity bike project that is "underway"... Ill post again when there is something to say, though that may not be till next spring!

Into Darkness

... and rain and cold and debt too for that matter...

Yes, Ive finally finished my trip through Africa and am now back in my home city of Vancouver Canada... And true to form, it has done nothing but rain for the two days that Ive been back :)

Ive done my unpack, and Ive re-populated all the drawers and closets with my own clothes in the house (it was home to a friend while I was away so Id packed away most of my personal belongings before I left). Ive also got one of my motorbikes out and started it up and re-licensed it, and Ive been getting it all set up for riding through the winter (trying to make it as comfortable as I can for the horrid conditions).

And thankfully I think Ive got some work lined up to start paying off the depressingly large amount of debt that I accumulated over the trip...
On that note, I seem to burn through about $2000 per month on the trip which is about $13000 total. Then there were a few "extraordinary expenses" during the trip (like paying to go see the mountain Gorillas etc) that added up to about $2000 more.
The motorbike cost me about $5000 to buy and set up and then I also spent about $5000 more on the Carne De Passage for the bike at the start of the trip and for shipping at the end of the trip.
And then there was about $2000 for the airline flights.
So, one way and another the trip its self cost me between $25000 and $30000.

And then to add to that there were ongoing mortgage expenses from home as well as significant property taxes etc... which all totaled quite a few thousand dollars more, so as I said, Ive built up quite a little treasure trove of personal debt over the past six months... and now its time to start paying it off.

... But bad weather darkness (its winter here) and debt aside, the really depressing thing about the trip being over is that, as I knew I would be, Im right back in the same situation I was in before I left... with a complete lack of anything "meaningful" to do with myself!... Running away from this sort of a problem is NEVER a solution for long :)

... Guess Ill keep working on finding a solution to that one too :)

Thoughts about the Promised Land

Im sure people have noticed my lack of commentary on my experiences of Israel.
Some of that has to do with me being pretty much tired of traveling and preferring to just post a few pictures rather than write reams of personal analysis... after six months of travel I feel Im allowed to slack-off a bit :)
But actually the more significant factor has been that its a complicated place and it seemed wrong to leap to conclusions after only visiting one or two places and only spending a few days here (especially if Im not moving on immediately and will be spending more time here)... But Ive now spent pretty much a month here and Ive seen a good amount of the place (though it only takes a day to ride from one end to the other of the country) so I think my opinions are now reasonably well founded.

So to start, lets state where Ive been and where I have not... I spent most of my time in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv (one week in each place), and I also spent a day or so in Elat, Hebron, and Tiberius. I have traveled from the extreme South at Elat, up along the Dead Sea coast to Jerusalem. Then North through to Haifa and on to the borders with Lebanon and Syria, around the Golan Heights, back through the West Bank to Jerusalem, and then West to Tel Aviv. I didn't get to se the SW coast or into Gaza (though Im pretty sure I would not have been allowed to enter Gaza even if Id been in the area). The vast majority of my time was spent in "Israel proper" and only a few days spent in the "occupied territories". I met lots of people though they were mostly in and around the cheap hotel/hostels that I stayed in or they were just average people on the street and at stores and gas stations etc.

And so, within those places and times, What did I think?
Sad to say I was pretty disappointed!, but its difficult to just lump all the difficult experiences into a single category... Israel is a complicated place... So Ill separate comments into categories.

So, the first category of my issues is "Religion" (no big surprise I suppose), and the main place where this aspect is overtly apparent is Jerusalem... Jerusalem is a very holy city for all three of the major Abrahamic religions (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim), And there are of course vast numbers of Jewish and Christian people from all over the world (almost only the "developed" world though) who come to Jerusalem on something of a pilgrimage. Note that while the city is also very holy for the Muslims, very few foreign Muslims can visit it because its difficult for them to get entry visas, so the majority of Muslims in the city are Palestinians/ residents of east Jerusalem and the other occupied territories.

For the most part, people from the different faiths get on in a civil fashion with each other and that's fine with me (I don't personally subscribe to any of these doctrinal faiths), but there seems to be something about Jerusalem that attracts vast numbers of "people of faith" who seem to be somewhere between significantly and completely "unhinged"!... Really!  I guess I shouldn't really be surprised but Ive never come across so many people who I felt were really quite "strange" and well on their way to crazy and with an intense religious bent!... Mostly they are not "overtly crazy" (you know, wandering around in strange clothes preaching in the street or shouting at passers-by etc), they are much less obvious and they only stand out as different once you start interacting with them. 
OK, so there are a bunch of crazy people wandering around the place... But its not that much of a problem, they are just crazy and I can mostly ignore them :)

And there are also lots of people here who experience their faith very intensely but don't feel the need to "push it down other peoples thoughts", and I have plenty of respect for these people (and thankfully Id have to say these types of people are probably in the majority compared to the others).

 But there is another category of people who I have much more difficulty with and these are the "intensely religious and righteous" ... Far too many "zealots" about the place!... These are people who experience their faith intensely and feel superior to all other people because of their interpretation of their faith and also feel the need to "share" their superiority and righteousness with anybody and everybody... Actually I have to say that it seems to be a significant factor in all the Abrahamic/Western faiths that most of the adherents feel morally superior and extremely intolerant toward everyone who is not of their chosen faith.... Like, my God and my holy book and my interpretation of it is the ONLY way to correctly live life, and anyone who believes differently is a sinner/heathen/infidel/etc. and they should be brought to the "true faith" and if they will not come willingly then they should be punished and driven out!!!  ... Needless to say, I have a BIG problem with these sorts of people, and sadly there seemed to me to be a lot of them in Jerusalem (both visitors and residents).
So that's a very brief and heavily caricatured description of the challenges I had with people I met in Jerusalem.

The second category of my issues in Israel Ill call the FUQ which is short for "Fuck You Quotient" and it seems to be a pervasive factor throughout the country and culture though I think I experienced it most clearly in the traffic and driving behaviors of the locals.
Now Ill start by saying that the traffic/driving in Israel is immensely more civilized than anywhere I went in East or North Africa and is more or less on-par with traffic in South Africa, and Namibia... People drive in marked lanes, they obey traffic lights and most road signs. The cars are modern and the roads are clean and well paved... Definitely "developed world" rather than "developing world", so compared to most of my driving experiences on this trip, driving in Israel was very pleasant indeed.
But the drivers here can be incredibly inconsiderate to each other... There seems to be a pervasive attitude of "I can do whatever I want and I don't care how it effects you"! ... In the middle of rush hour with rapidly moving crowded traffic, drivers are happy to stop their car in the middle of a traffic lane, completely stopping traffic, and spend two minutes chatting with the passenger who then casually gets out of the car, spends another 10 seconds chatting with the driver before closing the door. and then finally the car moves on and traffic resumes flowing... It matters not how much horn blaring is going on behind, the people in the blocking car don't seem to care at all... Its as if everyone in the country were a Taxi driver!
By far the most common cause of the FUQ is that people are engaging with their smart-phones all the time and prioritize that over all other considerations... This causes most of the disruptions in traffic flow and people standing in the middle of door-ways or corridors blocking other people, but its also often caused by other things too though I think mostly being captured under the heading of "social priorities"... Which is to say that I think the culture here prioritizes social interaction much more highly than cultures in North America/Australia (where Ive spent most of my life). The national attitude of "Fuck You" is however un-biased and is expressed completely equally to foreigners or other Israelis alike but regardless, I found it very distasteful!

But its my third category of issues that is the biggest and most difficult to accept/reconcile...
Im very sad and sorry to say that in my opinion Israel's current (and past) political/legal/social administration is an extremely biased and unfair system!... It appears that the prevailing cultural attitude is one of "Being White and Jewish is far more important than being democratic or espousing Human rights for all"!
I know that sounds incredibly harsh but having spent a good amount of time here and having looked to try to see where I was misinterpreting things Im afraid to say I think its true.

... But where to start? ... All I know is that it would feel very wrong for me to have seen what Ive seen and then Not write about it honestly!    so here goes...

From everything I saw, Israel is extremely biased against immigration from non-white and non-Jewish people... Now I freely admit that I do not at all know what the nations official immigration laws, policies, requirements are, but the "facts on the ground" are extremely clear... Every other city that I have been to in the world has significant numbers of  people of East Asian (mostly China) and usually also South Asian (India) descent... But I saw virtually none of these ethnic groups in Israel at all... And likewise, I saw virtually no people in Israel with sub-Saharan African heritage (which is the long-winded pc way to say Black people)... and of course every other city I went to on my trip (to "Africa") had very large populations ... This may be "normal" for Arabian nations (which I have not visited - though they hardly have a reputation for democracy or ethnic equality!) so Im not sure its a valid reference for Israel? And given the wealth and industry and general "developed" status of the nation, I guarantee there are millions of people from Africa and  South and East Asia who would very much like to emigrate to live in Israel (The ongoing military tensions with Israel's neighbors would not matter one jot!), so there is some "real politik" mechanism that is physically stopping that from happening.
Now I did see lots and lots of Russian immigrants (about 20% of the population) and there are also plenty of people of Arab descent (The indigenous Palestinians of course but Ill get to that in a bit), but by far the majority of the Israeli population seems to be of European descent... which is anything but the original inhabitants of the area. So, one way or another, the fact is that Israel appears to have very racist immigration behaviors! (regardless of how politically correct and un-biased the official narrative goes).
But even this aspect of the nation is less of an issue for me than the Palestinian "situation"...

Now Im not going to get into the incredibly long and divisive arguments of who did what where and when... There are literally hundreds of books written on the subject from many different perspectives and you can go read up on things if you want. Im simply going to state what my observations were and based on my own readings what conclusions Ive come to... No doubt many people will have wildly differing opinions... That's fine with me, but I have to live with my conscience so Im stating my views as they currently are...

The short version is that the behaviors of the Israeli Administration toward the indigenous Arab/Palestinian people of the area appear to be undeniably and exclusively those of an Colonial conquest... (which seems to be about 60% through to its completion in my opinion). The effect is that the indigenous inhabitants of the land (region/island/continent) are systematically evicted from the land  - Starting with the most arable and desirable regions and progressing through to any usable and even must "unusable" land until the entire continent is populated almost exclusively by the colonists and the original inhabitants culture is completely destroyed and only a tiny remnant of the people remains... Its an absolutely horrific process and there is absolutely no justice in it whatsoever!!! Much like the results of the European Colonizing (mostly the British in these cases) of Canada, USA, Australia, and New Zealand.
Likewise, the "process" of the "colonization" is very clearly apparent from the modern histories of the other colonized lands...Initially, when the colonizers are few, small amounts of land are bought or traded from the local inhabitants and a more or less peaceful process is used. But as the colonizers numbers grow and become more dominant then areas of the more desirable land are taken by force (with the colonizers having overwhelming technological and military superiority). And then as the colonization rate increases and more and more land is taken by force, the indigenous people become more militant and fight back... which the colonizers of course treat as completely unjustified attacks and then wrapping themselves in the cloak of "self protection and security" they visit horrendous punitive actions against the indigenous peoples and seize more land and raise villages etc. etc. etc. The story is as I said horrendous, predictable and extremely well documented as it has been repeated so many times...

So that is what happens with European colonization, and as I said it has happened a lot, but it happened mostly in the 18th, 19th centuries and was more or less a "mopping up" process in the first half of the 20th century. Since then the "victorious" colonizers have done some belated "soul searching" and nowadays the generally accepted "developed world" view is that the whole process was incredibly unjust, self serving and violated every version of Human Rights that we can think of... And of course we (in the developed world) like to think that we would never do anything like that again.... But Im not quite so sure, and Israel seems to be a definite "case in point"...

It seems to me that this process is exactly what has been happening in Israel all through the 20th century and is currently in "full swing" even now!!! The Palestinians are systematically being evicted and eliminated from the land of their forefathers, They are being visited with every known form of persecution and when individuals or groups within their population retaliate against the colonizers then the colonizers label the whole of the indigenous people as terrorists and visit ever more sever punitive actions and continue to usurp their lands and resources. Like I said, its the same old story! But to me the amazing thing is that its being carried out in the current times!

And Israel's administration clearly feel absolutely no shame whatsoever about what has been done in the past or what they are continuing to do every day! And of course the general Israeli population feel the same way too for that matter, but the public of any nation are pretty much putty in the hands of internal propaganda and will believe with conviction any narrative they are fed by their media.
And yet, the administration don't admit to what they are doing , well at least not publically because that would result in complete excommunication from the rest of the developed world!  So the same narrative that is used to generate internal popular consent is circulated and used to generate external political approval, though with somewhat less success... And I suppose that reduced success in generating political approval with other nations/peoples is directly because other people have less to gain and more to loose than the Israelis...
I think its a fundamental aspect of the human psyche ... I think that the peoples of other nations would be just as susceptible to committing mass acts of colonial persecution etc against another people if there was the same level of gain/loss at stake... When our greed locks onto something that some other group of people has and that we want, then we are all very capable of and depressingly competent at identifying the differences between US and THEM and then finding any and all means of justifying WE are the good guys, THEY are the bad guys and then its completely fine to do what ever horrible think we want to THEM and identify it as JUST and RIGHTEOUS in the defense of US....

Just like that wonderful and much lauded constitution document of the USA that starts out "We the people..."   Well, that "WE" somehow didn't seem to include African slaves or Native Americans!.. How convenient!
Yes, at the time it was written most of the founding fathers owned slaves and the "Indian wars" were just getting started! (late 18th century)

So sad; so depressingly and predictably sad!!!

... In fact, I found the whole experience of visiting the Israel and traveling around the place and seeing the effects of a hundred years of colonization, and doing some of my own literary research as well, so intensely depressing and aggravating at the same time that Im not going to write any more on the subject... Im going to leave it at that and just state that I didn't like it!

And so having spent about a month here I find that Im happy to be leaving the beautiful sunny warm beaches of the modern city of Tel Aviv and heading back to the cold rainy city of Vancouver... Like I said, quite disappointing... Well for me anyway, Im sure if you don't pay much attention to these sorts of things then it would seem like a wonderful place ...

In the Box

The bike is now shipped!

I made some measurements and figured the bike would fit in 3 cubic metres or less. I then got a local carpentry place to cut all the bits of wood needed to make the box (from my cut-list).
Then yesterday morning I rode the bike over to the carpentry place, drained the last of the fuel out, disconnected the battery, dropped the bike down on the front suspension to its lowest, and spent the next three hours ding the box...
Its all screwed together pine with thin ply outer panels. I ended up being able to make the box lower than I had initially planned so it is now 2.5 cubic metres... which is a good thing since it costs me many hundreds of dollars per cubic metre to ship it.

So, once the bike was in the box I organized a truck to come collect it the next morning. At 6:30 am the truck arrived and with the help of a couple of the carpenter guys we managed to manhandle the crate onto a fork-lift trolley in the street and from there onto the truck.
Then I accompanied the crate to the bonded warehouse where it was inspected and the last side panel screwed on... and a fork-lift came and took it away into the warehouse.

... and now I have to make do with public transport! :(

So, all that is left to do here in Haifa is to wait till the shipping broker gets the bike through customs for export, and then I have to pay for the shipment (which is the big bucks!)... Then Ill be free to head off to Tel Aviv... I will wait to see when I actually get to Tel Aviv but I may try to change one of my flights to go earlier and then Ill be able to stop for a few days in Istanbul rather than just hanging around for yet another week here in Israel... we shall see.

But the bike is now dealt with... at least till it gets to Canada.

Bike crated with the two side cases.

Loading it onto the truck

 

Last side panel screwed on after customs inspection.

And off it goes into the bonded warehouse... I wonder if Ill ever see it again :)

 

Dead Sea

While Im waiting for the holidays to be over here so that I can get back to shipping my motorbike to Canada, I went for a quick visit to the Dead Sea...  Every one does :)

View over the dead sea.

The dead sea is a lake at the end of the Jordan river that divides Israel from Jordan. (And the Sea of Galilee is a much smaller fresh-water lake at the other end of the valley that is the source of the Jordan River). The Dead Sea is salty because there is no outlet for the water and all the salts that are leached from the land that the river waters pass through are left in the lake as the water evaporates with the sun. And over the millennia that has amounted to a great deal of salt.
In fact the Dead Sea is dying... Its evaporating fast because humans are drawing so much water from the Jordan river that less and less water is reaching the Dead Sea each year. The Dead Sea is already renowned as the lowest point on the Earths surface and is about 440m below sea level... That's a long way down!! But each year it loses about another 1-1.5m of water!

Anyway, I went to have a swim to see what its like... And its rather an odd experience...
The water is so intensely salty that it doesn't really feel like water at all... Its more like a very light oil... it beads off the skin strongly and it feels thick and greasy.

 

Greasy water that beads off the skin.

Then once you get into the water there is so much buoyancy that it feels kind of like you are wearing a 12mm wetsuit with no weights (Like you would use for surfing or diving in arctic waters ). You float so high that its actually quite difficult to swim... Your feet are up out of the water so using a normal kicking motion doesn't work...it just makes lots of splashing and no propulsion!
And when you try to "stand" in the water (floating vertically) you constantly become unbalanced and start to flip over... very interesting!

And the water is intensely salty indeed... Its far too salty to drink and even trying to taste it is unpleasant because it burns your mouth... It burns any area of skin on your body that is normally moist...Like inside your mouth or your nostrils etc...You can put your head underwater only briefly but then trying to open your eyes after you come up again is very painful because the salt is in your eyes.
They say you should not stay in the water for more than about 20min since the osmotic pressure is rapidly dehydrating you by sucking the moisture out through your skin... But after you do get out and wash the salt off with fresh water, your skin does feel much softer... I guess the salt triggers your skin to release more oil and clears out the pours pretty well too... There is a thriving spa industry around the edge of the Dead Sea; and the mud is apparently very therapeutic too... you can buy tubs of the mud in very nice cosmetic packages :)

Floating level with lungs absolutely full.

Floating level with lungs absolutely empty.

No, Im not touching the bottom at all... just floating like this!

 

All the tourists lolling about.

And after an hour or so there is not much else to do so I went back to Jerusalem which is only about 45 minutes drive away (Its such a small country).

Petra

I went to visit Petra just over the border from Israel in Jordan.

Its one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", so I expected it to be incredibly touristy but still worth visiting... Much like the Pyramids in Egypt...
And that's about how it was ... way too many tourist for my liking but impressive and well worth the cost and effort anyway :)

Much of Jordan is flat and very arid... not a lot too see or do here!

 

But in the real around Petra it becomes rugged and rocky with sandstone formations much like the Moab area in Utah USA. And in one of the valley systems in those sandstone hills is Petra... By the way, the name "Petra" simply means stone or rock in Latin, so we really don't know what the local people called the place in their own language... they didn't leave any written records of their culture!

 

The current prevailing theory is that all of the rock carved rooms and facades are actually a huge necropolis rather than an actual city used for trade, though they believe that the area was a centre for trading caravans from many areas and the trading centre was located near-by but not in this valley... This was a sacred valley used to bury the dead.

 

there seem to be about three different types of tombs, from three different eras... The first type are the simplest and are effectively simple rooms hollowed out of the rock with a single door.

 

The next and more sophisticated type of tomb is more or less a simple "box" of stone formed by carving away the natural shape of the hill that the simple room was carved into... There are some adornments to the cubic tombs but not much.

Inside the tombs you usually find quite a few graves carved into the floor... And even the graves may well have held the remains of multiple people... I think the current theory is that a tomb was for a single family and they gradually "filled" up over the decades... but again, who really knows?

 

The sandstone in the area is generally quite soft and has been eroded by wind and water into all sorts of interesting shapes.

 

Unless it has been exposed to lots of water, which actually acts as a hardening agent.

And so the hoards of tourists arrive at the parking area quite a way from the monuments in the Petra valley... We all then proceed to walk a couple of kilometers through a very narrow "slot canyon" to the main monument valley.

The builders protected the road way from erosion by carving rain gutters along the sides of the slot canyon and put quite a lot of effort into diverting waterways and ensuring good drainage to protect the valley from water damage... very interesting!

And after about a kilometer of winding your way along the canyon you emerge into the light...

 

And immediately in front of you is the most spectacular of the rock facades (the third and most elaborate and recent type of tomb)... This one is the best preserved in the whole valley due to it being in the most protected location). Its referred to as "The Treasury" but these days its assumed that its actually the main temple for the valley... but that "diagnosis" may change as archaeologists slowly learn more....

In fact, only recently did they discover that the current "floor" of the valley is in the completely wrong place and should in fact be about 6 metres lower down... Excavations in front of the treasury have shown that there are further tombs below this main façade and inscriptions on the face below that... which we currently believe is the true "floor" level.

Over the centuries the valley has been filled up with sand and for many centuries the whole site was completely "lost" and no one knew where "Petra" was. The trading city was at its peak at around the time  when the Roman civilization was at its height and the Romans recorded the existence and rough location of the city, but little more was known.

 

 

After a look around at the "Treasury" area I wandered down the valley and looked at many more of the less well preserved tombs and facades. Then I headed up a long set of stairs that lead up and over one of the local hill peaks and enjoyed the views of Petra from above...

 



The sandstone erodes and wears easily so many of the steps are in bad condition are completely worn away...

 

Some Obelisks at the top of the hill.

Looking down on people and camels etc.

 

 

A Juniper tree... Probably over a thousand years old!

 

 

 

Many many tombs in the valley walls...

The main tourist route through the valley.

The sandstone that has been protected from sun and rain has the most beautiful patterns and intense colours.

 

 

 

The hills are full of tombs

 

 

 

The insides of most of the tombs are stained black by smoke from fires... The Bedouin used most of the tombs as homes for a few centuries, long after the place was abandoned for unknown reasons.

But there are a few that are free of soot and the colours and patterns of the rock inside are truly wonderful.

 

 

 

 

The architectural features of the facades seem to contain features and aspects in common with many different cultures, from Egyptian to Greek and Roman and Persian... Seems appropriate for a major trading centre that had ongoing relations with all of these places... Its like the tomb city was designed to please the eye of the visitors as much or even more than the locals... very cosmopolitan.

I was here :)

And then back out the same way I walked in.

A very nice Arabian horse for tourists to ride... A little odd to see it with an American "Western" saddle, and while it looks magnificent with that arched neck, the horse is a bit uncomfortable because its the harness set-up that is physically holding the hoses head in that position that makes his neck arch.

Locals still using one of the old tombs as a place to hang out and have a smoke and a cup of tea :)