We did it!!!

Beirut-Damascus- Sheik Maschen- Jarash,- Amman-Petra- Wadi rum- Aquaba- Jericho, Jerusalem- Ramallah- Nablus and Tel Aviv.

The last days of our trip once again become a rollercoaster between destinies, environment, lifestyle and people. The first stop after Jerusalem, Ramallah, which is the political centre on the west bank showed a unexpected picture with big cars, nice restaurants and not least a “Stars and Bucks”.. Ramallah had a charmy atmosphere with friendly people and actually a lot of bars. Strongly recommend the Taybe beer, said to be the best beer of the Middle East (Wonder about the stiff competition), brewed of catholic settlers since decades. The life standard and price level in Ramallah was surprisingly high- where do people earn their money? After 2 days in Ramallah we decided to continue to Nablus. We discussed either we should bike or take the bus. Together with the foreign ministry’s travel advice and consultation of other people we took a minibus. We thought it would be smart to so to skip the 5 checkpoints and in case of something happening. We strongly regretted that when the driver gave us a trip we want forget and actually fell a sleep while driving… Anyway Nablus was fantastic. We only got the opportunity to spend 1 day there but we met a girl who voluntarily took us around. Without her we probably would have missed out on everything that is worth seeing and doing. She took us to a soap fabric, the church where Jesus drank the water and together we climbed a clock- tower in the centre. We finished by get back to the hood where she lived. She took us inside the refugee camp where she lived and showed us around. We could of course not filming or taking any pictures but some of the stuff is something you will remember for a long time. We never felt insecure, since we where with her, but we should probably not walked in their alone. Interesting, fascinating, scary, horrible, exiting, like most places in the middle east, nothing is never black or white, nice or bad etc.

1 day later we continued to Tel Aviv, the very last lap of the trip, and the nicest. Nablus in the mountains-tel Aviv on sea level. With Police escort we rolled into Tel Aviv!! The ocean, beaches everywhere, WE DID IT. We dropped the bike and ran to the water, INCREDIBLE!

What about Tel Aviv? Tel Aviv was like coming to a new country compare to other places in Israel we’ve been to. It’s a bubble where people party like there is no tomorrow, dress as less as possible and where some clubs opens 5 a clock in the morning. It’s fairly expensive but no one gives a shit. 3 days of wrapping up the bike , catch a few cold ones and swimming finished yesterday when we started our trip back home.

The planning where of course non-existing but with extraordinary god support and hospitality from our new Israeli friend we had the best shower on the trip and managed to get to the airport in time. The bike is currently chilling out in Israel confiscated for security reasons… Back home in the safest country on earth it’s a lot to take in and reflect of. We expected the trip to be very unexpected. What we didn’t expect where how unexpected an expected unexpected trip could be……We have had an incredible journey from Beirut to Tel aviv. We have couch surfed, and hitched in every country. We have met people with the most breathtaking stories and background from the wheels of our tandem. Thank you everyone for following us. and We get back with a movie and some more pictures later on.

Stay tuned until next trip and remember: “Its good to be single, nice to be three but bettertobebuddies” //Viktor And Philip

Jerusalem

hello!

Jerusalem, what a place! religions meets and clashes, orthodox jews running around everywhere and arabic people selling kebab everywhere! Jerusalem has been a very intense and interesting place full of history, people and tourists. We managed to fix our brakes ones and for all by changing the pads in the brake which were clearly falling apart.

Yesterday we took a daytrip to Betlehem and visited the site where Jesus was born. We also saw the colorful but horrible wall that Israel have isolated Betlehem and Palestine with. We can only imagine how the Berlin Wall looked like. We really hope that the Palestinian wall will face the same destiny as the one in Berlin =)

Tomorrow we are heading to Ramallah just north of Jerusalem for a few days before we start the last leg to Tel Aviv. We are currently trying to transport the bike home from Tel Aviv somehow. Any helpful advice would be highly appreciated!

Viktor and Philip

Amman- Jericho- Jerusalem

In Jerusalem by the wall

Shalom.

Bettertobebuddies has arrived in Jerusalem after 2 days of biking from Amman. With a little bit of luck and hospitality from other people we did it, but it was far from easy. Most of the day yesterday we spent on the Israeli border. Before that our breaks broke again and we almost missed the very last bus to transport us through “no mans land” between Jordan and Israel. Basically a single ticket to chaos.…..Palestinians, aggressive 19 year old militaries in sunglasses, bettertobebuddies and a confused Frenchman on a bike at the border. For those who thinking in terms of going to Israel with an Iranian stamp in your passport should think twice. After 4 hours when the cleaners were close to finish and the other staff started to go home it was 2 people left in the waiting hall…. Viktor and a blind Palestinian in a wheelchair. It went well in the end thanks to bull shitting, Yuval Oren and the kind girl in the security desk but we strongly doubt if we will get out of here. A dessert road surrounded by mines and a couple of checkpoints later we arrived to Jericho on the West bank, where we spend the night.

Today we prepared for entering Jerusalem like David himself coming home to his own land again…..  We walked the last 5 km after the wheel to the trolley cracked- Viktor carrying the bob and Philip leading the bike. The day started 4 a clock in Jericho at 300 meter below sea level (the world’s lowest point) and ended in Jerusalem 800 meter above sea level… Enough said, we have hitched, destroyed breaks and wheel, struggled with Israeli boarder staff, biked in horrible heat in horrible terrain but we made it to Jerusalem! It feels fantastic and weird at the same time. Israel is a strange place and the view from our hostel roof explains it best. To the left you have a Christian church positioned next to a mosque which basically is in one piece with the holiest Jewish spot that lies just beside an Armenian church. Gates, checkpoints and loads of militaries control who goes where. Surrealistic and really hard for two Swedes to understand.

We will spend 2 more days in Jerusalem before we bike to Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus and Tel Aviv. Stay tuned everyone!

Viktor and Philip.

Jordan, Petra and the Red Sea

Salam!

After arriving in Amman Jordan we shared a taxi down to Petra with some new friends. One of the Seven wonders of the world really proved to be a real wonder, Petra was breath-taking! The ancient city was much bigger than expected and quite well preserved with many adventurous hikes and caves.

After a day of Indiana Jones action in Petra we decided to change setting and moved to Wadi Rum where Lawrence of Arabia took place (the real guy as well as the movie). Here, in the middle of the desert, we drove around in a 4×4 in the sanddunes and looked at amazing rock formations in the scolding sun. We spent the night sleeping in a bedouine tent camp under stars, fantastic experience. Jordan has so far lived far beyond our expectations with all the fun adventurous stuff to do.

After the desert experience we decided that some cooling water was badly needed so we continued south to the beach town of Aqaba, just a couple of hundred meters from Israel’s Eilat. We spent a couple of days snorkeling in the amazingly clear water and saw and ate really nice fishes =)

Right now we are back in Amman where we are relaxing for a few days before we set off to Israel and Jerusalem. So far Jordan has been fantastic and we really recommend anyone going here if you want to have an awesome experience in the Middle East.

Philip and Viktor

Damascus-Amman

Gday everyone

For the moment we chillin in Amman at a Canadian guy Elliots place. We left Damascus 3 days ago hitting south towards a town called Derra. With the a alarm clock sat on 4 a clock we crossed our fingers for tempretures below 40 and were both happy to switch from mountain terrain to dessert for the coming biking days. We would’nt say we were lucky with any of them. Exhausted and tired we sat down on a kebab place in the middle of nowhere ( Sheik Manseen), with 30 km to go and wished for a motorbike or a place to rest. Luckily out of nowhere a 19 year old student, Hamid, showed up and offered us housing. The owner of the kebab place sended a guy to get us a copy of the Coran and then we joined Hamid to his place and spend the rest of the afternoon playin fotball, eating food and smokin sheesha. The hospitality of Syrian people is fantastic and we sometimes have problems to really accept how friendly everyone is without wanting anything else back. We could write a Phd about the cultural differences but we stay with the fact that even if we consider ourselfs confident with some knowledge basics and experience we really did’nt know how to act in some situations. Anyway the night ended up in a photostudio were we dressed in syrian uniforms sorrunded by tigers and lions.

The next morning (yesterday) we took of early again to stay away from the worst heat, targeting an ancient city called Jarash in Jordan. Bye bye Syria- Hello Jordan. Once again we realized that its mountains not dessert down here. The landscape is simply not made for tandembiking. After 10 h on the bike we reached Jarash. We needed a place to crasch so we stopped a cab and started to negotiate. 1 h later we were putting up our tent in his garden and had an entourage of 10 kids helping or climbing on our tandem. The taxi driver was a retired sniper from the army and showed us a trophy. It was not a head of an Isreali but just a deer. Loads of laughs and cups of tea later we went to bed.

 Today we had the last part left from Jarash to Amman. It was once again a challenging terrain. After 5 h we reached what we thought was the highest point- finally some downwards! 5 minutes later our breaks stoped work and the eurforia to go downwards disappeared. We have had some problems with the breaks before but nothing serious. Now we where stucked at the highway with steaming breaks and 20 km left…..The next 5 minutes 3 cars stopped to offer us help. The 3:rd one was a pick up truck so we hitched hiked with all our stuff sitting on the truck back to Amman. Halfway on the highway we get stoped by the police. We both think someone must be kitting with us. The driver talks to them and suddenly the policemen turns towards us and says: ” hold on to the truck guys (basically don’t fall off) and welcome to Syria”. The nice guys dropped us of at a bikeshop so we are back rollin. Tomorrow we will go to Petra, one of the 7 wonders, “In shaalaa” ( if god will)

Stay tuned everyone Viktor and Philip

We are having some problems with WORDPRESS at the moment so you will not be able to read older posts. We will try to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Our friend Hamid offering us a place to stay

Hitchin a ride because of brake failure, close to Amman