crossing to the holy land

ok yep so border crossing was definitely a nightmare, and i mean it!! If you have 108 dollars to spare pls use it to employ the VIP crossing service, it is well worth it. The company that arranged this type of service was called "Israel Welcome", their new rate was 115USD for 2013, but I bargained it down to 108USD, well I tried haha. Just a bit of background info, there are actually 3 border crossings available, one in the north, one located near amman, and one in the south. The one located near Amman, Jordan is called King Hussein Bridge / or knowingly the Allenby Bridge crossing is the closest if you are intending to go to Jerusalem in Israel from Jordan Amman.

salem Dead Sea! I will be back.

My border crossing can be ranked as medium in difficulty, it was a fairly smooth process at Jordan side, I got there at 9am (Jordan time ---- pls remember that there is 1 hour difference between Jordan and Israel, so if you get there too early, Israel side crossing won't be opened yet). A local met me at the VIP waiting room entrance, he had no signs in his hand, but somehow he just knew who I was and he took me into this so called VIP waiting room with the rest of the gang. Well, there were only 2 others that day, one was a mid age European woman, another was late 40s business man from UK.We were greeted with arab coffee, very bitter and tasted like chinese medicine. There was also a tv in this smoke stuffed meeting room, but it was in arabic... great.... couldn't understand one word. 

Our passports were taken before we entered this room, and luggage had to be left outside too, this was the first moment when I felt literally dangerous, no passport, no luggage..?? ok, now what next. The three of us were awkwardly seated next to each other, holding and turning the tiny coffee cups in our hand trying to kill the freezing moments. The businessman took the initiative and broke the ice, so we started chatting, sharing a bit of background here and there trying to kill time. I still remembered there were at least 10 other middle east men in the same room, but I guess they were staffs? who knows... And these were the people who did the non stop smoking inside this stuffy old looking meeting room. 

I'm pretty sure at least another half an hour went by before the same local guy showed up again in front of us still with our passports in his hand, but this time he led us out of this stuffy meeting room and awaiting was a black car outside with our luggages lining up to be loaded into the trunk. I didn't know why it took so long, but the businessman told us they usually handled all the paperwork behind the scene since we were using the so called VIP service. At this point, we still don't get our passport back by the way, so after a quick 30 minute ride from the Jordanian side, we were dropped off at the Israeli side. 

The Israeli border looked more modern from outside, but I remembered there was already a long queue waiting to get their baggage scanned. Finally, the driver gave us our passport back and another local came to greet us and he put all our luggage on his trolley and we followed. Instead of lining up like the others who were already there since who knows when, this local man shoveled  us through the queue and jumped us to the front... yep... i know but we had to follow since this was the service we paid for, not one that I was expecting haha. Anyway, at this point, your baggage will be rolling away into another room for checking and scanning. After your baggage get separate from you once again, you will then be x rayed and put into another waiting room. 

This time around, the room looked and smelled alot fresher, once again a staff came up and took our passport away and we were left inside the waiting room with a TV and some drinks. After twenty minute or so, each of us were taken to a separate booth with the immigration agent sitting inside looking very very serious. You will be asked and challenged with the most ridiculous questions that he / she can came up with. 
"what's your name?"
"Heidi Lam"
"No I mean what's your real name?"
"errr... Heidi Lam"
"Are you sure?"
"errr....Yes" (but what I really want to say to her was, look at the freakin passport before you asked....)
"how many brothers and sisters have you got?"
"1 only"
"are you sure?" (yep, the same are your sure comment again... it's like what the.....??)
"yes, 1 only"
"why?" (omg... this is like one of the most spasticated question an immigration agent can ask you!!!) 
"I don't know, but I only have 1 younger brother" ( but what I truely want to tell her is, ask my parent don't ask me haha)
"ok" (and she just nodded with one eyebrow raising......, right.... at this point I think she was trying to irritate or push me to my limit)

so the questioning time seemed to be forever long.... these were just some of the ridiculous questions I remembered, but there were so many during this half an hour interview. I think it took us about another half an hour before she finally sees me as a decent traveler who had no bad intention or a spy of any sort to enter into Israel.

One tip is, don't play smart, just reply politely whatever they asked, and keep smiling. And make sure you tell the agent NOT TO STAMP ON YOUR PASSPORT.  Otherwise, you will have problem traveling to certain countries in the future e.g. malaysia, indonesia, lebanon, Brunei etc....

And you think, you get to take your passport back after the interview right? Nop, I was wrong, we were then taken back into the waiting room once again. The biz man told us, this is a usual process, they always do that after they questioned you, because the immigration agent will need to take time to call or google you on the internet / facebook using whatever channel available to double check and see if your given info were correct. So do not play smart!!! They will cross check you on facebook!!!! 

It was another 20minute or so, before another staff came knocking on the door and called our name one by one to come out. This time, it was an Israeli guy who handed me back my passport, finally someone who knew how to smile, and it was after a few more questions before he handed the passport back to me and told me "Shalom , welcome to Israel, you may now proceed to baggage collection area"

woohooo! And there I was, for one second it felt like I just won a lottery ticket or something. So I ran and collected my luggage from another room down the corridor. The three of us said good bye, and we made our own way to the exit of the hall. Now, you think you can relax... no maybe just hold onto that thought for another 10 minute. For me, I took the yellow mini van from border to Jerusalem. But because the van get filled up quickly so you need to be fast. Ticketing system was chaotic too, as people will just jump in front of you trying to buy ticket from the booth. (Ticket cost 38NIS) I was basically stuck there for 5 min trying to line up for the ticket, which just didnt work! So with a bit of pushing and shoveling, I finally got my ticket to ride! Well almost anyway, because after I got my ticket, the yellow mini van was full so I had to wait for the next one to come. 

see that white booth on the right hand side - that's where you buy the ticket for yellow mini van to Jerusalem

another option is to take the taxi to your destination but it will be very costly

While I was taking a puffer at the stand, a nun looking woman walked up to me and asked if this is the place for the bus to Jerusalem in a very strange accent. Funny that, we ended up chatting our way while we waited for the next bus to come, and I found out she was a nun, real one from Iraq. But she studied Italian, and now she came to Jerusalem to pay pilgrimage or something. After 10 min, a group of young japanese students joined us in the queue and we joined in the conversation. In later chapter, I will tell you what a coincidence it was that the same group joined me to Bethlehem. 

bye bye chaotic border crossing!

during the ride, all you will see were mountains, mountains and more mountains!

direction showing route to Ahava factory (Ahava is a famous Dead Sea Product brand in Israel)

 

welcome to Jerusalem city!

To my memory, I think it was around 40 minute before the yellow min van pulled over and stopped at Damascus Gate at Jerusalem old city where everyone will need to get off.  We farewell to each other and went off to different directions. As for me, even though I can see the Notre Dame Centre from a far distance, it would be walkable without the heavy luggage, but since the roads seemed fairly rocky, I decided to hop onto a taxi to Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center instead and to save myself some energy for later exploration.

Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre exterior

the sleeping room I stayed in within Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre