Day 23
4:30am. That's right 4:30. Thats the time we woke up this morning. (not to be confused with the time we went to bed - Cherrise)
And it wasn't an easy wake up either. Hauling ourselves out our hostel and beginning our climb of Masada up the infamous snake trail. After some initial confusion getting onto the track remedied by some rock climbing, we were on our way and up the mountain within 40 minutes.
Getting up with time to spare we relaxed for a while, catching our breath and waiting for sunrise. The sun slowly made it's way over the horizon and someone playing the lion king music in the background made the moment spectacular.
Once the novelty of the sun had worn thin, we explored the mountain a bit, waiting for the cable car to start at 8am. As no matter where on Earth you go and no matter what time it is you cant escape the St Ives Jewish community, we of course during our walk run into the guys doing AUJS Achshav on their own tour.
After following the tour for a bit so much so that the security of their group kept telling us to hurry up, we decided the cable car was too long of a wait and walked down.
Making our way down the mountain and realizing it was only 730, we made our way to breakfast and then to our room for a quick relax before packing up and checking out.
We then made our way to Boqek Revine for my second time to show the guys how awesome the pools and waterfalls there were. However upon arrival we noticed that very little water remained and the waterfalls had slowed to trickles. We also ran into the AUJS group again.
After enjoying our puddles for as long as we could we went down to Ein Boqek, grabbed lunch and snuck onto one of the resorts private beaches. There we floated away in the Dead Sea for a while, before hopping on a bus for 3 hours back to Tel Aviv.
And with that we are onto Steve's Traveling Tip #2: Sleeping on the bus. If your on the window grab your jumper and use it as a pillow. If your on the aisle, ask to swap. (This actually isn't my advice, however I saw it to good to pass up)
A quick shower and change at Adams and I was out the door again. Meeting Maxine at the Nokia Centre, we went to a production put on by a big paint company that was organized by Yaron.
Now whilst the entire show was in Hebrew I had Max my Hebrew translator next to me, explaining everything along the way. The show was amazing, the videos, the performers and the comedian and it was really an awesome night.
I was then treated to a fancy, seafood dinner on the Jaffa Wharf at close to midnight before being taken home ending off the longest day of my trip.