2011夏中東行 Companions - 中東

圖文版網誌請點選以下連接
http://blog.yam.com/yipin/article/40570166

這次中東行的遊記到這裡就結束囉, 期待下次還可以再旅行, 有遊記可以再寫!

---------------------------------------------------------------

one who serves as a friend or partner in something. Whether it's travel or dinner or card-playing.
(夥伴: 指得是一起做某件事的朋友, 無論是旅行, 吃一頓晚餐, 或是玩牌的朋友都可以適用)

This is the definition of companion in the website, vocabulary.com. Therefore, I think "companion" is the most appropriate term to be utilized as the title of this article.
(以上是關於"夥伴"在網路上的定義, 所以, 我覺得用"夥伴"來當做這篇文章的主題是再適合也不過的了.)

I was asked several times before this trip about how travelling alone in middle-east without the safety issue is possible. However, I still decided to travel alone because meeting different people all over the world and making friends with them are so excited.
(在我到中東旅行前, 我的一些朋友曾告訴我一個人在中東旅行是不是不大可能, 然而我最終還是擋不住想去看看的欲望, 又到中東當個背包客, 因為我想要再次享受在旅途上遇見不同的朋友的開心的感覺)

Syria was not in a good condition when I visited there although I didn't meet any demonstration in any cities of Syria (only a small one to support their president in Damascus). Therefore, lots of tourists were gone and avoid visiting Syria. The pro was that it's not any problems to take a picture in the tourist places, but it made me feel alone sometimes.
(在我去中東旅行的時候, 2011年的夏天, 敘利亞其實是在不安全的情況, 因為政府不斷的在鎮壓反政府的民眾, 就像中國大陸的六四民運一樣, 政府殺了很多人, 雖然我沒有遇見抗議的人潮, 只有看到部份的軍人聚集, 但我很清楚的感覺到這個國家正在有些什麼事情在發生, 絕不是平常的狀態, 因此, 許多的觀光客都避免拜訪敘利亞, 好處是每個景點, 我都是唯一個觀光客, 無論是Palmyra或是克拉克城堡, 我要照什麼古蹟都不需要等人, 因為根本沒有人, 然而, 有時候我也會感到孤單)

Surprisingly, I met Sherry, a Chinese lady studying in Arabics in Lattakia, the Mediterranean coastal city. She is like my interpreter with local people so we were able to talk to a family in front of Arabic castle in Palmyra.
(令我驚訝的是, 我在Palmyra遇到了Sherry, Sherry是一個在敘利亞濱海大城Lattakia學阿拉伯文的中國女孩, 她就像一個翻譯一樣, 拉近了我和當地的敘利亞人的距離)

(我在Palmyra遇到兩個家族一起出遊, 他們彼此是親戚, 一個家族從Homs到Palmyra拜訪另一個家族, 小孩們看到我跟Sherry就很有趣, 一個十二歲的小男生一直來跟我講話, 問我叫什麼名字, 家裡有幾個人, 想看我家人的照片, 對我那台破相機很有興趣, 想要跟我換他身上有的東西(我是很想趕快把那台破相機出清, 不過現在這趟中東旅行才剛開始幾天叫我就把相機扔了那也太誇張), 最有趣是其中一個女孩子, 十八歲, 頭上圍著頭巾(敘利亞的伊斯蘭女生十二歲之後就要開始圍頭巾), 一直想來跟我講話, 她跟她的女生朋友看到我一直猜我是幾歲,
(後來才知道敘利亞女生通常不能隨便跟男生講話, 尤其是外國人, 但今天是因為我跟Sherry一起, 他們認為我和Sherry算是一家人, 所以那個女生的爸爸說可以讓女生來跟我講話), Sherry會講一點阿拉伯文, 我嘛, 完全不會講, 只會講一些打招呼的話和"哈逼逼"(就是阿拉伯文的"親愛的")親愛的(Habibi), 我對那些女生就說一句哈逼逼, 結果那些女生居然臉紅了, 一直呵呵笑個不停, 其中那個十八歲的女生居然在我面前做出套戒指的動作, 聽Sherry說她一直用阿拉伯問說想跟我結婚之類的,

後來女生的爸爸來了, Sherry問她說那個女生可以跟我結婚嗎, 女生的爸爸說, 不行, 因為我不是穆斯林, 聽完我都笑出來了, 因為如果要是我是穆斯林怎麼辦, Sherry說女生的爸爸說也要同一個教派的穆斯林才能結婚(什葉派的就不跟遜尼派的結婚), 我笑著說那也實在太困難, 難怪這裡的男女結婚都是相親父母安排好的

Sherry告訴我說, 她住在Lattakia, 有一次她去買蜂蜜, 那個賣蜂蜜的人是唸法律系畢業的(這代表我畢業也可以去賣雞排就是了), 賣蜂蜜的人居然跟她講說: 小姐, 妳一定要買我的蜂蜜, 為什麼呢, 因為可蘭經裡說, 不加糖的蜂蜜對身體很健康, 我的蜂蜜都不加糖的, 妳一定要來買一瓶, 那對身體一定很健康, 我想說的是, 可蘭經也管太多了, 連蜂蜜加不加糖都管, 如果有人跟我說聖經說吃綠藻可以排便順暢(我媽每次都叫我吃綠藻, 健康食品的一種), 我想我可能會先問那個人是聖經裡那部書第幾章第幾節吧. 真是有趣.)

We also travelled together to Krak de Chavelier (Crusader Castle)
(我和Sherry也一起去了克拉克城堡旅行)

Then, I went to Lebanon. I was accidentally assigned in a dorm due to the delay of arriving at Beirut. I met Xiaobei and Salim. Both of them are my roommate in hostel. Xiaobei is from China and currently studying in Architecture for her master degree in Syracuse University. We have similar experience living in upstate New York although I am not sure they are good or bad experience, haha. (I personally don't like upstate New York at all. It's a boring place.)
(然後我去了黎巴嫩, 因為我太晚抵達貝魯特,我原本訂的單人房被別人住去, 我被安排要住Dorm. 但也因為這樣的陰錯陽差, 我認識了大陸來的少白和法國人Salim. Salim和少白都是我在Hostel的室友, 少白正在Syracuse University唸建築碩士, 因為Syracuse University和Cornell只有一個半小時的車程, 都在Upstate New York, 和她聊起在Upstate New York生活的甘苦, 真的很有趣 )

(Xiaobei and I)
(我和少白)

Then, Xiaobei and I traveled together to Byblos and Baalbeck. She is an exactly backpacker. What I mean is she would like to travel like local people such as using public transportation though communicating with people in the language, which she is not familiar with, is challenging for her. Thus, she is a brave girl. Travelling with her is a great experience because of her extensive knowledge in the field of architectonics.
(少白和我一起去Byblos和巴貝克旅行, 她真的是一個身體力行的背包客, 我的意思是, 她一定要搭大眾運輸工具往返景點, 即使她不會阿拉伯文, 而且她很有毅力一定要前往敘利亞旅行, 這些事都讓我覺得她是一個很勇敢的女生, 另外, 她的建築專業在我們逛不同的景點的時候, 讓我增加了很多建築的常識)

(Xiaobei in Byblos)
(我幫少白在Byblos的羅馬小劇場照的照片)

Salim is a French but his father is from Morocco. When I met him at hostel, I was asked by him to guess where his father is from. I can only have little bit ideas to guess and just thought that country might be in middle-east. We talked a lot about what we felt in Lebanon. Unfortunately, both of us didn't like Lebanon based on the first impression of Beirut, lots of vehicles with famous brand such as Benz, BMW, etc. I totally agree that Lebanon is not a good place to understand what the middle-east
country generally looks like. Thus, he strongly suggests me to visit Morocco or Turkey and describe how wonderful both countries are. I think I definitely will visit both countries in the future.
(Salim是一個法國人, 但是他的母親是法國人, 父親卻是從摩洛哥來的, 所以他會許多的語言, 當我第一次在Hostel遇到他時, 他要我猜猜看他的父親是從那裡來的, 根據他的長相我只能猜他有中東的血統. 我們聊了很多彼此對黎巴嫩的感覺, 我們都不喜歡黎巴嫩, 因為黎巴嫩, 尤其是首都貝魯特, 到處可以見到名車: BenZ或是BMW. 我們猜測這可能是人們想要表現他們多金的一種方式吧, 他強烈的建議我去摩洛哥, 或是他現在工作的國家: 土耳其玩, 我想我一定有一天會去這兩個國家的)

Mohammed is my driver when I was in Jordan. He was recommended by lots of people in the Taiwanese traveller website, backpackers.com.tw. My experience was HE IS EXCELLENT! He showed me where the cheaper store was in order to buy some food and water to avoid the ripped off in the beach of Dead sea. Then, he showed me a place to enjoy swimming in the Dead sea WITH NO FEE though I think lady might feel embarrassed to swim in that place. Then, he knew I prefer to take bus to Petra, he went to the bus
station with me to help me asking the price and schedule of the bus to Petra. Besides, he also keep reminding me how to go to bus station from my hotel. He is the most helpful driver I have seen in my travelling experience.
(Mohammed是我在約旦的Driver, 會特別介紹我的Driver是因為他是我遇過最好的driver了, 會知道這個Driver是從背包客棧的網站找到的, 我必須說: He is Excellent!, 他提醒我在死海, 食物和飲水都會很貴, 所以他先帶我去一個當地人去買東西的雜貨店買齊了我要買的東西, 接著帶我去一個免費的死海飄浮的地方, 在那裡我遇到了不少約旦人, 才知道約旦人自己是不大去給觀光客的要收高價的死海海濱, 接著我告訴Mohammed我準備要去佩特拉, 但是想要搭公車去, 一般不好的駕駛就會騙我沒有公車可以到, 或是有些駕駛就變得對我冷淡了,
但Mohammed居然開車載我到Bus Station, 讓我確定隔天是不是有車, 在我買了車票之後, 他不斷的提醒我要如何才能到車站, 一直跟我說不要走錯路, 如果搭計程車是多少錢才合理, 他還帶我去找了他的朋友聊天, 待在安曼的晚上真的很有趣)

In Jerusalem, I stayed in a church so I met lots of pilgrims from all over the world. Since all of us were counted as pilgrims, most of us were Christians. I met Silvia, an Italian and also a Catholics. She told me she is not like a usual Italian because Italians always travel with their family. She is also an lady with abundant of perseverance. For example, it was extremely hot in Jericho when we were there (probably 42C around 108F), but she still walked and took a look for the ruin of the old Jericho
town. I cannot tolerate such a hot weather but she did it. Both of us were fat in the following picture although we are thin. (I think that might be the issue of my camera).
(在耶路撒冷, 我住在苦路第一站旁邊的一間教堂裡, 遇到了好多的朝聖者, 基督徒, Silvia就是其中一個, 她從義大利來以色列朝聖, 不像一般的義大利人都是家族旅行, Silvia也是一個人旅行的背包客, 我們一起參加同一個Tour, 去馬撒達和耶里哥的Tour, 在耶里哥的時候, 她居然在攝氏42度的大太陽下逛完整個耶里哥古城, 她真是一個非常有毅力的人, 我已經在美國待很久, 變的很怕熱, 大太陽一來就不想出去逛了, 底下這張照片就是我和Silvia合照, 我們看起來都很胖, 我想可能是相機壞了吧)

Then, this picture looks better since we are slim. Haha
(這張用她的相機照出來的照片就正常多了, 看來真的是相機的問題, 哈哈)

In the contrast to Italian, German usually travels alone. I met lots of Germans in Israel no matter in the place I stayed or in the tour I joined. There was a German lady sitting next to me in the tour to Masada. She was funny and smart. Masada is a place located on a hill in the center of desert close to Dead Sea. It was very hot there on June. The AC of the tour-bus we took was broken, and there were more than 30 people on the bus (I think the bus became a sauna room!). The AC couldn't be fixed since
it was a low-cost tour (I guess). Both German lady and I just complained with each other about the broken AC, but I didn't do anything after that. However, the driver distributed some ice water after we visited Masada. Then, the German lady told me that she finally complained this to the driver and asks for refunding so the driver gave us the ice water. I think that the difference of our responses to this issue might be due to the culture difference, and her strategy was right!
(相對於義大利人, 我就可以常常見到一個人旅行的德國人, 無論是在我住的地方, 或是參加的Tour, 我都可以遇到很多的德國人, 有一個我忘記名字的德國女生, 在我們去馬撒達Tour的時候坐在我的旁邊, 她是一個很聰明而且有趣的人, 馬撒達是一個在沙漠之中的一座小山丘, 要到達馬撒達除了搭貴鬆鬆的纜車之外, 就是用雙腳步行爬山了, 在逛完馬撒達之後回到車上, 我們都很熱, 但是密閉的車子裡的冷氣卻壞掉了, 我想可能是因為我參加的這個Tour太便宜了吧, 我和那個德國女生都在抱怨冷氣壞掉的事, 但是我並沒有再做其他的反應, 不久之後,
司機居然發給我們一人一瓶冰水, 德國女生事後告訴我她最後跟司機說因為冷氣壞掉了可以給我們Refund嗎? 沒想道司機居然買了水請我們喝, 我想她的策略是對的吧)

(The smart German lady and I in the cable car to Masada)
(聰明的德國女生和我)

Another interesting person is John (actually his name should be Jorn in German). He is from Germany, and we are roommate in the dorm of the church. He has been to Israel so many times so he rented a vehicle and drove by himself. His travelling experience was amazing so we sometimes talked on the beautiful terrace of the church after dinner. In addition, thanks for a ride offered by him to Tel Aviv airport, and it saved me lots of time transferring by bus.
(另一個我在以色列認識的朋友是同住一個Dorm的德國人John, 他已經來過以色列很多次了, 對這地方很熟的他, 這次來就自己租了台車到處玩, 教堂的頂樓有一個露天的小陽台, 每天晚餐後, Silvia或是John就會來陽台, 大家一起來聊天. 最後要謝謝John給我一個ride, 讓我順利的從耶路撒冷到台拉維夫的機場搭飛機)

Marcelo, the husband of the Brazilian couple I met in the Nazareth and Galilee tour, was a funny guy. Like my other Brazilian friends, he was also friendly and warm. He also came to read my blog and asked me to translate them in English. Actually, I am better to describe things in Chinese than English so l will try to translate! Then, these articles in English version can be shown here. Here is the picture I took for him when we went to the Jordan River and he wanted to be baptized again. It was a real
"Baptism" in the river.
(我在納匝肋和加里勒亞的Tour裡遇到了一對巴西夫婦, 那個先生的名字叫Marcelo, Marcelo是一個很有趣的人, 他跟其他的巴西人一樣, 非常的友善且待人溫暖, 事實上我會有把blog文章翻成英文的打算就是因為他, 他很想看我blog上的英文, 我們到了約旦河的受洗地的時候, Marcelo打算要再受洗一次, 底下這張照片是我幫他照的照片)

(這張則是我和他們夫婦的合照, 背景就是美麗的加里勒亞海, 海的對面就是戈蘭高地了)

In Cairo, I stayed in a hostel managed by a Japanese couple (The wife is Japanese and the husband is Egyptian) because the hotel managed by Japanese usually has good reputation for the clean room and environment. I was surprised that how many Japanese backpackers were in that hostel. It seemed that I was the only non-Japanese in that hostel. Everyone including the Egyptian managers there could speak Japanese. It seemed I am the only person who was neither Japanese nor a Japanese-speaking foreigner. I
felt awkward originally. However, there was also a little terrace in that hostel, and some Japanese like to sit there to talk to each other. Interestingly, some Japanese there started to speak Japanese with me (I thought they thought I am a Japanese). After they noticed I am not a Japanese but Taiwanese, they spoke English with me. A Japanese girl told me that she has been to Taiwan and liked Taiwanese food in night market. Another Japanese couple kept telling me that how they appreciated Taiwanese
because Taiwanese donated a surprisingly number of money to reconstruct the area ruined by Tsunami on this March. They'd like to ask me to say thank you to all generous Taiwanese!
(在開羅, 因為想要找一個乾淨的環境, 我住在一個日本人經營的旅館(先生埃及人, 老婆是日本人). 令我驚訝的是, 整間旅館都是日本人, 每個人都會講日文, 連旅館的老闆都用日文跟房客交談, 我似乎是唯一不會講日文的外國人, 我感到非常奇怪, 這個旅館有一個小陽台讓大家可以在那裡聊天, 我帶著我的電腦到那邊寫遊記, 突然就有兩個人日本人跟我講日文, 我表明了是台灣人而且不會講日文之後, 他們居然開始不斷的跟我聊台灣事情, 一直跟我說台灣是一個很不錯的地方, 他們有去過台灣, 台灣的夜市小吃很好吃又便宜之類的. 我又遇到了一對年輕的日本夫妻,
那個先生知道我是台灣人之後, 不斷的用日文跟我道謝, 因為在日本三月發生大地震的時候, 台灣是所有外國的國家裡捐最多錢的, 他們非常感謝慷慨又很溫暖的台灣熱情, 幾個在場的日本人聽到了都說他們以後一定要來台灣玩, 報答台灣人對日本人的幫助! )

Yumi, the Japanese girl from Ikebukuro in Tokyo, was also there. She was very excited to tell me how she felt about Taiwanese by her limited English. She always said "Taiwanese, Good, Taiwanese are Japanese's friend." This was her second or third time visiting Egypt. She told me she visited Turkey and Jordan and, then, came to Egypt. I was so happy to meet a Japanese backpacker like me so we went to Pyramid together.
(由美, 是一個我遇到從東京池袋來的女生, 她很高興的用英文跟我說她對台灣人的感覺, 她不斷的告訴我台灣很好, 台灣人是日本人的朋友, 這是她第二或是第三次來埃及玩, 於是我們約好了隔天一起去金字塔玩)

(Yumi in front of the stepped pyramid in Dahshur)
(由美在Dahshur的階梯金字塔的照片)

Unfortunately, Yumi was harassed when we were in stepped pyramid. By asking Yumi to take a picture with him, An Egyptian guy touched and held Yumi. She was scared and wanted to ask someone to help her. Then, I tried to talk to that Egyptian guy to keep him away from Yumi. This is an example to let us know that a single female traveller should be very careful when travelling in middle-east. Anyway, I think the reason why a single female lady is able to be harassed easily in middle-east is that those guys
doesn't know how to deal with ladies due to the conserved religious issue.
(跟由美一起出去旅行是一件不錯的事情, 因為她幫我擋了很多小販, 而我則是幫她擋了很多埃及男生的騷擾. 事實上, 在埃及, 一個單身女生獨自旅行是不大方便的, 因為很容易會被埃及的男生騷擾. 由美和我一起在Dahshur的階梯金字塔的時候, 遇到了一個男的小販, 一直說要幫由美照相, 於是我很勉強的幫她們照了一張, 沒想到那個男小販居然抱住由美, 由美嚇到面無表情, 我立刻衝上前去把那個男生推開, 叫那個男生不要碰我的女朋友(雖然這是個謊言, 但有時還蠻有用的), 我覺得, 埃及的男生之所以會對外國女生有一些逾矩的舉動, 可能是因為他們的宗教:
伊斯蘭將男女很嚴格的分開, 導致他們不知道要如何跟女生應對.)

Then, I was heading to south Egypt including Aswan and Luxor. I stayed in a hostel with great reputations in Luxor. Therefore, I still met lots of backpackers though the situation in Egypt was not good. All of us including Will and Jamie, two college students from UK, Emily, a Taiwanese studying in UK, and her cousins, from Taiwan, Lara, a Brazilian visiting scholar in UK, and Makiko, a Japanese lady, took felucca on the Nile river together. Since Lara noticed my shirt with Portuguese, she was so
excited and asked me to take a picture with all of us.
(然後, 我來到了埃及南部的亞斯文和路克索. 在路克索, 我住在一間在網路上相當有名的一家背包客的旅館, 因此, 我遇到了非常多世界各地來的背包客, 包括在英國唸大學的英國人Will 和Jamie, 在英國唸碩士班的台灣人Emily, 及她的表弟表妹, 在英國做交換學生的巴西女生Lara, 及日本女孩麻由子(Makiko). 我們一起坐了尼羅河最有名的交通工具: 風帆船. Lara注意到我穿了一件有葡萄牙文的巴西T-shirt (這件T-shirt是我巴西的朋友Maria送我的她任教的學校的紀念T-shirt), 於是Lara說一定要叫大家跟我合照一張, 然後特別要指指我的衣服,
底下這張圖從左到右就是Jamie, Will, Makiko, 我, Lara, Emily)

Then, she also took a picture with me.
(然後Lara又和我合照一張)

Makiko enjoyed the felucca trip very much and also asked to take a picture with at this afternoon.
(這個就是Makiko, 她告訴我她好喜歡搭風帆船的感覺)

Makiko and I also went to west bank of Nile to visit some ancient Egyptian temple and tombs including Hatshepsut temple
(Makiko和我之後又一起去了尼羅河西岸的埃及古老神廟和古墓參觀, 包括了下面這些在Hatshepsut神廟拍的照片)

On the other hand, Emily and her cousins went to Luxor temple with me, and we enjoyed an amazing evening there.
(我和Emily及Emily的表弟表妹也在晚上一起去了路克索神廟, 晚上的路克索神廟真是很美麗)

Meeting with people is an exciting thing. Although I don't even know when we will meet in the future, it can still transform what you feel in a place. Those companions were great and made me to memorize the incredible Middle-East forever.
(在旅行當中遇見許多不同的人是一件非常令人開心的事情, 他們也許只是過客, 但卻會因為短暫的相處, 讓我對當地的記憶, 永遠會是那麼地鮮明, 那麼地精采)


--