When travelling , one is often surprised at the disparity between what you see on the news and TV and what actually exists in reality. Growing up in Trinidad, when Israel was mentioned (typically on the TV or Newspapers, because Trinis don’t really think about the Middle East in the grand scheme of things, we have our own drama with Manning and Panday and Ramesh), the only thoughts that came to mind were those of war, terror, fighting and death. It’s all you saw on CNN. One becomes a little densensitized to the whole affair, to the death and pain. You hear the stories in the news, “ XXX die in city center bombing”, “Suicide bomber kills XXX number of people in the main market”, and other similar stories.

As much as traveling can help expand the horizons of your perception, it is always difficult to overcome childhood biases and stereotypes. Walking down the boardwalk in Tel Aviv was as much an exercise in breaking that terrible thought association as much as it was to enjoy the sights of beautiful sunset on a lovely warm evening, with the waves crashing on the shore, the smell of hummus, wine and sea salt wafting through the air and the sound of Arabic music all around.

As the evening wore on, the joggers and evening enthusiasts came out, for a swim, walk or just enjoying the company of a friend . You can also catch enjoy people playing matkot. Matkot, according to Wikipedia, “or beach paddleball, is a popular traditionally non-competitive game in Israel, sometimes called Israel’s unofficial national sport.” It is played with two players who attempt to hit the ball back and forth as many times as humanly possible, creating a high-risk environment where beachgoers can enjoy the possibility of being hit in the head by a ball flying at Mach-2. I’ve seen Israelis playing the game on Ipanema and Copacabana … they do seem to love the game.

Walking along the Boardwalk, you realize the small pleasure of enjoying that sunset on the coast of Tel Aviv. The history, the sand and just the vibrant energy of the people. I asked many people I met, about the threat of war and fighting to the North and the responses were consistent. People are accustomed the fighting and the war and all have their own politcal views, but they all agree that life has to go on and they can allow the events in the region to dictate how they live their lives. In Trinidad, we just have to worry about Manning and Panday, people in Tel Aviv have to worry about fighting, bombing, gas attacks, and this is after they spend their mandatory time in the army.

Everyone seems to just enjoy the heat and the restaurants along the Boardwalk.

But for now, it’s easier to forget all the world’s problems and just look at sunsets

Last night I was looking at the Toronto skyline and I couldn’t shake the Hong Kong Skyline out of my head… when I think about three skylines….the CN Tower dominates

The NYC skyline from on top the Brooklyn Bridge

Then there is the Hong Kong skyline and the light show that accompanies it

And a typical Old City European skyline with a castle in middle

Sometimes we pick up travel magazines and they paint these wondrous images in our minds of far off exotic places all drenched in mysticism and light. So for instance, while on my way to meet Diane tonight in Halifax, I pick up the Travel & Leisure magazine and I read about one of the trips that they describe as one of the 20 trips you will never forget.

It described the Kbal Spean, commonly known as the valley of a 1000 Lingas, as this wondrous place set deep in the jungle to the north east of Angkor. Well it took us about an hour (very steep walk by the way) in the rain to get to the river and waterfalls  where hundreds of phalluses are carved on the riverbed.

Now the thing is that described this journey and the carvings in great detail .. so that there are:

• Shiva and Parvati on Nandi. The lingas are carved underwater in front of them.
  
• Brahma underwater.
  
• Reclining Vishnu with lingas in front
  
• River of a thousand lingas.
  
• Reverse reclining Vishnu with Shiva-linga in front.
  

Now I think to myself.. as someone who is educated and somewhat worldly, I should appreciate these carvings and what they are and blah blah… but like going to the Sistine Chapel, I was seriously underwhelmed. As much as I was overwhelmed by Angkor Wat and all the temples, I guess by the time I got to Kbal Spean, I was completely templed-out, hence it might not have made the impression it should have. However, other place have completely underwhelmed me, when you think about the glowing articles and pictures you see of certain places, while other places have actually surprised me with how much they affected me. The prime example of this would be the Leaning Tower of Pisa; it really is just a Tower with columns around it, that started to sink. However, getting there and seeing the Tower in its 3-D magnificence really was a highlight of my Italian trips, go figure.

Point is that the more I see, the more jaded I become about these “recommendations” and “reviews”, but it does take some travelling to come to this type of conclusion. So tonight, as I head to Halifax, I’m going to hope that the weather is great and I get some great shots, but more importantly I have a good sociable time, eat some great lobster and not be underwhelmed. I think, I won’t be disappointed though, since there was no goddamn Travel & Leisure article to spoil my trip.