Summer 2007(Greece)

Music: Wicked World – Osaka Popstar

Greece was a blast. A beautiful blast. Athens was a much needed welcome after Tel Aviv. The Hilton Athens was a great hotel and the view from my balcony was stunning. We had a room overlooking the Acropolis. The bed was the best we had this vacation (more about that later). H&M was our first stop and it was a beacon of hope after the luggage fiasco in Israel (my luggage only arrived on the 3rd day of your stop in Athens, you could imagine my desperate-ness). Did a tour of the Acropolis which was mesmerizing and really cool and so were the various museums. I’ll let the pictures say the rest.

Next stop was Santorini. Party central of all the Greek islands. The tanned, toned, beautiful Greek gods were all out and about. It was beach after beach on rented scooters; the fun thing about Santorini was you didn’t a license to ride/rent a scooter, all you needed was a working credit card. We stayed at this gay resort that Jim picked out. I protested when I heard where we were staying; I’ve never been a fan of the mentality that you had to patronise specific vendors based on your orientation. But reservations had been made and it would be very tough to find alternative accommodation. It was, as I had expected, not a place you would go back a second time. The beds were thin mattresses with springs, and double beds meant two single beds placed side by side, the bathroom was too small to properly function in and the room could do with some fresh paint and new furniture. You would think a gay resort would have the basic essentials taken care of; esthetically and functionally, like beds and bathrooms and crisp sheets. Apparently, this was not one of those resorts. But you know you’re staying at a gay resort when you find facial spritz, body loofah, nail buff and pedicure set specially sealed for you in the bathroom. I was half expecting there to be a travel size bottle of lubricant and limited edition condoms. And you get your face rubbed with the reality that you’re staying at a gay resort when you’re having orange juice in the morning and you hear moans and orgasmic shouts and grunts coming from all around you. Classy, ay?  

Mykonos was a quieter affair. We had a room at the Verdema; part of the Starwood Luxury Collection. It was a great place to chill. We hit the vineyards and did some wine tasting and was told that the Verdema even had its own wine cellar. We were told during the tour around the private compound that there wouldn’t be any annoyance nor nuisances. And true enough, the couple of kids who were vacationing with their parents were extremely well behaved and courteous. They played well with each other and there was no incessant shouting and screaming and crying and the usual you would expect from annoying kids with their even more annoying and inconsiderate parents. It was close to perfection. The beds weren’t as comfortable as the Hilton in Athens but after the gay resort, this was wonderful. We had a problem with a faulty scooter in the middle of nowhere during a trip to town and one of the hotel receptionist happened to be walking home and she saw us struggling with the scooter and she stopped and walked all the other direction to where we were and asked if we needed help. She called the resort and the bike store with her cellphone after which she then accompanied us back to the resort to pick up our new scooter. I was extremely impressed. This was impeccable service; she didn’t need to help us. She could have gone on home and looked the other way but she didn’t and that meant so much to us. We scooter-ed down to town and caught a sunset. We had dinner one night at Mystique, another Starwood Luxury Collection property. The view was spectacular. I was told that I could have any juice I want freshly squeezed. I ordered peach juice and true enough, after 10 minutes of pitting and juice extraction, I had a glass of pure peach juice. I never had a glass of pure peach juice before and it was great. We both commented on how we should have spent 5 nights in Santorini instead of Mykonos. Angelina Jolie stayed at the Verdema when she was filming the first Tomb Raider movie; there was a picture at the reception counter signed by her with a ‘Thank you for taking such good care of me!’ message. I guess if it’s good enough for Angelina Jolie, it’s good enough for me!

We also hit the various islands like Fira and such. I don’t have much to say about them. The pictures will do the rest.

Summer 2007(Israel)

Music: Dani California – Red Hot Chili Peppers

I spent 2 weeks of summer time in Greece and Israel. I was contemplating making individual posts of every one of my holidays but I realised my pictures were divided between my laptop and my desktop and I’m just too lazy to write about trips taken 6 months ago and beyond.

I had to fly El-Al Israel Airlines because all the business class seats in the other major airlines that had connecting flights to Athens were taken up. It was summer after all and we only decided on Greece and Israel at the very last minute. El-Al Air is considered the safest airline in the world and now I know why. I’ve heard stories about the interrogation routines but I’ve always thought it would be akin to the interrogation you faced at any major airport in America. It was far worst than that.

I arrived at the airport 2.5 hours before my flight to Tel-Aviv where Jim and I faced our first round of interrogation before I was allowed to even check in. Questions like, “Why are you going to Israel?”, “Why did you decide to fly El-Al Air?”, “How long will you be staying in Israel and what will you be doing there?”, “Why are you flying out of Bangkok and not Singapore?”, “What is your relationship with each other?”, “How long have you guys been together?” flew out one after another. After 20 mins, I was finally allowed to check in.

After hanging out at the lounge for about an hour or so, we proceeded to the gate where there was another interrogation stand. I tried to be friendly, “Shalom!” I greeted the officer. It was the only Jewish word I knew besides the name for the sweet liquor they serve after a meal. “Shalom” he greeted me back without even smiling. He then looked at my passport and called on one of his colleagues who then showed me the way to a small room where my hand luggage was X-rayed, my shoes were scanned for hidden explosives and my wallet and belt were examined for hidden weapons. After 30 mins, I was given the green light to board the plane after being escorted by a cute, totally do-able Jewish security officer. I then found out that Jim’s hand luggage was emptied and searched just because he was waiting for me.

The flight to Israel was enjoyable, we didn’t know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. They didn’t have individual viewing screens; only communal ones which was a downer because that’s why you fly business class in the first place; to be able to watch the movies I want to watch. I entertained myself by guessing how many plain clothes security officers there were and wagered with Jim. It was after all, the safest airline in the world.

10 hours 35 mins later, we were in Israel. The airport was clean and maintained which was the walk through pleasant. Passport security was another story. I was told to smile like my passport photo 3 times by the chick behind the desk. Apparently, they think at 19, I’m supposed to look like how I looked when I was 9. They didn’t believe the passport was mine. So I sat in another waiting room with 6 Thai immigrant labourers and waited for another 20 minutes while they disected my passport and verified that I was genuinely valid and that it really belonged to me. I was then handed an exit pass at which time, I thought I was free to go. But no, the immigration chick had to check my passport validity again.

The drama was far from over. When I got to baggage claim, I found out that my luggage was still in Bangkok. Apparently, my baggage was held up because of security reasons which translated to me being a security threat. Me, a security threat? The only thing I kill are rodents and household pests and I have absolutely don’t have a death wish where it involved me being disfigured and plus, I’m too pretty to be blowing myself up. This lady from New Zeland who was also in the security forensics room with me in Bangkok also discovered her luggage didn’t make the flight. But she was staying in Israel for 6 days while I was merely laying over for 1 night while I waited for my flight to Greece. She would get her luggage in 24 hrs while I had to change my travel plans. Swell, just swell.

The lady was also told that she could buy some clothes and necessities to tide her over and keep the receipts and charge it to El-Al. She had a budget of $75USD. She was in coach and there was a different budget for business class passengers but I didn’t even want to know what it was because from the looks of it, it wouldn’t even cover the cost of 1 pair of my jeans. 

I totally understand the rigorous and intensive security routine but to make your passenger wait for more than 1.5 hours while you X-Rayed out his luggage, tested the validity of his passport, took his fingerprints and scanned his personal belongings; only to tell him that it was all for nothing and he needs to change his travel plans because his colleagues fucked up. Just great.

I hope through this, I’m somehow atoning for my misdeeds and bad karma makes way for good ones. I have after all, already paid enough dues in 14 hours.

Israel’s an interesting country; full of religious history and strife which is sad because you can feel the paranoia in the air and amongst its people. Every civilian is part of the army and you can teenage boys and girls decked out in their military gear in the malls and cafes and everywhere you go. The Sheraton Tel Aviv was a rip-off. The rooms needed major care and the elevators needed oil and the bathrooms needed to be replaced along with the beds and tv. They were undergoing major renovation works which could explain something. Jim was charged $100USD for a couple hours of dial-up Internet usage which made it all the more worst. On our way back to Bangkok, we made our way to the old city of Jerusalem where we saw the tomb and the caves and Eastern Wall and the Wall of Sorrow aka as the mourning wall. It was the wall constantly featured on CNN. After the tour and some pictures, it was time to head back to the airport. We decided to take a bus because the taxi driver was trying to rip us off. There was a bus that according to the ticketing lady went directly to the airport. After what seemed like 25 minutes on the bus, we asked the people on the bus if we were heading to the airport. We were told that we had already missed the airport stop which was funny because we had both been looking out for the airport and didn’t see it, that was when we were told that the bus stopped around the corner of the airport and you had to walk some to get to the airport. We alighted immediately only to be greeted by barren land and dried up grass and personal security walls in which teenagers with machine guns stood guard. We tried asking for directions but no one paid us any attention and we were miles and miles away from any shops or stores where we could go ask for a cab. It was a terrible time and we must have looked completely out of placed; this 6′5 American with this 5′8 Asian and his pack of crackers and bottle of water. After 15 minutes (which seemed like an eternity), a cab came along and we were in no position to bargain this time.

Leaving Israel was another hoot. Questions after questions of our relationship were tossed one after another. “How long have you guys been together?”, “How often do you see each other?”, “How did you meet?”, “How much time do you spent together?”, “Why are you not living together?”, “Why are you living in separate countries?”. I was completely ready for them to ask how often we had sex. It did seemed like all the questions would lead to that. These were questions that I used to ask myself, except this time, it wasn’t for my emotional sanity, it was to prove I didn’t have razors hidden in my snatch.

After all that, we found out there was a spa above the lounge and we had complimentary spa treatments to choose from. A Swedish message and a warm shower later, I was ready to go back to Singapore. A place no one would question my authenticity.