That old coastal port

So this was Jaffa.

I'm surprised they even call it a town. It's a short walk from the centre of Tel Aviv. It's really part of Tel Aviv.

But, it's considered to be an important site nonetheless.

From the hostel, it was short walk. About half and hour.

I was hoping for a nice relaxing place.

Instead I found a horrifying tourist town.

Nothing in this place was real.

It was all rebuilt and artificial. It looked a little bit like one of those "Pirate" themed amusement parks in fact.

Walking through some of the narrow lanes, I couldn't contain my laughter and my smiles. I was reminded a bit of the beautiful little alleys in Akko. But this was the sad, cartoon version of the place.
As I walked back to Tel Aviv, I looked back towards Jaffa.
From a distance, it looked beautiful. Frame by the sky and the sea, I could see why this place was so adored by some.
I felt a strong sense of sadness walking away as well.

That was it for me.

My trip in the Middle East was finished.

I had been travelling through for so long and now it was over. It seemed like only yesterday that I had arrived into Istanbul with the boys. And now.... I didn't even know where they were. I had met so many great people, friends like Kamil and Pete would be people I would hopefully keep in touch with for a long time. The sites I had seen. My eyes had been opened to an entire culture of wonders and delights.

I was dreading the flight back to London. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay. I wanted to go deeper into Arabia, into Central Asia. I wanted to keep travelling.

Sadly, it was done though. I needed to go and get a grip with reality.

At least I had a stop over in Hong Kong to ease my pain.