Note: This posting is a bit late–since getting back to the States, I’ve had my hands full with work, the house, and life in general. Sorry for the delay.

It was with a certain degree of relief that we arrived back in Israel. Don’t get me wrong–the Egyptians were great. However, when we touched down at Ben Gurion airport (at 5AM) a number of things hit me: first, we were at the last leg of our trip and we’d soon be home. Secondly, we knew a lot of people at the Haifa Lab, so in many ways it was like visiting friends. Hopefully we’ve made some friends in Cairo, and my next trip there will give me the same sense of comfort.

In Tel Aviv, we were picked up by a driver sent by the Haifa Lab to drive us the 1.5 hour hike it is from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Although I was tired, my curiosity got the better of me, so I stayed up the entire ride and chatted up the driver. He was a pretty quiet guy, but by the end of the trip, we were joking around.

The drive reinforced something in me: Israel looks a lot like any western nation: the infrastructure was obviously there, the roads were in very good shape, the cities looked like any western city. In addition the atmosphere in Israel was very relaxed–and that was something I didn’t expect. Sure, we saw the guy on the beaches of Tel Aviv with the M-16…but even that didn’t raise the blood pressure. In short Israel radiated a sense of normalcy–and I know this will seem ridiculously odd–peace. It was very incongruous with what we see inevitably on the nightly news: war, strife, and conflict. In fact, Israel seemed to be in many ways idyllic.

Once we arrived in Haifa, I instantly found a city that I very much liked: Haifa is pretty much built on Mount Carmel which juts out into the Mediterranean. In some ways it reminded me of San Francisco with the hills, the winding roads, and breezes which sometimes surprise you. And the views were phenomenal.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Bayview…which has to be one of the nicest Holiday Inn’s that I’ve ever been in. I had a view of the ocean, and a pretty comfortable room. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my stomach. It is at this point that I realized that the last place we ate in Cairo–the restaurant our tour guide took us because he’d get a free meal for bringing tourists to the restaurant–was less than, er, hygenic. Both myself and my manager were hit with grumpy stomachs–the difference between us is that she was prepared with some meds, whereas I didn’t have any.

After a few hours, we left for the lab. We arrived and were greeted by one of the DGM’s of the Haifa Lab, Gabi. Gabi is one of the nicest people on the planet, and he immediately made sure we were comfortable, that we had drinks and whatnot, and that we were fed (he took us to the cafeteria and treated us to lunch). Which brings to mind something that I immediately noticed when we walked into the lobby of the Haifa Research Lab: it’s hands-down the nicest research lab IBM has (or at least that I’ve visited).

Staffers actually have the hope of getting an office with a window–something most of the other IBM US labs are designed not to allow (corridors ring the outer walls to prevent people–or so I’m told–from arguing over who gets window offices). The offices themselves are very nicely done–in a modern European chic, complete with glass walls and doors.  The building also overlooks Haifa and, in fact, looks northward to Lebanon. During the Second Lebanon War (as it’s known in Israel), the lab was evacuated for fear of it being hit by the rockets being launched by Hizballah. And, in fact, you can on a good day, actually see Southern Lebanon from the lab:

Kinda interesting to realize that we were on the edge of what was a war zone only a year ago. It was also a reminder of how screwed up the world is. The area is very beautiful–hard to think of it being terrorized by falling rockets.

While at the lab, we actually met a wide variety of very smart folks…and received a ton of ideas for new alphaworks technologies and services. Laura was very pleased, and at the end of the first day, we made our way to downtown Haifa to try out a restaurant that she had read about. Turned out to be an excellent choice–and the food was beyond good. So good, in fact, that I ate too much. And that, in turn, did not sit well with my stomach. Within about 30 minutes of finishing up the meal, I started breaking out in a sweat–and I had to beg Laura’s forgiveness for asking for us to return to the hotel so soon. Once I got back to the hotel, things only got worse.

So that night I didn’t get much sleep. Once I woke up, I knew I was in for a rough day. What made things worse is that I was flying back to the US that evening–an 11.5 hour flight. I got up early and we took off for the lab. The morning meetings were similarly facinating–it’s what I love most about these lab tours–but as the morning continued, my stomach got steadily worse. By the time we broke for lunch, I had to return to the airport–luckily when Gabi heard about my stomach ailments, he had the cabbie take me to an Israeli drugstore…where I got the Israeli version of Pepto Bismol. It turns out that it was a lifesaver, as it definitely helped out on the flight back to the US.

Once I got back to the hotel around noon, I took my meds and then tried to sleep. I got up around 6PM, and then started getting ready to leave the hotel for the airport. The driver picked me up at 8PM, and by 9:30PM I was back in Ben Gurion–taking a Delta flight (actually an El Al flight) back to the US on a 747-400. What was nice is that since I was in business class, I got to camp out at the El Al King David Lounge, featuring free food (which, unfortunately, I had to stay away from) and free drinks. Also, free WiFi! Woohoo!

The flight itself was fine–although not as comfortable as the flight from the US to Zurich. El Al’s business class consisted of wide seats, but nothing like the American Airlines seats which allowed you to recline almost 100%. The El Al seats only allowed you to lean back–and the foot rests were metal bars without cushioning…not exactly comfortable. My seat on the flight was in the “second deck”–the hump section of the 747, which was interesting.

I actually managed to sleep quite a bit (I credit the Israeli meds), and soon found myself in Newark at 4:00 in the morning. Nothing against New Jersey, but Newark is an odd airport. Sure, I got thru customs quickly, but the baggage claim (you have to claim your bags from the international flight then get them thru customs and then recheck them for the domestic flight) was slow and odd in that they yelled at you if you turned your cell phone on. Since the El Al flight was 30 min. late in taking off, I could not check-in my bags–which meant I had to go through security, which meant that I had to dump all of my toiletries which were over 3 ounces. I wasn’t pleased. But I did it because I was desperate to get home.

Finally, at 8:30AM, my flight touched down in Raleigh. Amazingly, my bags made it with me, and by 9:30AM, I was lying down in my bed. Which, coincidentally, was exactly when my Israeli meds ran out of effectiveness. Oh well. At least I was home…

I came. I saw. I paid a whole lotta dough. Did Cairo conquor me? Nah. Did I conquor Cairo. Hell no. But what I did do today was to experience Cairo Tourism to its hilt. So, we saw a lot today–but it was only a small portion of what Cairo has to offer: the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, as well as some bargaining for some paintings at a small shop we visited. For starters, did I mention my hotel is right next to the Pyramids? I got on the roof of the hotel this morning and took this shot:

Spectacular view, isn’t it? Too bad my room is on the other side of the hotel…but still, I’m not complaining…IBM, afterall, is picking up the bill.

During our travels, we were guided by our Amex Travel Services guide, Moataz Turkl–who not only kept us out of trouble, but also provided entertaining commentary along the way. One of the interesting things Moataz told us about involved the following picture:

So, this is how the story goes…see the top of the buildings? Notice how it looks like the buildings are under construction. What’s odd is that virtually every residential building on the west side of the Nile seems to be under construction. Moatav told us that there are two reasons for this: 1) tradition in Egypt is for families to stay within close proximity of each other…so they literally add floors when the family expands, and 2) (this is the interesting one) it seems that taxes for the building/residences can be avoided as long as the home is under construction…thus making it worth a bit of an “unfinished” look for your home.

The first place we visited today were the Pyramids–which were almost a stone’s throw away. We drove up, took a look, and Moataz took some pictures including the one to the right (at the Pyramid of Cheops). Once we were done gaping at the Pyramid of Cheops (knowing that a block of stone is as tall as a person is one thing…experiencing it is something else entirely), we went to an overlook of the pyramids. Lots of vendors there, and the place where my first con attempt was made (my tour guide sho’d him away). It is also  where I snapped the following picture of all three pyramids:

Once we were done with that, we went to find our camel ride. We didn’t get burned on the camel ride, but neither did we do extraordinarily well: the cost was $15US and we went out for about an hour and a half. The reasonable rate is $10US for a ride, but we literally could have spent all day out there if we wanted.

Here’s a pic of my manager, Laura, and I on camel back. The best part was the mini-camel race where we got to have the camel trot along at a decent clip.

I was having a ball. We explored the second Pyramid (Keffri), and stopped by the Sphyinx on the way back. We were well warned by our camel drivers that there were numerous scams and pick pockets at the Sphyinx, and while we did run into many shabby con artist types, we didn’t have anyone remotely come close to attempting to rip us off. There was a decent police presence at the Sphyinx, which I have no idea if that alleviated it a bit or not.

Once back from our Camel trip, the one item that marred the entire day occured: our tour guide insisted on taking us to “the Papyrus Institute”. For those who don’t know, the Papyrus Institute is a complete scam in which they do a lame job describing how papyrus is made, claim that they have the only certified prints with official government seals, etc. etc. and then try to sell you ridiculously inflated prints. The tour guides and drivers are hooked into the system, and receive kickbacks for basically dropping off fresh meat for these scavangers. Now for the difficult part: I have to admit, I did buy two prints…and, yes, they were very expensive. In fact, they were likely about 75%-90% too expensive. During the entire event I didn’t have a good vibe, and my detector was screaming “scam” at me, but when your *tour guide* has you in the institute, and he and his driver are the only way out–and he’s insisting that you should trust him (which to this point, he had been trustworthy) and that these were good prices, it makes for an interesting situation. I found two prints that I liked, and then attempted to be sure to buy the cheaper versions (afterall, there wasn’t much of a difference between the absolute rape rip-offs and the lesser rip offs). We also secured some “free” prints, as well as some other trinkets. I know the driver and the guide got their cut, but that’s fine since they weren’t getting paid that much anyways. And when you add everything else up, I might have only suffered from a 50%-75% mark-up over prices online (or, I understand, in the markets of Alexandria), however….my advice: If your tour guide ever says “we will stop at the Papyrus Institute”, say “no thanks” very firmly and save yourself a LOT of money by buying your prints online.

After that, we went to the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, toured the building looking at artifacts from King Tut and King Amenhotep. Amazing artifacts in that museum…although again, they do manage to rip you off by charging 100 LE (Egyptian pounds–about $20US) to go see a room of about 12 mummies or so. If you have the cash to burn (or you simply want to get to an airconditioned part of the museum–the museum as a whole is not airconditioned), you can part with your cash. Otherwise, wait and you’ll get an airconditioned room in the King Tut portion of the museum.

From there, we headed back to Giza to have a very late lunch (around 4PM). Was good food, and relatively cheap (about $10US) compared to the hotel fare, and took a couple of hours to freshen up at the hotel. I used the time to take a shower, get my laundry, and transfer the pics I had taken from the digicam to the laptop.

Last on our list was a return trip to the Pyramids for the famous Sound and Light show. The voice of Richard Burton boomed out of the speakers, and a somewhat entertaining brief synopsis of the Pyramids, the men who made them, and the culture of the time, was made over the course of about 45 minutes. Word of advice for any going to it: be prepared for your butt to be sore, as the seat cushion is not exactly effective–or thick–on those metal chairs. It was, however, a beautiful way to end the day, as the show started with the sun setting behind the Pyramids.

So, tomorrow, it’s back to work…then back to Israel. Talk to you then…

Flying at 2:15AM really sucks. It really does. The one benefit: at least the airports were relatively uncrowded (Cairo’s airport was still remarkably busy at 3:45AM when we landed…Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion, not so much).

The flight over was fine, only an hour long flight, really. But we once again had to go through El Al Security. This time, they chose to pick on Laura, my manager, rather than me. She had to speak with an El Al Security agent for almost 30 min.

Once we got through that, we eventually got on the flight to Cairo. One hour later, we were on the ground. Had two different individuals pick us up at the airport–which was confusing. As we walked to the car which was to take us to the hotel, we walked through a gauntlet of Egyptians waiting for their families or loved ones at the terminal. Some looked friendly, some decidedly not so. Some just looked bored.

At that point, the person who met us at the gate then called our driver. We got our bags in the car, and then the real adventure of the night began: the car ride to the hotel.

I’m not saying Cairo drivers are insane. Well, maybe a bit. Im not even saying they are the worst I’ve ever seen. But it is a bit disconcerting to be barrelling down the streets of Cairo early in the morning at speeds in excess of 100kph, while swerving in and out of traffic. In fact, there were numerous times the clearances between the cars could only have been an inch or so.

What I noticed in Israel was only magnified by factors of ten in Cairo: people didn’t seem to pay attention to the lanes–instead, they’d just strattle them until they figured out which lane would let them get by the traffic ahead of them. In Cairo, it also seems that the car horn isn’t so much a “look out, we’re about to crash into each other” as much of a “hey, I’m here, so pay attention”. So the horn gets quite a work out.

It was interesting, because during that ride, I saw many things that you see in a typical Hollywood movie, but (at least I) would write off as more Hollywood exaggeration: people literally hanging half out of a bus as it goes speeding down the highway, cars with no lights except the interior light lit, I must have counted at least a dozen cars broken down on the side of the road. When we crossed the Nile over a major bridge, it was interesting that the right hand most lane was not really a lane at all, but had been turned into a parking lot so families and people could set up tables on the sidewalk and cookout and fish.

Eventually–about an hour after arriving at the Cairo International Airport–we made it to the hotel. Giza is a bit away from Cairo, and even at 4AM, there was still a surprising amount of traffic on the roads of Cairo.

The hotel, itself, is pretty darned cool. It’s the Mena House Oberoi, evidently one of the swankier hotels in the area. In fact, it’s an old palace…and the architecture definitely represents that. We, unfortunately, then ran into a problem: they couldn’t find our reservations. Yes, we had got on the phone with American Express Travel to get an additional night’s stay (so we, in essence, paid for a hotel twice for one night–once in Tel Aviv, once in Cairo)…but the check-in clerk couldn’t find our reservation. At this point, I think Laura had experienced about enough, and she was not amused. But eventually they got us settled, and by 5:30AM, I finally was able to take a shower and lie down.

Got up a bit ago, and managed to get some things taken care of (getting my clothes laundered, finding an adapter for my laptop, getting internet access–you have to buy a card which grants your hourly access). And now, here I am. It’s 4:24PM, and to be frank, I’m still pretty exhausted.

Regardless, what I can see of Giza from my hotel balcony is pretty awesome….I can see the desert sands coming right up to the hotel grounds…where it suddenly is transformed into green grass and palm trees. Kinda nutty, but very much the romantic ideal of Egypt we tend to think about (although perhaps not in terms of a well-manicured lawn, but an oasis, nonetheless).

Tomorrow we’ll be off to see the sights in Cairo (Cairo Museum) as well as the Pyramids. Hope to have some awesome pics for you then…until then, take care!

So, for our second “day”, we basically were required to get up very early so we could be on the IBM Rational Convention floor at 8:00AM sharp. The “exhibit” hall was very small, actually–there were a total of about 16 display “PEDS” or booths…and we were manning one of them (the space was a bit cramped).

There were about 850 attendees of the convention, but in such close quarters, it actually seemed pretty packed. We were quite busy and went through our stock of t-shirts, DVDs, and official alphaworks bookmarks within the first few hours…talked to a lot of interesting people including a range of individuals from university professors, to Israeli military personnel, to IBM’ers, as well as a number of smaller Israeli companies. Had a lot of fun–and had a great chance to chat with our fellow IBM IDR (IBM Developer Relations) folks who were in the booth behind us.

Interestingly, most actually knew of alphaworks…but most were unaware of alphaworks Services. The lesson: we need to market aWS much better. When we told people what alphaworks Services was all about, there was almost universal interest…which bodes well for our efforts in that area.

One interesting thing we noticed is that the Israelis love their sweets: they not only offered a “dessert course” before lunch, they also had a candy stand in which lines formed and people walked away with bags of candy. Lunch was pretty good–but there was so much food, I barely had a chance to taste half of the food that was out…including yet another dessert table that was full of little cakes, jellied fruits, and baklava type goodness.

The conference basically ended at 3:30PM (the actual end of the conference was at 4:30 when the last seminars ended, but the exhibit floor died off at 3:00PM)…and Laura and I packed up our stuff and headed for our rooms for much needed naps.

Both of us didn’t sleep too well…I ended up reading a book until about 2:30AM. I suspect it’s a jet-lag thing, and that I’ll eventually adjust to the right time. The nutty part is that we fly to Cairo early this morning. Our flight leaves Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion at 2:15AM…which means we need to be at the airport at 12:00AM to get through security…more El Al flights, so I’ll post tomorrow my experiences (if any) with El Al Security. On top of that, I checked our reservations at the hotel in Cairo (to be sure we could check in at 4:00AM when we get into Cairo)…and at first they couldn’t even locate our reservations. Once they did find it (where could it have gone? LOL), we found out that we couldn’t check in that early unless we agreed to pay another day for the room (basically reserving the room for today/tonight). Knowing how tired we were going to be, Laura gave me permission to do just that, so I’ll have a place to crash once we get in at 4AM.

And thus ended another day. It was tiring, but then again, it was fun to talk to so many people from a diversity of cultures. I love having that opportunity.

Until tomorrow!

I can’t really blame them: I mean, if El Al (Israel’s national airline) didn’t have remarkable security, you’d expect to have heard numerous events with their aircraft. However, with that said, today was the first time that I felt truly under the eyes of Big Brother.

I was able to wake up a little later than normal (around 7:30AM) because the only thing we had to do this morning was to get to the airport. Had breakfast, then at 10:00AM caught a taxi for the 30min. or so ride to the Zurich airport. It took a while to get past the baggage check-in (the lines were long), then took the tram to the gate for our El Al flight. The Zurich airport, by the way, is a model of efficiency. In any case, from baggage check-in we go to security. European security is less onerous than TSA security in the US: no removing of shoes, at least. They still wanted the laptop out of the backpack, and I was specifically asked if I had any liquids in my backpack (TSA has long since drilled that out of me–any liquids go into my check-in bag). However, with that said, it took all of 4 mins. to get through security.

Up an escalator we went and were dumped off into a short concrete hall with large steel doors….and the end of this section of the terminal…and right into a sign that said “El Al Security Check-in”. There, four El Al Security Agents were standing behind little podiums, on which were precisely placed hand scanners, a small booklet, a number of printouts stapled together, and one pen. Oh. And the agents, of course. All decked out in suits. The only thing missing: ear pieces and sunglasses…otherwise they were mirror images of secret service agents.

When I stepped up, they directed me to the most intimidating security agent of the four (one was a lady–my manager, also a lady, was directed to her). The agent was infallably polite–but the words, while spoken in a friendly tone, were decidedly not: “Where do you work? What is your job? How many people work with you? How many managers do you have? How many managers like your manager are there in IBM? How do you plan on paying for expenses while in Israel? How does the Corporate Credit Card work? Can I see your business card? Can I see your IBM identification? Can I see your credit card? Were you invited to Israel? What are your plans? After Tel Aviv, are you going to Haifa? Why are you going to Egypt? Why are you going to Israel? Do you have your itinerary?”

Then it got a bit surreal: “Imagine a terrorist wanting to attack this flight. How would they do it? Your bag–did you pack it? Did your manager help you? Could anyone else have gotten to it? Your check-in bag: are there any weapons in it? Do you have any personal weapons? Could someone have placed an explosive into your luggage? Has it ever been out of your sight? Are you very sure that you are the only one who has had access to your bags?”

None of which are intimidating. But when you’re standing at that little podium, and the agent is obviously spending more time with you than anyone else, well, it started to make me just a tad bit nervous. Then I got the thing no traveller wants to hear: “We are going to inspect you a bit more. Please sit down and we will take you to get inspected.” What a bad time for me to start breaking out in a sweat, eh? But I noticed that my back was starting to get decidedly damp, and that didn’t help me get more comfy. lol

A different El Al representative then took my manager and I to an elevator. He looked at us, and apologized that we couldn’t be examined in the normal room (he pointed to one of the other large steel doors)…and told us to “please do not be nervous–there is nothing out of the ordinary here…” as the steel doors of the elevator closed. Into the bowels of the airport we went (bottom most floor), and into a dimly lit concrete block hall. The area was filled with El Al security, all talking into cellphones or their walkie-talkies…and the agent leads us to a door to the outside…then down the terminal a bit, to another door, and into a waiting room that, quite frankly, was likely last updated when the airport was built–in other words, never.

We were both asked to empty our carry-on baggage, which the agent then wiped down with a chemical analyzer wand (basically a piece of cloth attached to a plastic holder–which they then put into a machine which can detect bomb materials at the parts-per-million level).

Eventually they declared us clean, and allowed us to go back up to the waiting lounge…but it was an interesting diversion. The El Al agent who took us downstairs, incidentally, had a badge which had a picture of him with a shaved head. That pic made him look like a serious thug out of a Guy Ritchie movie…but the amusing thing is that in person, he looked like a pretty nice, normal, guy. I made fun of his badge pic, because, even though it was an intimidating situation, I have no common sense. At least he chuckled (and even looked somewhat embarassed) instead of locking me up in some holding cell somewhere.

Eventually we got on the flight, and the flight itself was pretty uneventful. We arrived in Tel Aviv some 3.5 hours after leaving Zurich. The experience on the El Al flight was interesting: hearing Hebrew over the intercom was kinda cool….and I loved the inflight meal service. Talk about yum: awesome chicken dinner, mediterranean salted veggies, hummus with flat bread, and dessert that I have no idea what it’s called (except the baklava piece) that was incredibly awesome. I even napped on the flight.

Once we arrived in Tel Aviv, a quick run through passport control, and it was off to the airport we went. Note to self: don’t mention Egypt to Israelis because you never know what their opinion will be. My manager made the innocent mistake of asking our taxi driver if he had ever had a chance to visit Cairo. Of course, with that whole war thing back in ‘73, I couldn’t exactly imagine any Israeli in their right mind presenting an Israeli passport at any arab port of entry. Then again, when we were talking to an IBM’er from Haifa, he noted that part of his team was based in the Cairo TDC, and asked us to say “hi” to his counterparts for him. So, again, the better part of descretion might be to not to say anything at all.

After checking into the hotel (the Intercontinental David Hotel), we then went and checked out the Tel Aviv beachfront. It was quite teh awesome. I had forgotten how much I loved the beach, and as we were strolling up and down it, the sun set…quite beautiful, actually.

And that, my friends, was the end of my first day in Tel Aviv. I’ll write tomorrow on how the conference went…until then, Shalom!