This week it has snowed almost constantly here in Sofia. I usually don’t like the winter season but at the same time am I happy to be here, as Sofia is one of the most beautiful cities in winter time for me. Yesterday I got inspired while taking a walk and made the movie below, enjoy! This is my love song to Sofia:
Of course who can resist to take some pictures also?
While hitch hiking in Israel we got a ride by a guy who’s family are living in a moshav, and who were himself planning to live there in his near future. He invited us to visit the moshav and we ended up staying there for two days, living as a part of his family.
A moshav is a type of community or settlement with the members of the community owning their own farms, in comparison to the kibbutz where the community shares the farms. In a moshav the people get a specific amount of land for farming when they get married. Nowadays it is more difficult to find good farming land which have resulted in some of these farms have been placed in the no mans land between Israel and Jordan, thanks to a agreement between the two countries. The same agreement gives Jordan a bigger ownership of the Dead Sea which is getting smaller and smaller every year because of mistreatment by the salt companies.
In this specific moshav where we were staying, the Zofar moshav, 2 out of 3 people were workers from Thailand. These people work on the farm land but with no other integration in the community. They even live in specific areas of the moshav which is only for them. Walking around in the moshav you can hear the loud music and karaoke singing from these areas, and to walk there feels a bit like walking around in Thailand.
Besides the no integration part of the Thai people, the feeling of a moshav or kibbutz are of utopia. Everything is perfect, beautiful and calm. The relationships between the different families are close and only a few people or families have chosen(?) to be for themselves. The area around the moshav is amazing desert and perfect for walking, jogging or even taking the motorbike or quad out for a spin. Still, with the desert looking like it will never end you know in the back of your head that if you need to go to a town it is only some hour away.
Not only can a moshav be self sustainable and also sell what they produce, some of them are using solar power both for themselves and to sell the extra power they don’t use. This usually means a small initial investment that is already payed back within 5 years, and then 15 more years of around 2 000 euro per month earned per family for the power they sell to the power companies.
All in all a moshav is a very nice way of living and it seems that also the young people are interested in keeping this tradition alive, although sometimes with newer technologies and ideas.
Zofar moshav
Farm worker
Family house with solar power
Family dinner with amazing food, wine & kippas (hats)
Well trained dogs that do not enter into the houses
Curious cat
What is a sunny day without playing some ping pong?
Tea and palms
Sheep’s having some fun
Breakfast (Jachnun; dough with spicy tomato sause) with the neighbours
Dog taking a rest upside down
Bird cage with tons of birds…
…And one hungry cat outside
Again food.. This time a quick lunch before hitting the road
Beautiful desert with camels
Farms in the distant
Peppers farm
There is a lot of confusion out there about what it actually means to have a passport stamp from Israel in your passport. Well, what it means is that you can not visit any of the countries in the following list with the same passport:
There are also unverified rumors about the same problems for these countries:
How to avoid getting the Israel passport stamp
This is actually really easy, at least if you travel by airplane. When arriving at the airport passport control you just kindly ask to get the stamp on a separate paper, which he or she in most cases will grant you. The guard will then ask you to fill in a form (17L) and then you will get the stamp on that form. Keep this form as you need to leave it back when exiting the country. You will also get a stamp on another paper that the next controllant will take back as proof of that you passed the passport control.
In my case there was some interesting misunderstanding which led to me only getting one paper and giving that paper away just 30 seconds later. This meant I had to travel through Israel & Palestine without any Israel stamp whatsoever, which was interesting but not impossible.
Also it’s easy to forget to ask about the stamp after the long interrogation/interview from the border guard (which consist of a bunch of stupid questions and provocations about the situation in Palestine) is finally over.
What happens if I travel by land and get an exit/entry stamp to a neighbor country?
Most people say this is not a problem but there are definitely reported situations where people got denied to enter some of the countries in the list above because they had border stamps from for example the border to Jordan.
Do you need a visa to enter Israel?
Most nationalities are free to travel to Israel without a visa and to stay for up to 3 months. Be aware that you might need to prove that you have a return ticket out from Israel, as well as enough money (or payment card) to cover your travel costs. As always you need a passport that are valid at least 6 months AFTER your EXIT from Israel.
How is the airport security to/from Israel?
Always calculate with at least 1½ hour of questioning from the security personnel at the airport. That is, if you usually come to the airport 1 hour in advance, this time make it 2½ hours. For me, as a single traveler without any booked hotels or fixed plans the risk of being singled out in the security is bigger. The normal questioning to/from Israel is about 30 minutes including unpacking your bag and you packing it again, but for me it took 1½ hour both ways. The security check always include molecule tests of your bag and sometimes also of your clothes together with a forced striptease. In the end I was not allowed any carry on board luggage to Israel, including my throat candy that I was forced to send.
If you have electronics you will be forced to start them to show that they are working (and are not a bomb). This means that if some of your electronics are out of battery there is a big risk that you will have to wait while the security men charge your batteries to be able to test the product. I am curious what happens if you have no charger, anybody had this problem?
It is possible that you will have to pay VAT for expensive electronics like video cameras and computers when you enter Israel. Keep the receipt as you will only get the money back when leaving the country if you still have the receipt.
What do I do if I get the stamp anyway in my passport?
Well, as long as you don’t travel to any of the countries in the list above there is no problem. But if you have plans to go to any of those countries or if you want to be able to improvise your travels 100% you need to loose your passport and apply for a new one. I have also heard about the idea to put a visa paper (from another country) on top of the stamp, covering it, but it’s unclear how well this tactic works.
Is there also a problem entering Israel with stamps from certain countries?
This is a common misunderstanding but there are NO passport stamps that could get you refused to enter Israel. There will be extra questioning and mistrust if you have for example a stamp from Egypt, but they will not refuse you to enter the country.
Always when traveling
Check other sources just to be sure you always have the most updated information, and contact the embassy/consulate with questions.
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