Here is a photo of me standing on the Jordan side of the Dead Sea. The land that you see on the other side is Israel. There is a border crossing into Israel not to far from where we were.

This is a photo from the Church of the Holy Sceptlicure. (Not sure if that his how you spell it). This is a very interesting chruch for many reasons, it is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Salah Ad Din a great Muslim warrior, turned responsiblity for this church over to a Muslim Family when he conquered Jerusalem centuries ago. This same family is still responsible for the key to the church and is responsible for the upkeep. the chruch is currently occupied by Roman Catholics, Coptic's and Orthodox Christians. Oh year, this is also where the tomb of Jesus Christ is supposed to be. That is what the Roman Catholic Priest in the above photo is standing in front of.
This is the area in the front of Jesus' tomb

Here is a photo of the old city of Jerusalem, it is located where you see the golden dome of a mosque. This is the back side of Jesus' tomb, being attended to by one of the Orthodox Christians.

Long time no post

I has been quite a while since my last post. I guess since that time quite a few things have happened. Some of them have been very bad, some have been very good.

Unfortunately Wan's father passed away in late May while we were in Amman and we had to head back to Thailand for the funeral. He was only 59 years old and died in his sleep. He was not ill that we know of. Wan of course was devastated, she was very close to her father. For me it was also a great loss, Lob (Wan's Dad) had always had a very good relationship, even though we had difficulty communicated to one another, he was a good man, with a deep belief in Budda, and always tried to help people that were less fortunate than him.
The Funeral was a very interesting experience, the Thias show the dead's body for 3 days and then it is cremated, at 7 days after death there is a big party and at 100 days after death an extremely big party is held to celebrate the deads life. The funeral is quite elaborate and spiratual. Wan's father's friends on the night of his creation spent the entire night ensuring that there were plenty of coals on the funeral pyre. The next morning we all showed up and picked through the ashes looking for the remaining bones, I actually found one of Lob's teeth, which is extremely good luck, Wan's brother took the tooth and had it cast in gold so I can wear it around my neck, after it has been blessed by the Buddist Monks at the temple. All in all it was quite a good experience, the way the Thais celebrate death give people a great deal of closure, truth be told the spriritual side is so strong it feels like the person never passed.

On a good note Wan and I purchased our first house in Thailand. We purchased a house that is onwned by an English guy and his Thai wife. They want to get out of the house becuase it is two big for them since thier kids have grown and moved out of Thailand. The house is about 1000 Square Feet, on a Rai of land (300 ft by 150 ft) roughly the size of a football field. The driveway is all mosaic tile there is an avary for birds, Koi Pond with a bridge, a Teak Gazebo and Bar with sound system, pool table as well as Bananna, Mango and Jackfruit trees. All of this for about $140,000. Not a bad deal.

I also took my first trip to Israel, what an amazing place, I spent 5 days in Tel Aviv, which is a great city on the Med. Sea. Very beautiful beaches and extemely modern. My initial impression was Israel did not have the military feel that I always assumed it had. We also spent a day in Jerusalem, which is a very old city with alot of history, we toured the Holy Sepluchure church which is where the tomb of Jesus Christ is. The church is maintained by a Muslim Family and Coptic's, Orthodox and Roman Catholics all occupy space in the church. I took a bunch of photos and will post them once I get a chance to download them.

I currently have a trip to Sudan, Libiya and Israel scheduled for the next few months, looking forward to checking out some new places.

Till the next post, take care and take it easy.

Later

Life in Amman

It has been a while since my last post. Wan and I are still living in Amman Jordan and getting used to being out of Iraq. We are not sure how long we will be in Amman but would not mind spending some time here. The weather is great, the people are extremely friendly and there is a very interesting mix of cultures here. There have been some security issues here but nothing major, the security forces caught some members of Hamas smuggling weapons into the country and stockpiling them to lauch attacks against the Jordanian government. The Jordanians take security very seriously which is a good thing given thier geographic location, Iraq to the east, Syria to the north and Israel to the northwest. Jordan relies on it neighbors and moderate world stance to survive since it has no real natural resources. Wan and I are planning on moving into an apartment in a week or so, we have a good friend who is Iraqi that owns a few apartments here, so he is going to give us a good deal. Jordan has quite a large Iraqi population, most of the wealthy Iraqi's fled here during the war. Part of my job here is not only to oversee some of the projects I still have in Iraq but to also conduct visits to other potential project sites and help put together proposals to win the work. It looks like I may be headed to Libiya at the end of the month for a week or so, hopefully I will get a photo with Momar Khadafi.

There is a possibility of us heading to Thailand to work on a project in Bangkok is we win it, which of course would be great but I dont want to get to excited for it.

Out of Iraq

Today Wan and I arrived in Amman Jordan. We have decided that we have had enough of Iraq. Unfortunately we were not planning on leaving this soon but due to recent threats that singled me out, we decided to get out as quickly as possible.

Last week I recieved a call from a US Army Special Forces Unit operating in my area, who had information that said that the Islamic Army in Iraq was planning to ambush our security convoy, kill the security personnel and kidnap me in order to get some political prisioners released. This is the same organization that has Jill Carrol and kidnapped the four christian activists, three of which were released last week. When I first heard of this plot my heart hit the floor, it was a very uncomfortable feeling. A few days later we recieved more specific information that showed they had identified the three cars in our security convoy and the road we travel on routinely. This information made the treat very real. It was obvious that someone I had been working with was giving information to the insurgents. That is when Wan and I decided it was time to leave.

Having worked in Iraq for over a year and spending 75% of my time traveling on the roads that are the most dangerous part of the country, I knew there were risks, but once I became the specific target, it was a little to much for me to deal with. My nerve, which you need alot of to succeed in that type of environment was shot.

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders, we are looking forward to living and working in Amman, although at this point I am not sure how long we will be here and getting back to a somewhat normal life.

I sure had enough experiences working in Iraq to last a lifetime, but sometimes change is for the best.

Later

Tom

Still more photos

Penguins at Simons Bay Cape Town
Wan and I at Cape Point, Cape Town
Mountians along the Wine Route
Wan stealing grapes from a vineyard
Warthog on the way to Sodwana Bay

More Photos

We saw four male lions lounging on the side of the road

Here are two Giraffes that we saw in the road.
Wan, Matt and I with our Guide at Echo Caves

This male Elephant was pretty agitated.

Great White Shark hitting our cage

More Photos

Cheetah we saw near Sadwana Bay

Rhino at the Kruger National Park

Table Mountain in Cape Town

Phython on the way to Sodwana Bay

Table Mountian seen from Robben Island

What a trip

Large male Lion at the Kruger National Park

Troop of Baboons at the Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge

Hungry Great White Shark outside our cage
Waiting for a Great White Shark
Sunset at the Kruger National Park

Wan and I finally returned to Iraq on Tuesday. Our trip to South Africa was greater than I ever imagined. We ended up spending 21 days traveling all around the country. We started in Johannesburg and travelled to the Eastern Transval for a few days where we hiked to beautiful water falls and visited God's Window. From there we headed to the Kruger National Park for 5 days. During our time at the Kruger we saw plenty of wildlife including the big male lion in the photo above. That photo was taken from about 10 feet away from the lion. We also say Hyena, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Rino, Water Buffalo, Cheetah, Zebra and Warthog. If anyones plans on visiting South Africa the Kruger is a must see. From the Kruger we headed to Sodwana Bay for some diving, on our way to Sodwana we passed through the small african nation of Swaziland which is extremely rural but very beautiful. From Sodwana we drove the coast to Cape Town on our way down we went surfing in Plettinsburg Bay and Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai. Our friend Matt also did the highest commercial bungy jump in the world. The free fall is 540 feet. Of course I pussed out because I am deathly afraid of heights. The eastern coast of South Africa is littered with real cool beach towns and beautiful beaches.

Cape Town was a great place. We went to Robben Island where all of the Aparthied Political Prisioners were held. We even stood in Nelson Mandela's former cell. One day we spent on the " Wine Route" sampling some of South Africa's best wines.

It was very difficult for us to leave, but I know that this was only our introductory trip. On our next trip we plan on visiting Mozanbique and Namibia.

We took about 1000 photos, so I will be posting some more in the near future.

Later

Tom