Just came back from the Middle East ... some gun photos to share

[dunsho]

no wifey with you on the trip?
awesome pics.

[Nic]

Great pictures, thank you for sharing.

[renegadephoenix]

Looks like you two had a great time, reminds me of the 100 days i was in the Middle East. i probably have some of the same photos you do in Egypt. i worked along the Red Sea at RaShukir not far from Hugada.

[Spishack357]

Wow man, very cool. So are those spots where Jesus was said to have been pretty disputed? I mean is there a fair amount of certainty in their legitimacy? Very neat either way...

[LisaA]

Very nice pictures, Al. Thanks for posting them to share with us. I was wondering where you had been.

Since you are Buddhist, I am sure you know that Jesus had travelled to the East and had studied Buddhism.

[ByAnyMeans]

Great pics, thanks for sharing

[mythaeus]

no wifey with you on the trip?
awesome pics.

She was with me...I was just too busy looking at guns and stuff

Looks like you two had a great time, reminds me of the 100 days i was in the Middle East. i probably have some of the same photos you do in Egypt. i worked along the Red Sea at RaShukir not far from Hugada.

I am sure! I loved Egypt and would like to see it again. We didn't make it to the Red Sea this trip so it's a must for the next.

Wow man, very cool. So are those spots where Jesus was said to have been pretty disputed? I mean is there a fair amount of certainty in their legitimacy? Very neat either way...

Oh certainly! These are "thought to be" spots based on historic evident as well as oral histories. And they have been challenged, like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_...o_authenticity

In the end, it's what the people believe because there can never really be conclusive evident one way or another.

Very nice pictures, Al. Thanks for posting them to share with us. I was wondering where you had been.

Since you are Buddhist, I am sure you know that Jesus had travelled to the East and had studied Buddhism.

I have heard of that mentioned before. Not by Buddhists though

Al

[Emptymag]

I enjoyed the photos. It's interesting to see the world through other people's eyes, and the "gun" theme puts a different twist on the whole "my vacation pics" thing.

As previously mentioned, I'd be slightly hesitant to snap photos of some of these guys. I've only been out of the country a few times. Canada when I was a baby, Mexico as a teen, and the Caribbean as an adult when we went on our honeymoon. While in the Bahamas, we saw a military truck pull up (looked like a Deuce and a half leftover from WWII), and armed "soldiers" began hopping out of the back. I was bringing up the camera because I wanted a shot of them and the camo pattern they wore, but my wife didn't want me to, so no pictures to share.

I never had any desire to travel when I was younger, but as I get older, it has piqued my interest. The "history" of it all intrigues me... maybe someday.

[mythaeus]

Great pics, thanks for sharing

Gladly!

I enjoyed the photos. It's interesting to see the world through other people's eyes, and the "gun" theme puts a different twist on the whole "my vacation pics" thing.

As previously mentioned, I'd be slightly hesitant to snap photos of some of these guys. I've only been out of the country a few times. Canada when I was a baby, Mexico as a teen, and the Caribbean as an adult when we went on our honeymoon. While in the Bahamas, we saw a military truck pull up (looked like a Deuce and a half leftover from WWII), and armed "soldiers" began hopping out of the back. I was bringing up the camera because I wanted a shot of them and the camo pattern they wore, but my wife didn't want me to, so no pictures to share.

I never had any desire to travel when I was younger, but as I get older, it has piqued my interest. The "history" of it all intrigues me... maybe someday.

I usually come to these guys with a big innocent smile and the big Canon DSLR looking super touristy so they didn't mind at all. None of the photos were of sensitive areas or super important people. I was very comfortable asking first.

Here are some more bits about this...

When we crossed the border between Israel and Jordan, I asked the border control if I can take pictures. She said yes, just not inside the security area. Here's a view of it as we had to walk 80m across to Jordan.


This is the opposite side, 2 days later. Look closely directly under the light of the word "Welcome", you'll see an armed border control guard.


Our tour guide in Jordan served with the Jordan's Counter-Terrorism Battalion 71 and he had some pretty cool story to tell. When we were driving through a checkpoint in Jordan, he told me not to take any photos of the guards there. They had huge machine-gun mounted jeeps at these checkpoints.

I didn't take any photos of Israeli checkpoints and border crossings into the West Bank because I thought they were more sensitive areas, but did manage to snap this:



I found out later while crossing back into Israel from the West Bank that it was almost a joke with the "sensitive area" thing. I walked through the metal detector with everything on, beeped, flashed the cover of my password to the guard and they waved me through.

This is a shot of the Israel-Lebanon border crossing. The sign actually says "No photographs".


This one is of the wall perpendicular to that gate


Lastly, we came back to the US via Amsterdam (a few days after the Nigerian bombing attempt, which also came out of Amsterdam). Our first leg was on ElAl, the Israeli Airlines. It's the first time I saw a military guard with an MP5 rifle and a Glock standing at the plane's door. I've seen them walking around Schiphol Airport before (first time over 15 years ago) with the same guns, but never at the plane's door like this time.

Al

[photoshooter]

So you got to photograph all of those lovely guns but didn't get to play with any of them? Poor guy Nice pics Al, looks like an amazing trip.