Gut distention in the Middle East

I am now in Tel Aviv. Back on Tuesday I discovered I had about five Turkish lira (approx AU$5) left in my wallet so had to budget for my last 24 hours in Turkey. I realised the kind of crap that my money goes on when I'm not paying attention to it... I went down to the fish market and had a fish sandwich for three lira, fresh from the sea. I spent the remaining cash on water and bread for breakfast, and enjoyed the novelty of being a tourist in Istanbul without any money. I caught a shuttle bus to the airport very early yesterday, but their timetable meant that I had four hours to kill before my flight. Fortunately I'm deeply involved in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I flew into Tel Aviv mid-afternoon and caught a bus into the central bus station. Entering the station I was passed over with a metal detector and had to open my backpack up for inspection (it's very tightly packed so this was easier said than done). From there I could walk to my hostel... an Indian-themed guesthouse crawling with Israeli hippies and a couple of resident dogs. It's a fun place, but I can't figure out why there are always so many people around when there seems to only be a handful of travellers staying in the dorms - it's like a drop-in centre or something (I found the staff sharing a joint this morning). I locked my things away and set out to walk to the beach and the old town of Jaffa. I got to the beach just in time to see the sun turn red and disappear behind the sea. In Jaffa the second-hand dealers were just closing shop... so I ate dinner and headed back. On the hostel rooftop they screen movies at night. Last night they showed A Clockwork Orange but stopped it inexplicably half-way through and started James and the Giant Peach (most frustrating). Today I woke up sick and have been sick all day due, most probably, to some dodgy couscous I ate in the Jaffa restaurant last night. Nevertheless I went back to Jaffa this morning and poked around the markets there. It's a classic fleamarket with the sort of second-hand goods that are just a shade above rubbish - my favourite kind of markets. There are souvenir shops throughout Jaffa and I'd very much like to buy a "Guns 'n' Moses" t-shirt for someone back home. The beach was beautiful, the sun was out, and I'm a little more red than I was before. Still sick though, I really had no choice but to spend the afternoon at the hostel, sweating and cramping and dashing to the toilet. But I seem to be recovering now. I've walked around some nicer tree-lined areas of Tel Aviv this evening and have been amazed at how Western it all looks, the people mostly... The Hebrew street and shop signs are the only obvious indication that I'm not in familiar surrounds. That and the young soldiers I've seen getting around. They look about high-school age and yet many of them carry rifles, on buses, down the street, in McDonald's. I'm off to Jerusalem tomorrow.