Israel Trip

Israel –
Good Books – Jewish Wars, Brave New World, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, My6th sense

Israel –
“Just give me one more Shekel,” said the taxi driver. That put it all in perspective. My trip to Israel can be defined by that statement. Israel is a place for survivors, a place where the human soul is strong, and a place where people know how to do business. I immensely enjoyed my week in Israel.
I was hosted by an amazing person, Zeev Klein, and his others in his company at Landmark Ventures. I’ve never been guided in such an organized fashion with as many timely meals. It felt like a King. I arrived at 130 on Saturday and scurried to the first tour at 230 in the old town of Jaffa. I was hungry and missed lunch so Jonathan and I grabbed some food at one of the famous side street restaurants. It was basically a bagel – esque shop. They took a bagel (that was flatter with more area) and stuffed all types of vegetables, hummus, and meat in it. Then, they smashed it down on a sandwich press. Afterwards, it was the best friggin’ bagel sandwich you ever had. We walked around one of the oldest harbor towns in the Middle East. It was quaint town built on limestone, alongside the harbor where only artists dwell. The government apparently had bought the city and only allowed for artists to rent there in order to preserve the authenticity. However, it wasn’t cheap so these artists must have a lot of money.
After walking around, a few friends and I went off to two restaurants , just passed the city. We sat down and enjoyed a large seafood meal. I was excited to eat my first fish on the Meditarranean. When looking at the menu, there was a selection of 20 different types of fish. I had no idea what to choose. I asked the owner, “which fish do you prefer?” He responded, “a fish is a fish my friend.” I’ll bring you a fish. We all had a good chuckle. [Insert pictures]
In Israel, people take off Friday and Saturday and the Sabbath is Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. So on Saturday, right after an amazing dinner at …. A few of us went out, even though it was a ‘school’ night for many. Later that night we headed to one of the more popular dance clubs. Marquee. It picked up around 10PM and was absolutely jammed. I never saw so much intense dancing at a night club. It was non-stop and the ladies were leading the charge. I called it a night around 1AM.
Sunday was relaxing hanging out with some friends in Neve and then Monday was the big Landmark Dealmakers Summit. They had over 700 attendees of all types of people from dignified politicians to CEO’s (Gov Pataki of New York and Prime Minister of Israel) of companies to scrappy deal guys like me. It was a load of fun meeting people. The one thing that was clear was that Israeli businessmen are serious and they can sell. It was a pleasure hanging out with them because they move quickly, are straight forward, and cut through the crap quickly.
Monday started earlier with a tour of the local Air Force base and a few presentations from distinguished pilots who showed some of their air fights on video. The pilot with the most kills (4 in one trip) also presented and showed us how he did it. What amazed me is that he had 4 kills in 10 minutes. F-16 only have enough gas to last 10-15 minutes when they are in full performance. They also showed a video how they attacked a building in the Gaza Strip. They are so concerned with civilian lives that they dropped some fake bombs to scare people off the roof of the building. Once all the people evacuated the building full of arms, they then blew it up.
After the AF base, we went to tour “A Better Place” They are building a refilling network for electric vehicles. They basically want to be the fueling station for the electric vehicle and are rolling out in Israel and Denmark. They’ve raised $2bn in financing and build an immaculate show room and test drive road ( though you couldn’t rip it). The presentation of the company was very impressive but there seems to be a lot of questions whether it will actually be successful. I hope it is, we desparately need less dependence on oil, and fast.
We ended the day with a trip to Pitango, the largest VC in Israel. They spoke about the story of its formation all the way to its current success. They also have a separate fund for Arab entrepreneurs to encourage them to be part of the productive economy. There are 7mm people in Israel, of which there are 1mm Russians and 1.5mm Arabs. They are mostly poor, non-productive, and highly reproducing people. As the second generation is growing up in Israel, they are more educated and willing to be part of the workforce. Pitango and the government would like to encourage them to do so with the fund. That night we had dinner at the Meat Place. One common theme amongst restaurants in Tel Aviv was Meat. We have good meat, the meat place, the meat bar, meat meat meat. It really made me laugh but coming from America, I didn’t realize how sparse good meat really is. Israeli’s value and market good meat.
The next day a few of us rose early and drove down to Eilat, a sea town on the Red Sea. The drive down to Eilat was eye opening. About 30 minutes after leaving Israel, one notices the demarcation of the poor. Most of the arabs lived in tents and small villages that reminded me of India. However, as we were driving, we noticed kids all lined up by the road, dressed in clothes and their pink backpacks waiting for school buses. We must have passed a dozen large grey hound type buses that were full of kids who were going to school somewhere. I thought that this was great that these kids seems reasonably well clothed and had education even though they were extremely poor. How many countries would actually give this type of opportunity to everyone.
At some point in the drive the villages ceased and there were only sand dunes, Jordan on one side and … on the other. Artillery lined up on the side of the road as weroissll as on top of the sand dunes. These were very large weapons waiting to be fired at any instance. It put the perils of Israel in a glimpse. About 2 hours into the trip we spotted a McDonalds and of course I leaped up – ‘breakfast Sammy!’. It was about 8AM and we pulled over and it was closed. There was a gas station and a croissant shop (think le boulange in a desert). It just so happens that everyone in Israel that this was the truck stop of Israel. About another hour later, smack in the middle of the desert, there was another one of these. McDonalds still wasn’t’ open and we enjoy another chocolate croissant that apparently is actually cooked at the truck stop. The truck stops were clean and the attendants we are nice and receptive – all in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and we found out that McDonalds opens at 11 and doesn’t serve breakfast!
We stopped at this big Valley on the way down and literally was where an asteroid hit. It was akin to Death Valley in Nevada. It really makes you realize that if an asteroid hit us in SF, we’d be toast from Marin down to Palo Alto.
Upon arriving in Eilat, the first thing I noticed was that the airport was smack in the middle of the city. I mean imagine that an airport was on the strip in Vegas and you could actually walk right out into your hotel. No joke! The town gave me a Miami vibe with hotels that had Vegas awe without the crazy themes. After getting in the hotel, I quickly grabbed my swim trunks and went to go deep sea diving at the Red Sea. I had always wanted to do this and missed my chance at Sharma El Sheikh in Egypt. They were the most strict dive school ever. The instructor was very strict that I didn’t have my dive log and made me do a safety dive. I did two dives right off the shore. The visibility was 50 feet which I thought was great but the instructor said it was a bad day. Usually they get 100 feet+. The fish were very iridescent and large. Typically fish are either or but not both so I was struck by the size. They also had a natural corral preserve where there were lots of fish. It was a pretty good dive experience, not great as I was limited to 60 feet but it was worth it.

It just so happened that the dive site was around the best fish restaurant in Eilat so of course I dined there. I had the local fish, grilled Labark, which was the best fish I’ve ever eaten. It was light, yet tangy. It took my fish standards to another level.

The next day we got up early again and drove to the Dead Sea and Maba? We did one of the most famous landmarks in Israel,… This place was very high, a place where the Jews last fell to the Romans. We beat the tour group there and decided to hike up. I decided to take a little job but didn’t realize it was around 30 C there. I made it up but was dehydrated. The place had remnants of living quarters, bath houses, storage etc… but our tour guide brought this to life. It was an amazing architecture that was once lush green with gardens and full of water that was irrigated from the rains during the winter and then carried up by soldiers. To read more about this…
From here we went to the Dead Sea where many of us went for a swim. At this point, I realized how jesus walked on water. One could really walk on water, lay on water, and pretty much not sink. It was crazy and fun! After a great feast at the hotel, we drove home. Unfortunately I missed dinner that night.
The next day I woke up early to meet with my new friend, Shmuel. Shmuel was gracious enough to setup a meeting with a very large retailer who was excited about mobile payment. Shmuel is clearly a great salesman because they bought in. Thanks Shmuel. After the meeting I went to Jerusalem to catch up with the group. My taxi dropped me off at the outskirts of Jerusalem and told me the large building was the museum! I was ticked. But I made it to the museum 15 minutes later.
The museum was interesting but was really brought to life by our tour guide. We saw the scroll of the bible as well as just some really interesting historic artifacts like alters and …
From there we went to the old town of Jerusalem where we walked around, did the 12 stations of the cross. We also saw the area where there is a lot of contention amongst different sects of Catholocism – Coptic, Ethiopian, and others. The irony is that there are a group of muslims that must stay around that sector to keep the priests from fighting each other. These guys literally beat each other down! The joke of the trip was on me, of course. At the end of the 12 stations, our tour guide stopped and said you have 25 minutes to look around and shop. Meet back here. Here was a brick building that was the oldest church in Jerusalem. I noticed it but was a little churched out so went to look around. The next day, Zeev asked me why I didn’t go in since they stopped here for the people who didn’t see it on Tuesday when we were in Eliat. I responded see what, he said the church of the scepulture. I had no idea what he was talking about. He said that was the church that had Jesus’s tomb, the rock which he was laid out on and the cross. I totally missed the high point of the trip! The rest of the trip, after someone said let’s go here they ended it with, or go shopping – haha.

All of Jerusalem is built from hand carved limestone. Isn’t it amazing that an entire town is made this way? A large part of the town was built in the last 10 years as well. What amazed me is that the old town is actually still alive with people living and working there. At night after everyone leaves, the town really comes alive. I wasn’t there but it is supposed to be a very interesting place. For lunch we ate a really good Shawarma place. The Shawarma place was Kosher which basically means that they can only eat certain types of food. Some of the rules are: no meat and milk at the same time, no pig, animals must be slaughtered a certain way by the throat first, fish must have gills and fins (no shellfish), and even some vegetables have rules. To my surprise, Turkey, not lamb, was the Shawarma of choice. I enjoyed a spicy Turkey sharma. It made me dream that there is probably a grand idea that we could build a Turkey Shwarma franchise in the US, alongside my new bagel sandwich. But really, how can’t McDonald’s be open at 8AM, really?
Unfortunately my writing doesn’t do justice to the learnings from our tour guide. He was really amazing and suggested a few books. Jewish Wars, Brave New World, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography,
That night we had another grand feast at an Asian Fusion place and ended up at Marquee. That night was very very exciting. Everyone had a good time 
The last day we toured Haifa gardens, Caesareya, and had dinner at an awesome fish place. Haifa Gardens were a garden that was built from the top of the hill on the city all the way to the bottom. Imagine the gardens on Lombardi street going all the way to the bottom of North beach that extended the entire block. It was really beautiful.

For dinner we went to… I mostly remember the caramelized Tapitula. It was great. I told myself I would learn to make that.
I ended up doing work late that night and had to catch a taxi to the airport on Saturday for a 6AM flight. At 3AM there were no taxis available as everyone in the city was out partying. My hotel called and I had to wait almost 40 minutes. When the taxi arrived, there was a group of 8 people chasing it down and wouldn’t let me get in until hotel security came out. It was nuts. I made it to the airport. The one thing about the airport is that from customs to the gate there is an extremely long and wide walk way with a large open glass window facing west that is eerily tranquil. One enters the walkway and sighs that this must keep going forever. I only thought to myself that this long, open walkway must represent something for Israel, it must be the long path to peace.
Thank you Zeev for the experience of a lifetime.
Kurt