We took a trip last week to the Golan Heights for "Riding with the Soldiers". It's a program that is designed to educate Israelis as well as tourists about some of the lesser known stories about battles and soldiers and stuff....like many things about this Ulpan, it didn't seem very well planned and didn't always make alot of sense (that actually may also be because a lot of it was in hebrew...), but there were parts that I really really enjoyed. The first part of the trip was a really nice bike ride through the Golan. We were given bikes and helmets and directed towards the wierdest bike path I have ever seen. It was park BMX off roading with hills and jumps and mud pit traps (I dont think any of these were intentional) part scentic tour and part (what felt like) tresspassing through someone's farm.


All set to take on the world with my bike (stupid rusty bike ripped my favorite pants!!! but aside from that was lovely)


Random pasture with cows that we passed...

This is part of the path. Most people walked up that steep part of the path. I tried to ride..and failed (it's steeper that it looks!) please note the guy on the bike with the big gun on his back.

An incredibly dry/low resevoir. Please pray for rain in Israel this year! Also, that's Syria in the background. (hence the guy with the gun in the picture above)


After the bike ride, we went to a rally and listened to a speach we didn't understand. Thankfully there was a guy near us who spoke hebrew and english well and he explained that the speaker was talking about Gilad Shalit. He is an Israeli soldier who was captured in 2006 by Hamas. He is being held captive and currently Hamas is asking for a LARGE number of terrorists prisoners in exchange for him. The last time there was a trade like this made (after the second lebanon war) all Israel got back were two mangled bodies. We all recieved balloons with his picture and "Gilad is still alive" written on them and we released them to the sky as a prayer for his survival and his safety.

Next, we got back on the bus and traveled to the site of a battle during the Yom Kippur war. There were old tanks around and the fort was still equipped with old guns and such. We got to wander around and climb through the tunnels and then we listened to our tour guide tell us the story of a battle fought there.

There were around 30 Israeli soldiers in this fort on the hill. The Syrians were attacking but the Israelis were out of ammo, so they called for back up and in the mean time hid in tiny bunkers as the Syrians came on the fort. A bomb went off right by one of the bunkers and made one of the soldiers deaf. Because he couldn't hear himself he began to scream and wouldnt stop. The commander ordered a soldier to strangle him so they wouldnt be discovered and all killed. The soldier couldnt do it and luckily found a stick and scratched "you're screaming" into the dirt on the floor and the deaf soldier finally stopped. After the Syrians came up on the fort one soldier left the bunker and told them that he was the only one left alive. They believed him, took him captive and then left the fort, saving the soldiers who had survived the mortar attcks as the Syrians advanced. He was rescued soon after.

Mine field, and the Syrian border (the dark line)

The last thing we did that day was go to a live fire demonstration. A retired General gave a speach that I didn't understand, and some soldiers sang songs, including Hatikvah. Then, tanks paraded by and fired at the hills in the distance. By this time it was late, I was exhausted and the tanks were loud and made everything shake...I was not so excited about it, but most people really loved it.

I don't know if you can see, but that is a guy on a Donkey riding through the parking lot...