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Ashleigh has always wanted to take the five common transportation methods in one single day: Bus, Boat, Plane, Train & Car, and today was our lucky day. After another big breakfast we said goodbye to our host and walked to the bus stop. The bus took us down to the ferry, which we now had to pay for. The boat left on time and made the crossing in twenty minutes. On the other side it was time to get on the hour long bus to the airport across Malta. We checked into our flight, grabbed lunch and then boarded our flight to Germany. We sat in the very back of the plane and watched movies for most of the flight. We arrived to a grey and rainy sky, typical welcome to Germany weather. We had half an hour to get to the train station so we quickly ran for the sky train and ten minutes later we got to the airport train station. A guy approached us stating he bought the wrong day ticket, asking if we could take it from him and in exchange buy one for the next day. It did seem a little odd, but we did help him out. The ticket he gave us looked good, but later on, after careful examination I noticed the name used to be written on it and was erased. Luckily nobody checked our ticket so it worked out ok. He probably used his today and then resold the one we gave him, ending up with a free ride.
The train was delayed, and worse yet, it didn’t stop in Cologne, but instead on the outskirts, meaning we wouldn’t catch our connecting train. The reason for it, was that all trains were not allowed to go through the Cologne Messe/Deutz station due to a bomb being disarmed. It was discovered while they were doing construction and had to disarm it. Apparently this is a weekly event! We had to go through that station to get to Wissen, so were hopeful that it wouldn’t last long. Otherwise it would mean a very long detour around taking multiple hours. When we got near Cologne, a train that would get us closer just sat there waiting for the green light. Instead of going around we just waited ten minutes at which point the conductor told us that the restriction was lifted and all trains would now continue through that station. Even though this train wouldn’t get us all the way he advised us to jump in, since there would be delays everywhere around Cologne now due to many trains having to wait for the bomb to get disarmed. At some point outside the city at a stop, we noticed a train stop across from us at the same time, one that would get us within one stop of our final destination, so we quickly ran out and hopped in. When we finally got to the end of the line we only had to wait fifteen minutes for the last train to take us the four minutes to Wissen. At this point we were an hour later than expected, but my grandma was patiently waiting in the parking lot. We got to her place by car around 9pm, ate dinner, chatted for a bit and called it a night. It was a big travel day with some unexpected delays, but it’s nice to be with family, not having to look for restaurants anymore. Let’s hope the weather improves so Ashleigh doesn’t have to leave Germany with a grey impression. It is hardly worth writing about today, as it was a true vacation day. Our BnB is amazing and the breakfast this morning was massive. Betty, our host made multiple cakes, put out a big selection of cheeses, all of which I had to try of course and made sure we didn’t leave hungry. The guesthouse is small, only has three rooms and a private pool. After breakfast we warmed up on the rooftop terrace that overlooks the island of Gozo, with distant views across to Malta. To cool off we jumped in the pool, many times and spent the entire morning rotating between the pool and our lounging chairs. I was finally able to finish my book, which I started in Central Asia and Ashleigh got a good tan. For lunch we strolled into town to the only open restaurant. The town is quiet, most stores only open for a few hours and are all closed between noon and 4pm. The afternoon looked similar to our morning - more pool time, playing cards and drinking beer. It was nice to have a full day to relax, after a busy week in Israel. Before dinner we did walk around the edge of town, and were treated to a panoramic view of the surrounding sea. Dinner was the same as last night, but the town centre was a little more alive this time. The sunset was best enjoyed from our rooftop, and the colours were incredible. Across on Malta, we saw some fireworks and then as it become dark, we watched the bats on their hunt.
Refreshed and refuelled from our mini vacation we are ready to head to Germany to visit friends and family. Gozo and the neighbouring islands have a lot to offer in terms of activities and sightseeing, but we came here to stop running around and to just stay put. It was the perfect end to our month long adventure around Central Asia and the Middle East. Tomorrow we will be back to the familiar. The last week has been pretty packed with sightseeing and traveling, and we are both ready for a break, some relaxation time to do nothing. As our holiday from our holiday we picked Malta, a small Mediterranean island nation south of Italy on our way into Europe.
But before we left Jerusalem, we still had a morning to finish up the sightseeing. We started by heading to Mount Zion to visit the tomb of King David. I entered the men’s section which was packed with guys reading books in Hebrew and took a quick look at the tomb. Ashleigh entered from the women’s side and got in trouble for not covering up enough, but still got to see the simple tomb. Afterwards we visited the room of the last supper and got an overview of the area from above. We then headed towards the Garden of Gethsemane and Mount of Olives stopping at a few more interesting sights, but the highlight was a viewpoint of the old city from near the top. On the way back we cut through the old city and followed the famous Via Dolorosa trail, the path Jesus took with the cross. At that point it was time to head back to the hostel, pack up and go to the bus station. We waited at the station for some time, when the bus finally arrived. We were cutting it a bit close, but when we arrived at the airport we still had fifteen minutes to complete check in. Security and customs were a breeze and once we got through, we ended up getting delayed by over an hour. The flight to Malta went by quickly with the help of a movie and three hours later we landed! Everything is very different again, more greenery but quite rocky. The Roman alphabet is finally here for good, and English is around us. People speak Maltese but what we have heard so far sounds very much like Italian. Our timing to catch the bus was perfect as it arrived a few minutes late. The hour and half long bus ride was an excellent way to get an overview of the main island. However, our stay would be on a nearby island called Gozo, a quiet getaway in a small town. We also timed the ferry perfectly with five minutes to spare. We didn’t have to buy a ticket, since there is no other way to get back to the main island so they collect the money on the way back. The ferry ride was just long enough to catch up on writing and then we arrived on Gozo. We were able to use our previous bus ticket to hop on a ten minute ride up the hill to the small town of Qala. Our BnB is very cozy and quiet. The host made us brownies and left them in our room. We headed down the street to the only open restaurant for dinner and had pizza and beers. The pace is slow here, stores close for most of the afternoon and early at night. For tonight we just walked back and called it a day. After another comfy night in our luxury tent we left early going further south towards Wadi Rum, The Valley of pillars, a desert dotted with mountains. We stopped at a high viewpoint to say goodbye to Petra and then drove for two hours.
We arrived in Wadi Rum and were greeted by small pickup trucks that had seats in the box, our “safari” vehicles. We drove through the desert and our first stop was at a small hill that we all climbed, to get a better view of the area. The movie “The Martian” was filmed here and this is exactly what this place looks like - Mars. Our second stop was at some petroglyphs and this is where we had the option to ride a camel for half an hour to the next stop. We definitely didn’t want to ride the camel, after having experienced the uncomfortable ride a few times in some of our other travels. About half the group went for it and the rest jumped back into the trucks. Apparently these weren’t the friendliest camels, a little boy almost fell off and switched his ride and then a guy fell along the way when a camel decided to go running away on its own. We got to the next stop and enjoyed some hot tea and shade. We accidentally left one of our group members at the last stop and once we realized this, our guide was driving back to get him. Luckily some Bedouin people offered the lost person a camel to meet the car half way. For lunch we stopped at a dome building, similar to the ones from the movie actually. It was fully air conditioned and we had the best lunch here. The Wadi Rum is a unique place that may also best be known from the Lawrence of Arabia story that took place here. It is very close to Saudi Arabia, so we have now crossed Jordan from north to south and it was time to head back up. The four hour drive to Amman went by slowly and included two breaks, at both it took way too long for everyone to get back on the bus. The final descent to the Dead Sea border was a welcoming change of scenery from the desert views. We arrived at the border around 7pm. There were many checkpoints after we left Jordan which took up quite a bit of time. The Israel crossing went smoothly this time and they didn’t even look through our passports when we mentioned that we were on an organized tour. Our Israel vans were waiting on the other side. Ashleigh and I got on our bus back to Jerusalem, but once it was full they realized that four people couldn’t fit on. They read off a list and our names were on the Tel Aviv bus list. The driver become quite vocal saying we need to switch to the Tel Aviv bus, but I told him that we booked the tour from Jerusalem, our bags are in Jerusalem and we already have a paid room at the same place, Abraham hostel that we left from. He basically called me a liar saying I wasn’t telling the truth and that we booked from Tel Aviv. After some back and forth the two drivers decided they would just stop at Jerusalem, a 5 minute detour. It was a bad end to our trip, but overall the tour was amazing. We arrived to Jerusalem late at night, ate some food and chilled on the rooftop with a bottle of wine. Today was all about Petra, the former seven world wonder and a world heritage site. We left at 8am and arrived shortly after at the gates of Petra. Once inside we had a ten minute walk to the beginning of the interesting part. Part of the ticket includes a horse ride to the start, but the horses just walk beside you, at the same pace so we all walked. Then things become interesting, the siq, a narrow passage way winding it’s way through a canyon is the entrance to Petra. Originally this was the path the river took, but the Nabateans diverted the water by damming the entrance gate therefore creating an impressive entrance way, the only way in. It was a long walk through the canyon and we stopped often to admire the high walls. Eventually the path opens up to a small plaza and of course the popular and magnificent treasury. We spent some time here taking in the carved out facade. The Nabateans architectural style is unique as it uses elements from the Greek and Egyptian styles, making any foreign visitor at that time feel at home. Our tour continued further in to the centre of Petra stopping at tombs, the amphitheatre which was fully chiseled out and some temples.
After lunch we had our own time to explore Petra. We went up the few hundred steps to the monastery with a Mexican couple from our group. The many shops made conversations difficult, but we still passed the time by talking, trying to ignore the beating midday sun. The monastery in our opinion is even more beautiful and sits high atop a mountain. There was a lookout that we quickly scrambled up to in order to get a distant view of the monastery and the surrounding mountains & desert. On the way down I helped a local lady move her jewellery table and in return she gave Ashleigh a necklace, a nice gesture since everyone else was touting us with the common repetitive phrases (cheap price, come back later, look for free) We descended quickly and then made our way across the open field to the royal tombs. We stopped at two more temples one with impressive floor mosaics, but were otherwise exposed to the full heat of the day. We each drank three litres of water today, and got a good sunburn, but it was well worth it. We did bring our own water but still had to dish out four dollars for a new bottle each in Petra; water is at a premium cost here and probably the most we have ever paid. Near the tombs a trail goes up to a panoramic view of the entire city and after descending a short trail, we arrived above the treasury, an exposed dead end cliff. The views from above are perfect and we both sat down to take it all in. We had five hours of free time and thought it would be way too much, but with all the hiking it was time to go back, which was yet another hour walk. We cruised back to the treasury and arrived at a good time to see the building in the rose red colour with the evening light. The siq was now empty and shaded, which made for a pleasant walk back. Our small group made it back in time, but some people were an hour late, severely underestimating the long trek back. Some took mules up to the sights, but we hiked the entire day. Petra is an amazing city that impressed us both and we are happy that we spend an entire day here instead of a half day which a lot of groups are doing. We walked over 20km in the heat and were exhausted by the time we got back to the camp. After dinner and a shower we laid near the fire, chatted with the group for a bit and then headed to bed. Our hostel offered a great 3-day tour of Jordan which we joined this morning after a quick breakfast. If we had more time we may have attempted Jordan on our own, but the price and value for the tour was quite good plus it gives us a chance to relax since everything is taken care of. There are 18 people in our group from different countries and our minibus took us to the northern border near the Jordan river, a two hour drive mostly through the West Bank. Once we paid the steep exit fee of $32 dollars each, we were allowed to exit Israel. On the other side our Jordanian guide met us and we were all seated while waiting for customs to get ready for our group. If one stays at least two nights in Jordan, the visa fee is waived, another reason we decided to at least spend that much time in Jordan. Ashleigh got stamped in, but I filled out a form so my passport wouldn’t get stamped. Even though it’s a Jordan entry stamp it would be quite obvious that I had visited Israel with my new passport, something I was trying to avoid as to not limit our future travels to countries that do not let you in, if you have any evidence of having been to Israel in your passport. Ashleigh’s passport is full and up for renewal, so that wasn’t an issue for her.
Once we got into Jordan we drove through some small towns heading for Jerash, a city in the northern part of Jordan. We stopped for lunch at a buffet place and then arrived at the ancient city of Jerash, a Greek Roman Ruin and one of the better preserved ones since it was buried until fairly recently. Our guide explained the main sights in detail, such as the gate, hippodrome, amphitheatre and Temple of Zeus. The layout is fairly typical of a Roman city with the Main Street, the cardo running north to south, except that the southern gate was not in line and as to work around that issue, instead of destroying the Greek parts of the city the Romans made the plaza oval and offset the road to the other end making it look like it’s straight, quite clever. We had an hour of free time to explore the remaining ruins and temples which we enjoyed any time we could find shade. In the afternoon we headed to Amman, the capital of Jordan. Since we were already behind schedule we just got a driving tour of the big city, but we did stop for some sweets! The rest of the drive went well, and the desert started and stayed with us. The sunset was beautiful as always over a desert and we arrived at the Bedouin camp in the dark. The sandstone rock formations around the camp were all lit up, making the camp look like a massive city until we got closer. The tents are very modern and have actual beds inside of them. Ashleigh and I got our own small tent for the next two nights. Dinner was buffet style and afterwards we sat around the fire having some sweet tea, similar to Berber whiskey in Morocco, very sweet! By the time we finished up it was already eleven o clock and bed time. Our dorm roomies were very respectful when they came in early in the morning so we had a good sleep. After the typical hostel style buffet breakfast (bread, spreads and veggies) we walked to the central bus station and got on a bus to the Dead Sea. The bus went east and we passed the sea level mark half an hour later, but kept descending. Right before the Jordan border the bus turned south into the West Bank and paralleled the Dead Sea for the remainder of the drive. We stopped at the mountain city of Masada but didn’t get off and instead kept going until we were south of Palestine again. We jumped out at Ein Bekek a small town lined with big resorts. The beach in this area was fantastic, clean and with shaded areas. We waded into the Dead Sea and were floating around for a few minutes in the lukewarm water. It was very salty and Ashleigh somehow managed to get some water in her eye so had to run out to rinse it. We jumped in a couple times more and then rinsed off. It was starting to get really hot so we waited for the bus to take us back.
Back in Jerusalem we had lunch and relaxed for a bit before we joined a free walking tour of the old city. The guide was great explaining each quarter of the old city in detail as we went through the Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian quarter. We stopped at a nice viewpoint of the western wall that was packed with people praying and military guys dancing around. While we were up there, a wedding party came charging in, asking us to move and they had the wedding there on the spot. We watched it for a while but didn’t make it until the breaking of the glass. The rest of the tour was informative and we ended up at the church of the holy sepulchre. Even though it was already late at night the church was busy, especially the spot that marks the grave of Jesus and the hill of crucifixion. We hurried through those areas, but found some quieter spots in the Armenian side of the church to admire the old rock on to which this place was build. For dinner we had some pizza again as we walked back along the main road lined with shops and restaurants. The days seem to go by fast, as we are busy walking around, so we are looking forward to more of a driving day tomorrow as we head to Jordan. After a cold beer it was bedtime! We surprisingly still woke up around 8am and headed for a nice cafe next door for breakfast. The food and drinks were amazing, my favourite part were of course the olives & cheese, Ashleigh liked the real coffee! Tel Aviv is very different now that it is daylight, and the area is dotted with cafes and nice restaurants. All we wanted to do this morning was to have some beach time, so we got on the bus. Half an hour later we realized that this was the wrong bus, the right number but opposite direction so we were way out of town. This wasted a good hour since we had to get back, and we didn’t have enough money to buy our return journey. The bus driver was kind enough to let us ride back for free. When we finally arrived in Old Jaffa south of Tel Aviv, one of the oldest known harbours, we were ready for the beach. But first we checked out the small port, and took in the view of Tel Aviv. After walking around Old Jaffa for a bit, we then headed back along the shore to find a beach. It was already noon and the weather quite warm, a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean was perfect! We were supposed to meet one of our friends for lunch so we hurried back to the hotel to shower and get ready. Unfortunately our lunch meet didn’t work out, but we found a local restaurant instead and Ashleigh got her falafel. The buildings around our area are supposed to be in some bauhaus architectural style, but to us they just look like white buildings with round balconies. Tel Aviv is a decent city, but we were not impressed yet so we won’t be staying around for too long.
In the afternoon we checked out and headed for the bus terminal. We got there and just made it in time for the Jerusalem bus. It was only a 45 minute ride and the city of Jerusalem is impressive, hilly and full of all kinds of different people. Our first impression was very good and we will spend some time exploring it. We walked to our hostel and this will be our only dorm room for this trip, so we shall see how travellers are nowadays in dorms. We will have a lot of time here tomorrow, and since the evening was still young we figured why not try to go over to the West Bank in Palestine for a little walk around Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Google maps failed us when it came to directions and we ended up somewhere south of the city, but the bus to Palestine never showed up. Locals were pointing us at a different bus, but when asking the driver we still weren’t sure. Another bus fail, another hour wasted and we headed back to the old city to find another way over. The hourly bus was done for the day, but a local guy assured us that the same bus that we almost got on further south would take us to the checkpoint right by Bethlehem. We got on hoping for the best and half an hour later we did arrive at the massive wall that was separating the West Bank from Israel. This was a shocking sight, the wall was at least 10 meters high, topped by razor wire and made of pure concrete; the area around the wall was filled with garbage and the small door that lead through was a strange thing to see. One by one we went through the revolving gate and went through the wall. On the other side taxi drivers swarmed us offering a ride to the church of nativity for outrageous prices. We were hoping to find a reasonable ride so when a guy accepted $15 for the 10 minute ride we got in. Seconds later I realized that I only brought enough money for the buses and we didn’t even have enough to pay the taxi. He let us out, a sign that obviously all other tourists are at least paying that much for a roundtrip of a few kilometers. It was already after 6pm, but we decided to just walk and see how far we would get. The wall does a good job of making this area seem like a completely different place. People are different, the noises are different, but we like it. Cars are clogging the roads and shopowners welcome us around each corner to take a look at their goods. We keep walking and enter the smaller souqs that are attractive and easy to follow surprisingly. All of a sudden a big church appears in front of us near the top of a hill and we have arrived at the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the church of nativity. The church is open until 730pm and we just made it on time. It wasn’t overwhelmingly busy, since it was later at night so we did get a glimpse inside and even checked out the supposedly exact spot of the manger, a now stuffy & small area underneath the church. We walked back hoping to beat the dark, and traffic was getting worse as it was prayer time around us. By the time we got back to the wall, it was pitch black. We went through multiple gates and some Israeli soldiers waved us through welcoming us back to the other side. The wall on the Palestinian side is plastered with art, quotes and stories of people which was interesting to read. Our bus was there within minutes and took us back to the old city area. It was already 9pm by the time we found a few slices of pizza and a park. It has been a long day, but we felt energized and are glad that we ended up going into the West Bank for a look around. Today was a big travel day to say the least. Our next country was Belarus, but it was only a short day visit! Our day started with a 2am wake up call, some yoghurt and miserable weather in Astana, Kazakhstan. For some reason they love middle of the night flights in Central Asia, so we had to arrive and depart this way. It was time to say goodbye to Central Asia, the many adventures, great people and beautiful scenery. It feels like we have been on the road for months and our pace is just right, we are ready for something different! Our 4am flight left on time and arrived in the capital of Belarus - Minsk four hours later just before 6am.
Belarus has recently relaxed their visa restrictions so we figured why not take advantage of visa free entry, the only catch was one has to arrive and depart from Minsk international airport (as of even more recently it is now also possible to enter at various other spots visa free - even better for future travellers!). We got stamped in after very careful examination of our passport, to ensure it was not a fake, and after checking our travel insurance document, the first time we had to show proof. We were hoping to dump our bags in luggage storage, but the Belarusian lady just pointed at a sign that stated we needed security to check our contents first before able to leave it; she wasn’t very helpful and we didn’t want to waste more time looking for security. After a twenty minute queue to exchange a few dollars to rubles we just made the 720am bus into the city. The airport is about an hour away from the centre, so we got to see some of the surrounding area and the bus was going down one of the main boulevards, so we saw half of the main sights before even getting off. Our next flight wasn’t for another twelve hours so we had plenty of time to explore. We got off at the train station, which I vaguely remember from my trip through Belarus many years ago, now it was time to actually see this city. Luggage storage was cheaper and smoother at the train station and before doing anything we had McDonald’s breakfast, all Ashleigh wanted was some McDonald’s coffee so we found it to give us a boost from the short nights sleep. We walked up the Main Street stopping at the Lenin statue, and snapping pictures of the many cool buildings. Minsk is a modern city, and bustling this early in the day already with locals heading to work. The famous red church was under construction, yet another church that was getting fixed...the big square is miniature compared to the red square in Moscow, but still a neat place. Since we had so much time we slowly walked around trying to cross as many parks as possible to get to the next place. At one park we had a quick break, and watched the Thai national taekwondo team practice. The world championship is on this week so many nations were in the area. The rebuilt ballet and opera theatre was of course playing a show tonight, but we would not be able to make it. For once we did go to a museum and almost spent two hours in it! The Belarusian state museum of the history of the great patriotic war, in short a ww2 museum. It was probably one of the best I have been too, perhaps only being topped by the Volgograd museum. The many displays were well done and well explained in chronological order, with a big focus on the part Belarus had during this time and after the war. For lunch we also had McDonald’s, that should carry us over for a few months, if not years. We walked through the upper town in the morning and since we liked the area so much, we wandered the small streets some more in the afternoon, hunting down a shot glass souvenir. Our long walk back to the central bus station only included a stop with a short nap in a park. We got to the airport a bit early, found a sleeping lounge and are now getting ready for our next flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel has been on our list for almost as long as Central Asia, and we are happy that we found a good flight that connected the two areas with a pit stop in Belarus. We will say goodbye to the Cyrillic alphabet, the friendly and inviting (now more cheeky since we are much closer to Russia) people and are excited for a new place, people and experiences. It will be a long travel day, but tomorrow should be a fresh start to a new adventure! The flight to Tel Aviv was a nightmare, it all started with a lady making a big deal about anyone putting anything in the luggage bin above her, as she had some fragile dishes in there. The flight attendants weren’t helping either. We found a spot for our bags further back, but the show didn’t end there. During the entire flight, which is only just over three hours, it’s worth mentioning, people were lining up through half the plane to go to the bathroom, some even went twice. It was impossible for the flight attendants to deliver drinks or food that way and they became agitated also. The kid behind us didn’t help the situation by kicking his seat every five minutes and asking how much longer it was until we landed. We tried to sleep, but it always failed because of all the noises and movement, a rough last flight after being up for 24 hours. When we finally landed we sprinted to the customs line to get away from it all. The customs agent did not like our Afghanistan visa at all, and questioned us hard for many minutes. His supervisor finally told him it’s fine and to let us get on our way. We had five minutes left to catch the half hourly train into the city and we ran to the ticket counter and got our tickets. It was a short ride and since we had no shekels yet we were forced to walk the last 2km from the station to the hotel. It was past midnight and the first impression of the area was dirty and dark. The usual nightly creatures were lining the streets but we walked with confidence and once we got closer to the Rothschild boulevard, the buildings and people changed to a typical night crowd, youngsters at fancy clubs and bars. All we wanted was sleep, and our boutique hotel had the answer with a comfy bed and hot shower. Tomorrow is another day, or today I guess... It was time to explore some more of Astana and that means walking, a lot. Even though we can see most buildings from the distance it seems to take forever to get to any of them. This time we decided to take a bus to a farther spot and then work our way back. We got off near the presidential palace and walked up to it to take a closer look, but nobody seemed to be home. Near the palace there are many ministry buildings and an out of place concert hall that has an interesting design. We crossed the bridge and on the other side there are a few museums all very impressively designed but closed since it’s Monday. We did peak inside one of the biggest mosques though at least.
Instead of backtracking we hopped on a bus back to the presidential palace and continued the other way until it started to pour. We hid out at a restaurant and had lunch while waiting out the rain. It did let off a bit and we managed to see the famous tower with the golden egg, but did not go up to its viewing area. We walked for quite some time in the afternoon, passing by the circus, the oceanarium and a miniature model of Kazakhstan which was in rough shape. At one point a car drove by and splashed us both with dirty puddle water, so that wasn’t fun. After six hours of walking we jumped back on the bus and made our way to the hotel. We grabbed our bags and took a taxi to our guesthouse for the night which is not in the city, so we get to see how people are living away from all of the high rise buildings. From our guesthouse we had a fifteen minute walk to the nearest restaurant which was a fancy Chinese place that had some good food. We didn’t bring our jackets and as we were leaving it started to downpour. We ran back trying to find shelter every so often, but still arrived back at the guesthouse soaked. |
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November 2022
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