marvelous mecca

there are a couple of places that i have on my 'to do' list, mecca being one of them. after dinner last night it is regrettably being promptly removed, not due to any animosity towards the holy land from my side, oh contre...

according to a learned friend of mine i would not be welcome, because of my, well, infidel status. apparently i would tarnish its image or mess things up with my heathen spirit. then i am told theres the fact that during hajj all the shops get left open - people are very trusting, and as i am not of the faith i cant really be trusted and might be unable to resist temptation and nick everything...

ok c'mon, where are we, the dark ages? what, just because i don't pray to allah i might have a penchant for sticky fingers... palease. saints don't pray to allah either hence the hand chopping rules in those there parts!

the fact that i might dirty the city with my little non-believing footprints or rob everyone blind didn't really bother me much, what i thought was weird was the fact that i actually cant go there. i thought with respect, that maybe it is over hajj that i am not welcome cos there are heaps of people who deserve to be there more than me during this over crowded time but actually i am eternally banished from this city. i can never walk into it as long as i am not bowing 5 times on friday in its general direction.

this is mind blowing. so i reconciled my banishing order with an attempt at rational thought... zip, nadda, zilch... what is the rationale behind this oddity? maybe some enlightened spirit out there can point in the right direction cos i am wondering what the reception would be if jerusalem closed its gates, told the tourists to piss off and check it out on the web or if the vatican decided ha ha ha u non-catholics (they would of course also exclude all christians of other denominations) u cant come and explore our hidden crypts, what would the general world response be?