Jordan 2010

Oops, I guess it has been awhile since I posted anything.  Been busy!  Having way to much fun!

Oct 14, Amman, Jordan to Laos

Today the Lebanese guy offered to drive us to Umm Qais.  A city on the border of Syria, Israel and Jordan, with views of Triberon Lake.  Took a couple of hours.  Was great.

Had to pass through a couple of check points.  At first they told us we could not pass, but then the Lebanese guy said something and the let us pass.  At the 2 check point they could not believe that we got though so let us pass.  Great view.

Headed back to Amman.  On the highway there were actually water pipe stops!

Got back to hotel and said good bye to Lebanese guy.

The Dutch couple had left in morning so the numbers were going down!

We went for a walk and found the market just around the corner.  Great.  Huge produce.  Eggplant, potatoes, figs, dates, cucumbers, cauliflower.  And lots more.

As usual there was the request to have picture taken!

Walked some more and found this little coffee shop in a dead end alley.  Sat down and had a great cup of Turkish coffee.  They put cardamon in it so has a different taste, but still great!  And more pictures of the 3 old guys sitting there.  We finished coffee and went to pay and the one guy had paid for our coffee.  This was so typical of how generous the Jordanians are.

I then decided to have a hair cut!  Well the French girl enjoyed this.  And the barber was not so sure that I wanted the cut I did!  But he did the cut.  This time my neck and sides were shaved with straight razor.  But this time for the stray hairs he used a piece of string to pull hairs.  First for me!  How he used the string to pull them I have no idea and could not get across to him to show us.  4 Jordanian dinars ($6).

Did some shopping and then back to hotel.  Got stopped by guy in small cafe across from hotel to taste his food.  It was excellent so decided to go back.  Turns out he was a chef and this was his shop!  Kofta with tahini sauce.  Excellent, and so easy (kofta is just hamburger).  Just as finished that a impromptu dart game was started by guys in shop next door and we ended up joining in!  Hilarious.  

Had to head off as English guy was at different hotel and wanted to go say good bye!  He flies out in morning.  His hotel was having party and he got invite for us.

We were first welcomed by the owner and given heck as we were late and there was food for us!  All in good fun.

Had a great visit and caught up on his Israel adventures.

A sad farewell to my traveling friend for the last 2 weeks, been great, but no good byes, just 'see you soon'!!!!!!

Now at airport. 1.16 am Friday morning and plane leaves at 2.10 am.

Going to be a long night and long day!

Jordan is an amazing place, and so difficult to put into words!  The sights are fantastic and people I met are just as, if not more fantastic.  So friendly and willing to help or to just talk.  Talking happened whether there was much English or not!  When the Jordanians asked where you are from, you always got a big 'welcome' from them.  Also it was very important to all that you enjoyed 'their' country.  So nice to see and hear and to experience it.

Sad to leave, which is always a good sign that the stay was great!

Oct 13, Amman, Jordan

Up in morning and out for walk!  Mist settled over all the valleys.  And cool.  Almost eerie!

Breakfast and then off to catch taxi.  The taxi to Amman was going to be too expensive, so went back to Aqaba.  They were caught a collective taxi to Amman.  These are taxis that you share with someone else.

Was a 3 1/2 hour ride, but made it back to Arab Tower Hotel to a warm welcome!

Turns out the dutch couple are also here!  Great reunion even though we only left them in Aqaba, 2 days ago.

Decided to go out for dinner.  A Lebanese guy joined us.  He was here for work.  Very nice man!

Gave each of us a book by Richard Branson.  Went out for mansaaf, the traditional Jordanian meal.  Meat, rice, and potatoes with a sauce.  This time were we told that is made with fermented sheeps milk so who knows what it really was.  Pretty good but the one we had in Petra was much better.  The Lebanese guy bought us all dinner.  Very nice.

Then out to a cafe for beers!  Ah!!!!  The first beer since being here!  WAs very good.  The restaurant was weird as you had to go through a bookstore to get there!  The view from terrace of the city was great.  Also almost everyone was smoking the water pipe!  The guy next to us had a whole bottom of Chivas on the table.  He looked like he was going to be there for a while!  Was another fun night with lots of laughs.

Oct 12, Wadi Rum, Jordan

The 2 of us caught a taxi to Wadi Rum. A Czech professor also joined us.  He had just finished the same chemistry conference on the Dead Sea that the guy from Portugal had.   Interesting, but they did not know each other.

Arrived in the village.  The scenery is great.  Met by host at Bedouin camp and had tea at his house.  He is a story teller.  The best is is imitation of French people trying to speak English with some Arabic thrown in!  The best was "shokran beaucoup" , half French and half Arabic.  It became the saying of the night.  Off with a guide in old Toyota truck across the desert.  Not all sand as there many high rock mountains that stick out of sand here and there.  It is really nice.  The driver did some driving on the dunes, and gave us a chance to walk on them.  Some of the sand is really red and some is beige.  The area is beautiful.  Interesting as the guide stopped in a place with no one else around, lit a fire, put on kettle for tea and made us lunch.  Tuna, olives, cheese, humus with lots of pita!  Very good.  Surprising how fast he started the fire and how little wood he used to boil the water.  Good thing as not much for wood around.

Did some walking on the sand and between the rock.  Not a lot of wild life.  Lizards and beetles!  Crows and that is about it!

Went to the camp.  Very simple.  No running water, but there was a generator behind a concrete building.  Turned out it only ran for a while.  Then the only light was the campfire and the lamps people had.

2 other couples joined us.  A German couple that have lived in London for 30 years and a Jordanian couple that were friends of German couple.  They too, lived in London for about 30 years but about 3 years ago moved back to Amman.  Both very nice, but funny to hear them speak as they seemed to have perfect and proper English accents!

Do not believe they were cut out for this kind of camp.  There were tents, with sand floors.  But luxuary as had foam mattresses and an variety of blankets all just piled up in the corner of the tent!  

The other couples had brought their own sleeping bags, sheets and pillows with covers.  Hilarious to watch them prepare for bed.  The sand was everywhere and they were not really into it!  Took about 30 minutes for them to prepare.  Me, 30 seconds.  Mattress and a couple of blankets.

Dinners was excellent.  Chicken, rice, potatoes cooked in 1 pot.  Of course pita bead and cheese.  And tea after.

Watched the sunset before dinner.  The sun goes down very fast and early.  Was about 6.30 and was dark.

After dinner did some talking but by 9.30 the other couples went to bed, so the French girl and I grabbed a mattress and took it out behind the tents to look at the stars.  No other lights around to a lot to see.  Could not find anything I could recognize except for the milky way!

Never heard any critters but there was a cat fight somewhere that was loud.  No wild big cats, but told that they were domestic cats gone wild.

Oct 11, Aqaba, Jordan

Today I had my final exam!  Stress!  But passed!

Back to hotel.  It the the Darna Village, and it is super!  The staff here are great and have spent a lot of time just talking.  Learned a lot about the life of Jordanians.

They will help you any way they can!

Snorkeled in afternoon and then spent the rest of the day talking to a couple from the Netherlands.

Had dinner at hotel and asked them to prepare a surprise!  We ended up with great fresh fish, calamari and prawns!  Excellent!

Then the Dutch lady and I felt we wanted something sweet - baklava was the choice!  But none here.  After some discussion, the Dutch guy took one of the manager's brothers and off to Aqaba to buy some baklava.  Only 12 km away!  It was great, had a variety of baklava, but they did have to go to 2 or 3 shops to find as they were sold out!

It was enjoyed by all when they got back.  The staff from hotel and some of their friends that were visiting!

Oct 10, Aqaba, Jordan

Up and off to dive centre.  So nice as they pick you up even though it is just up the road!

Had 2 dives today and more lessons.  Great as much more comfortable in the water and seeing so much more around me.

Also had to read part of a text book!  And do 3 quizzes!  Not really sure if that makes it a holiday any more!  But I did pass them.  

Went snorkeling again.  Saw a couple of sea snakes!  These look more like eels and live on the bottom.

So many fish and so many colours.  Like an aquarium in a pet store!

Caught a taxi into Aqaba, about 12 

Oct 9, Aqaba, Jordan

Went on another dive today at the Japanese Garden!  Here there was even more fish!  I think we found Nemo!  There are many of  them.

Beautiful colours in coral - red, pink, violet, beige.

he instructor picked up puffer fish (?) the one that expands itself to be huge.  amazing

Had to put under rock as it kept floating up.  At night the guy at hotel showed me the moon star, a star that follows the moon.  Quite the sight as the moon is just a sliver with the star beside.  He says it only is seen a few days each year.

Snorkeled again in afternoon.

Was planning on leaving the next day but the French woman and I decided to take the PADI lessons.  Funny as we were both thinking the same thing!

Oct 8, Aqaba, Jordan

So easy to get very lazy here!  Sit over looking the Gulf of Aqaba, part of Red Sea.

But we did actually do something.  

Went diving!  I first put my contacts in.  Damn I had been missing a lot with out them.  It was great.  Introductory lesson and then into the water.  They took us to an army tank sunk just off of shore.

Lazy afternoon again, but did go snorkeling.

Oct 7, Aqaba, Jordan

The 3 of us caught a taxi to Acaba.  We were headed to one place but ended up at another, friends of driver!  But turns out this place is new and just across the road from The Red Sea, actually, the Gulf of Aqaba which is part of Red Sea.  Great place and fairly new!

Spent a lazy day snorkeling on the reefs which are very close to shore.  The fish and coral is great.

Then did nothing for the rest of the day!  I needed to recover from the 2 10 or 11 hour days of hiking!

Oct 6, Petra, Jordan

3 of us caught a taxi to Little Petra and had a tour with local guide.  He climbs so fast and agile and he had us follow him.  This is very nice, a smaller version of Petra.

In Little Petra there is a house that still has some of the painted walls.  Flowers, vines and pictures.  Had tea with a lady along the way, these are everywhere, and continued on to some great look outs over the wadi.

Then the guide showed us how to make the sand bottles.  He gave us directions to Big Petra, so we headed off.  It should take about 3 hours.  But somewhere we missed a corner.  We were following yellow painted rocks, where we supposed to or not.  So was really a very scenic tour!  But we spotted the large flags at the Monastery and Aaron's tomb, so we knew the general direction to go.  Back tracked a bit and headed down a canyon!  Walked by some more 'houses' carved out of rock.  Some were very small and not sure what use they would be.  The closer we got to Petra the caves and momuments became larger and more frequent.  Amazing the work!

but could see the Monestary lookout and Aaron's tomb so knew direction.

But made it back to the museum and ran into the guy on donkeys that met the day before.  The funny part is that he knew we were in Little Petra as his friend told him he had seen us pass through his village -  everyone knows everyone!

Went up to the look out over the Treasury and watched the sun go down and had great views of the Treasury!

Back to same restaurant for dinner and then got invited to one of the guys house for tea.  Was a late night.

Oct 5, Petra, Jordan

This morning we had an early start to the day.

Walking through the entry to the Treasury is very different by day than at night!  he size of the cliffs is huge.  Told about 100 meters and very narrow in places.  Amazing how they work for saving water.  They have carved a ditch in the side of the cliff to carry the water to the cisterns.  And then around the one corner you can see a part of the Treasury framed by the cliffs.  Amazing!

Continued walking and headed up the many many stairs to the High Place of Sacrifice.  Many women with they jewelery spread out on blankets or boards.  The view from the top is something.  There is a carved out rectangle for seating with an alter for the high priests and for the sacrifice.  There is a little place for the blood to run off.

Also here there are 2 obelisks that have been carved out.  Or should I say they have carved the mountain away and left the obelisks.  Always it is something to see the amount of work that went into the carved out areas.  Most of Petra has been carved out of the sides of the mountains, but there are a few buildings that have been built with stone bricks.

We walked down the alternate way.  The path had many steps as well, but around each corner and over every hill there was another very impressive monument or tomb.  All of them have varying amounts of detail.  Some are Nebetean, or Roman. The Garden and wall, the Soldier's tomb and the lion fountain.are probably the most impressive.

Very hot and the walking is exhausting.  Stopped for lunch near the museum and the London guy walked by!  He joined us and after a bit of rest we headed off for the Monastery.  2 people rode the donkeys and 2 of us walked.  We actually caught up with them having tea witha group of Bedouins part way up the mountain.  

I do not think any of the 4 of us saw anything on the way up as the other 2 were telling us about the donkey ride up.  It was hilarious just watching them relive the ride.  The donkeys have a mind of their own!!-

 The monument is probably more impressive than the Treasury as there is more detail to the structure, but the room inside is very small and does not come close to the size of the the monument.

There are 4 look outs from here each one is great!  You can see Aaron's tomb, the burial place of the brother of Moses.  

We walked down and was jetting close to sunset, so we to the Royal tombs to have a look and to watch the sunset.  The Royal tombs are very large with many rooms inside.  The carvings are very impressive as well.  

The one Bedouin found us again!  The man is nuts!  But funny!  He actually climbed up the side of one of the tombs.  He did say that tomorrow he would show us the view point that over looks the Treasury.

It was about 7.30 by the time we got back to the hotel.  Quick shower and off to the Al-Deir restaurant, the same as last night.

Tonight they just brought us a dish!  Chicken with rice and a yogurt/curried sauce.  Excellent!

Another late night as we ended up having tea and chatting until late.