Abu Dhabi Time
I have been back on the go. The Islamic holiday of Eid happened to fall in such a way this year that we got a whole week off from school! I decided to join my friends Nes and Claire for a week in Jordan. They both flew in a couple days before me to go to Israel, but unfortunately, were turned away after spending the whole day at the border trying to cross. I flew in directly from Abu Dhabi to Amman and then took a taxi about an hour to downtown Amman to meet them. I am not a huge fan of traveling into foreign countries alone, but I am getting more comfortable with it. A week in a new country is a lot to cover and blog about, so I guess I will just tell it in chronological order.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Flight left Abu Dhabi at 8am and arrived in Amman at 10am (Only a three-hour flight with a one-hour time change). I took a taxi downtown to meet the girls and we got in another taxi for the supposed three-hour trip to Petra. Our taxi driver to Petra was very sweet, but quite old and barely went over 50km per hour, which is about 30mph on a straight highway that was a speed limit of 100km per hour, which is 60mph. We kept telling him to please drive faster, but our attempts were pretty useless. At one point there was a police roadblock that had us pull over, and I understood enough Arabic to know the police asked him why he was driving so slow and told him he must drive at least 100. The police officer even reached inside the car to point to 100 on the speedometer for him. Shukran to that police officer, because for about 20 minutes our driver actually drove 100. Then, back down to 50. After about 3 hours we were still another 60km from Petra and losing patience. It got dark and the old man had trouble seeing the road and I was trying to keep him from driving into oncoming traffic. He was now traveling about an average of 30km per hour, which is 18mph. There were some points where I thought I literally could have jogged faster than he was driving. I would have gotten out and hopped into another cab, but we were in the middle of the desert without another cab in sight. The additional 60km took us about 2 hours. Finally we arrived at our hotel, the Petra Diamond Hotel. It looked deserted, and only had one small light on in the lobby. Turned out we were the only guests there. Interesting. In Jordan, the hotels are either really expensive, brand new resort-type hotels, or really old run down hotels. Guess which one we were in.. LOL.. The staff was friendly and always offered us tea, the lobby had Wi-Fi, and I had a bed to sleep in. On the other hand, the toilet didn't flush in the room, so we had to go to the lobby bathroom, and the furniture in the room was very old and my comforter had some interesting stains on it.
Anyway, we got settled in the hotel:
Hotel Lobby:
Hotel front patio:
Front of our hotel:
View from the patio:
The first evening we ventured out to the downtown area. The first thing I noticed was the absence of women. Men were all over the streets and cruising in their cars playing loud music, but there were no women in sight. We headed out to find food, and came across a nice looking restaurant with outdoor seating and a man cooking on a grill that smelled delicious. It was called the Petra Butchery and Restaurant. I had the most amazing shish tawook sandwich, and the Bedouin tea was the best tea I ever tasted! It was cheap and delicious. Just glad I didn't order the "mince meet, uncocked".. The misspellings always amuse me!
This is Mohamed who owned the restaurant. Super nice guy!
Our less-than-thrilling hotel breakfasts.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Today was our main day in Petra to see the ruins. These ruins are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and many people remember them from Indiana Jones. I have to admit, I am not very well-versed in the history of this region or the era of history, so I listened to our tour guide and enjoyed seeing the cool buildings made from rocks, but my understanding of who the people were that built them and why and when is quite limited. Cool nonetheless.
Ruins, ruins, and more ruins
Camel selfie!!!
My minion made it almost to the top!
I thought this was appropriate since my blog is named after "The Rose That Grew From A Crack in the Concrete", here is a tree doing the same thing!
Now this was really cool, we were sitting in the café area resting when I heard someone call my name. It was my former vice-principal from the UAE who had moved to Jordan with her family!! Can you believe it!?!?!?
We hired a tour guide. He was really nice, and very long-winded.
The area was huge, so we rented some donkeys to drag us around.
I guess because I lived in Atlanta for so long, I really grew to love Coca-Cola. Not so much drinking it, but just having it feel a bit like "home". In the World of Coke Museum in Atlanta, there is a movie they show you about how Coke is bottled and distributed around the world, and for some reason that fascinated me. So now, whenever I travel I end up taking pictures of interesting Coke stuff. I wrote a letter to Coke telling them I had some really nice pictures I would like to share with them, but have not yet heard back.
This is some sort of old Coke machine out in the middle of nowhere in Petra. I like how the writing is in English and Arabic.
And this is my favorite. As we were walking along, I saw camels actually guzzling soda on their own. One was drinking a Coke, but the picture didn't turn out very good, but I love this one of a camel enjoying a Fanta, which is also a Coke product.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Our taxi picked us up from our hotel around 10:00am and a little after noon we arrived at the Movenpick Resort at the Dead Sea. Near the Dead Sea, on the Jordan side, there are few hotels. There are a few very pricey resorts, but not many hotels. We decided we would only spend the day at the Dead Sea and go back to Amman the same day. We decided to just pay the entry fee into the resort and the entry fee into the spa and make it a nice relaxing day. Because of the situations with the showers in Jordan either being barely functional or not really having a real shower at all, one reason we really chose to pay for the spa entry was so we could have a real shower.
Anyway, the Movenpick was a beautiful resort and right on the Dead Sea. Since it is really just the Dead Sea and a typical resort, there isn't a whole lot to report. It was beautiful though.
We decided to go to the Dead Sea first.. For some reason we had pictured a beach leading to it, and I guess some resorts do have the beach, however the Movenpick really just had stairs leading to the rocky shore with a small pier to help you get in and out of the water.
If you aren't familiar with the Dead Sea, it is the Earth's lowest point, 1,388 feet below sea level. The water there has an insane amount of salt in it, 33.7% salinity to be exact. Because of this, it is recommended you stay in the water no longer than 20 minutes. They also recommend you don't go in with any cuts or sores, and also recommend women do not shave their legs before going swimming. I didn't even know I had any tiny scratches on my knee, but within a few minutes my knee was on fire and I could see huge puffy red scratches. Because of the salinity of the water, you float even if you don't intend to. I am a former swimmer and lifeguard, and have never had water control me. However, the water is so salty anytime I would attempt to float upright (in a standing position), the buoyancy would force my legs out from under me and I would end up on my back or stomach.
Here is us floating - by the way if you look closely, you can see Israel in the background. On the rock in the foreground you can see the top is white, these are actually really large salt crystals.
The Dead Sea is know for it's mineral rich mud. Many cosmetic companies swear by it and sell it around the world. Near the water there are pots of mud you can spread on your body. You let it bake onto you in the sun for about 10 minutes. I am not sure I felt any different after, maybe just dirtier.
After swimming in the sea, we took time just to clean up, lay by the pools, and enjoy some beverages. Right before it was time to shower and get ready for dinner, we caught the amazing sunset over one of the infinity pools.
The other girls got their hair done at the salon and we cleaned up and went to dinner. After dinner I found a little art stand and got these cool paintings. The first one is painting on a wood background. It's three-dimensional because the artist used actual fabric. The second one is oil paint on black felt. I got a couple other really cool things but can't post them since they will be Christmas presents for my family.
After a great day at the Dead Sea, we took a taxi back to Amman.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Being our last full day in Jordan, we spent it in Amman, just seeing the sights. A lot more ruins and just walking around. The only thing missing from these pictures is the men that cat-call you on the street. Nearly every man on the street has some comment, usually "ohhh beautiful girls!", or "oh my god".. Somewhat flattering but listening to every single man as you pass is quite uncomfortable.
Our hotel in Amman.. In Dubai there is one of the world's only 7-star hotels called the Burj Al Arab (translation: Arab Tower).. Our hotel had the same name, but it wasn't quite a 7 star.
Why we decided to pay extra for a "real" shower at the spa at the Dead Sea. This is what we would typically call a "half-bath", with a sink and toilet, however there is a shower head on the wall. The half-bath is also the shower!
This is the old Roman Amphitheater which was about 2-3 blocks from our hotel.
The minion enjoying the view
Can you find me and Nes??
Maybe this will help....
Some more ruins...
Views of the tightly packed city:
On our way walking from the mountain down to the city, we saw some kids playing in the streets with some chicks.
The next day was pretty much just hanging out until the taxi came and took me to the airport. Overall, it was a great trip. Of course once again, my favorite part of this trip was not seeing the ruins in Petra, or floating in the Dead Sea, but it was meeting the people. From all of my traveling, the people are always the most interesting to me. I love seeing the similarities of human nature. I also usually get to see the good in people, whether it was my bartender in Thailand keeping me occupied since I was out all alone, or the group of ladies in Oman covered head-to-toe in burkas going out of their way to tell me I had dropped my wallet. This time it was my taxi driver that drove me to the airport to meet my friends in downtown Amman. I was not able to get ahold of them and he stayed with me on the street for over an hour until I was able to make contact with them. Another man next to us, who spoke no English, also connected me to his mobile hotspot so I could try to contact them using Wi-Fi. I also had an Arabic woman in the airport make sure I didn't miss my flight. Amman was the first airport I have traveled to that did not make announcements for flights in English. While my Arabic listening skills are decent, I missed the announcement and she tapped me and said "yellah!", which means "come on" in Arabic.
People often ask me when I will return to the States. I committed to work here for two years, and this is already my second year. I am not sure when I will return, but in the meantime I am loving the travel experiences I am having. Once I return to the States, I won't be able to afford to travel this side of the world, so I plan to continue taking full advantage of the opportunity. As the title states, not all who wander are lost, but it's funny how traveling definitely makes me feel more connected to the world, and in turn, more connected to myself. There is a song currently popular here by Aviccii called "Wake Me Up", which have lyrics that really convey this feeling.
"So wake me up when it's all over
When I'm wiser and I'm older.
All this time I was finding myself, and I
Didn't know I was lost."
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