Round the World 2008

Petra is the biggest tourist site in Jordan. It would be a natural wonder on its own even without the city that is carved into the beautiful pink rock of the valley. Petra was the center of the east-west trade route about 2000 years ago. Over time the city was abandoned but the structures built into the rock remain. It really would take days to see the entire area, most of it open for visitors to go in and explore. We spent two nights in Petra, the town built by the ancient city. There was a Turkish steam bath at our hotel where we could go in the evening for a steam and a massage after the day at the site.

From Petra, we drove north stopping at a resort on the Dead Sea where we covered our bodies entirely in mud, dried in the sun and then washed off in the extremely salty water of the Dead Sea. Since the water is so salty, you can float on it. The process is supposed to be good for the skin and as a remedy for all sorts of ailments. People come from all over the world for the treatment. The Dead Sea is 1400 feet below sea level – the lowest point on earth.

We spent a night in the small city of Madaba before the drive to Amman where the tour ends. On the way we stopped at an overlook from where you can see Jericho and Jerusalem in Israel. The population of Amman is about 2 million people.  We took a tour of the city where we saw Roman ruins including a large amphitheater. Amman was called Philadelphia during the Greco-Roman era.

We went for a final night dinner at a traditional Jordanian restaurant last night. The Middle Eastern food on this trip has been great. Tomorrow I leave for Constantinople (Istanbul) where I’m going to meet up with a nice couple from Pittsburgh who I met on this tour.

From Aqaba we drove out to Wadi Rum, a protected natural area in the Jordanian desert. We stayed at a campground run by local Bedouins. There we were fed well and had a nice evening of dancing and music. The highlight for me though was the half day 4×4 ride in the desert. The scenery was spectacular and it was incredible fun driving fast up and down the dunes. At one point I wondered out loud whether one of the 4×4s ever broke down in such a remote area and within seconds we stalled. The group was impressed by my psychic abilities. It took about 5 minutes to get the vehicle going again. There was a bit of a dust storm going on and we saw some huge natural arches.We found a beautiful spot from where we watched a spectacular sunset.

Today we drove to Petra where tomorrow we’ll see what is considered to be one of the new 7 Wonders of the World.

August 18, 2008

We left Cairo on Saturday morning for the seven hour drive to Mt. SInai driving under the Suez Canal and across the Sinai Peninsula.  After arriving late afternoon we started the three hour hike to the top of Mt. Sinai where it is said that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.  The hardest part of the hike was being in exposed sun for such a long time…but towards the end we were walking in the shadows of the mountains and it was cooler.  There was a small church at the top of the mountain and beautiful scenery all around.  We waited at the top to see the sun set and then began the hike down.  Since it was a full moon we were able to see fairly well hiking down in the dark.  At the base of Mt. Sinai is Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine which we visited the next morning.  There we saw the burning bush through which god spoke to Moses. We enjoyed the rest of the day at the Red Sea resort of Nuweiba where we stayed the night.  From the beach we could see across to the mountains of Saudi Arabia. 

Yesterday morning we headed towards the port of Nuweiba where we were to get the ferry across to Jordan.  What was supposed to be a few hour ferry ride turned out to be a day long ordeal.  We didn’t arrive in Jordan until 1AM.  The first problem was the delayed ferries.  Also, since it is two weeks before Ramadan, travelers are beginning to make their way to Mecca in and the cheapest way from what we were told was to take the ferry to Jordan and then to cross into Saudi Arabia through Jordan.  The crowds were unbelievable and we were pushed, shoved and herded around for most of the day.  There was no order in the immigration process either in leaving Egypt or arriving in Jordan.  Also, it is very common here for people to cut in front of you and you need to be defensive at all times.  After passing through immigration on the Egyptian side, we waited for about 7 hours in a large holding area with no air conditioning that was filled to capacity with travelers.  Other than a small snack stand, there were limited food options, but I was fortunate enough to befriend a family who was picnicking next to me and they invited me to share lunch with them. At one point a guard trying to keep order in the room became so frustrated that he picked up a random person’ suitcase and threw it across the room hitting a family.  That wasn’t the first time we saw that type of behavior in Egypt. The chaos continued on the ferry and through Jordanian immigration. 

 We were surprised to see that the beach town of Aqaba where we stayed the night was still alive when we arrived at 1AM and we went out to a nice outdoor cafe where we got delicious shwarma and falafel sandwiches.  Aqaba seems very modern compared to the places we visited in Egypt.  Today we’ll drive to Wadi Rum and spend the night out in the desert at a Bedouin camp.