We had an early start to get to Heathrow, and after a false start with the check in lady giving us the wrong gate, we boarded our flight to Amman, the capital city of Jordan. Small things excite us as seasoned budget travellers, such as a meal. Good breakfast from BA, and some good time to catch up on some new release movies.
We landed in the later afternoon and were met by our tour company and met some of the rest of the people on our tour. 4 kiwis and 4 Aussies in total all around the same age, so it was a fun group of people.
We dumped our bags and met with our guide for the rest of the week, Talal. He outlined what we were doing, what it was going to cost etc. Then we headed out to Rainbow road which is where the more wealthy Jordanians spend their time. Obviously being a Muslim country people don't drink, and buying alcohol in restaurants is really expensive. They love their shisha though!
We stopped by a falafel sandwich shop where a falafel sandwich cost a grand total of 60p. They were delicious, although we did have a lot of falafel that week. After wandering down the road we headed back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep.
Highlight: Being in a warm climate, nice small group of people to be spending the next week with!
Lowlight: Hotel was a bit rubbish, with a dribble of shower pressure.
Interesting fact: King Abdullah II, the King of Jordan is apparently the 43rd-generation direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.
Sunday
Today was our tour of Amman. Breakfast was decidedly average, pita bread and boiled eggs, but we loaded up and set off to the site of Jerash, which is the site of the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa. Most of it was destroyed in a big earthquake in 749 AD, but the parts that are left are pretty cool.
It was a beautiful sunny day and it got hotter and hotter as the day went on, and Lou was annoyed at having to cover up. Next stop was the citadel which was once the location of this massive Hercules statue, which only has the finger and part of the hand left. The Amman Citadel’s history represents significant civilisations that stretched across continents and prospered for centuries, as one empire gave rise to the next. It also symbolises the birth of the three great monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Walking through the downtown part of the city was pretty awful for Lou, even all covered up, and men were following us and yelling stuff. It was quite intimidating. Then Talel left us to it and we went to a local café for some of the group to smoke shisha and we drank thick black coffee with cardamom. We retreated back to the hotel and chilled out before heading out to a local restaurant to sample a Jordanian speciality – Mansef, which is kind of like a liquidy sour yogurt. Great meal!
Highlight: Jerash was a great example of Roman architecture and it was a beautiful day!
Lowlight: Getting hassled in the streets. The double standards in their culture were frustrating.
Interesting fact: Wikipedia says about Amman that "Modesty in dress for men and women is greatly relaxed and low-cut shirts, tank tops and short skirts are becoming commonplace". What a load of rubbish!
Monday
We finally left Jordan, destination Petra with a few stops on the way. It was one of our groups (Megan's) birthday, and Talal decorated the van with a happy birthday banner and balloons which was nice. He couldn't find any birthday balloons so he went for pink "It's a girl" balloons instead which was a bit random, but sort of summed up Jordan.
Our first stop was Mt.Nebo which was mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land that he would never enter. You can normally see Jerusalem but it was a bit hazy on the day we were there. Apparently the church restoration has been taking place for a good few years now and looking at the pace in which the builders were working, they would be there for awhile.
Next stop was the Dead sea. It has been made into quite a resort type area, with loads of hotels and sun loungers everywhere. We quickly got changed and hopped in, and what do ya know, you do actually float. It is a very strange sensation, but after a few minutes you just want to get out cos it is so salty, and you can't get any water on your face. They were selling special "dead sea mud" which you cake all over yourself and you are meant to look 5 years younger, but Hamish got creative and just started piling on the mud from the sea bed, and we started a trend with the rest of the group, which the guy selling the mud wasn't too pleased about. After a quick rinse, we spent an hour or so by the pool and had the buffet lunch at the complex which was pretty tasty.
Finally we made it to Petra, which was a lot bigger than we anticipated. Basically this whole tourist town has sprung up to cater for all the tourists that visit the hidden city of Petra. We had a really nice hotel, so we scrubbed up and then went out for dinner to celebrate Megan's birthday, although at £5 for a can of beer they were very quiet celebrations! We all pitched in and bought Megan a cake which she was pretty pleased about.
Highlight: Swimming in the Dead Sea was a once in a lifetime experience
Lowlight: The cost of alcohol in restaurants.
Interesting fact: The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are 423 metres below sea level, making it Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
Tuesday
Early start this morning, breakfast was slightly better. The Jordan equivalent of a full English seems to be hard boiled eggs, canned frankfurters with capsicums, and slices of tomato with cheese on top. And of course, pita bread.
We were totally blown away with Petra, we thought we would just be seeing the famous Treasury façade that you saw in Indiana Jones but it was actually an entire city carved out of the rose coloured rock. There were primarily loads of tombs, but also the opportunity to climb to really high peaks to get amazing views. It is thought to have been built in 320 BC, but it was "re discovered" by this Swiss guy in 1812.
We even got to experience the Jordan packed lunch which consisted of pita bread, a whole tomato, a whole cucumber, 2 slices of luncheon, an orange and a yogurt. How you were meant to do anything with the tomato and cucumber was beyond us, but at least it filled the gap.
On one of the last peaks we scaled, we were approached by a couple of local kids begging for food, we offered them a pack of biscuits but they flatly refused this and pointed at our fruit!
It was a really hot sunny day, and we were exhausted by the end of it, but we felt like we had seen something that was really impressive. We climbed back into our van and drive an hour or so to our desert camp, Wadi Rum.
Lou was apprehensive about this desert camping after our experience in Morocco, but this was a much bigger and better set up with proper camp beds and "ensuite" meaning a curtain separating you from the loo. We had a quick shower and then watched as the cooks pulled the dinner out of the ground, hangi style. We had a delicious mix of salads and slow cooked lamb.
We spent some time by the camp fire and then headed to bed, after seeing more stars in the sky than we even thought possible. We had a rough night's sleep thanks to the shoddy plumbing of the loo next door, but we were so tired it didn't affect us that much.
Highlight: Petra was incredible, the preservation of the carvings as extraordinary.
Lowlight: Waiting for the slow pokes in our group at the end of the day.
Interesting fact: In 1979 Marguerite van Geldermalsen from New Zealand married Mohammed Abdullah, a Bedouin in Petra. They lived in a cave in Petra until the death of her husband. She authored the book Married to a Bedouin. What makes this even more interesting is that we spoke to her at her shop and it turns out Hamish went to school with her son in Nelson. Crazy small world.
Wednesday
We were woken up by a massive group of Chinese tourists departing early on their tour bus. We were amazed watching them at breakfast, they all had their pot noodles out and they were taking about 4 or 5 boiled eggs each, but not touching anything else on offer.
Today we were exploring the desert on the back of utes! They had set them up with bench seats on the back and we cruised around, climbing dunes and rock formations and learning about the Bedouin way of life. It was a pretty cool day seeing some carvings, and seeing the sights.
That night the chef treated us to another speciality, maqluba. The dish includes meat, rice, and fried vegetables placed in a pot, which is then flipped upside down when served, hence the name maqluba, which translates literally as "upside-down". We all attacked the huge plate and then had to lay down to digest.
Highlight: Climbing all the rocks, and seeing the massive expanse of desert, and seeing the sun set.
Lowlight: It got cold really quickly; as soon as you lost the sun it was chilly.
Interesting fact: Talal explained a bit more about the international relations that Jordan has with it volatile neighbours and the best way of describing it would be to say that Jordan is like the Switzerland of the Middle East. They have accepted more than 1 million refugees from Syria alone.
Thursday
Today we were off to Aqaba, which is the more touristy area of Jordan, this is where Jordan meets the Red sea, and the borders to Egypt and Israel are also really close. We had a really quick tour of the city by Talal who told us where to eat and he helped us buy our tickets to Amman for the following day and then we said goodbye to him. We spent the rest of the day at the beach, Hamish snorkelled for a bit, it was super-hot and relaxing. That night we met up with the rest of the group and had a final dinner in the local market. We were again shocked at how cheap everything was a full meal for 8 people for £26!
We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel.
Highlight: Getting some sun and relaxation time.
Lowlight: It got really windy, and the Red sea wasn't actually that warm.
Interesting fact: There are 6 countries bordering the Red sea, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti.
Friday
We began our long journey back to Clapham with a 4 hour bus ride back to Amman, then a 5 hour flight back to London and then an hour on the tube to Clapham. Lucky we had the weekend to recover before heading back to work!
A really early great trip, full of surprises and met some nice people too
Highlight: The taxi driver in Amman telling Hamish that he had a smart wife, after Lou bargained him down on the fare. Listen to him Hamish!
Lowlight: A long day's travelling, including the flight being delayed.
Interesting fact: At Amman airport, the prices are so inflated that it cost £2 for a postcard, where in the cities, £2 would get you 5 coffees.
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