This blog entry comes to you from Doha International Airport. Through our frequent flyer program we managed to get an admission to the VIP lounge here, thus giving us an access to a range of services. We get served food, and beverages, and are provided with newspapers and of course Internet. Very cool!
It’s around 7:19 am now and the plane leaves in an hour heading to Dubai. I’m very excited and very wired on Coffee. Three cups so far and counting!
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We are all set to go to Dubai Monday morning to celebrate our one-year wedding I’m also looking forward to seeing my good friend Dalia who resides in Dubai with her husband Duri and their newborn son, Sanad. Unfortunately, Duri will be out of town while we are there, but we might be able to catch him briefly before our return. I haven’t seen Dalia, in ages. The last time was in Jordan, maybe two years ago. I’m sure we will have many things to talk about, especially now that she just had a baby boy. The picture here is of Dalia and I nearly three years ago. It was taken in Amman, Jordan at a farewell party for me before I went to London to pursue higher education. Since that time, I’m quite positive we both have changed a great deal, both physically and mentally. We shall see. |
We are back to Amman after a wonderful trip to the south of Jordan that included: Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. The original plan was to take our parents to Petra for three days which worked out wonderfully.
They had a great time enjoying both the wonders of this Nabatean city and the luxury of the five-star Movenpick hotel. Our time together as a family was very valuable to all of us. We will really cherish this trip forever. The kids (Amy and Jessica) also had a blast, running around the ancient monuments in the morning and playing in the pool in the evening.
On Tuesday morning, my parents along with Tania, Mark, Brigitte and the kids went back to Amman while Jeff and I took a ride the hour or so further south to Wadi Rum. The decision came on the spur of the moment, as we intended to go back with them. But since Rum is less than two hours away from Petra, we decided to spend the night there and check the place out — a first time visit for the two of us.
The spontaneity of our journey made it loads of fun. We managed to find our way there following road signs (i.e. without a map or query of the local population). When we got deep into the area, we saw some sort of rest house. A Sudanese guy named Mohammad greeted us and told us about the Jeep trips offered into the heart of the Wadi Rum desert. We ended up taking a three and a half hour trip, which included a stop to watch the sun set across the desert. It was stunning!
The place is really phenomenal with its red-orange sand dunes and craggy mountains. It is no surprise that the film Lawrence of Arabia was shot in Rum, as it really is the most magnificent and picturesque Arabian desert. We both felt what we were seeing was very surreal — the scenery was absolutely dazzling.
Our jeep driver, a local Bedouin, was very friendly and eager to show us the wonders of his home. He passionately answered all our questions including one about whether there were snakes in Rum, replying causally, "not many," before busying himself with sending text messages from his mobile phone, leaving me to ponder the gravity of his response.
After we finished our trip, we went back to the rest house, where we picked up two people (a bagpipe player and a policeman that acted as a night time security guard) who acted as our navigators to our campsite, some 20 Km from the rest house.
The camp was nice with small white tents for sleeping and a long Bedouin tent for dining and partying. Facilities were complete but they were basic just the same. We spent the night there and left the next morning after breakfast, heading for Aqaba. Camping in the desert was a new experience for the both of us and proved quite exhilarating.
We arrived in Aqaba around 10:00 am, wandered about for an hour or so, and had an early lunch at McDonald’s, which recently opened in the coastal city. The trip home to Amman was long and uneventful down the largely barren Desert Highway for nearly four hours. Now we are back home and beat! We really had a great time playing amongst the many wonders my wonderful home of Jordan offers!
We are taking our parents on a two-day trip to an undisclosed location in Jordan. By “we” I mean: Jeff, me, Mark, Brigitte, and Tania. We told them to pack for two days, bring comfortable shoes, swimsuits and maybe some snacks.
They are unaware of where we are taking them, but they seem excited. We are leaving in about half an hour from here. For those curious about the location of the trip, all I can say is that it is somewhere south.
It’s highly likely I won’t be able to blog in the coming few days but I promise to write a long one with pictures as soon as we come back.
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Of the many new and interesting things we saw on our recent trip to Sharm, I found the room in this house very intriguing. The building is called The House of Skulls and it is found at the entrance to St. Catherine’s Cathedral right in the middle of the Sinai Desert. As you can see, the room has skulls neatly stacked on top of each other. According to our Egyptian guide, back in the old days the caretakers of the monastery would separate the skulls of dead saints brought to the church from the rest of the bones of their body and display them in this manner we believe to honor them in some fashion. We got to peek in on this room through a gated metal door. There were many tourists jammed in to take a look at the skulls so, unfortunately, I didn’t get to examine the room as closely as I wanted 😉 Curious stuff eh? The picture is courtesy of my talented husband, the photographer of the family 🙂 |
We are back in Jordan after an amazing trip to Sharm al Sheikh and Egypt’s Sinai Desert. We had such a good time that we even considered extending our vacation.
We chilled by the beach, saw Moses’ burning bush, toured the Sinai Desert and burned some cash at the slots in Sharm’s Grand Casino. We really had one of those memorable experiences we will cherish forever.
I was particularly impressed by Sharm, a now fully developed resort on the Red Sea. With its wide range of marine-based activities, international restaurants, tourist shops and of course its wild night life, the place really does bring in the tourists from all over the globe.
One of the highlights of our trip was taking a one-day trip to St. Catherine’s Cathedral; one of early Christianity’s only surviving churches. It is a place of pilgrimage, with a chapel built beside what is believed to be THE burning bush through which God spoke to Moses.
We enjoyed the trip to St. Catherine’s, driving through the Sinai Desert. We also got a peek at Moses Mountain (though we didn’t take the "penance" hike) where he received the Ten Commandments.
One our way back to Sharm we stopped in at Dahab, a coastal city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Dahab was really unique. It is filled with hippie trippy European (and perhaps some American) backpackers and divers who are there mainly to chill and perhaps "expand their minds."
After a short walk through Dahab, it was back to Sharm. We were really surprised to see it is such an Italian-ville! The place is so filled with Italians that the locals have completely mastered the language. For some reason, all during the trip I was mistaken for Italian. I guess my presence with Jeff confused those curious about the nationality of Sharm’s visitors.
On a different note, all during the trip I couldn’t help but compare Sharm with Aqaba — the coastal city on the Jordanian side of the Red Sea. Sadly enough, Aqaba doesn’t compare as there is virtually nothing beyond the boundaries of its five-star hotels. Lots of work needs to be done in this city to be at least half as attractive as Sharm. I still remain hopeful.
All in all, we really had a phenomenal time and we’d love to go back there again. A few more pictures can be found below, the left is the entrance to the chapel at St. Catherine’s, the other is the front entrance to the Casino.
