Jo arrived at the end of my second day in Cairo. By then I had already been in a near accident, seen a real 3-car one, gone to Church, tried out some fabulous Egyptian food (delicious stuffed vine leaves, and the strawberry juice is really amazing), stopped in Coptic Cairo, taken the metro, eaten koshery, seen a dead body pulled from the Nile, driven through the local street markets on the way to the Sound & Light Show at the pyramids (the latter is quite something to be sure), had my very first Indian strawberry lassi, and got stuck in some terrible traffic on the way to pick up Jo at the airport.
We finally got there and found her, kindly being taken care of by some friendly local Egyptian men...who no doubt would have offered to marry her had she stayed any longer! That is if they hadn't already... :)
We made our way back to Whitney's apartment for literally a few hours of sleep before heading back to the airport to catch our 8am flight to Amman, Jordan.
Fingertip facts: Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Arab World in Southwest Asia, bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the north-east, Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Saudi Arabia to the east and south. It shares with Israel the coastlines of the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with representative government.
Day 1 in Jordan:
Upon arrival in Jordan, we sorted out our rental car, and were soon on the road and cruising into Amman looking for an ATM and a Safeway to stock up on food and water supplies for the next few days of driving. Well that was easier said than done, because finding it was not as simple as the guy we rented the car from had made out. A few hours! and quite a few stops later, we finally found them both and were somewhat relieved to get something in our bellies. Salted cashews and water for Jo, peanut M&M's and lemonade for me (I needed the sugar).
Totally forgetting to purchase a map, we set off on our journey to find Mount Nebo. The place where Moses was given a view of the Promised Land, and also where he was apparently buried by God.
Well no wonder they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years (they probably forgot to get a map too), because we had trouble finding it as well...though I should clarify we never actually found it...but then we didn't have 40 years so what can you expect?! We did see lots of signs for it, but nothing...maybe they should do a film about that...Finding Nebo...what do you think? :)
We did get some shots of the area, so you can get an idea of the dry, deserted, wilderness the Israelites were wandering around in, and you can also understand why they really needed that manna from heaven - because short of modern underground pipes and irrigation there's nothing out there!
The one bit of green we did find in the otherwise desert and deserted mountain range.
Next stop was the Movenpick hotel on the Dead Sea to take a dip. You can pay for a days pass to the DSea, the hotels pool and shower facilities (trust me you'll want one of those after a salty swim). Truly it is a unique experience, and those of you who have been will understand why.
For the uninitiated, Wikipedia will tell you the Dead Sea is a salt lake between Israel (and the West Bank) to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 420 metres (1,378 ft) below sea level, and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. The Dead Sea is 330 m (1,083 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also the world's second saltiest body of water, after Lake Asal in Djibouti, with 30 percent salinity. It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.[3] Israeli experts say that it is nine times saltier than the Mediterranean Sea (31.5% salt versus 3.5% for the Mediterranean). The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.
And for those chemists out there - here is a little something for you:
The mineral content of the Dead Sea is significantly different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies with season, depth, temperature and so on. The concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water in the early 1980s was found to be: Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that w/w% composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 97% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate, SO42−, ions is very low, and the bromide ion, Br− concentration is the highest of all waters on Earth.
For the rest of us mere mortals - simply put, the Dead Sea is just weird. It is kind of oilyish, if you imagine you've just put oil on your body and then stepped into a pool, you can see the oil swirling around in the water (I tried to capture this in the pics), that's what it looks and feels like.
It is more viscose than water, heavier, and weirdly dryer, if that makes sense.
It makes some really cool salt patterns on the rocks that jut out of its body, and it's true, I can confirm it, you do float! And yes it is weird and takes a little getting used to.
Some random pictures from the journey along the Dead Sea heading south to Wadi Musa
Jordan in the foreground and Israel across the sea in the distance.
The drive to Wadi Musa took a little longer than expected, and despite my prayers that the sky would stay light long enough once the sun went down for us to find the camp, nighttime fell and we were left to find our way there in the dark. Which would have been fine if it had been a straightforward drive, but that was not to be. We left the Dead Sea at 5pm and the first 160kms were fine, it was when we hit the Finan junction that we started running into problems, like the fact that if the man who originally gave me the directions says 15km, I should only expect to drive 7km, and that spellings are changeable depending on the sign and location. Namala, could also be Namlah, or Namleh, or even Namla. And despite the fact that you are heading towards Petra, it probably won't be listed at all (even though it's the only major tourist attraction around besides the desert).
The next step in the directions was to take the road all the way up the mountains to Beidha/Petra...
Clearly no mention that it was a bumpy dirt road, complete with hairpin after hairpin as it makes its way up the mountains, or of the sheer(ish) drop on one side or the other and sometimes both, the complete lack of streetlights and road signs (nothing, nada, zero, zilch), the rabid-looking, vicious sheep dogs who decided to chase us, that the road lasts forever (especially in the dark going about 30-40km/h), and that we should expect it to take us an hour just to get through the mountains, before we could even hope to find the next portion of the directions... (did I miss anything Jo?)
Granted it was no Bolivian Road of Death (btw, you should definitely check that link out) but it was close. You'd hope the adventures would have stopped once we made it to camp, but it was not to be.
We eventually found the Bedouin camp we had arranged to spend the night at (for a real experience) and fortunately there were still people up at 9(ish)pm when we arrived. We were joining a group of Germans (who had already gone to bed), and three others who were still up (a French woman who lives in Amman, her daughter by her Syrian husband, and her daughter's husband/boyfriend who is half English/half French), who we chatted with a little prior to tucking into a dinner the Bedouin had made for us, followed by a few minutes chatting with the Bedouin themselves before heading to bed. We didn't chat for long because the wind had suddenly picked up and we were tired and I was feeling uncomfortable as one of the men had been staring at me the entire time...a little unsettling.
Anyway, we made up our beds in our assigned room, they give you mattresses and blankets, upon which we laid our sleeping bags. We crawled inside and waited for the lights to go out. Well, the wind got stronger and while the tent was heaving under the pressure, the sand would occasionally make it's way through the woven fabric or the slit we called a door. As I lay there all of a sudden feeling very unsafe, I thought to myself,
"This is one of the most stupid things I have ever done. What was I thinking?! Dragging myself and Jo out here, in the middle of nowhere, with a group of people we don't know. What kind of danger was I putting us both in?! This is the type of thing you do with a group or at least with a husband or brother or dad, not as two women alone!!"
Jo, wisely decided to sleep with my torch the entire night. As for me, I couldn't keep my eyes off the "door", keeping watch for any hint of a shadow or shape outside that might threaten an unwelcome entrance. Between that and unfamiliar sounds and rustlings coming from outside the tent I must have eventually fallen into a broken sleep, punctuated frequently by imagined/dreamed yells coming from Jo of, "Bag check!" (meaning to check our bags were still there), or "someone's in the tent" (when I would frantically strain my eyes, scanning the darkness to see if anyone was really there).
My vivid imagination truly needs no help (the real reason I can't watch scary movies anymore) because the worst was yet to come. I awoke to another imagined scream from Jo of "bag check" and "someone's in the tent", and desperately grasping around to see if my bag was still there (which it was), I turned to see Jo being slowly dragged out of the tent by some dark form.
I lay there, trying with all my might to reach over and grab her and hold on. I remember wondering why I couldn't move. Was it because I was still trying to wake up or because someone had drugged my food and rendered me immobile?! It was all I could do to work through the feeling of heavy numbness to exert enough effort and energy to save my friend.
Amidst my panic, I woke up, heart pounding, sand on my face, in my hair, nose and mouth, wind still whipping up a storm, to realise (very slowly) it had just been a dream/nightmare. Thank goodness!
But it didn't remove my unease, and I kept turning over for the rest of the night to keep checking Jo was still lying next to me and that she was still breathing.
Needless to say I was anxious to get out of there the next day (when it finally came!), though we did stay long enough for a brief breakfast and some pictures for posterity's sake.
The Bedouin camp where we "slept", the red arrow denotes our "room".
Bedouin Camp 360 Panorama
After departing the camp, out of the locked gates, the morning brought stillness, quiet beauty and the chance for a clean slate and new adventure ahead...
Disclaimer: Please note the Bedouin are very friendly and hospitable people and the afore mentioned events and feelings of uneasiness were entirely of my own imagination.
Day 2 in Jordan
Today was all about Petra, Petra, Petra...I think this may have secretly (or not so secretly) been Jo's favourite day/place of the ENTIRE trip.
Fingertip facts: Petra is an archaeological site in Arabah, Aqaba Governorate, Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was discovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was famously described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate prize-winning sonnet by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage."
Rekem is an ancient name for Petra and appears in Dead Sea scrolls associated with Mount Seir. Additionally, Eusebius and Jerome assert that Rekem was the native name of Petra, supposedly on the authority of Josephus, Pliny the Elder and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans, Aramaic-speaking Semites, and the centre of their caravan trade. Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial stream, Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress but controlled the main commercial routes which passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf.
It was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, in effect creating an artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits. These innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought, and enabled the city to prosper from its sale.
Although in ancient times Petra might have been approached from the south (via Saudi Arabia on a track leading around Jabal Haroun, Aaron's Mountain, on across the plain of Petra), or possibly from the high plateau to the north, most modern visitors approach the ancient site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4 metres wide) called the Siq ("the shaft"), a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh ("the Treasury"), hewn into the sandstone cliff.
I won't spoil it with too many more words, but needless to say, it was amazing. I especially loved the places where the sun had yet to bleach the beautiful colours from the rocks.
I love watching other photographers at work...
Our friends, the Tourist Police...
This is the part where Jo got really excited...
...the first tantalising glimpse
Pretty impressive...
...but you can't have Petra without camels now, can you?
Another 360 panorama from the top of the High Sacrificial Place
The climb up, and the amazing colours
Tombs, and more tombs
My Bedouin friend Eagle, showing us another tomb, and which hole was to be his grave (he was joking).
Eagle and his friend Tarek hire out their donkeys for rides up to the High Sacrificial Place or to the Monastary. We met them on the way back down from the HSP and they (and their donkeys, Whiskey & Michael Jackson) decided to keep us company for the rest of the day. I had quite a few interesting talks with Eagle about relationships, religion (that was a short one), the Bedouin, fake Bedouin (i.e. local farmers who make out they are Bedouin for tourism sake) vs real Bedouin (who sleep in caves out in the desert), about Petra, how many kids and wives his father has (12 and 4 respectively), what his future plans were, and our different and similar approaches and perspectives on life. He offered to let us camp out overnight with him and Tarek in the local desert, where they would show us how to make Bedouin BBQ chicken, and show us around the Bedouin village. Had we not just had the most unrestful night ever, I might have thought about taking him up on that offer. But two women alone in the desert with two guys we've only just met - hmmmm - no thanks. First of all I'm married (therefore it would just be inappropriate) and second, no matter how nice you seem and how often you say I'm like a sister to you, it's just not a good idea, no matter how much I might want a more authentic experience. Sorry Eagle, maybe next time (when I'll make sure to bring Andrew along).
The Monastary
More subtle colours and shaped walls in the Siq on the way out...
We were meant to be heading down to Wadi Rum for another Bedouin camp experience in the desert. However, going on our previous night's experience and despite Eagle's offer, we (perhaps) wisely decided to find a local hotel in which to spend the evening. And a glorious idea that was, because it included a shower (or two in my case) and a nice soft bed with clean sheets, a very very restful night, and the discovery of my new favourite drink - sweetened lemon juice blended with mint - so deliciously refreshing.
Day 3 in Jordan
Our last day in Jordan was aimed at getting back to Amman to drop off the rental car. We did have time for a second stop at the Movenpick Dead Sea for a little dip and relaxing, before getting back on our journey.
Once we'd dropped the car off, we were dropped at the (wrong) bus station, where we (with the help of the guy who dropped us off) tried to find a bus that would take us to Jerash/Ajloon and our next hotel for the night. We found a guy who offered to take us right to the hotel door, even though it wasn't part of his route. He would do this for us for 7JD each. Great, we said, and then clambered on board the bus, waiting for it to fill up with other passengers before it could leave. It was only after the bus got going, and everyone else was paying their fares that we realised we had been had. All the local passengers were paying 0.85JD each. Oh yeah, I was mad. You can bet I got off that bus without saying goodbye or thankyou! :)
It left something of a bitter taste from what had otherwise been a lovely day, and unfortunately it kind of soured the rest of my evening (I hate being taken advantage of just because I'm a tourist) and I wasn't able to appreciate the beauty of my new green surroundings in the North.
By morning I had recovered and was able to snap a few shots of the peaceful-looking landscape and preserve some good memories before we made a dash for the border and the next stop on our journey...
Next up...Israel!
Can you believe I've been married to this handsome man for 2 years now? Unfortunately we're not together for our anniversary this year, but that's somewhat symptomatic of our lives at this point in time. I do have a few things planned for when I get back to HK though... :)
Nevertheless the fact that we've made it successfully through two years of constant upheaval says something about the kind of relationship we've developed, the adventures we've had, the memories we've created and the excitement we have about the many years that lie ahead of us.
This year, now we're 733 days into things, I'd like to say that I love Andrew because he always works to keep things fun, he always brings adventure with him (with a little danger and risk if at all possible), he is always so loving and supportive (even if that means tough love at times - he has that no pain no gain mentality!), he is very generous, he likes to fit as much into his time as possible, he believes in me and in my potential and in that of everyone that he meets, he makes the best burritos :), he is intelligent AND funny, he is actually hilarious, he has a great smile and laugh, he has lovely kind brown eyes, he is completely genuine, and he is my best friend.
