Today has been hot and quite humid and I havent done very much but sit and read. We had a lovely day yesterday, it was breezy and very sunny and we walked along the shore to the south of our hotel fro a couple of miles. We found that the hotels peter out after a bit and those that are there look really nice but very quiet, some are actually closed and at least one was only partly built and no work seemed to be happening on it.
We walked to a large circular concrete construction and saw from the information board it was called shade, we watched some divers going in the water, all kitted up in wet suits, it looks such a performance but apparently this is a fantastic place to dive, the reef is wonderful and very extensive.
We ate at our new friend Ahmeds place, a kebab, stuff off the spit and some salads. While eating we were entertained by his very small daughter being thrown about by one of the other guys there, tossed up into the air and squeeling with delight. Like Jordanians, Eygyptians seem to be very fond of children and everyone seems to keep an eye out for them.
Later in the evening we repaired to the tented area in front of our hotel, slowly drinking a beer and talking to some Australians who were approximatly our age (rare) and we bid farewell to our American fellow traveler Jenny, who was off on an overnight bus journey to Cairo.
Tessa
I went snorkeling today, there is a place called Lighthouse at the other end of the bay with easy and very direct access to the coral reef so for about 8 pounds I hired a wetsuit (very fetching as you can see in one of the pics below) and snorkle gear and had a couple of hours with the multi coloured, striped and iredescent fish - also fascinating to see the divers below in the sharply deepening reef with their silver lines of air bubbles rising up - all rather exciting in a small way.
We leave Dahab tomorrow (with some regrets, we are living very comfortably and quite cheaply and need never come home!) but about noon we will go off to catch a bus to Sharm el Sheik and then a ferry across the Red Sea to Hurghaba, from there we hope to catch an overnight bus to Aswan, although may have to spend a night at Hurgaba depeding on the bus times. We hope for an easier ferry journey (no international border is involved, both ends are Eqypt) but will let you know from Upper Egypt!
And just get on a Easyjet flight and get yourselves to Dahab - thoroughly recommended, yes there is the "mixture of hippy and beduoin ambience" and all that but its a great place especially in the quiet time as now.
Brian
Friday, 16 January 2009
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Aqaba to Egypt
We are now in Penguin Village in Dahab on the Gulf of Aqaba in Egypt - yes normal life and traveling are temporarily suspended whilst we chill out in this laid back holiday resort full of camps, hotels, restaurants, divers and backpackers. We have a wonderful hotel room with a huge balcony overlooking the sea all for 20 pounds a night, a restaurant on the sea shore with carpets and cushions on which we can while away the daytime and nightime - its a lot warmer here, we have lost those cold desert nights - getting here however was not as much fun as being here.
After Wadi Rum we went by taxi to Aqaba, shared with the two girls from Leeds Univ who then went back up the road to Wadi Musa for Petra - our driver Mohammed got carried away with chatting and hand waving to loud arabic music and was pulled in by the police for speeding - his instant fine was 25 dinars - his fare from us!
After a rather tatty hotel in Aqaba (but great food in a market stall) we left the next morning for the ferry to Neweiba in Eqypt - walked along to the harbour only to be assailed by a large group of taxi drivers informing us that the passenger ferry now left from 12 kms down the coast towards the Saudi border - despite an attempt at haggling (they had us and they knew it) we had to pay the 5 dinars to get taken there. At the terminal nothing was clear, we trailed about getting tickets (at 70 dollars each more than double what we had expected), getting our exit tax paid, getting our passport checked and finally left in a large hall to await departure. Eventually with people suddenly disappearing we realised we had better move and found that people had boarded a shuttle bus to the ferry - a fast catamaran. There were about a dozen of us foreigners, the rest were Eqytian workers returning home - possibly far more than usual as the land crossing at Eilat had been closed. Interesting to stand in Aqaba - you can see three countries Jordan, Israel and Eqypt. We had to leave our packs in the cargo and vehicle bay and were then corralled in a foreigners area whilst the Eqyptian immigration official stamped everyone else's passports - including women in Burkas who had to lift their veils to show the official but no-one else their face.
Eventually the ferry left Aqaba, we had to sit and wait to have our passports checked, there was anyway nowhere else to go so we got to know each other, a Korean girl travelling alone for one year, Sebastien from Italy, Jenny from the US, Benjamin an organic farmer from Australia, running his business from his mobile and travelling the world with no end date in mind.
The ferry arrived at Neweiba but we were not allowed off, Sebastien and the Korean girl had by now apparently missed their overnight bus to Cairo and we looked in danger of missing ours to Dahab but finally we were allowed off streaming off the cargo bay to cries of Mohammed! Mohammed! from a seething group of porters with large metal trolleysm in fact they were calling out the names of the workers who had hired them to carry the huge loads of tvs, carpets, even a wc that they had bought in Jordan - and it just happened that a large proportion of them were called Mohammed.
All of the foreigners (except Tess and I who already had our full visa) had then to find doorways and offices at which to pay for visas, collect visas and passports - it was chaos but was eventually achieved and we all moved off the the arrivals shed - there was further chaos as the goods were scanned by security - but we were invited to put our packs through straight away and so were were finally through the bureaucracy. Sebastien discoverd a bus for Cairo in the port area we were told to find our Dahab bus outside the gates - and of course there was no bus! There were eight of us going to Dahab now surrounded by a noisy group of taxi drivers - Benjamin took control and began bargaining with the right degree of utter disgust at the prices first quoted pointing out how many of us there were, eventually we got an offer of half the amount - 30 egyptian pounds each (about 5 pounds) so were piled into minibus for the 45 minute ride through the most desolate landscape we have ever seen - just piles of bolders and small hills - welcome to the Sinai desert!
As the sun went down we reached Dahab, piled out of the van and madeour way to the Penguin Village which had received votes from those with guide books and previous experience. It was a relief to arrive. No more travelling for a few days - the sun is hot and the evenings are balmy, think of us lying around on those carpets and cushions and around the wood fire in the evening!
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum was so much more interesting and exiting than I thought it would be. We arrived in a small mini bus taxi with three other people, two very jolly girls from Leeds University who are studying Arabic in Cairo and were on their Christmas holiday and a technical journalist from Spain, called Manuel.
We all got transfered to a 4x4 and driven from the visitors centre to the Bedouin village where we were transfered again into an ancient pickup with 2 bench seats in the open back. Our driver and guide was a young Bedou man in a long white gown, baggy trousers and the headwrap thing that everyone here wears. Off we set, clinging on for dear life as he bounced along dessert tracks. As we left the village behind the hugeness of the dessert hits you, there are enormous outcrops of rock, very steep and high and swathes of sand, some brown, some yellow, red close to the rocks, all undulating all over the place.
We drove a bit and then stopped to look at sand dunes, drove a bit more and stopped for a look at some rock art, then a wonderful lump of rock with a natural arch at the top. Our guide was always keen to get the girls to climb/explore with him!! It was really good though. The most scary bit was after we stopped for tea when the guide encouraged the girls to try driving. The vehicle was without brakes and driving in sand is a skill that needs practie, so for those of us on the back it was a bit of a white knuckle moment.
We saw Laurence of Arabias house and his spring and ended up sitting in a Bedouin house being ernestly converesed with by a 10 year old Bedouin boy while we waited for the taxi.
Fantastic .
Tess
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Two days in Petra
Some short notes on our visit as this pc keeps losing our entry.
We set off early today and were in the Siq before 8am, we had the place almost to ourselves but with our fingers tingling with the cold as despite the sun being up the nights are verycold. We reached the Treasury (the carved building you all know at the end of the Siq) even before the camels arrived grunting and regurgitating. We moved once again through the incredible and extensive site of weathered and carved sandstone, sometimes difficult to tell which was mand made and which was natural.
Falling in with Mohammed with the gold teeth leading his small son, two donkeys and a mule we chatted and he must have been a good if quiet salesman because we found ourselves bargaining him down from 50 dinars to 30dinars (still a great deal of money) to go up to the monastery on his donkeys - its one ofthe great buildings but practically inaccessible except for the very fit. So with Tess on the donkeyleading the way andme on the mule off we set.
What an experience, up a winding and very narrow gorge with rocks andsome steps we clung on trying to relax, we were the only ones on the route and eventually got off the animals fora final short walk. The monastery (we will post a pic if we can manage it) is incredible and once again we had it to ourselves. We walked back down to a Bedouin woman and her daughter who had a blackened kettle on a fire and made a place for us under the tent whilst she brewed tea for us.
Setting off back and clinging for dear life it has to be admitted we made our way down - until my mule lost his footing and tipped me off - fortunately onto the rocky track and not down a gorge, i landed not too heavily, just a few cuts on my hands and covered in dust. At the bottom (sweet relief to be off that mule i can tell you) we bade farewell to mohammed and sat down - near a Red Crescent 4x4 so i gave them a bitof work to patch up my handswith iodine and plasters. They finished by taking our picture, giving us a biscuit saying Welcome to Jordan and Donkeys are dangerous - now they tell us!
Brian
The assent was ok, but going down was very scary. On the way up Mohammed showed us th cave in which he was born, though now all the bedou live in a village beyond Petra, built for them by the King in the 1960,s, about 2000 people live there and Mohammed and his wife have 6 children. Childeren go to school fron aged 6 to 18 and all learn English,though Mohammed (aged 35) learned his English from tourists.
Later we met 2 small boys who tried to sell us postcards, we refused, shared our biscuits with them and ended up with the gift of 1 postcard and a small rock and Welcome!!
We set off early today and were in the Siq before 8am, we had the place almost to ourselves but with our fingers tingling with the cold as despite the sun being up the nights are verycold. We reached the Treasury (the carved building you all know at the end of the Siq) even before the camels arrived grunting and regurgitating. We moved once again through the incredible and extensive site of weathered and carved sandstone, sometimes difficult to tell which was mand made and which was natural.
Falling in with Mohammed with the gold teeth leading his small son, two donkeys and a mule we chatted and he must have been a good if quiet salesman because we found ourselves bargaining him down from 50 dinars to 30dinars (still a great deal of money) to go up to the monastery on his donkeys - its one ofthe great buildings but practically inaccessible except for the very fit. So with Tess on the donkeyleading the way andme on the mule off we set.
What an experience, up a winding and very narrow gorge with rocks andsome steps we clung on trying to relax, we were the only ones on the route and eventually got off the animals fora final short walk. The monastery (we will post a pic if we can manage it) is incredible and once again we had it to ourselves. We walked back down to a Bedouin woman and her daughter who had a blackened kettle on a fire and made a place for us under the tent whilst she brewed tea for us.
Setting off back and clinging for dear life it has to be admitted we made our way down - until my mule lost his footing and tipped me off - fortunately onto the rocky track and not down a gorge, i landed not too heavily, just a few cuts on my hands and covered in dust. At the bottom (sweet relief to be off that mule i can tell you) we bade farewell to mohammed and sat down - near a Red Crescent 4x4 so i gave them a bitof work to patch up my handswith iodine and plasters. They finished by taking our picture, giving us a biscuit saying Welcome to Jordan and Donkeys are dangerous - now they tell us!
Brian
The assent was ok, but going down was very scary. On the way up Mohammed showed us th cave in which he was born, though now all the bedou live in a village beyond Petra, built for them by the King in the 1960,s, about 2000 people live there and Mohammed and his wife have 6 children. Childeren go to school fron aged 6 to 18 and all learn English,though Mohammed (aged 35) learned his English from tourists.
Later we met 2 small boys who tried to sell us postcards, we refused, shared our biscuits with them and ended up with the gift of 1 postcard and a small rock and Welcome!!
Tess
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Day 1 in Petra
A wonderful day in fantastic Petra. Ihave just typed a whole entry and lost it, so I am going to leave it at that. Blue sky, slight breeze, glowing stone, few other people. Many donkeys, some camels, lots of children selling postcards and rocks.
Friday, 9 January 2009
road to Petra
We took the King's Highway today, 300 kms south from Madaba to Petra, driven by our trusty driver Ahmed who we seem to see every day and today all of the day! There is no public transport on this route and as we travelled down it we realised why. There are the boring sections on top of the plateaux with the usual untidy villages and towns along it, the pickups full of Bedouin and their goats but there were also the most spectacular gorges to travel down and then up again and incredibly beautiful views from heights of up to 1,200 metres. The sun was bright and hot but the breeze was chilly. Our only stop was at Karak to visit an old Crusader fort later captured by Saladin. After a visit (and having picked up the inevitably guide - they are always useful but difficult to avoid) we rejoined Ahmed for mint tea and falafels, in fact we could live on them (well we almost have been), we ate and drank with the ringing Friday sermon being loudly broadcast all around us and then pressed on with each village also ringing with the sound of the sermons. One place also had a small protest march of young people protesting the slaughter in Gaza.
We reached Wadi Musa - the small town for Petra during the afternoon, taken to a hotel that
Ahmed knows where we were greeted with more mint teas and a cheap room rate - that can't be bad and helps pay for having to take a taxi most of the way down Jordan! Tomorrow its the Rose Red City for us, in fact probably for the next couple of days.
Brian
We reached Wadi Musa - the small town for Petra during the afternoon, taken to a hotel that
Ahmed knows where we were greeted with more mint teas and a cheap room rate - that can't be bad and helps pay for having to take a taxi most of the way down Jordan! Tomorrow its the Rose Red City for us, in fact probably for the next couple of days.
Brian
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Some photos (we hope)
Tessa's feet in the salty sand of the Dead Sea - sorry this is the first photo, but very slow getting any loaded up and this at least will give you a laugh!
Madaba Jordan, Thursday 8th Jan
Here we are in Madaba, the end of our second day and it only took 15 mins to work out how to change the instructions on the computer from Arabic to English & get started on this blog.
Madaba is full of c Churches and Mosques & is famous for its mosaics. We have sem some very beautiful & incredibly old stuff. We visited all th major sights in the town yesterday, walking about the vry confusing streets, made more confusing bcause of course all the street names are in Arabic, with the odd one in English. Still we saw St George's church across the road from our nice, basic hotel. We were alerted to the church by the very loud bll ringing at 7 am, followin the several calls to prayer during the night. The other places we saw were the town museum, the archeological park, Church of the Apostles (huge mosaic), while walking round we had to take great care as the pavements are mad, hole, fissures, lups, bumps some completely dug up, all sorts of obstructions, you certainly cant walk around with your head in the air.
Food great, people very friendly and unhassly, there seems to be a law that all boys under 16 must say hello to tourists.
Tessa
Today we got Ahmed the driver who brought us here from the airport (along with David an American on his way to Baghdad) to drive us to Mt Nebo and then onto the Dead Sea - where we floated as swimming is quite impossible, even getting your feet down onto the sand is difficult and just one quick taste of a salty finger has your mouth puckering up. On the way down the mountain to the Sea we passed a surprisingly large number of Bedouin tents and camps and large flocks of goats, sheep, some camels and donkeys all tended by single shepherds plus a few dogs, seeing and hearing the flocks with their bells looked like something straight out of biblical times. What is not out of those times or maybe it is) were the number of police road checks we had to get through (we are of course right next to the West Bank border) but with Ahmed with us there were no problems in getting through.
Tomorrow we are taking a minibus to Petra all being well - we will update you from there. Thanks for your comments which I see are there, we will read them as soon as we have successfully got this blog posted, and we might also attempt to get some photos added.
Brian
Madaba is full of c Churches and Mosques & is famous for its mosaics. We have sem some very beautiful & incredibly old stuff. We visited all th major sights in the town yesterday, walking about the vry confusing streets, made more confusing bcause of course all the street names are in Arabic, with the odd one in English. Still we saw St George's church across the road from our nice, basic hotel. We were alerted to the church by the very loud bll ringing at 7 am, followin the several calls to prayer during the night. The other places we saw were the town museum, the archeological park, Church of the Apostles (huge mosaic), while walking round we had to take great care as the pavements are mad, hole, fissures, lups, bumps some completely dug up, all sorts of obstructions, you certainly cant walk around with your head in the air.
Food great, people very friendly and unhassly, there seems to be a law that all boys under 16 must say hello to tourists.
Tessa
Today we got Ahmed the driver who brought us here from the airport (along with David an American on his way to Baghdad) to drive us to Mt Nebo and then onto the Dead Sea - where we floated as swimming is quite impossible, even getting your feet down onto the sand is difficult and just one quick taste of a salty finger has your mouth puckering up. On the way down the mountain to the Sea we passed a surprisingly large number of Bedouin tents and camps and large flocks of goats, sheep, some camels and donkeys all tended by single shepherds plus a few dogs, seeing and hearing the flocks with their bells looked like something straight out of biblical times. What is not out of those times or maybe it is) were the number of police road checks we had to get through (we are of course right next to the West Bank border) but with Ahmed with us there were no problems in getting through.
Tomorrow we are taking a minibus to Petra all being well - we will update you from there. Thanks for your comments which I see are there, we will read them as soon as we have successfully got this blog posted, and we might also attempt to get some photos added.
Brian
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
On our way
Heathrow Airport: We are finally on our way. We leave a snowy Cambridge and with the London newspapers predicting minus 10 degrees. After what seems like weeks of getting the house ready, fostering the cats out and a myriad of organisational tasks we are finally really on our way. Thanks to all friends, neighbours and family who joined us for our 'At Home' on Sunday, it was a great distraction and highly enjoyable.
We had perhaps the poshest taxi driver to take us to the station, a woman with a cut glass accent, listening to Radio 4 in her very large merc - this is luxury we may not experience for a while! And it was nice to meet David Mander (Brian's business partner) for a coffee and a bit of cheque signing at St Pancras station.
We are exciting interest on the train and at the check-ins here at Heathrow with our minor amount of luggage (Tessa's bag is a mere 7kg, mine in a bit over 9kg), everyone is very interested (sometimes a bit doubtful) that people can travel for five months in this way - we will see and you will hear.
So at Heathrow terminal 1, after some extraordinarily slow service in the Cafe Rouge we are watered and fed and now ready to get through security - mind you the man with the sub machine gun across the way with his trigger finger twitching wildly is not what you want to see if you need to get into a relaxed frame of mind.
All the best and our next blog entry will be from Jordan.
We had perhaps the poshest taxi driver to take us to the station, a woman with a cut glass accent, listening to Radio 4 in her very large merc - this is luxury we may not experience for a while! And it was nice to meet David Mander (Brian's business partner) for a coffee and a bit of cheque signing at St Pancras station.
We are exciting interest on the train and at the check-ins here at Heathrow with our minor amount of luggage (Tessa's bag is a mere 7kg, mine in a bit over 9kg), everyone is very interested (sometimes a bit doubtful) that people can travel for five months in this way - we will see and you will hear.
So at Heathrow terminal 1, after some extraordinarily slow service in the Cafe Rouge we are watered and fed and now ready to get through security - mind you the man with the sub machine gun across the way with his trigger finger twitching wildly is not what you want to see if you need to get into a relaxed frame of mind.
All the best and our next blog entry will be from Jordan.
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