so, i'm now in hurgada; waiting to catch a bus to marsa alam, which is supposed to be this tropical paradise on at the meeting of the red and arabian sea. doesn't sound too bad. i just spent a week in dabah relaxing after our whirlwind tour of jordan with moms.
we spent eight packed days, driving all over the country and checking out the tourist spots, and stopping in between drink tea and smoke hookah with the locals. it was a fantastic week and nice to have moms here. like a bit of home. she arrived on a saturday night and i dropped her off at the airport the next saturday; and in between we traversed the lenght of the country, drove on all the 3major highways, visited natural and man made wonders and countless jordanians; who always ask, first where you are from and then reply immediately, "welcome." this is more telling you welcome than it is making you feel welcome as they are all friendly but most of them in a serious and sort of aggressive way. it endearing after you get used to it though.
we stayed in amman the first night, walking around sweifieh, the neighborhood i was living for the week before she got there. i made her have a sharwma and then try smoking hookah, in what seemed to me to be a pretty sketchy russian bar, with some dude peddling jewerly, hot or not, who knows. i love it, jordanians some hookah, stopping on the side of the freeway for a smoke break, making a friday night trip to mt. nebo to watch the sunset and smoke. i took advantage of this most places but only got moms to smoke that once. but hell, at least she tried. i told her my policy of always saying yes to what the locals suggest. it's just a practice. the next day we spent the morning at a roman ruin temple on a hill that over looks most of amman. i don't even know how to describe it, surreal, awesome, amazing, sick. i didn't even know there were roman ruins in amman, apparently, amman, roman philadelphia, was one of the major ten roman cities across the world, and another was in gerash, jordan. the ruins are beautiful, add it to the list of things i didn't think i would see on this trip. jordan is diverse though, for nevada like desert in the south to an area above amman that is compared to tuscany. it blew me away. there are two major left of sites from the roman ruins in amman, one is this hercules temple that we visited and the other is an theater, downtown that you can see from this hill top. i visited the theater a few day before with gwen, the filipino, that cleans the dudes house i was staying at. seeing roman ruins have been a lifetime goal of mine since i was a little kid and it was so exciting to see them and be there. my mom and i did come to the conclusion that for two people who believe that they are decently smart that we really don't know shit about history and history of roman, and the christian, and jews and all the areas in jordan that sites for the three main westerm religions.
so, we go back to the hotel to meet up with the rental car dude. we check out for damage on the outside and it was a little beat up, no worries, we take pictures and speak with him about it, doesn't matter to us. we never thought to try the car on, listen to it, or check the gas. surprise surprise, the fucking car is on e, and not just e, the light is already on. dude, i'm in a foreign country, by now i'm decently savvy but a super empty and i have no clue where petrol stations are. i guess these are just one of those things that we take for granted. no worries, amman traffic is totally chill, especially during rush hour, right. i have no clue how many lanes are in the roads, the roundabouts is everybody to themself. of course there was never a question i would get us going, practicing in saigon, cambodia, lao, and india taught me a lot about how to do drive like a local. ask my mom, i think i scared her passing cars on double lines going up or down hill. it just the way it is in these place and you get used to it. this is part of the horn thing, we use to be like, "hey man, you're fucking up," they use it as communication, as in hey, i'm overtaking on a double line, up a hill and around a corner. it's old hat now. in any case, we made it, got gas, navigated towards the dead sea and petra and were on our way.
we had plans to swim and stop by the dead sea, but it's was already later and we didn't really want to be looking for our hotel or navigating crazy jordanian roads in the dark with goats and camels and people out walking all over the place.we still had to get there in the dark but it was all good, as we stopped to tea and hookah with some family in fifa, so little town off the sea. it was great. they made us tea, we smoked hookah, we spoke about their lives, they asked about ours and moms handed out presents, postcards, pencils, candy the like. i swear to god half the village walked by to say hi or check us out, it was cool they wanted us to stay the night, which was heartwarming but we had decline as we had booked a hotel and wanted to check out petra the next two days. oh yeah, and jordanians love WWE, i was thanking god that i knew a bit from friend in high school, they love john cena and have WWE shits all over and do the john cena signature move of you can't see me. it made me look cool to them and gave us something to bond over.
the next day, walking down the siq to petra was unreal. the siq is this narrow rock entrance into petra, which i didn't know is massive covering miles and was a huge city back in the day. the siq is special though, it looks like it's been cut through the sandstone with a river and then opens up into the treasury. called this because it was believed that there was hidden treasure in the formations. there are bullet holes in the upper area, where some people tried to get that treasure, to no avail as it's just a tome. one of the most impressive tombs you will ever see. it's not the most magnificent ruin there but it's the best preserved and could possibly be the most ornate. it is massive and impressive. cut into a sandstone cliff. maybe some likie 30-40 meters high, it's indescribable. petra was built and added to many times so there are influences of nabateans, greek, and romans. the treasury has like 6 corinthian columns topped with harpies and is just flat beautiful. what is most impressive about petra is the size. i thought maybe a few buildings but the city is spread over miles of sandstone cliffs, canyons, and open desert. We got tickets for two days but i think i could easily spent a week exploring the place. in parts, i felt like the only person there. we found a little cafe/house up one canyon a 100 meters above the floor with sweeping views, and no one there. it was obviously someones home as they had built a beautiful garden and there was a there was a fire and all, but they must have been out. i covered deserted desert areas just picking artifacts up off the ground; shards of clay, handles, it was extraordinary. Hiking to the monastery and viewing endless desert on one side and the largest of the buildings on the other. it was heart stopping. there are hawkers all over and it's to be expected but most aare extremely friendly and just happy if you stop and look at their wares, offering you tea occasionally and speaking to you in cliched english phrases like, "happy hour," and "good price for you." we had one negative experience with some horse handlers who expect a tip after offering free rides from the end of the siq to the gates, where they would not take the tip i offered, wanting more and arguing. i caved a bit but didn't give them what they wanted as it was a lot of money for 10 minutes of work. at the end of the second day in petra, after walking miles in the desert sun, we headed to wadi rum. i had spoken with a hawker who set us up with a friend of his there to stay the night in a beduin tent and take a jeep tour of wadi rum the next day. wadi rum is a massive desert in the south but unlike the deserts i've ever seen. used as a location to film "lawrence of arabia," it's epic in it's grandeur and solemnity. and the first place i've seen wild camels! the beduin camp and the night we spent there was one of the best experiences i've had so far. it was good to be in the desert again. it reminded me of home, the sounds of coyotes at night and the desert stars. what was really cool, was that we were the only guests there, so it was like we had the whole desert to ourselves. the jeep tour the next morning was unreal, sandstone mountains with rolling dunes in between. there is a desolation you feel in your soul and loneliness you feel in bones. it is both awing and fills you with fear. like staring at the ocean, you feel the power of the earth and smallness yet it's almost comforting and your petty worries and cares are washed away by the landscape.
on the drive to madaba to check out some 6th century mosaics at a greek orthodox church our sweet rental car broke down. i had a bit of a hissy fit at the beginning and one towards the end of a 5-6 hour wait to be picked up, but in between we played one of our best games of scrabble and had a good talk. about sunset, a cop fixed the car in about 10 minutes and i felt like a helpless american. after this, the rental dude shows up adn says there's nothing wrong with the car and we owe him 70 dinar for the drive down. hahahah, we explained that the cop fixed the car and that he won't get any money from us. He ends up lending us his personal car and the kicker, it has no gas. we had just filled up the other tank and had to argue with him about paying us for a tank of gas as this was the second time he gave us a car with no gas. he agrees to give us some money but doesn't have any on him (seriously bro) and so he's gonna give it to me when we drop off the car. anyway, we decide to drive as far as we can get, which ends up being karak. karak's claim to fame is a crusader castle, which is pretty fucking cool. the next morning we explored the castle and i'm just blown away at the history this country holds, multiple crusader castles, petra, roman ruins, christian/muslim/jewish famous places. it pretty incredible. then we visited a school, as moms likes to go to schools in every country she goes to. the teachers and the principle were so proud and happy to have her there, they were glowing. so, we took a tour and they were proud yet spoke of how poor they're schools were compared to ours how they worked to make it a beautiful place of learning. and it was. moms handed out presents in some of the classrooms. her kindness knows no boundaries. i felt shamed, i brought no presents... for anyone.
we decided to mash to jerash that afternoon and then spend the next afternoon in madaba as it is closer to the airport for me to drop her off. jerash is another town with roman ruins. driving there we marveled at the change in scenery. this is the part of jordan that looks like tuscany, who knew. it was gorgeous. i'm astonished by my ignorance everyday. anyway, we had dinner with the most negative south african ever for moms 37th anniversary. we had some jordanian wine and played the worst game of scrabble ever. we called pops to wish him a happy anniversary and then went to sleep to prepare for another day of mad touristing. we visited the roman ruins in jerash, which are very well preserved and extensive, moms bonded with some vendors, we drove to madaba checking out the 6th century mosaics, drank tea with this old dude who called me his son, chained smoked and waved the cigarette so close to my face i thought i would catch it in the eye. we drove up to mt. nebo, where moses saw the promised land, visited a family, some college kids, and ended the day and moms trip by eating pizza (which wasn't bad).
i dropped her off in the morning, crying and missing home and unsure where to go from there.
now, i'm in aswan going to see the luxor, after spending a few days in darsa alam and a week in dahab; but that's another story.
nick
we spent eight packed days, driving all over the country and checking out the tourist spots, and stopping in between drink tea and smoke hookah with the locals. it was a fantastic week and nice to have moms here. like a bit of home. she arrived on a saturday night and i dropped her off at the airport the next saturday; and in between we traversed the lenght of the country, drove on all the 3major highways, visited natural and man made wonders and countless jordanians; who always ask, first where you are from and then reply immediately, "welcome." this is more telling you welcome than it is making you feel welcome as they are all friendly but most of them in a serious and sort of aggressive way. it endearing after you get used to it though.
we stayed in amman the first night, walking around sweifieh, the neighborhood i was living for the week before she got there. i made her have a sharwma and then try smoking hookah, in what seemed to me to be a pretty sketchy russian bar, with some dude peddling jewerly, hot or not, who knows. i love it, jordanians some hookah, stopping on the side of the freeway for a smoke break, making a friday night trip to mt. nebo to watch the sunset and smoke. i took advantage of this most places but only got moms to smoke that once. but hell, at least she tried. i told her my policy of always saying yes to what the locals suggest. it's just a practice. the next day we spent the morning at a roman ruin temple on a hill that over looks most of amman. i don't even know how to describe it, surreal, awesome, amazing, sick. i didn't even know there were roman ruins in amman, apparently, amman, roman philadelphia, was one of the major ten roman cities across the world, and another was in gerash, jordan. the ruins are beautiful, add it to the list of things i didn't think i would see on this trip. jordan is diverse though, for nevada like desert in the south to an area above amman that is compared to tuscany. it blew me away. there are two major left of sites from the roman ruins in amman, one is this hercules temple that we visited and the other is an theater, downtown that you can see from this hill top. i visited the theater a few day before with gwen, the filipino, that cleans the dudes house i was staying at. seeing roman ruins have been a lifetime goal of mine since i was a little kid and it was so exciting to see them and be there. my mom and i did come to the conclusion that for two people who believe that they are decently smart that we really don't know shit about history and history of roman, and the christian, and jews and all the areas in jordan that sites for the three main westerm religions.
so, we go back to the hotel to meet up with the rental car dude. we check out for damage on the outside and it was a little beat up, no worries, we take pictures and speak with him about it, doesn't matter to us. we never thought to try the car on, listen to it, or check the gas. surprise surprise, the fucking car is on e, and not just e, the light is already on. dude, i'm in a foreign country, by now i'm decently savvy but a super empty and i have no clue where petrol stations are. i guess these are just one of those things that we take for granted. no worries, amman traffic is totally chill, especially during rush hour, right. i have no clue how many lanes are in the roads, the roundabouts is everybody to themself. of course there was never a question i would get us going, practicing in saigon, cambodia, lao, and india taught me a lot about how to do drive like a local. ask my mom, i think i scared her passing cars on double lines going up or down hill. it just the way it is in these place and you get used to it. this is part of the horn thing, we use to be like, "hey man, you're fucking up," they use it as communication, as in hey, i'm overtaking on a double line, up a hill and around a corner. it's old hat now. in any case, we made it, got gas, navigated towards the dead sea and petra and were on our way.
we had plans to swim and stop by the dead sea, but it's was already later and we didn't really want to be looking for our hotel or navigating crazy jordanian roads in the dark with goats and camels and people out walking all over the place.we still had to get there in the dark but it was all good, as we stopped to tea and hookah with some family in fifa, so little town off the sea. it was great. they made us tea, we smoked hookah, we spoke about their lives, they asked about ours and moms handed out presents, postcards, pencils, candy the like. i swear to god half the village walked by to say hi or check us out, it was cool they wanted us to stay the night, which was heartwarming but we had decline as we had booked a hotel and wanted to check out petra the next two days. oh yeah, and jordanians love WWE, i was thanking god that i knew a bit from friend in high school, they love john cena and have WWE shits all over and do the john cena signature move of you can't see me. it made me look cool to them and gave us something to bond over.
the next day, walking down the siq to petra was unreal. the siq is this narrow rock entrance into petra, which i didn't know is massive covering miles and was a huge city back in the day. the siq is special though, it looks like it's been cut through the sandstone with a river and then opens up into the treasury. called this because it was believed that there was hidden treasure in the formations. there are bullet holes in the upper area, where some people tried to get that treasure, to no avail as it's just a tome. one of the most impressive tombs you will ever see. it's not the most magnificent ruin there but it's the best preserved and could possibly be the most ornate. it is massive and impressive. cut into a sandstone cliff. maybe some likie 30-40 meters high, it's indescribable. petra was built and added to many times so there are influences of nabateans, greek, and romans. the treasury has like 6 corinthian columns topped with harpies and is just flat beautiful. what is most impressive about petra is the size. i thought maybe a few buildings but the city is spread over miles of sandstone cliffs, canyons, and open desert. We got tickets for two days but i think i could easily spent a week exploring the place. in parts, i felt like the only person there. we found a little cafe/house up one canyon a 100 meters above the floor with sweeping views, and no one there. it was obviously someones home as they had built a beautiful garden and there was a there was a fire and all, but they must have been out. i covered deserted desert areas just picking artifacts up off the ground; shards of clay, handles, it was extraordinary. Hiking to the monastery and viewing endless desert on one side and the largest of the buildings on the other. it was heart stopping. there are hawkers all over and it's to be expected but most aare extremely friendly and just happy if you stop and look at their wares, offering you tea occasionally and speaking to you in cliched english phrases like, "happy hour," and "good price for you." we had one negative experience with some horse handlers who expect a tip after offering free rides from the end of the siq to the gates, where they would not take the tip i offered, wanting more and arguing. i caved a bit but didn't give them what they wanted as it was a lot of money for 10 minutes of work. at the end of the second day in petra, after walking miles in the desert sun, we headed to wadi rum. i had spoken with a hawker who set us up with a friend of his there to stay the night in a beduin tent and take a jeep tour of wadi rum the next day. wadi rum is a massive desert in the south but unlike the deserts i've ever seen. used as a location to film "lawrence of arabia," it's epic in it's grandeur and solemnity. and the first place i've seen wild camels! the beduin camp and the night we spent there was one of the best experiences i've had so far. it was good to be in the desert again. it reminded me of home, the sounds of coyotes at night and the desert stars. what was really cool, was that we were the only guests there, so it was like we had the whole desert to ourselves. the jeep tour the next morning was unreal, sandstone mountains with rolling dunes in between. there is a desolation you feel in your soul and loneliness you feel in bones. it is both awing and fills you with fear. like staring at the ocean, you feel the power of the earth and smallness yet it's almost comforting and your petty worries and cares are washed away by the landscape.
on the drive to madaba to check out some 6th century mosaics at a greek orthodox church our sweet rental car broke down. i had a bit of a hissy fit at the beginning and one towards the end of a 5-6 hour wait to be picked up, but in between we played one of our best games of scrabble and had a good talk. about sunset, a cop fixed the car in about 10 minutes and i felt like a helpless american. after this, the rental dude shows up adn says there's nothing wrong with the car and we owe him 70 dinar for the drive down. hahahah, we explained that the cop fixed the car and that he won't get any money from us. He ends up lending us his personal car and the kicker, it has no gas. we had just filled up the other tank and had to argue with him about paying us for a tank of gas as this was the second time he gave us a car with no gas. he agrees to give us some money but doesn't have any on him (seriously bro) and so he's gonna give it to me when we drop off the car. anyway, we decide to drive as far as we can get, which ends up being karak. karak's claim to fame is a crusader castle, which is pretty fucking cool. the next morning we explored the castle and i'm just blown away at the history this country holds, multiple crusader castles, petra, roman ruins, christian/muslim/jewish famous places. it pretty incredible. then we visited a school, as moms likes to go to schools in every country she goes to. the teachers and the principle were so proud and happy to have her there, they were glowing. so, we took a tour and they were proud yet spoke of how poor they're schools were compared to ours how they worked to make it a beautiful place of learning. and it was. moms handed out presents in some of the classrooms. her kindness knows no boundaries. i felt shamed, i brought no presents... for anyone.
we decided to mash to jerash that afternoon and then spend the next afternoon in madaba as it is closer to the airport for me to drop her off. jerash is another town with roman ruins. driving there we marveled at the change in scenery. this is the part of jordan that looks like tuscany, who knew. it was gorgeous. i'm astonished by my ignorance everyday. anyway, we had dinner with the most negative south african ever for moms 37th anniversary. we had some jordanian wine and played the worst game of scrabble ever. we called pops to wish him a happy anniversary and then went to sleep to prepare for another day of mad touristing. we visited the roman ruins in jerash, which are very well preserved and extensive, moms bonded with some vendors, we drove to madaba checking out the 6th century mosaics, drank tea with this old dude who called me his son, chained smoked and waved the cigarette so close to my face i thought i would catch it in the eye. we drove up to mt. nebo, where moses saw the promised land, visited a family, some college kids, and ended the day and moms trip by eating pizza (which wasn't bad).
i dropped her off in the morning, crying and missing home and unsure where to go from there.
now, i'm in aswan going to see the luxor, after spending a few days in darsa alam and a week in dahab; but that's another story.
nick
