Today we would be daring. We would live on the crest of fear and redefine danger. Today, we would rent a quad-bike. Quad-bikes look a lot more unstable and unsafe than they really our. Now, before you roll your eyes back and think 'what wimps' - please remember, we had our 1 year old baby with us - no space for a baby seat on a quad-bike. Of course, once we realized that the maximum speed of these clunky little beasts was a mere 25km/h, we threw all safety worries out the window, strapped Sesame into her front pack, and away [View Full Entry]

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Santorini is one of those quintessential Greek Experiences. White-washed houses, donkeys pottering up steep paths, grey-whiskered old greek men basking in the peaceful lull of the waves. And of course, that welcoming fat greek village lady, ushering you into her house to prepare you a home-cooked meal. All that and more awaits you at Santorini. What lies! Lies lies lies! White-washed houses yes. And yes, there are donkeys ... for rent ... for the right price. But grey-whiskered old men - they are much too busy trying to get you to rent a quad-bike to have time to enjoy the calming [View Full Entry]

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Where does one begin to introduce Athens - a city which birthed democracy itself, that continued to shape European history and philosophy for centuries after its decline, and most importantly, continues to even today host some of the best Moussaka ever. But what struck us the most wasn't political, philosophical or even edible. Rather, it was the distinct social homogeneity. All Greeks. As a wise man once observed, there are only three things you find everywhere in the world - injustice, flies and Asians (Chinese or Indians). If that is true, then Athens is clearly out of this world. [View Full Entry]

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Taking the word exhoribitant to bold new extremes, and bringing ridiculous fantasy towards reality, Dubai is a place where the word "Wow" is second only in frequency to the phrase "Its stinking hot". Home to the world's only 7 star hotel, the world's tallest building, the world's largest shopping centre and (I'm convinced) the world's most expensive Starbucks coffee, this once humble emirate of the Arab peninsula has transformed itself in 50 years to the quintessential millionaires' pleasure garden of the U.A.E. But now ... back to reality. Because Dubai is not all fancy cars and opulent [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 of 2 in Moscow was devoted to seeing those compulsory sights of Moscow - Red Square and the Kremlin. Now we had of course heard of Red Square before, but never seen it on TV. So naively, we were expecting some rather large impressive square, possibly painted red, and most definitely with fake soldiers parading around - maybe even allowing you to take a photo with them for a few rubles. Not so. Red Square isn't red - and to be honest, I don't think it was even square. Apparently, the Russian name for can be translated as both [View Full Entry]

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Moscow. We weren't sure what to expect in Moscow. Drab soviet gray buildings and despondent faces, all with a healthy sprinkling of Vodka. Sadness or depression seemed to be a fair expectation, given the exorbitant hotel prices in Moscow (currently the most expensive city in the world - who would have thought). It seems though gray and sad is far from today's Moscow. Colour seems to be the fashion of the day and blaring red hair dye the pinnacle of said fashion. People are dressed to impress - women on every corner sporting ridiculously impractical attire to emphasise that they are [View Full Entry]

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So here we were in the famed Amman, capital of Jordan, famous for .... uh .... well, okay, famous for nothing. Amman, not to be confused with Oman (a country on the east coast of the Arab Peninsula), is the modern capital of Jordan that essentially looks, feels and smells like a European city. We were here simply because of its proximity to two important Jordan sights - the Dead Sea and the river Jordan. We started our morning trying to get to the Dead Sea. Our taxi driver harassed us all the way to the bus depot, telling us that [View Full Entry]

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Today was a fun day... a fun day in retrospect, but rather traumatic while it happened. To whet you're appetite, lets just say today's blog includes an ambulance and a lot of yelling. It all started out with the well intentioned nagging of myself, harassing Melenie to 'carpe diem' and see Petra, despite Per feeling absolutely horrid from a rather vicious bout of gastro. Yes, she was throwing up every hour, had skin that ached like a migraine, a sore throat from being dehydrated, and all while being required to exert her scarce energy trying to nurse our 4-month old. Yes, [View Full Entry]

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I'm surprised at the number of people who have no idea what Petra is. You know, that mystical city that was lost from civilization for 6 centuries. The centre of the great Nabataen civilization; that great Arab force that for some time controlled world trade thanks to its strong control of key east-to-west trade routes. That rose coloured city that was carved 2600 years ago from sandstone drenched in an array of red hues. No - most people look confused. And let’s not begin to talk about the looks regarding the Nabataens - "Naba what?". Of course, then I tell them, [View Full Entry]

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Wadi Rum - land of dramatic canyons, red scorched sands, and heat-stroke impaired tourists. Touted as the most dramatic desert scenery, ever, its one of those must-sees on any Jordan itinerary. Its also the hang out spot of the Bedouin (as is much of the desert area in Jordan), those mysterious nomads of the desert that feature in the rare oppressed minority section of the Lonely Planet of every Middle Eastern country. The typical tourist activity in Wadi Rum is to hire a Bedouin guide to take you tromping across the desert, either in a 4WD jeep or a camel. Camping [View Full Entry]

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