Blogs from North, Jordan, Middle East - page 16

I was in Amman for a week. Somehow it did not quite do it for me this time. I guess after the rustic charm of Syria it was a bit too much concrete. Or something. Did relax at the Farah hotel though, build up some energy reserves before heading into the desert (not that it helps much, half a day of driving in the heat and you feel like you need another holiday, in Antartica). Also met some Dutch people who turned out to live a couple of streets away from me. Went out, found a place to drink some alcohol at, euh, interesting prices. On the way back to the hotel the guy bought some arak... suffice it to say, it is a good thing Hasims serves falafel at 5 in the morning, it was ... read more

Travel woes followed us to Jordan as when we arrived in Amman we noticed that our bags were nowhere to be seen. After lodging a lost baggage file, we headed out into arrivals to find that the driver we had arranged with the hostel to pick us up was also nowhere to be seen. After a confusing call to the hostel we sat down and gave them a time limit, should no driver turn up we would just take a taxi. Feeling overwhelmed by bad luck and despairing over our baggage we sat down and simply waited. This was our first taste of Jordan and the arrivals hall at the international airport wasn't such a bad introduction. The first thing that struck me was the greetings. Three kisses on each cheek was the norm, as well ... read more

16 April 2010 After two days at Petra we left early morning to head to Madaba. We had a huge day of sightseeing and driving which included Kerak Castle, swimming in the Dead Sea and finally Mt Nebo. Kerak Castle has been built over previous structures by crusaders from the 2nd Crusade around 1100 to 1200AD. You can still walk through some of the underground passage ways and look down from the impressive stone castle walls. Next stop after couple of hours drive the Dead Sea. It is 400m below sea level, about as low as you can go. Pretty cool experience, not all as pleasurable as you would think. After about 15minutes in the water, you get the feeling you are actually swimming in petrol. However the floating experience is fun. The Dead Sea is ... read more

Geo: 32.3985, 35.9253On the way to Jerash we stopped at the site of Bethany On The Jordan… now for those of you who are religiously challenged this is the site of the Baptism of Jesus Christ our Lord… Yep this is where John the Baptist baptised Jesus, check out the photo's… Now the crazy thing is we were able to walk (in a guided group) to the site of John the Baptist's main baptism spring and then to the East Bank where we gazed at the West Bank less than 3 mtrs away. The Jordan river is the thing that separates the West Bank from the East Bank and it is a small muddy river about 2 mtrs deep.The large 50 calibre 'anti life' guns mounted on the Hummer Military vehicles in the area reminded us ... read more

Today, as always, we started out with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, omelets, and toast. We then started out for a long day driving to Amman, the capital city of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The drive was supposed to take 5 hours, and believe me, 5 hours is a long time when all there is to see is desert. We learned first hand that Jordan is mostly flat desert. However, there were several high points. For one, we were able to see an old Crusader castle, built to help defend Jerusalem from the Muslims in the east. It was well preserved, and we saw the moat, barracks, bakery, dining room, kitchen, stables, and larger living quarters. We also went through a museum about the Crusaders and the region in general, that was situated in one ... read more