Blogs from North, Jordan, Middle East - page 8

Salam aley kom!! Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the official name of Israel's eastern neighbour country. In 1994 both countries signed a peace-treaty, therefore it's possible for people to cross the border from one of the three crossing points. Jordan uses the Jordanian Dinar as its currency, which has almost the same value as the Euro (1 JD = EUR 1,03 these days). The head of state is King Abdullah II. From Nazareth I took a bus towards the bordercrossing called "Sheikh Hussein". Nobody told me we'd change buses at the border. I left my big backpack on the bus when we got off in front of the Jordanian migration building and then I needed to go through a security check in another building. When I finished I couldn't find the bus! I got a bit ... read more

Kiss one to the left cheek, 3 to the right, embrace with both arms for a 2 to 10 second hug, back pat then release in one swift high five to seal the deal. If you so desire, try to hold hands with your male companion and swing them as you meander along the street in joy that you have been reunited at last. This is the authentic traditional Jordanian greeting amongst heterosexual males when they have not seen each other for quite some time. I wonder if this would catch on in NZ? Yeah, nah, too casual! And they call us kiwis friendly…… Day two of the G Adventures tour began early. Being that my lovely room mate Sally and I were both on skewed body clocks, we were awake before the first call to ... read more

Jordan map - trip route October 18 to 26th... read more

DRIVE TO AMMAN - DAY 13 - FINAL DAY We left Petra and drove up the King’s Highway before merging on the Desert Highway to make our trip north to Amman, the capital of Jordan and prepare for the transfer to the Queen Alia International Airport. The highways followed the oldest continually used trading route in the world. Some interesting sites were seen along the route, but the overwhelming vistas were desert. About half way through the ride, we took a pit stop at the MidWay Castle, a restaurant and souvenir shop. As we approached Amman, our tour guide Madji explained quite a bit about Jordan’s role in the Mid-East political, economic and geographic situations, both currently and historically. Tour Director Matt, the best ever, commented on the Tauck experience and summarized the events of our ... read more

October 6, 2013 So, we booked three weeks off in October way back in the Spring, and as August was closing we realized we hadn't decided on where to go...gah! After tossing around a few ideas we decided on Jordan (coupled with Greece, more on that to come) so it was off to the Middle East! The lovely K has always wanted to see Petra, and I fell in love with deserts while in Morocco so it seemed like a perfect choice...add on the Dead Sea, Jerash and seeing the Red Sea at Aqaba and the trip pretty much took care of itself... The plan was to start in Amman for a couple of days before heading to Petra, then the desert at Wadi Rum before running out of real estate at the southern port city ... read more