Blogs from Aqaba, South, Jordan, Middle East - page 6

Walking along the street of downtown Aqaba, my nomadic friend, Louis, and I were taking in the sites of this Red Sea port. It had been about an hour after our crossing into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and twenty-four hours following our arrival in the Middle East. The day prior was spent exploring Tel Aviv by foot. A blend between a laid back New York and a bombed out Beirut, this Israeli metropolis was truly the Manhattan of the Middle East. But after a night of cocktails on the Mediterranean beachfront, and a five-hour bus ride through the Negev Desert, we were now in a whole other world. The temperature was unbearably hot, as it tends to be in this region late August. And other than the few clusters of local men, soberly sitting on ... read more

The RTP Region Head, Abdul Hafiz, hosted us at a restaurant around the corner from the Doubletree. He claimed to be the “best seafood restaurant in Aqaba” . Based on our experience he may well be right. He ordered a wide variety of appetizers then organized plenty of very fresh fish. Whole fish on the bone: some grilled some fried. Apparently in this part of the word eating fish with utensils is a travesty. So Abdul gave us all step by step instructions on how to fillet our dinner using only “the ten fingers God gave you”. Funny, I think it may taste better that way. When the plate was piled high with skeletal remains I was pondering desert. Not so fast according to Abdul. “Now for the best part-the brains!” So back in we all ... read more

I loved Jordan. Maybe this isn't a completely accurate statement, as I only saw a select few areas of the country, but what I saw, I loved. I loved the Middle East before visiting and I love it even more now. Petra was beautiful and has so much history behind it. I wish we had had more time, I wanted to hike up to the monastray, but we had a large group with slow walkers so there wasn't enough time. The guide was excellent and gave us a lot of information. The Petra experience was just awesome. I also really loved Wadi Rum, I might even say it was better than Petra. The desert was beautiful and the landscapes were gorgeous. Not only that, but the jeep ride was fun! After working for a while, discussing ... read more

The atmosphere is electric as the Traveler gets off the taxi and finds himself instantly immersed in the sounds, smells and colors of this land. Gone are the solitary, vast open plazas and wide, shady boulevards of Central Asia. Gone are the artificially restored Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan. Gone are the forest of shiny new skyscrapers of the oil rich Gulf States This is the Middle East, chaotic, noisy—no stops pulled. Here, despite the wars and destruction, cities often preserve the same layout they've had for thousands of years... which means, very narrow streets not designed for car traffic and growing populations. And food. Food is everywhere. Any where you turn you see an enticing snack tempting you. Communism never crushed the entrepreneurial spirit of these cultures. People have been honing their business skills uninterrupted ... read more

Aqaba is Jordan's only port. From Aqaba you can look down at Jordan, to the West, Aqaba shares a land border with Eilat in Israel, slightly South of there across the Red Sea is Taba in Egypt's Sinai and directly South is Saudi Arabia. The port and ferry terminal to Nuweiba, Egypt are just south of town. Because we were there at the end of Eid Adaha, the Eid holiday following the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, the beaches in Aqaba were very crowded. The Jordanians camp Bedouin style right on the beach. There were no facilities per-se for this mass of people, so the beach had lots of litter. The beach is also not the fine white tropical sand type, more of a course grainy sand with patches of small rocks. The Red Sea though ... read more