Blogs from Dead Sea, West, Jordan, Middle East - page 6

An extra bolt on was an excursion to the Mt Nebu and the Dead Sea. Mt Nebu is where Moses eyed the holy land, Jerusalem, across the Jordan river valley and he spend his last years. A quick stop at Mt Nebu to enjoy the small museum and great views. Some of the buildings of Jerusalem could just be seen in the very far distance. We travelled down to below sea level for a buffet lunch followed by a dip in the buoyant saline waters of the dead sea. Fun was had by all, the sun came out for us, enough to then cover ourselves in the “therapeutic” Dead Sea mud.... read more

We started early (again) to catch a bus to Madaba, a small town that boasted lots of mosaics, including a fairly well preserved map of the Holy Land that dated to the sixth century. Keeping with the Biblical theme we continued to Mount Nebo where Moses had stood to view the surrounding lands. The view was a bit hazy, and we decided that Moses had been quite silly to accept all those lands if they were as barren then as they are now. After this we carried on to the Dead Sea, descending to 400m below sea level to sample the waters at a 5-star resort. Unusually it was rather wavy, so we had to be quite careful not to get water in our eyes or mouths (like pretty much everyone I failed and found (a) ... read more

Heute ging es zurück von Petra nach Amman mit einem kleinen Abstecher ueber das Tote Meer. Ausgeschlafen, den gestrigen Tag noch in den Waden spuerend machten wir uns auf den Weg. Mit viel Aussicht nach unten ging es weiter ueber den Kings Way und irgendwann Richtung Totes Meer. Dort angekommen hangelten wir uns einen steinigen Hang mit zig Wasserflaschen unter den Armen hinunter, um den Eintritt in die oeffentlich Baeder zu sparen. Schnell um gezogen und dann ab ins kuehle Nass. Aber was war das??? Das Wasser war lau warm und Step und ich hatten dann den Effekt von 30%igem Salzwasser, dann doch nicht so stark erwartet. Gerade als man rein springen wollte, schnippste man auch wieder zurueck und trieb hoffungslos oben. Naja fuer Nicht- und Rueckenschwimmer. Auf dem Bauch schwimmen ging gar nicht, da ... read more

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 travelling by bus was much too complicated, and that he would happily drive us for a reasonable fee. Of course, as smart tourists, we didn't trust our taxi driver. Arriving at the bus depot though, ... read more

The past two nights, I stayed with another buddy from UBC, Mayss Naber in Abdoun!! woohoooo Crazy/lovely family and fun to see how she runs it in the summer. She has a wonderful family--mom, dad, brother, sister with amazing bob marley hair!!! omg! I love it so much! and their 14-cousin jimmy who is staying with them for the summer from lebanon and is absolutely hilariuos!!! love that lil gangstaaaa! Failing to go to the Dead sea or petra the past few days due to waking up too late...ooops!, I finally get my butt to the Dead Sea!!! ...About 45 minutes west of Amman...It's really close to the Jordan River where apparently Jesus was baptized. Mayss told me that they have replicated the holy water he was baptized in and it was a nice touristy gift ... read more