Blogs from West, Jordan, Middle East - page 11

I admit that two years overseas have definitely compromised my competencies in a few “Americanisms.” I can’t tell you who won the Rose Bowl and my March Madness bracket was unfathomably pathetic. I probably couldn’t even tell you what MLB even stands for anymore. I don't know which agnst-filled popstar did what, where last week. Anchorman is affirmatively the last movie I can confidently quote. My iPod hasn’t been synced in something like a year; I had to have a Jordanian cab driver identify Chris Brown’s “Forever” yesterday which I painstakingly proceeded to locate and play on repeat in a sad attempt to reconnect with Western pop culture. The most shameful regression though has to be my grasp of the English language. When I was 17 I scored a full 800 on the English writing section ... read more

Das Königreich Jordanien ist ein Land das vielseitiger kaum sein kann: Mit seinen Burgen und Schlössern, mit Jerrash, den besterhaltensten Rückständen einer Stadt aus der goldenen römischen Zeit, dem toten Meer in dem man nicht untergeht, dem roten Meer mit unberührten Tauchplätzen und 365 Tagen Sonne pur, seiner einzigartigen Wüste Wadi Rum, in der unter anderem der Film Laurence von Arabien gedreht wurde und mit Petra, der roten Stadt in den Felsen, die erst kürzlich zu einem der New Seven Wonders of the World gewählt wurde. Jordanien schafft den Spagat zwischen Tradition und Moderne und ist durch seine diplomatischen Beziehungen, trotz seiner geographischen Lage, gleichzeitig ein sicheres Reiseland. Das klingt fast wie Werbung. Soll es nicht sein. Es ist einfach so, das mich dieses mit Geschichte vollgepackte Land einfach überzeugt hat :) Mein Besuch war, nach ... read more

Hi guys! Well here we are in long awaited Jordan - we have been so busy, making the most of our 11 days in this amazing place. Our overnight flight was uneventful (thanks to those little pink pills) and we even managed to get a bit of sleep in our cramped bmi economy class seats. As promised, a taxi driver was waiting for us at the airport, holding up a sign for ‘Mr Hawkes’ After sorting our visitor visas and getting into the taxi, a strange thing happened. Our taxi driver actually charged us the pre-arranged amount! He was very kind and polite too so a big thumbs up to Jordan so far. This has to have been our most pleasant ‘airport - taxi - into town’ adventure yet. The first thing that I noticed about ... read more

The next day we drove south and visited Madaba where there is a church with an ancient mosaic map of the Middle East set in the floor and Mount Nebo from where Moses is reputed to have first seen the Promised Land. Then down through some magnificent scenery to the Dead Sea. Ian wanted a photo of the vehicles set against the sea so we found a place where we could get down to the water. Camilla, Jeremy and I thought it too good an opportunity to miss and went for a ‘swim’. The water is so buoyant being 30% salt that you just sit on the top and bob about. We then showered off with our camping showers - garden sprays! Very useful. We drove, again through the most beautiful wild countryside up to Karak ... read more

Country of the Hashimite Kingdom (which means the kings are direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad), Jordan is richer and more orderly than Egypt. With phosphate and cement export, mostly to China, and aids from US for its important role in Middle East peace process, Jordanian economy is very strong. 1 USD = .7 Jordanian Dinar. Jordan's strengths is also visible in its work force. Egyptians, Philippians, and Africans fill most of the service jobs here. Day 13 - Wadi Rum Wadi means valley in Arabic. This is a well preserved national park, with landscapes resembling that of Utah and Colorado. It also contains many TH Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) sites, such as the valley where the Arab army camped when fighting the Ottomans in the Arab revolt during WWI, the mountain range he named 7 ... read more