Jordan was a magnificent experience and the city of Petra was one of the most wonderful experiences in the Middle East. Here are some pictures. [View Full Entry]

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After the disastrous ferry ride to Aqaba we woke up refreshed and ready to see Jordan. We started by checking out Aqaba castle which was badly damaged during the Arab rebellion against the Ottoman empire in 1917: major hero was the Brit, Lawrence of Arabia. The rest of the morning we wandered the small resort city and appreciated how much more cleaner, safer, and better organized it was compared to Egypt. We them drove to Wadi Rum desert to sleep in Bedouin tents (desert people) and enjoy the unique desert landscape. It was a lot more impressive then I would have [View Full Entry]

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The day after the wedding, we checked out of the hotel around noon, and we all very tired and hungover, so we went to Books@Cafe for lunch/afternoon tea and sat there eating and resting for a while, before heading back to Hotel Liwan for a long long sleep! We were supposed to go out with Chris' friend Fadi that night, but we didn't hear back from him, so we just had dinner with John, Colleen and Eimear at Grenadier's, then went back to bed because we were all still tired and lazy. The next day we went to the Dead Sea [View Full Entry]

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As usual, I am here in an exotic location on Business and on the last day of work, I decided I should go do tourist stuff. I actually decided to do the tourist stuff long ago, I just never made any plans. On the way from the airport I discuss my tourist desires with my driver, Yanal Bikmerza, and he suggests that I should spend the night in the Wadi Rum when I visit Petra on Friday. He fills my head with visions of the Bedouins and their camp, sleeping in a tent and enjoying an evening of Arab desert hospitality. [View Full Entry]

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It’s 7:15a now and I just got back from breakfast. As I approached my room I noticed that the carpet in front of my door was darker in that circular pattern that can only mean one thing - flooding. But wait - I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with my arrival in Jordan 36 hours ago where I watched the carousel go ‘round and ‘round until it stopped without producing my cherished luggage. I filled out my “lost luggage” form like a good boy (along with 20 other people) and was assured that my bag would be on the next [View Full Entry]

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We started off the day by doing some Souk shopping in Damascus. It is quite a long and big Souk there, so was really quite cool. I didn't end up buying anything because we were quite rushed, and I wasn't in the mood to go shopping as I was starting to get a little sick. So we left Damascus and headed off in the bus for a few more hours crossing the boreder back into Jordan and went to the Amman airport where we flew back to Aqaba. John had arrived in Jordan by this time, and picked us all up [View Full Entry]

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Today we got up (early once again, quite a remarkable effort for me I must say. Dad, I think you would agree!) We left to go to Petra for the day. And what a day this one turned out to be!!! Petra is an amazing place, if anyone ever has the chance to go there...I strongly suggest it. But be prepared for long walks, many stairs, hot sun and the Bedouins! We started off by getting to the Treasury, then decided to walk up to the High Point of Sacrifice. After many water and rest stops along the way, we made [View Full Entry]

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After still only a few hours sleep in Amman, we woke up and headed off to Chris' parents place in Aqaba (about 3 hours out of Amman, on the coast). Was quite a lazy/uneventful day (as you can imagine after everything that we had been up to), we arrived in Aqaba, and went to the old house of the Gabriel's, then to their new apartment, had a bit of a few hours nap then went and got some dinner in town at a place called Ali Baba's. Then went up to a rooftop bar called Sea View Cafe, met Chris' friend [View Full Entry]

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Hey Everyone, Just a quick hello to let you all know I'm fine and still alive. Having a blast over here!! Been all over the place, and just got back from a couple of days in Jerusalem!! Very cool and interesting I must say! We are back in Amman now, and will be til we leave. I leave here on Saturday, and have a few (13 hours) to kill whilst in Abu Dhabi airport, so I will try and fill you all in with all my adventures then. And then I'm off to Tokyo and Beijing for a few days each. [View Full Entry]

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If I ever hated anybody enough I would wish upon them a border crossing via ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba, Egypt. A knee in the nuts and voodoo dolls frenzies just don’t cut it once you’ve seen this. Picking up from where I left off last leaving Wadi Rum, my brother and I get to Aqaba an hour and a half late. Our timetable says there is one daily fast ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba at 11am and we had heard from a ton of people that this was an extremely painful all day process. Hey man, that’s cool. Life [View Full Entry]

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