A photo essay of an incredible ancient city. [View Full Entry]

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The only way to see Wadi-Rum is with a guide. We book a 4x4 tour from the hostel in Petra but unfortunately it seemed like nobody else was going so we had to pay a slightly higher 45 JD per person for a private car. When we got to Wadi Rum however the guide had a Japanese couple that was to be in our group, but since they couldn’t refund us any money we decided to demand a private car anyways. We justified it by thinking that we would want to hike around and take our time all day at the [View Full Entry]

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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little anxious about traveling on my own. When Charles left Cairo and flew back to New York and our tour was over, I awoke to an empty hotel room and the reality of my new world was unmistakable. There were no longer any friends or family to journey with, or to help do research, or share in the decisions, or simply be there for company. I moved into a hostel and booked a private room. Partly out of fatigue, partly out of apprehension, and partly out of lethargy, I didn’t open the [View Full Entry]

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After a day or two of Petra, you will have developed a few new skills. You will be able to take on anybody in a camel-and-donkey-shit-dodging relay race. You can say “no” to cute 5-yr old children faster than they can approach you with useless pieces of rock. However your tolerance for fat but scantily-dressed foreigners will have regressed as you probably haven’t seen exposed, cellulited muffin tops in 3 weeks, and you certainly haven’t seen sunburnt man-boobs (yes, some men take their shirts off here...) in too long. I mean what is this, a Six Flags? Your eyes will n [View Full Entry]

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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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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 [View Full Entry]

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The serviced taxi ride from Damascus to Amman was looking to be a disaster. Picture a big-bellied driver, a big-bellied Jordanian riding shotgun, and me in the back riding thigh-to-thigh with two Jordanian men. Throw in a lack of AC in the Middle Eastern sun and a permanent stream of cigarette smoke, the next 3 hours of my life crossing into Jordan were 3 hours I would have paid to skip. The man in the front made no efforts to acknowledge my existence, the man to my right was thinner than me and also seemed glued to his cell phone. After [View Full Entry]

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Wadi Rum, a moon like desert views. [View Full Entry]

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Well this is my first entry on this blog thing. I don't think I have the time to keep a travel blog but will see how it goes! Today is my last day in Jordan. I've really enjoyed it here - the weather, food, people, sights - all fantastic. I had major issues with getting money out of ATMs here which kinda spoiled things but its all worked out now. Whilst in Jordan we (Miranda, Ina and I) had a personal driver to take us around the country. It is the first such kind of tour I've been on. We basically [View Full Entry]

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We got back to Amman and walked for supper but as this proved to be far to energetic and mildly scary we gave up after about an hour and got a taxi to the restaurant which was scrummy! The following day we woke up bright and early as we were heading to Petra. We had decided to hire a car as it was not going to be possible to get public transport and hiring a driver was to expensive! Anyhow on getting into the car we checked about petrol and realised that I had no idea where a petrol station was [View Full Entry]

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