http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Jordan en-us Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:35:52 BST Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:35:52 BST This past week was tumultuous. Not really but I really just wanted to use that word.... See learning Arabic means I lose English. So I'm trying to get it back.Anyways a major disappointment Jerash was cancelled last minute literally right before I went to bed on Saturday night the person I was going to go with wasn't feeling well. So we're planning on trying again sometime in the beginni http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-334223.html From Cairo I made my way down to Luxor Kyle and I were still on the same schedule so we took the 11 hour bus ride together but split up when we got there. He was overly suspicious about the guy who boarded the bus on the outskirts of town to try to sell us on his hotel. In the beginning I was like that too my first instinct was to immediately reject every attempt at direct selling especially http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-333920.html 091008We arrived at our hotel in Amman last night and this morning we tour the city of Amman before making our way to Mt. Nebo and on to the Dead Sea.We visited the Citidal and the Jordan Archaeological Museum located at the same site. The Citidal site contains examples of Roman Byzantine and Islamic settlement.The Dead Sea Scrolls are located in the Archaeological Museum. These scrolls on th http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-333872.html 081008Today we awoke to a fine morning as is normally the case in the desert and to a spectacular view of the rugged mountains around Petra. We went and took some photos before breakfast then headed down for a feed.After breakfast we packed once more as after todays excursions we would head on to Amman. Or should say back to Amman as that is where we came from the night before.We were to spe http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-333856.html Friday 26th September 2008 Dublin airport the usual scenario plane delayed. This in turn makes me late for my connecting flight so I sprint through Heathrow at warp speed and make the connection. With the plane fully boarded the pilot announces that the plane is yes delayed. For an hour and a half. Throw a couple of screaming kids into the mix and it makes for an unhappy Dan.So when the plan http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-333453.html We know you have all been eager to hear from us and know that we have not dropped off into the Red Sea. We have not been able to get to the internet for several days but are now in Luxor Egypt.Since we last updated we have been to Mt. Nebo the place where Moses saw the Promise Land before he died. It looked out over the Dead Sea and on a clear day you can see the King David Hotel in Jerusalem http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-332981.html Ok so it's been a slow 2 weeks. Unfortunately the weather did not get as cold as originally predicted. I was sad. But it still cooled down a lot and I got to snuggle up in my comforter with hot coco so I was happy. And it did rain in fact it rained most of Saturday. It was the first time I wasn't able to eat my breakfast on the balcony before school. That wasn't so fun. But I still en http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-332298.html Jammin in JordanPart 2 Today we hit the road and headed north. First stop was Jaresh another one of those layered ruins. Mainly it was Roman with a hippodome and temples and churchs. There were Roman columns everywhere outlining the streets and plazas. Walking along you could find shards of pottery from the 8th century everywhere. No one cared if you took it because it was everywhere Bu http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-331166.html Thanks to the ongoing problems not only with my laptop but also with FedEx I'm writing this from a computer lab... but that's not important. I just returned from Jordan at about 245 this morning after about 5 days in the Hashemite Kingdom. I have quite a bit to tell this ought to be a thorough entry due to my recent lack of communication so I suppose I'll start at the beginningFour friends http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/blog-331081.html Jammin' in Jordan Well we made it to Jordon after 29 hours of travel. It was tiring but uneventful except that one of the Robertson's bags did not show up yet. Good thing we are flexible We are getting to hate these outfitsToday we had a tour of Amman very interesting civilizations on top of civilizations. On the one site that we visited there was a Greek temple a Roman temple a Byzan http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-330790.html Ramadan has ended This is particularly good for three reasons. One I no longer am receiving my daily afternoon Ramadan headache from not eating all day two people are less on edge in the afternoon they too are feeling better and the end of Ramadan leads to Eid AlFitr a 3 day vacation marking the end of Ramadan. I enjoyed being in a Muslim country for Ramadan and going out to iftars bu http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-327981.html Another week gone. The days seem to fly by but go so slowly at the same time. My weekend has just started so I'm really happy to have some down time. We have two more class days Saturday and Monday before the Eid starts. The Eid is almost a week off a national holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan. It'll be the first time in a month and a half that I'll have have more than one day off http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-327522.html Another good nights sleep and was down to the cafe to meet the driver to go to Wadi Rum. We had organised the trip with a guy at the Alwadi restaurant it consists of an overnight stay in a desert camp including dinner and breakfast and travel to the camp and on to Aqaba and includes a tour of Wadi Rum. I believe that this is the cheapest and definately the easiest way to do Wadi Rum but I can http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Wadi-Rum/blog-327124.html Woke up after a good nights sleep thank god for the MP3 player and trhe Sennheiser earphones without them I'd still be listening to Arbic Soap Operas. All of them are the same consisting of a guy shouting and slapping a woman about I know at least one lady who would have something to say about that back in England and if he slapped her he'd be getting a roundhouse kick to his chopsEarly s http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-326832.html Woke up in the Palace hotel in Amman that certainly did not befit its title the previous night had a marvellous Felafel meal for approx 2 pounds it was rounded off nicely with the local tea which consists of about 8 tablespoons of sugar and a few tea leves nice. Had a good nights sleep and was all ready for the next leg to Petra me and Ania and Martin had arranged to go on an organised trip f http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-326783.html Woke up at the Ghazal house after a good night sleep and found out that the dorm was now full it was empty when I had gone to sleep.The Ghazal was a bit expensive but that might have been because it was the capital 500 Syrian pounds roughly 6 sterling.I was originally going to stay in Damascus for two nights but the city life was dragging me down and I had seen the main sights anyway so I left http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-325282.html ...doesn't look so promising from the air. Dry and very hot.After landing at the airport I only slept for about 45 minutes all night we drove to the town of Madaba. Here we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a mostly empty restaurant. During Ramadan Muslims do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. Imagine a day of 104 degrees and you can't even have a sip of waterWe then traveled to Mount http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/West/Madaba/blog-324933.html Well another week has past. Just after I finished my previous post I went out to meet up with my friend Jasmine at City Mall. I managed to avoid taking a taxi by myself although I had all my choice phrases prepared just in case. After a couple hours we took a taxi back to 2nd circle which is near Jasmine's house when her mother called and invited me to come for tea and to meet the famil http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-324620.html ArrivalMy trip to Amman started with a 5 hour rain delay that resulted in a late arrival to Chicago my first and only stop on the way to Amman. Before I arrived in Chicago I knew that I had already missed my flight to Amman and resigned myself to the fact that I would be spend 24 hours in Chicago waiting on the next flight to Jordan. When I finally reached the gate of my flight a day later I http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-323553.html Heute ging es zurck 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/West/Dead-Sea/blog-322810.html Nachdem ich meine lieben Mitreisenden gestern bereits durch die Hauptsehenswrdigkeiten Petras getrieben habe was so um die 1012km gewesen sein drften galt es heute ein paar Pfade zu erkunden die sicherlich nicht jeder StandardHerdenGruppentouristAmerikanerJapanerEngl1606nderSachseRusse und was sich hier alles rumtreibthellip erlebt. Zun1606chst w1606hlten wir einen Einga http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-322448.html Schweren Herzens mussten wir heute morgen Aqaba verlassen und damit Popayes Pizza Hut Burger King McDonalds das klare blaue Wasser und die vielen bunten Fische zurck lassen. Das Stottern des Motors wurde gestern durch ein Volltanken behoben und deshalb stand der Reise nach Petra nichts mehr im Wege. Die Landschaft ist nicht sonderlich beschreibenswert aber wer die letzten Blogeintr1606g http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-322021.html Ok so it's been two weeks since I last updated but not too much has happened. I got sick a couple days after my last post and it took me close to a week to recover. Ramadan started 10 days ago and so far it hasn't been too bad. The calls to prayer are much more frequent and much louder and people tend to walk around banging pots and pans at four in the morning to wake people up for praye http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-321990.html Den heutigen Tag haben wir in einem Meer voller Korallen verbracht. Das war toll sonnig und schn aber hier nicht weiter erwhnenswert weil ja doch ohne Action D Dennis hat allerdings gut um nicht zu sagen astronomisch viel Geld in eine UnterwasserEinwegkamera gesteckt sodass ihr vielleicht zuhause den ein odern anderen Eindruck davon bekommen knnt.Dafr hat unser 4. Mitglied im Bunde he http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Aqaba/blog-321679.html We have arrived in Amman after leaving Petra and an exciting time there. Take a lot to top that dayOn our way we went to a Crusader castle Shoback httpwww.atlastours.netjordanshobak.html which they are restoring but a lot is still very original including the catapault stones which they used to fight the enemy. Sitting on top of a hill they had 360deg all round. From there we headed to Mada http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-321570.html Halbzeit Wir haben die Tuerken gefundenNun ist es so weit Die Haelfte unserer Reise ist beendet Zeit ein kleines Resuemee zu schreiben.Was habe ich erwartet von einer Reise in das arabische Land Sicherlich nicht das was ich im Endeffekt erlebt habe. Mit meiner Fernsehbildung durch saemtliche Indjana Jones Filme diverse Horrorszenarien mit Mumien und Jagden nach unterschiedlichsten Diamanten http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Aqaba/blog-321370.html That's right ladies and gentlemen I have finally begun classes. On a Sunday no less welcome to the Middle East. 850 this morning was my first lesson in colloquial Arabic and by 930 we were working on Modern Standard. Out by 1110 for lunch. Not bad. Then again this is the abbreviated Ramadan schedule. it will be noon once the month of Ramadan is over. Before you freak out mom and dad this i http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-320819.html I went to the dead sea this morning 730AM with a couple other kids from my group. It was a blast We caught a cab from Amman to the Dead Sea only 20JD one way. Not to bad considering we just flagged down a cab the buses don't run during Ramadan. We went to a hotel called the Dead Sea Spa for the day. 15JD to use their pool changing rooms and private beach. It was GREAT the pool had a swee http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/West/Dead-Sea/blog-320815.html Today we went into Petra. Arrived there about 8.30 am those that wanted to ride horses to the beginning of the siq took off as we walked. Not too sure how my foot would have held up in the stirrups. Walking through the siq was an amazing feeling. Wondering what we were going to discover every time we turned a corner. Changing colours of the rock formations carvings into the rock where temples h http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-320458.html Left Aqaba today after a good nights sleep in a nice Hotel for a change. Clean clean clean Driving along Jordan is so huge adn the statistics are amazing. Apparently 50 of the population is under 18.. Very Modern and from Aqaba you can see Israel. Amazing how close. Aqaba is a very nice place. httpwww.aqaba.joenglishindex.phpWent to Wadi Rum which is in the outskirts and occupied by th http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/South/Aqaba/blog-320175.html