Blogs from West, Jordan, Middle East - page 6

« Back » on the road after a few weeks break in France and on for a new humanitarian mission, after one year in North Korea, I have now moved to Baghdad, Iraq! Middle East is now my second home so do expect a lot of blogs from that part of the world ! The first one of this series is dedicated to the Dead Sea in Jordan … Mud, Salt & Sea ! Long week end in Amman before starting my mission, explored already many sites in the capital city and felt like going for a little “escape” from the crowd so when my colleagues mentioned that by the dead sea the temperature would be about 7 degrees warmer than Amman although only at 45mn drive from the capital I made my mind immediately! The ... read more

The King's highway is one of the three North-South arteries of Jordan. The others are the Dead Sea highway to the West and the Desert Highway to the East. The Desert highway is a modern freeway that is quite busy, but both the Dead Sea and King's highways are twisted scenic roads with some spectacular views. We travelled the King's highway South from Madaba to Karak Castle. It crosses Wadi Mujib, which is Jordan's very own Grand Canyon. We stopped for Bedouin Tea at the top of the valley, before descending down hair pin turns into the Wadi and then back up across the other side.... read more

There are many hot springs around the Dead Sea area, and the hot spring water falls at Hammamat Ma'in, just off the Dead Sea highway are truly spectacular. They were a great way of washing the last of the itchy and scratchy Dead Sea salts off before going back to our hotel. Certainly better than the cold pool that waited for us at our hotel. ... read more

Bethany Beyond the Jordan is where Jesus was dunked in the Jordan river by John the Baptist in a symbolic cleansing ceremony. The suspected original baptism site has been dug up, since the river has now moved a little further to the west to form the border between Jordan and the West Bank (ceded to a Palestinian State by King Hussein). Of course, the Israelis are unlikely to give up access to the water, as the current fight is more about water rights than even land. The Jordanian signs repeatedly emphasize the Bible quotes saying Jesus was dipped on the East bank of the Jordan river. On the West bank meanwhile, there were people conducting dunking ceremonies into the now filthy waters of the Jordan creek - just a trickle so it's hard to call it ... read more

Ahlan ya Shabab, I can't believe 6 weeks have already gone by, and only 3 weeks left! While classes have not slowed down whatsoever (starting chapter 13 Sunday) the academic experience is still very good. However, there is much more to learning a culture than just attempting to learn the language (key word attempt), but also traveling to important historical landmarks. Today, since Friday is a weekend, I decided to head West to the city of Madaba which is around a 10 minute ride from Mount Nebo. For those of you who don't know what Mount Nebo is, it is a hugely important religious site in the west of Jordan. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho." (Deuteronomy 34:1)." According to scripture in ... read more