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This blog has been LONG overdue, but there is definitely a lot to say about the Journey to Jordan.
Lauren, Corey, Muriel, Joslyn and I traveled as a group throughout the entire country of Jordan. We pretty much saw everything you could in 8 days including travel.
To begin our journey, we boarded a 10pm Delta bus from Cairo to Nuweiba (6-7 hour ride). It was my first time riding the bus in Egypt. During Thanksgiving I was planning on going to the Siwa Oasis via bus, but got sick and decided not to go. The bus ride was uncomfortable as anticipated. Not only was it a long bus ride, every seat on the bus was filled. All I wanted to do was fall asleep, but had difficulty because every 2 hours or so, the bus would have to stop at a checkpoint and we would have to show our passports to the officers. We finally reached Nuweiba at around 5:30am.
Grabbing our luggage from the bus we orientated ourselves and tried to find where the Port was located. All of a sudden a line of men with bags and luggage start running from around the corner. We
figure they were headed to the ferry, but couldn't understand why they were running. We followed suit and joined the line. After having our passport checked several times, our luggage screened and x-rayed, and receiving a couple strange looks (as to why we were taking the ferry) we ended up in the "outside waiting room."
Our reasoning for taking the ferry: we decided to go with the ferry from Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan, because (1) it is much cheaper than flying. Only $70 USD one way by ferry and (2) we didn't want to get the Israeli stamp on our passports. If you have the Israeli stamp, several countries in the Middle East will not let you into their country including Lebanon, Syria, and the U.A.E. Therefore, the best option was the ferry, even though we heard horrible stories.
Most of us tried to catch up on our sleep because we were up for almost 24 hours. It was difficult because the benches were made out of two strips of wood; extremely uncomfortable to even sit on. After waiting in the "outside waiting room" for a couple hours and getting annoyed with the flies, we saw the
local men start to move again. I asked one of the officers what was going on and what we had to do. He gave me and my fellow travelers exit forms, in order for us to get stamped out of Egypt. Once those were filled out, we headed to an "inside waiting room," which did not look any more promising.
We entered the dimly lit area, noticing the same benches found outside, same pesky flies, cats strutting along, a large picture of the President at the far wall, and a snack stand selling chips, cola and tea. My friends and I joked that our parents would kill us if they saw the conditions we were enduring. I needed to go to the bathroom, but unfortunately, all of them were squatters (no toilet, just a hole in the ground). I decided that I didn't have to go
that bad. However, waiting for so long, I was desperate and used a squatter! It was definitely a personal win. My confidence was crushed after having 3 false alarms for boarding the ferry. It was approaching 4:00pm and I began to question how can such a service be so disorganized and still charge
$70 USDs!
Several handfuls of dried apricotes and almonds, a couple packs of bisquits, two 1.5 liters of water, and 36 hours without proper sleep, we FINALLY are allowed to board the ferry! Can you believe it, the ferry was scheduled for noon and we didn't board until 7:00pm!!! And continuing with the absurdness and redundancy that is ever so present in Egypt, our passports are checked again before boarding the ferry. Once on the ferry, we have to give our passports over to "someone" so that they can get us the entrance visa for Jordan. In exchange for your passport you get a slip of paper with something written in Arabic. However, its not one slip of paper per passport. It's however many people are in your group: in our case one slip for 5 passports. I know, don't ask, I can't explain!
The ferry itself, was better than I imagined - comfortable seating, an extensive snack stand, ferry attendants, and western-styled toilets! The ferry took about 1.5-2 hours to get to the port of Aqaba, Jordan. But to add on to this experience, as we were docking, the ferry began to sway left to right, and
back again. Then, water started pouring out from the ceiling. What else could go wrong?!
Once we got off the boat we were separated into two groups: Tourists and non-tourists, and then taken to the ferry terminal. There we waited for another hour and a half to have our passports returned to us, enduring some pseudo-interrogation.
We were met by the taxi drivers that were taking us to Wadi Rum at 10:30pm. After an hour of driving, we reached Wadi Rum and then jumped into a 4x4 jeep that took us into the wadi (wadi is Arabic for valley, rum means high/elevated). It was complete darkness so we only saw the shillouettes of the rock formations around us. After 20 minutes of driving through the sand, we reached our camp, where dinner was waiting for us. This would be our first real meal in 41 hours. We had no problem falling asleep that night only to wake up at 8:00am for our jeep safari tour - this was after we convinced the bedouin tour guide that 7:00am was too early.
Waking up the next morning and crawling out of the tent, was the first time that
I saw the Wadi. One word came to mind: Amazing!
In the afternoon, we jumped into a microbus and headed towards Petra, where we were able to catch up on some much needed sleep. At the Hostel in Petra I met a guy living in Cairo, but originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Indeed, it is a very small world.
Petra was absolutely amazing! No wonder why it is called one of the New Seven Wonders of the World! Starting extra early, around 7:00am, we were able to beat the crowds of tourists. We did Petra in two days, which I believe was the perfect amount of time. We made the two major climbs (1) the high place of sacrifice and (2) the climb to the top of the Monastery on the first day, going against the Lonely Planet travel guide's suggestion. On the second day we decided to go off the beaten path and climb to the top of the Treasury. The climb didn't take too long (about 1 hour), but trying to find the path proved to be difficult. It was a small price to pay, for the awesome view you get from atop of the mountain.
The next day, we were en route to Amman, the capital of Jordan. Instead of taking the most direct route, we opted for seeing the sites along the way. These included: Ajloun and Kerak Crusader Castles, swimming in the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo (where Moses was able to look out to the Promised Land), and Madaba.
Arriving in Amman, we could instantly notice the differences compared to Cairo - much smaller, much quieter, much cleaner, more relaxed, and they use traffic lights!
We had dinner at a "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant, which was featured in the New York Times called
Hashem . The food did not disappoint: the best felafel (or tameya as they call it in Masr/Egypt) I had ever had, as well as the best fuul/fool (fava beans). This place has no plates, and they serve you the felafel from a bowl with their bare-hands. Definitely not a restaurant for people who are germiphobic. Needless to say, we ended up eating there several more times during our stay in Amman.
The other days in Amman were spent visiting the Amphitheater and other ruins, shopping for kuffiya's, and a day trip to Jerash, one of the largest Roman
ruins site in the Middle East.
Other differences that I noticed while in Amman. People in Cairo are kind and welcoming, and the same can be said for Jordanians or even more. For example, on our way to the bar, we took a taxi. Being the small world that it is, we discovered that the driver was going to be visiting family in Cairo at the end of the month. The ride cost 2 dinars and not being familiar with the money I thought that I was giving him 2 dinars. I started to walk away from the cab, but heard the driver yell back, waving the money out of the window. I thought that he was disappointed because I might have underpaid, but I ended up overpaying - giving him 21 dinars. He mentioned that people are more honest in Jordan, than Cairo as he handed me back the 20 dinar note. In addition, it seemed that storekeepers were less inclined to bargain, and seemed like a lot of the places had set prices - a huge change from Cairo, where most places you can bargain down the price, even with 5-star bar and restaurant cover charges! Women
showed more skin and there were fewer women veiled compared to Cairo. Overall, the country seemed more organized and seemed to run more efficiently compared to Egypt. My first taste of the West, since arriving in Cairo from the US.
Our tour through Jordan was coming to an end, and we were dreading the journey back to Cairo, especially the ferry ride. However, we did not have a problem with the ferry on our way back. If only, it were the same on the Egyptian side...
After sailing across the Red Sea to Nuweiba, Egypt, we had to find transportation back to Cairo. This was a nightmare - one that I can only tell you in person!
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Jenefer
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Awesome!
Hey Rob - what awesome experiences you are having! Thanks for the pictures and especially your insights. Looking forward to the next installment.