Blogs from Jordan, Middle East - page 98

I left for the resort town of Eilat the following morning, waking up at 6am to catch the 7am bus. The ride went off without a hitch. Four and a half hours later, I was in Eilat. Since Lee left me the name of the hostel, I looked it up in my guidebook and walked about 5 min. out of the bus station to the hostel. Needless to say, it was warm and sunny, right around 1130am. I wasn't sure if Lee was going to be around, but I checked into the room he already payed for. He wasn't there, so I decided to go and see some of Eilat. Earlier, I read about activities like scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, and an underwater aquarium. None sounded interesting enough, since just on the other side of ... read more

Bye Bye Moubarak! Voila déja presqu'une semaine que nous avons dit "bye bye" à l'Egypte! Nos derniers jours au pays des pyramides nous aurons tout de même laissé de très belles images en tête. Entre autre, nous avons fait l'ascension du Mont Moise durant la nuit. Pour votre info, c'est sur ce mont que Moise aurait reçu les 10 commandements de la part de Dieu... Il y faisait EXTREMEMENT froid mais ça en valait le coup car le lever du soleil était d'une éblouissante beauté. Pour poursuivre dans le thême biblique, au pied de la montagne se trouve le monastère Sainte-Catherine, reconnu pour abriter en ses murs le buisson ardent. Celui-la même qui aurait pris en feu sans se consumer lors de l'appel de Dieu à Moise. Finalement, on a voulu garder un souvenir mémorable ... read more

I left the chaotic dirty Cairo airport during the Hadj where thousands and thousands of people dressed in white were heading to Mecca. Arriving in Jordan was arriving to a different world entirely even though they are neighbors. Yes, the Hadj pilgrims were there as well, and the airport was clean, organized, efficient, calm. And you can say the same for the rest of Jordan. I was so impressed with the country. Egypt was 3rd world, but Jordan didn't seem to be. It had a well-developed infrastructure, railroads to haul exports and imports to the port, excellent well signed highways, an unobtrusive yet good freeway system in Amman. The sales people didn't harass you at the tourist areas like they did in Egypt. From the looks of the housing in Amman and other cities, there is ... read more

Our exodus from Petra was followed by a short taxi ride to the entrance of the Wadi Rum desert. Officially declared a “National Protected Area” by the Royal Jordanian government in 1997, Wadi Rum offers fantastic landscapes, little-to-no tourists, and interesting adventure activities that only a desert can dish out. We started our journey in a beat-up old Toyota Land Cruiser and buzzed around through the sand visiting incredible rock formations, giant sand dunes, and the remains of old desert residential dwellings. The first day we stopped by the remains of the home of T.E. Lawrence, author, adventurer and inspiration behind the famous film “Lawrence of Arabia”. In fact the entire movie was shot throughout the Wadi Rum desert, very fitting considering it was the same place he called home nearly 100 years ago. For nearly ... read more

Petra is something else altogether, a beautiful city carved into and out of the rocky outcrops of Wadi Musa - the Valley of Moses - and which was the capital of the ancient Nabatean people. It is also an area replete with Biblical associations, in which it was known as both Seir and Sela. The most famous Petran was King Herod, he who lopped off John the Baptist’s head. Earlier, the Cainites (son of Adam and brother of Abel) resided here. Esau (son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham) moved his kin here after a spat with his brother Jacob. And when Moses was leading the Chosen People to the Promised Land, King Rekem of Petra refused them permission to pass through their lands, which I guess could go someway to explaining that 40 year journey ... read more