Feb 20th, 21st and 22nd – Back to Israel and Transition

We awoke early to make it back to the village and into a cab to the Israeli border. We said goodbye to our Aussie friend who also joined us in the desert. We crossed the border without major incident (though the Israelis unpacked my bag more than I had the whole trip...apparently I look sketchy). We took a cab directly to our hostel in the Israeli Red Sea coast city of Eilot.

It was a super modern, western and touristy beach town. We spent the afternoon walking around the shopping districts and sitting by the waters edge.

We also walked down and found a quiet place to lie some of my late grandfather's ashes. He was a very special man and it was important to my sister and I that we have the opportunity to do that together. I believe he would have enjoyed the area we were and had been traveling in very much.

We ended up napping away most of the evening before heading the nightlife area just to grab a quick dinner before sleeping for the night.

We took a morning bus that took about 6 hours to make it back to Tel Aviv. The ride was alright except for a screaming baby that was getting on my sister's (who was ready to get back home at this point) nerves. We made it back to a nice hostel in Tel Aviv before sundown. That evening one of the soldier friends we made on our Israel trip would come and join us for coffee and dinner. We were going to have to get up very early to get my sister to the airport, so we didn't go out too late.

I accompanied her to the airport in the morning and said goodbye. It really had been good to send so much time with her over the few weeks we were together. I made my way back to the hostel by train and then bus.

I spent the ENTIRE day updating the blog to at least get it into the right month. Luckily for me it was pouring down rain the whole day so it wasn't too much of a loss. I worked until I needed to sleep

Feb 19th – Lawrence's Arabia

The bus left Petra at just past 6 in the morning and drove us into Wadi Rum where we'd meet our guide for a jeep tour of the desert. This picturesque desert was made famous as one of the staging areas for Lawrence of Arabia to make his push/stand against the Turks. The desert has fine sand and massive red mountains jutting up all around.

We spent the first few hours driving around to various points in the area to climb up rocks and take pictures of the various geological formations. It was not the ideal day due to cloud cover and later a sand storm, but it was still beautiful. The highlight was watching my sister attempt to climb up and then run down a massive sand dune...classic. In the mid-afternoon we were dropped off at the camp we'd be sleeping at and where we'd have dinner that night.

We weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to be doing, so we just rock scrambled up a few mountains and then wandered around the area barefoot, feeling the sand between our toes and doing our best t avoid thorns and scorpions.

The dinner was actually pretty darn good. Chicken baked in an under sand oven, fresh veggies and rice. We ate until we were full and then we headed out to the sand with blankets and mattresses to look up at the stars. It was gorgeous and there were many shooting stars, but it was not quite as amazing as Mongolia. We slept in a large tent with the rest of the people on our tour.

Feb 17th and 18th – The Petra Experience

We headed to Petra on an early shuttle from our hostel. The walk from the gate to the treasury was so much different during the day and even more impressive. We were uncertain how to attack the area. It was large and daunting, so we just headed along the main route towards the center along the main track. Along the way we met some people which we'd end up hanging out with over the next few days. We made our way slowly towards the museums and restaurants that mark the end of the day trip path for tour bus tourists. When we arrived we had established two things, our afternoon activity should be climbing up to monastery and that we were wholly unprepared with food supplies and we were hungry. We didn't want to eat the expensive hotel buffets (yes, The Crown Plaza Petra...ugghh!) so we made friends with the Bedouins hocking donkey and camel rides and ate bread and cheese with them on the floor of a small concrete shack near to the restaurants.

We met some interesting people there and that would come into play later. We talked, ate and drank tea. After we finished we decided to head up the mountain to the monastery (about 45 minutes), when we arrived at the top, we agreed with others we met that it was more impressive than the treasury. It was less ornate, but much more massive than the more famous monument. I ended up talking to one of the Bedouins we met at lunch, Salam, a weathered looking 20 something with a spider web tattoo on his forehead. We had found out earlier that he would be climbing the monastery that afternoon as he does most days and jumping from peak to peak. He was a very nice and talkative guy with admirable English skills. We sat and talked and he invited us to hang out with him later on and mentioned a gathering at a restaurant that evening in town. I said that I hoped we'd have the opportunity, but didn't much count on it.

We wandered for a while, watched Salam jump and then made the long walk back to the gate. We returned to the hostel and our new friends met us there for dinner and a few beers. We were going to head down to the restaurant Salam mentioned, but we were told it was most likely closed. As we prepared to go anyway…in walked Salam. He told us the event was over, but we should come with him to his home in the Bedouin village to relax, drink and smoke nargila. I was a bit hesitant with bringing my sister, but with her encouragement we jumped in a cab and headed off.

I felt immediately comfortable once we arrived, though his room/apartment was just a small concrete room of an unfinished concrete building. He and his cousin Mohamed were warm and welcoming and we talked and chatted openly. We were there past when would be feasible to get a ride back to the hostel and so he invited us to stay with him. After a while longer and the arrival of another friend of his, he suggested we pack the mules and head out to his cave just a little while a way into the desert.

So we headed off into the dark desert, my sister, our new Aussie friend and I accompanied by 3 new Bedouin friends and 2 mules (all at various stages of intoxication) with no flashlight. It was an adventure and it took about 20 or 30 mins, I even fell off a mule at one juncture (the saddle slid off the side), but we made our way carefully and finally arrived. We made tea and looked at the stars before jamming 6 of us into the small cave shoulder to shoulder. It was a real experience, though, naturally, it was not the best night sleep I've ever had.

The next morning we awoke and headed back to the village to get a ride back to our hostel. The walk back was easier, but we wondered how on earth we had made it out in the pitch black. We quickly went back to prepare our things for another full day at Petra. We came much more prepared this time, with enough store-bought food to last us the day. We met our Aussie friend at the gate at 10.

We worked through the entire day making to all the remaining places on our list including the high alter of sacrifice (I’ll refrain from to many details and let the pictures do the talking). Due to varying degrees of exhaustion we enlisted the assistance of mules at a couple junctures. By the end of the day we felt like we could confidently say that we saw virtually all of the main Petra points of interest. The last hike up to a hill above the treasury to look down on it nearly killed us, but we made it out the main gate around 5 feeling exhausted, but accomplished.

We were planning on going to the desert of Wadi Rum the next day and with our time for getting back to Israel running short; we decided to book our tour out of the Petra hostel as to streamline the process. We ate dinner and then tried to keep our eyes open to watch Indiana Jones...we failed and slept early.

Feb 16th – Amman to Petra

We awoke and had the simple free breakfast at the hostel before heading out to cross the last couple things off our list before jumping on the bus towards Petra. We first headed to the ruins of the Roman theater and the associated simple museums showcasing Jordanian traditional costumes and way of life. It was probably the second most impressive roman theater I’ve seen to the Coliseum in Rome.

We then took some time to wander around the Sooq (market) and to the mosque. We then just headed another direction and headed out of downtown for a while to just check things out. What I found myself thinking was surprising to me. Amman was not unlike China! The way the city and the shops were set up was oddly reminiscent of Chinese city structure. There were totally random types of shops grouped together, people selling random cigarettes and junk on the street and crosswalks were rare and merely suggestions.

We headed back downtown in time to eat what I like to call the “king's hummus.” Really it is just a cheap alley restaurant called Hashem, but it is known to be the best falafel and hummus in town and the King himself eats there. It did not disappoint and as my sister and like to say, they put crack in the hummus for sure. The king also deserves mention; he is EVERYWHERE in Jordan. You can not walk a meter without seeing his face in a cute(with his kids) or manly pose for all to see, I guess that’s partly how you maintain one of the worlds last surviving monarchy's.

The bus scenario to go to Petra didn't much faze me, but I don't think my sister was expecting it. All the buses we'd had so far were large coaches with seat assignments and A/C. This was a real local minibus where we jammed it full with people (including plastic chairs in the isle) along with all of the luggage. It was tight, but manageable and after just 4 or 5 hours we arrived at the destination. Luckily for us, as we stepped out of the bus the car from the hostel we'd been recommended was there to pick up other people. We jumped aboard and two minutes later we were at the hostel checking in.
Before getting sleep for the next big day, we took part in “Petra at Night.” For about 15 bucks you can visit the ruins at night and they light the path by candlelight to the treasury (the crown jewel of Indiana Jones fame) and place hundreds of candles in front to illuminate it. We sat in the eerie quiet and listened to locals play traditional Jordanian instruments while gazing upon the massive ruin. It was a little touristy, but and excellent introduction to Petra.

Feb 15th – Amman

We awoke early to head to the border and give it another go. It was at the very least open this time, however, we would find that this was certainly not the normal tourist route. It was not difficult, but the process to get from the border to Amman was anything but streamlined. Luckily for me, I normally enjoy the process as much as getting where we are going. When we crossed the Israeli border we had to wait 45 minutes or so for a special bus to take us and a few Jordanians (there aren't many Israelis crossing these days with tensions between the countries so high) about 500 meters to the Jordanian border crossing. We went through the formalities there and then walked across. On the other side, we had to take a taxi (there aren't buses) to the nearest city, Irbid, (about 45 minutes) and from there we caught a bus to a roadside bus station in Amman.

So we had made it, and all in all it had taken us about half a day. There we were on the side of the highway in Amman, so we flagged a taxi. What we had noticed already, aside from the obvious contrast from the fairly western looking streets of Israel, was that the buildings in the cities we saw along the highway look strikingly similar to each other. They are all basically concrete structures of grey or tan about a half dozen stories tall that stretch for miles of urban sprawl.

It took us more than a half an hour to find the hostel. It should have been a five minute ride, but due to communication issues with the driver and the fact that Lonely Planet doesn't have addresses in Arabic made it slightly more difficult. We did make it and the hostel seemed nice, cheap and accommodating. We settled in to our rooms and noticed for certain that we were no longer in Israel. There was a large painted map of the Middle East on the hostel entrance wall and Israel was clearly and obviously not on it; in its place a large red state of Palestine.

We knew we'd only have one night in Amman in order to stay on schedule to get to Petra and get my sister back to her flight. We had also heard that Amman didn't have all that much in terms of sightseeing, though a day trip to Jerash in the North would have been nice. We had that afternoon and the next morning to explore the city. Our main goal was just to get a feel for our first large Arab city.

We headed up towards the citadel high above downtown. It was the site of the old Roman and later Turkish settlement (Amman is not an ancient city). We managed not to go the right way, which worked out in our favor and as we headed up hill we passed through a very spartan residential neighborhood where we were met with cautious smiles and a few waves. We ended up at the Citadel (it’s the highest point) and we bounded over the exterior wall and onto the large flat hilltop.

The ruins were nice and the view of the sprawling city in all directions, impressive. Off one end of the hill an enormous Jordanian flag waved above the city and the other the Roman theater (we'd visit the next day) snuggled in between the homogeneous city architecture. We also had a chance a top the Citadel to visit a small museum. It had artifacts from pre-history through Roman times from throughout Jordan arranged in chronological order. The highlight however, was a few scraps of leather from the Dead Sea Scrolls and copper tablets (maps to treasures hidden by Jews as they fled the Romans) found among the scrolls. We did not have the chance to visit Qumran in Israel, the home of the scrolls; we were excited by this opportunity.

After we had our fill we came down and walked through downtown back towards our hostel and to a cafe we had been recommended too. We had a very nice meal of way too much food and had a nargila (watermelon and mint, the house specialty) before wandering back to our hostel stuffed to the brim. We sat and chatted with people in our hostel, but didn't do much activity before to sleep.

A couple observations from the first day in Jordan: The people seemed friendly and welcoming. We encountered no one who balked when we said we were from the US. Also, my sister observed and commented that the degree of religious orthodoxy we observed was less than she expected. There were not all that many people on the street stopping for call of prayer and most the women we saw were not fully covered and were often wearing pants. One last thing is that, surprisingly, many people in Amman believed I was a Syrian Muslim and would speak to me initially in Arabic and be surprised when I relayed that I had no idea what was being said. Apparently there are a bunch of people in Syria with big red beards.