Amman, Wadi Musa, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba, Jordan, Country 15, Stops 37, 38, 39, 40

Oct 15

Aingeal, Pam, and the Williams family land in Amman after a pretty easy flight. We are met airside by a rep from G Adventures and he escorts us right past the desk where you have to pay for a visa. He takes our passports and shoos us through immigration and sends us down to baggage claim. Then we don't see him for about 10 minutes so we are borderline worried that he was NOT from G Adventures and he now has our American passports! Luckily he comes back and takes us to the van.

***Dmitri: Seriously, we just skipped immigration. We were told to walk past the passport desk and we did and then they shouted over at us. Our guy said something in Arabic and they just waved us through. No expensive visa fee, no anything. Just go on through, tourists, we love you. So, Jordan is off to a good start!

Also, I want to point out that--in case it wasn't obvious--Jordan is not Egypt. I bitched and moaned there, but that was also the new bottom-of-the-barrel baseline. Everything is in relation now, so every little thing feels like a major upgrade in Jordan. Trash in the streets? Not as much as in Egypt! Hawkers selling us? So much more polite than Egypt! It's a little hot out? Not as hot as Egypt!***

When we arrive at our hotel we are THRILLED by how clean and modern the hotel is. Egypt has beaten us down and we nearly cry with relief when we see our rooms. It's late and we are hungry. The rest of the Jordan group has already met so Wasfi, our guide for this portion of the trip, gives us a quick updates and takes us to an ATM and a Subway and we head to bed.

Oct 16

We have been missing fruit nearly the whole time we are in Egypt. I say repeatedly that I would kill for a banana. The hotel's breakfast is delish! We meet the rest of the group--Sarah, Sara-Jane, Lauren, and Barry and Sue--and head off for a guided tour of Jerash, which is an ancient Roman town. This is the site of one of the largest and most well-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy. The Williams family is feeling a bit jaded and grumbly, having spent quite a bit of time in Italy, and Rome in particular. However, Jerash is pretty amazing and some of us even feel a bit chagrined being so jaded. In one of the oddest moments, we are sitting in a Roman amphitheater in Jordan while listening to bagpipes.

***Dmitri: Loving our group. G Adventures collects cool people and puts them together. Our three new ladies are all chill. New York, London and Holland. Barry and Sue are a super-nice retired couple from Florida, who have clearly been put on the wrong tour by their agent, but they are rolling with it in good spirits.

We kick off Jerash and yeah, I think we've been there and done that, but we're so happy to not be uncomfortable that we don't really care. And the bagpipes, they tell us originated in Jordan. This feels like an affront to the Scots, but apparently they did not invent them. You can imagine what this guy would say.***

Wasfi shows us what it looked like when originally built.

The Jordan group--Top L to R--Sara-Jane, Barry, Lauren; Middle--Sarah, Aingeal; Bottom--Sue, Pam

After Jerash we head to the Dead Sea. We have SO much fun here, bobbing around. To state the obvious, it is VERY salty--we take care not to splash any on or near our eyes. Jack and Lauren find these huge salt chunks on the bottom. We slather the mud on ourselves and float around happily for a bit before splashing around in the pool and going down the slide. We get ourselves dressed and grab a beer in the hotel bar. We drive back to our hotel in Amman and Dmitri and Mia head out for dinner with the group while Jack and I chill at the hotel. So far, we are liking Jordan!

**Jack: I don't actually think any of us were paying attention to this tour, we were all just happy that the temperature wasn't scorching hot like Egypt.***

***Dmitri: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, and this is us walking down farther and farther. Fun anecdote. On the way down we passed a sign for sea level and we filed out to take in the scene and take pictures. Sara-Jane stayed on the bus. I asked why, and she said "Yeah, I'm Dutch. My whole life has been below sea level." Good point!

Anyway, we keep going down another 1k feet, park and then head down to the Sea itself, by a resort set up just for tourist yokels like us, as well as a booming business in health patients looking for healing minerals and such.

Once in the water, it's pretty crazy. The following pictures all show us floating easily, which is neat in itself. As a slim guy, I've never had the body fat ratios to float anywhere, ever, so to float at all is a pure novelty. Still, this takes it a little farther. You cannot not float. You can barely get vertical, and stay that way. You cannot go down at all. Like, you can flail your arms and try to push yourself down, but it's not happening. You pop right back up like a cork. No one tries to actually swim down because no one wants their eyes anywhere near the water. It's that salty.***

Oct 17

We wake up and have another yummy breakfast and hit the road. Our first stop is a place called Mt. Nebo, a site believed by many to be the location of Moses' death. From here we can see across the border into Israel. At one point, we had Israel on our itinerary but currently tourists are not allowed. Covid!

Israel in the distance!

We stop at a mosaic shop and are amazed by the craftsmanship. I buy a small fun aventurine ring, which I LOVE. It's sparkly and I wear it right away! More on that in a bit. After the mosaic shop, we visit Karak, which is a castle built in the Crusader period.

***Dmitri: Nebo is nice in that it's a spot where the major faiths of the region have all come together to make nice, put up statues of unity, and generally be cool. As yet another religion monument, I don't really care. But honestly, I'm just so happy to not be in Egypt that I enjoy it anyway!

And Karak is kind of neat to learn about the Crusades from the Arab point of view, rather than my Catholic-Western upbringing. Religion makes people do some dumb things.***

We wander a bit and then hit the road again. On to Little Petra. We are excited for the main event tomorrow and this is a preview. It's stunning. There is a narrow alley and carved cliff walls. We take a little hike through the rocks. After we are there only a few minutes, I look down at my hand to see that the stone has fallen out of the setting of my new ring!! I am sick with disappointment. I mean, seriously, I JUST bought it. It's not even been A DAY!! By some master stroke of luck, Dmitri spots it on the ground. This little stone. Yes, folks, I married a man with eagle eyes and the patience of a saint. After a sigh of relief, I am once again able to enjoy Little Petra. And here I would like to give a shout-out to Sue, who kindly took my ring home with her at the end of the trip. She took it to her jeweler in Florida who secured the stone. Sue and Barry live maybe 30-45 minutes from my dad and Patsy so they plan to meet up and then the ring can be mailed back to me.

It's a nice view. The best in the world.....???

Jack climbs even higher than the rest of us. He's like a mountain goat! Agile and quick!

***Jack: I for one think the view even higher up was better than at the viewing point, you could see all around you.***

After Little Petra, we stop for a gorgeous sunset and then head to our hotel in Wadi Musa.

***Dmitri: The landscape in this area is gorgeous. It's not just not-Egypt good. It's just good on its own. We stopped the tour van on a cliff to enjoy the sunset over the hills around Little Petra, and it was like nowhere I've seen. Cappadocia still I think takes the cake, but this was as cool as Mt. Zion, Bryce Canyon, etc., in its own way. Jordan is beautiful.***

Oct 18

***Dmitri: Petra! What exactly is Petra? It's that one cool building cut into a wall, right? Actually, no. It's a whole giant area that was once a city state on the Silk Road. The cool building (The Treasury) is the most famous and iconic, but this is a vast area that takes a whole day to hike through, up, down and around. It's full of sights, stalls, and of course touts but they are--can you see this coming?--not as bad as Egypt. OK, I'll stop that now (but it's still true).***

We are up early early early to visit Petra. I'm nearly bursting with excitement. I have wanted to visit Petra ever since seeing the Treasury in the third Indiana Jones movie! And OMG, it soooooooo lived up to expectations. We arrive at the entrance to Petra and it's quite a bit of a walk to the Treasury. We make our way through the Siq, the narrow passageway leading into Petra. There are sandstone walls on either side of us that rise to about 260 feet. At the end of the Siq, we walk out and the first site of the Treasury is breathtaking. It was carved by the Nabateans, who still live in the area.

It's pretty warm so we are glad we have started early. We spend a good half of a day exploring the Treasury, hiking up to the Monastery, wandering around, playing with puppies and kittens along the way, and taking lots and lots and lots of photos!

Of course, Jack finds a cute kitten!

Wasfi familiarizes us with Petra. More than just the Treasury, this place is HUGE.

Making our way to the Treasury.

***Dmitri: This Siq passageway is like the sandstone canyons of Arizona, but on a larger scale. They are gorgeous, and not even the main attraction. It takes a long time to walk all the way in and these sheer faces on each side are there the whole time. Some have water channels carved in, as you can see on the lower left here.***

First glimpses

Almost there....

We are sooooooo excited to see the Treasury!

***Dmitri: Me and some camel guy selling stuff. We are there very early and it's nearly empty. Later in the day it gets pretty packed, and that's with Covid-era tourist numbers. It might be a zoo in regular times, but it'd still be worth it.***

Jack makes a friend

The ladies try the kohl and is it amazing!

***Dmitri: These are pots of frankincense, which is rare stuff that apparently has some real medicinal qualities. It's tree resin, and so is in the form of a kind of chewing-gum like little pellet. This doesn't really square with my stereotyped image of the nativity story, but I'm rolling with it. It tastes kind of good and I spring for a little pouch of the stuff to ship home.***

Choose wisely....

Petra is huge! There's a great deal more to see than just the Treasury.

Happy Mia finds some fresh pomegranate juice!

We are happy that we have reached the Monastery!!!

***Dmitri: This is the Monastery, which is equally as impressive as the Treasury. It's also at the top of a pretty gnarly climb up steep steps. It's pretty hot by this point, so we enjoy a break up there at a cafe and take these shots. My knees are not doing well, and I'm worried about going back down all that way. What am I gonna do?***

Gorgeous

Puppy fun!

***Dmitri: This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to ride this donkey and nearly die. You can't tell from the photo here, but a lot of these steps are 30+ degrees and the donkeys go down them very fast. The good news is that they are incredibly sure-footed. There's no way a donkey is going to misstep and fall off into the abyss that appears around many corners. The bad news is that they DNGAF if you fall off and die. When going down, I was nearly standing up straight in the saddle and came close to toppling more than once. Adventure!***

***Jack: The donkey rides were very rough and the whole time I felt like I was going to fall off.***

This little cutie fell asleep in her arms

Barry, Sue, Pam, Lauren, Mia, Dmitri and I head for a Turkish bath and it is like neither of the baths we went to in Turkey. First of all, the genders are mixed and we all find ourselves sweating it out in the steam room together. Good thing Wasfi gave us the heads up to bring bathing suits! We are feeling pretty steamed out, and we start to leave the steam room and are told we haven't been in long enough and are shooed back in. We venture out again a bit later and say we are overheating. No matter, they just douse us with icy water and send us back in! Finally, we each get scrubbed and massaged. It was a little dicey for a bit but we ended up having a good laugh about it!

After dark, I head back to Petra with the Sarahs and Aingeal for Petra by Night. We walk through the Siq and it's lit with candles and it is so gorgeous. When we arrive at the Treasury, we are given sweet tea and there is some Bedouin music playing. We aren't sure if it's live or being piped in but no matter. The whole experience is pretty amazing. I am so tired at this point that I think I might not make it for the long walk back to the entrance.

Oct 19

From Petra, we head to Wadi Rum. We will be sleeping in a Bedouin camp and I'm a bit nervous about how rustic it will be. We arrive in time for lunch and I am pleasantly surprised. I mean, it's pretty bare bones, but we all have our own individual rooms with bathrooms and there is running water so I'm relieved. After lunch we head out on a 4x4 excursion. Wadi Rum is stunningly beautiful. Dmitri is beside himself because the movie Dune has recently been released and a great deal of it was filmed here. One of the Star Wars movies was also filmed here and Wasfi has Mia re-create a scene.

We tool around in the 4x4s and watch the sunset and it gets very chilly very quickly. We head back to the camp and sit by the fire before and after dinner. Some of us pull cushions out and sleep around the fire, but one by one we end up heading inside to our beds. I can't say it's the best night of sleep but it was an experience.

Taking in the view

Mushroom rock

Barry and Sue, Sarah, Sara-Jane, Aingeal, Pam, Lauren

We climbed up this huge dune!

***Dmitri: Wadi Rum is a vast and a beautiful mix of giant rock outcroppings and desert, with both beige and dark red sands. It's just stunning. It's the site of many films, including Lawrence of Arabia. We get the feeling of immensity with the big sweeping dunes and sand, but this is really made distinct by just giant stone outcroppings. Everywhere could be a Fremen sietch. Jack gets some pretty good drone footage, so I recommend checking out Mia's vlog.***

***Dmitri: And there's this terrific stone arch out here, apparently used in the recent Aladdin movie. None of us have seen it. I just thought it was amazing on its own.***

Wasfi writes our names in Arabic in red sand

***Dmitri: We end our jeep tour out in the rocks, huddled behind some weird formations to shelter from the increasingly cold wind.***

Oct 20

We are up EARLY to have a sunrise camel ride. And it is hilarious! There is a lot of laughter as we get on and off the camels and also as we ride along. Barry's camel has quite the bad attitude and frequently lets us know about it. My camel, Balhan, is very sweet and apparently likes to be the lead camel.

Camel selfie!

Watching the sunrise with Balhan

Having a laugh

Classic

Jack and Aingeal getting great drone footage

Train from the Lawrence of Arabia era

After breakfast, we leave the Bedouin camp and head to Aqaba. Aqaba is a resort city on the Red Sea. We have an optional snorkeling trip and most of the group decides to go--Sarah, Sara-Jane, Lauren, Pam, Barry, and Sue. The boat ride out is just lovely. However, we arrive to our snorkel spot and things are a bit dicey. I'm a pretty confident swimmer and I know 100% this is not a good place for novice snorkelers. There are two cool spots at the first snorkel spot--one with a plane wreck and one with a sunken tank. I did not have either the Go Pro or the Insta 360 so I didn't take any footage. However, here are photos from an article on the area.

This is pretty much what I saw. There was a strong current so I didn't stay out long. And I skipped the second snorkel entirely, opting to stay on the boat and chat and hang and relax with the other G people who went on the trip. I also have the novelty of being able to see 4 different countries from the Red Sea--Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan. So that's pretty cool.

After a LOVELY shower back at the hotel, we head out for a group dinner. Then a wander around the town. Dmitri stocks up on cashews and is so very happy. Mia heads out for drinks with Sarah, Sara-Jane, and Aingeal.

***Dmitri: Aqaba is unexpectedly cool. It's a beach town, which I don't associate with Jordan, but I should. It's modern but traditional, walkable, and vibrant. It feels more liberal than Amman as well. And yeah, it has a nut market. I love flavored cashews and almonds and the Arabs take this stuff seriously. I do stock up! Also, the hotel has ridiculously fast WiFi, which is just weird, but great.***

Oct 21

Today we drive back to Amman. On the way, we stop at a G Adventures supported place for lunch, called Numeira.

There are many cats to play with while we wait for lunch. After lunch, we head back to Amman and we can't believe how quickly the week has flown by.

One last peek at the Dead Sea on the way back to Amman.

We head out to dinner as a group one last time and say our good byes.

People are leaving at various times in the next day or so. While the two weeks of the G trip have been pretty active, we have enjoyed getting to know some fellow travelers and hope our paths cross again!

Some other notes on Jordan. At one point we are about 70 kilometers from the Syrian border and this does not make Dmitri happy at all. Apparently Ford fusions are big in Jordan. Wasfi is an excellent guide with a really dry sense of humor. He frequently gives VERY specific time estimates--"we will meet in maybe 7 or 7 1/2 minutes" and "1 min 17 seconds we will be in the park." Poor Pam cannot get his name right and we have quite the chuckle over that! She calls him Wifey and a few other things that are NOT Wasfi. Also, she has probably the funniest exchange with him during the trip. We are near Petra and Wasfi is telling us about a woman from New Zealand came to Jordan and her experience. The book is entitled "Married to a Bedouin". Pam asks Wasfi how to spell it (meaning "Bedouin") and he proceeds to say, "M a r r.." We all have a good laugh at that!

***Dmitri: In second place is a traditional Jordanian meal called Maqluba. I'm actually waiting for it, and eventually Pam calls it MacGyver. I just about lose it.***

***Dmitri: We are glad we didn't visit this farm.***

Middle Eastern Mr. Peanut

Oct 22

Jack and I wake up and are not feeling well at all. We are both sneezy and congested. Good thing we have gotten PCR tests recently or we would be feeling a bit worried. We have a flight to Dubai in the middle of the day and we try to keep our pitifulness to a minimum. Thank goodness, it's a direct flight and we can look forward to a nice, long stay in Dubai!

***Dmitri: Mia and I are in good shape, and the key is to not have everyone sick at once. We're looking forward to the modern-ness of Dubai after a long stretch of varying infrastructure, cleanliness and hygiene. I'm talking to you, squat toilets! And you, Arabic misogynistic culture! Actually, that won't get better in Dubai.

Anyway, Jordan is an amazing country. I don't think it's just because it cam after Egypt, either. It has its issues (use trash cans, people--don't just throw crap in every field!), but it's got great heart, nice people, beautiful scenery and good food. One visit is probably enough for me, but this was a standout I'd recommend for others open to some rough edges and ready for the beautiful and the exotic.***