Ferry to Sinai

(John) There were two sensible ways for us to get to Egypt from Aqaba in Jordan. The first was through the southern tip of Israel at Eilat which would entail a few taxis, a host of border procedures a visa from the Egyptian consulate in Aqaba, exit fees from Jordan, entry fees, visas and exit fees for Israel and then border control in Egypt, followed by a bus south to Dahab in Egypt. The second was to get on the fast ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba that left in the middle of the day, expensive, but, well, fast and then get a bus to Dahab. Visas for this option would be given aboard the ferry. We weighed up the various costs and after consulting with the informative tourist office lady we decided that the fast ferry made a ton of sense so off we went to buy our tickets. What the informative tourist office lady did not know was that the fast ferry had been reassigned to a more profitable route since everybody stopped going to Egypt and our only ferry option was now ominously called the slow ferry. No problem, we thought until we were told that it leaves at midnight and gets in at 4am. We were told to be at the port by 10pm and we bought tickets for the following day. We managed to kill the following 36 hours by a little shopping, some sleeping, a bit of sight seeing, and a lot of just sitting on the beach watching people throw their litter onto the beach and thus into the sea despite there being garbage cans every 20 metres. Signs posted at entrances imploring beach goers to use the receptacles and help preserve the coral reef must have been in the wrong language.

At 9.30 we felt we could make our way to the port and hailed a taxi or three until we gave up getting a reasonable price and decided it would be better to be robbed and get to the ferry in time than try walking the 7kms and miss it. The fact is that at that time in the evening the cab drivers knew they would not get a fare coming back into town so were bent on having us pay for the return trip.

We then walked through the checkpoint past men with huge piles of luggage on the ground. They had enough boxes and bags and rolled mattresses to fill a garage, just lying on the road. I have no idea how it all got on and off the ship. We walked a little further into the departure area where many more men were sitiing on benches sipping paper cups of cofee and smoking. A friendly gent in the information office told us what to next and following his advice we headed into the adjacent building to find a cashier who accepted our departure tax of 8 JD each, then we went outside again turned left went inside and up the stairs to another desk where we had our eyeballs photographed and our passports stamped. We also exchanged the rest of our JD into LE (Egyptian pounds) and having concluded the departure formalities went back outside in search of a place to sit where we would not have to smoke too much. After a short while we were joined by David, a retired Canadian from Ottawa. He was spending a few months touring the holy lands and was excellent company all the way to Dahab.

Around midnight we were herded onto a bus and then into a line up that reminded me of recess time in elementary school. The Arab men, that made up 99.9% of the passengers, were lined up very neatly in single file, the handful of foreigners and two Arab women formed a messy chatty bunch next to them. It made me wonder what experiences those men had had to impel them line up so obediently. The undisciplined bunch were let on board first and we were shown to a large hall lined with padded benches and with vinyl chairs arranged around small tables. At one end was a counter selling snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee past which was a door through which we later went to deposit our passports.

The ferry was much like a cross channel or a BC ferry, except we saw only three or four staff, the tables were falling off their plinths, the chairs were torn, the gift shop was closed and the bathrooms were flooded. We were scheduled to leave at midnight but sat at the dock for another three hours. Well, they said it was slow. Mhari made herself comfortable on a 3 foot stretch of bench, Lesley had a little more bench because she supplemented it with a pile of packs that she fell asleep on to secure. Sam had a bit of bench but being such a big boy now he gave it up and lay down on the floor. I sat in a chair and chatted and for reasons I will now explain decided to just stay awake. The room was packed with men and our small group was a very obvious minority. We had been pleased to learn that the room was non smoking so when a tall, well built, stern looking young Arab in a hoody lit up close to us Lesley walked discreetly to a Ferry emplyee to point this out. He immediately started to point and yell at the offender. The grass was duly identified and while Lesley calmly snoozed all night I didn't sleep a wink. However, we survived the night and manged to disembark safely and despite being in a room with over 200 two pack a day men we only smelled cigarette smoke when we went outside on deck.

The Ferry docked just after sunrise which due to the height of the mountains along the coast of Saudi Arabia wasn't until 7.00am. It was over an hour until we were able to disembark and we all exited through one narrow doorway. That was fun. Once on land we were on our own as to what to do next. Although we had 4 other foreigners with us now. We still needed to get our passports and visa's and all we had been told was “go to immigration.” We saw one word we recognised, 'Arrivals' painted big on a large building 50 metres ahead of us. We went to it and were turned back and directed to a different building 50 metres behind us that we had missed initially because it was hidden behind a mobile phone vendor. In this rather run down edifice we quickly located a man behind a desk with a stack of passports(ours). He asked if we had our visas yet, we said “No, where do we get them?” “...at the bank” he said. Of course, how we could have been so stupid, you go to the bank to get visas all the time. So out we all trooped saying things like “Welcome to Egypt.” We found a bank fairly close and a man in it willing to sell us visas; we all paid our 15 US dollars and came out with an official looking stamp that we then took over to the man behind the desk in the immigration office. He happily stuck them in our passports signed them and out we went to see about finding a bus to Dahab. In so doing we managed to completely circumnavigate the arrivals hall, avoiding going through customs with long line ups and intrusive things like metal detectors, sniffer dogs and other infringements on liberty. The next bus was not until 4 pm if the man trying to sell us a minibus trip was to be believed. The eight of us negotiated hard and after cutting the quoted price in half we hopped on board and were driven to Dahab. Two of our group wanted to try the Seven Heaven Hotel so we went along with them. We have been here for three days now and apart from the usual imperfections, it has been surprisingly pleasant.

Dahab itself is just a dive resort. There are very few backpackers here right now. Most hotels are largely empty, the restaurants are all open and desparate for business. There are hundreds of souvenir, spice, jewelery shops and very few tourists to patronise them. As a result the touts are relentless. It is clear that many businesses have gone under and it looks like a big expansion was under way until all work suddenly stopped. There are large areas of seafront being developed but the buildings are all half finished and abandoned. But don't shed any tears for Dahab. Lesley has been very encouraging to some jewelery stores, Sam has driven a hard bargain at a souvenir store and I have been making good friends with a very nice man at the beer store. Mhari remains the only one of us who does not feel the need to restore Dahab's fortunes.

Some people believe that beer was first invented in Egypt. The theory goes that some one left some bread out in the rain and quite enjoyed the result. Ancient breweries, have been found that basically predate just about everything. Leading me to believe that Egyptians have had plenty of time to figure out how to make beer.  I have two weeks to find out if that is the case.

Petra (Sam)

(Sam)  I am sitting in Aqaba now, after having spent 3 days in Petra. Petra was amazing. It was the ancient Nabatean capital and competes with Angkor Wat and Machu Pichu for the title of “Greatest Lost City”. After the Nabateans abandoned it, it was inhabhited by local Bedouin tribes for nearly 2000 years before being rediscovered by the western world in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Jean Louis (“Ibrahim”) Burckhardt.

Petra is situated in and around a valley, the mountains around it are a great red colour and are smooth. They look like they are dripping because the wind has carved out the sandstone.

The “Siq”, the entrance to Petra is nearly as dramatic as the city itself, it is a narrow gorge with walls up to 200 m high. At the end of the Siq is the Treasury, a huge tomb carved into the rock. Due to it's protected location, with high cliffs all around, it is very well preserved. The first glimpse of the Treasury from the Siq is magical and leaves you wondering what else you will see in Petra.

Although the ruins may be great, one of the best parts of Petra is the hiking and nature. It is a very beautiful area and there are many climbs you can do, usually finishing with spectacular views. My favourite hikes were the one to the Ancient City Centre via the High Place of Sacrifice and the one up to the Monastery. The hike to the Ancient City Centre passed many tombs and rocks with candy swirls of colour that looked as if they were painted. The High Place of Sacrifice had great views and also a few cats who kept jumping onto my lap. The hike to the Monastery passes through dripping, wind-carved valleys and finishes at the Monastery, the second most famous sight in Petra. The monastery is similar in design to the Treasury, although less detailed and far bigger. It g down through the hills to Isreal and the Palestinean Territories.

is really is massive. If you climb an extra 10 minutes you will reach some spectacular viewpoints lookin

Some other good things in Petra were... The Royal Tombs, The Ancient City center, looking down over the cliff to the Treasury beneath you, the staircase up to the Treasury viewpoint, the tea stall that charged the normal price of half a dinar for tea rather than the 2 dinar they charge elsewhere, the ancient pottery shards littering the ground and the lizards running around.

Some of the bad things... “Want a Donkey?”, “Tea, coffee?”, “You want to ride a camel?”, “ I make you good price” etc.

We had been planning to head to Syria after Jordan, although they're having a bit of a revolution at the moment so we decided it was best to head into Egypt instead. We have met lots of Egyptians telling its safe now and there is no need to worry. We took the 1 AM ferry to Nuweiba from Aqaba (I wonder if they could have thought up a more inconvienient time?) and took a minibus to Dahab from there. Dahab is famed as a backpacker beach hangout and it also has some great coral reefs. Our hotel is cheap and we found a good restaurant serving up Egyptian specialities. In the back of the restaurant there is a wall covered in photos of people eating their food, there is also a sign reading “If you want your photo on the wall, you must have our food in the photo and you must pay us 100 US$. Unless you are a beautiful woman, in which case you can put up your photo for free.”

Tomorrow, I hope to do some snorkelling, and some serious R n' R in preperation for the infamous scams and touts in the rest of Egypt.

Aqaba again but photos from Petra

(Lesley)  We have returned to warmer weather in Aqaba.  Wadi Musa (Petra) did warm up on day four. The shower water warmed up too, in the dorm so we were able to shower in relative comfort. We also learned something:  If you buy a thee day pass at Petra you can return a fourth day for free. We didn't do it, but we met some people who did and we want to pass on the info for others.

Back here in Aqaba, we have each done a quick load of laundry in the hotel sink. It is nice to see our clothes dry so fast with the heat. We went back to our favourite restaurant for lunch and they were happy to see us again.

Instead of going to Safeway for breakfast cereal this time we tried the grocery store at the City Center Mall. That is an unusual place; a duty free shopping mall which is all but deserted at this time of the year. I gather it comes into it's own when everyone makes their pilgrimage to Mecca. (You pass the road to Mecca on the way to the mall. I just missed a good photo of the Road to Mecca sign) There are stores selling lots of name brand clothes, shoes etc, but there aren't any buyers.

Our interest was in the grocery store. In India, food, soaps, drinks and candy etc all had the manufacturers suggested retail price printed on the package so you knew the price and shop keepers were quite honest. In Jordan, there either isn't a MR Price or it is in Arabic and not obvious (we read arabic numbers) We have found that all over Jordan the shop keepers will charge whatever they think you will pay. We have often seen shopkeepers charging different prices for the same things. At Safeway and at the big grocery store in the City Center Mall, prices are listed on the shelves so there is no hassle and no guess work. It just makes the process of shopping so much easier and ejoyable. Bartering is fun for souvenirs; I do enjoy the process but I prefer to see the prices for basics espescially when I am hungry or tired or when I am feeding someone who is hungry or tired. We bought a nice big Havarti cheese. Mmmm

Here are some pictures from Petra that we hadn't posted: The theatre at Petra; A family pic at The High Place of Sacrifice; Modern Bedouin Cave (with all the latest security features); Picnic on the way to Crusaders' Fort; Picnic in Wadi Siyagh; Wadi Siyagh near the Spring.

Petra “You want a donkey?”

(John) It is a fair assumption made that because we look like any other tourists we must therefore be wealthy and stupid. We will probably pay whatever is asked and must hate walking so much that we would be willing to ride anything to avoid it. The assumption is fair because after two days in Petra we have seen it work countless times. We were told it takes 1 hour to climb to the Monastery – only 20 minutes by Donkey. “It will take 30 minutes to walk to the exit from here, you are very tired, here ride my horse”. “You need to buy a drink from me, it is 15 minutes more to the top”. Actually, the 800 steps to the Monastery took 30 minutes even with time to take pictures around every turn. It is 5 minutes to the exit and how do you know how tired I am? It is only 4 minutes to the top and I have a litre of water a litre of juice and ½ a litre of milk in my knapsack. I have been asked “you want a donkey?” so many times that I have run out of ways to say no politely. Tomorrow I shall say “no thanks I don't smoke” and see how many people I offend.

On the subject of smoking. I have noticed that there are no old people in Jordan. There are not even retired people in their 60's or 70's. Either they have special places where they go or they are hidden away or as I fear Jordanian's do not live that long and judging from the amount of smoking that people here do I'd like to find out if the two are related.

Back to my main theme - It was quite expensive to come to Petra - 60 JD each for a 3 day pass. But as the children were free and 3 days only cost 5 JD more than two and 10 JD more than one. It begins to look more reasonable. Interestingly if you decide to come to Petra for a day trip from another city the cost is 90 JD. The reason being, they want people to spend money in town as well as at the site. Sam told me that the price for Jordanians is 1 JD a day although he might have made that up. If he's right then it is less hard to swallow when you know that minimum wage in Jordan is 5 JD a day. There are a lot of Bedouin people at the site selling overpriced souvenirs, tea, horse, camel and donkey rides. Sam and I tried to buy a goat bell but the price was definitely not right, while we were looking Sam picked up an ancient looking coin. He noticed on closer inspection that it was a US 1 cent piece. The stall holder told him it was just 1 JD and remarked that it was 30 years old and made sure we checked out the date. I remarked that it was indeed thirty years old and was worth 1 cent. For me I could live without anything that they offer, but I'm probably in the minority. There were a lot of tourists paying good money for a lot of rubbish. They were also happy to hop on a donkey to climb those 800 steps to the Monastery. Lesley and Sam saw some tourists happily paying 35 US for a buggy ride to the exit. A distance of less than 2 kms. But then if you need a donkey to climb a hill or to get to your bus on time and if 35 bucks is chump change then clearly a service is provided. And one joy is that other than one police jeep, there are no motorized vehicles at the Petra site. As far as I could tell everything comes in on donkeys. Maybe I'm just a little insulted that the donkey ride merchants don't look at me and think 'that guy looks fit; I bet he doesn't need a donkey' and then just leave me the hell alone. Fact is I'm just lumped in with all the other tourists, the general assumption is made and - “you want a donkey?” I do want to make one notable exception. The souvenir store in a cave just opposite the Amphitheatre gave us a good big cup of tea for a very reasonable ½ JD – and they did not once hassle us to buy anything.

Money hungry merchants aside, Petra is fantastic. The scenery is absolutely the best I can remember. The ancient Nabataean tombs are even more incredible than expected and there is so much other ruined stuff left by Romans and others who came later that we walk nonchalantly over 2000 year old piles of pottery shards. In two days we have covered a hell of a lot of ground. I have no idea how far we hiked each day, but we got up really high and walked really far. With one day to go there is still lots to see and more hikes to do. They say that there is a lot more of Petra yet to be discovered and that the area it covers could be over three times what exists today. They plan to reveal it slowly, both to avoid closures and keep people coming back. I am really happy we came and exited to go back for another day.

A quick word about the Valentine hostel where we are staying. It is freezing. The weather in Petra right now is not like we experienced down in Aqaba, it is bloody cold and the dorm we are in is colder than that. The showers have hot water sometimes, just not when you want a shower. The beds have thin foam mattresses through which every rod of the metal frame supporting it can be felt. There is a common lounge area that is quite warm and a great place to mingle with other travellers if you don't mind having a couple of cigarettes worth of second hand smoke. I'm sitting in the dorm in all my clothes, a warm sweater, my rain jacket and my toque. Having said that I think the hostel has got a pretty good grasp of what budget travellers need while also, sensibly, trying to make a decent profit. They provide a bus to and from the Petra site and have arranged for the minibuses to other cities to stop at the hostel. They provide excellent meals that are very competitively priced (although we have been finding cheaper restaurants and buying breakfast and lunch at the grocery store and bakery to save money) and I suspect that when the weather actually warms up it might be a really fun place to stay. At 12 JD a night for the 4 of us, it is the cheapest place we have stayed in Jordan by far. It would just be nice to have a heater in this room and a less back breaking bed. I just hope I survive the night. 

(Lesley) We have been exploring Petra for the past two days. For those unfamiliar with Petra and too busy to look it up on the internet, here are some tidbits: The city of Petra was built by the Nabataeans (originally from the Yemen/Saudi Arabia area) who arrived in the area in the 6^th century BC. It was a grand trading city along a caravan route. It was very successful for hundreds of years. Eventually, when trade routes opened up elsewhere, (sea routes and the silk route near Palmyra) Petra was by-passed. Located in a mountainous desert area along the Great Rift Valley, the big rocks were pulled apart by the movement of tectonic plates and there are now great wadis (valleys) running through the place. Much of Petra is in ruins as there were two large earthquakes.

Entering Petra, one walks through the Siq, a narrow gorge where you can see, by looking at the grain in the rocks on either side, that they were once attached. The Nabataeans carved immense beautiful structures into these mountains. Two of the most famous being the Treasury and the Monastery. The Treasury was not a treasury at all, but a tomb. The monastery as well was a tomb, but later inhabitants seemed to have turned it into a church, hence the name The Monastery.

Water was scarce (and still is) so the Nabataens found ways to catch and direct the precious water. They were brilliant engineers in this regard building dams, water canals, water storage cisterns etc.

There are also literally millions of caves everywhere. Off the beaten track, the caves are all inhabited by Bedouin. We picnicked in the less smelly caves to shelter from the wind.

Petra has been a real highlight for us. We bought the three day passes and spent 9 hours a day for the first two days. On the last day we eased up a bit having seen everything we wanted to see and having hiked ourselves out of energy the previous days. I would rank Petra right up there with other sights we saw like Peripetuse and Queribus, the Taj Mahal, Carcasonne, the Lake District and Hampi. It was the hiking, the physical exertion and the spectacular views that really made it's impression on us. We enjoy working hard and feeling tired at the end of the day.

Much to our delight, here in Wadi Musa (the town for Petra) we found some other backpackers and some cheap dorm beds. We have enjoyed swapping stories and sharing advice about where to go, where to stay, routes through different countries which supermarkets don't overcharge travellers, etc. We have also delighted in comparing tales about how people have tried to rip us off or overcharge us for things. Coming from India, we wondered if our shock about prices was just in comparison or if it was indeed accurate. It seems most of the backpackers are finding that Jordan is geared more for tourists with lots of dinar rather than those of us on a shoestring. But by sharing tips and encouraging each other we are all armed against the sea of dinar hungry sharks.

On our bus ride here, the bus guy tried to charge a surcharge of one dinar each for our packs. A couple of us refused and said we would rather manage our packs on our laps. This didn't go over well but was accepted. It was the first time we had run into this on any bus in Jordan; as it was also the first time we were on a bus filled mainly by foreigners. The ride already cost more for us than locals, so we just said No to the bag surcharge. Our prior choices to take local buses were obviously smart.

The hostel we are at is great as I mentioned for meeting people, but the weather is brutal right now and we are freezing in the 14 bed dorm room. Apparently there is hot water but it is hard to shower in a freezer. I did it yesterday and it took me an hour to warm up. We would love to wash some clothes but I'm not sure they would dry so I dare not. Today, we have the door and all the windows open in hope that some of the afternoon heat will warm the room.

We switched Mhari's mattress. She had an unbearable awful mattress. It was so worn she had to sit on her pillow to keep from falling through the metal rods and landing on the girl on the bunk below. She is now on a mattress worthy of the princess in the famous princess and the pea story. I'm envious as I have to lay carefully between the metal support rods to minimize their protruding into my backside.

This hostel has a lot of things well sussed. They have 7 and 8 am bus shuttles to Petra and two return rides as well at 4 and 5. They have a buffet supper for 5 JD.. They even meet the buses coming into to Wadi Musa so they get the lion's share of the travellers. There seem to be quite a few locals dropping by in the evening to procure spirits in a brown bag too. Generally they have their market sown up rather well.

"Romans smell like Camels"  maybe?

Inside a Royal Tomb

View of the Monastery; Views from the Monastery Lookout

Living on the edge!

Everyone in Jordan has a cell phone too

Our first set of Petra pics accidentally ended up on Sam's blog.  Check them out.

Just a few pics from Petra (Sam)

(Sam) Here are some photos destined for my parents' blog that ended up on mine by accident: Us at the Siq; First glimpse of the Treasury; The Treasury; Another peek at the Treasury; One of many donkeys at Petra;

Now for some views from our hikes at Petra:

Sam on the edge; Desert patrol; Tea in a cave.

I like Jordan (Mhari)

Petra,  I like the cats here; Good pic of cat,  bad of me; Lap cat; Two!!!; Oh yes, you're cute!

I like Jordan.

Aqaba and Wadi Rum

(Lesley) We enjoyed 4 days in Aqaba. We found a great little restaurant where we ate at least one meal a day. For breakfast, we bought fruit, a box of Fitness cereal and a litre of milk. We actually stayed in two different hotels in Aqaba. Our first, Moon Beach, was great, but pricier than we liked (35JD). After two days we moved downtown and saved ourselves 10JD a day by staying at the Al-Amer which was very central and the desk guy was super friendly. It wasn't hard to head south to the beaches in the afternoon for some fish and coral viewing so we snorkeled everyday. We also found good nougat, excellent baklava, and a Safeway store where bought peanut butter and some snacks for our departure to Wadi-Rum.

Wadi-Rum is difficult to do on the cheap. In fact, Jordan is hard to do on the cheap; it is not a backpackers destination. The food is reasonable and some of the travel costs are pretty reasonable but the sites are much more expensive than sites in Canada and the US.

Back to Wadi-Rum... We stayed in a tent in Rum Village. We went for a hike from the village in the late afternoon. We had tried to do a hike from the Visitors Centre earlier, but we had our packs and no one would let us leave them in a corner of their office; the reception guys told us to leave them with the security guy, the security guy said no and suggested the restaurant would keep them; the restaurant said no and suggested a shop, who sent us back to the reception. In the end, we left them by the jeeps and headed out to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but we didn't go for a hike, just a little stroll. We watched the Wadi-Rum video in the projection room then hitched a ride to Rum Village where we did hike once we left our bags in a tent.  The sand was deep, red and dry with little purple flowers poking through.  We saw the mountainous rock formations with the setting sun on them -spectacular!  We had a great sleep that night; the stars were very bright and so later, was the moon.

The next morning we got a minibus to Petra where we plan to spend the next 4 days. The King is on his way to town, tomorrow. Perhaps we will see him at Petra. That would be fun! Maybe he'll want to have his picture taken with us. Our hostel here is great: there are lots of travellers. Some have just come from Syria, others Egypt or Israel. We still aren't sure where we will go next, we have a plan A, as well as a B and a C plan.

Well onto some pics: Time to snorkel; Three wet snorkelers; Aqaba Castle;

Hiking in Wadi Rum, local Wadi Rum Starbucks then sleeping (John slept 11 hours, Mhari is still sleeping)

Aqaba and more (Sam)

(Sam)  We spent another 3 days in Aqaba, snorkelling and relaxing. We went to the reefs every day. I saw about 10 scorpion fish, they are white and red striped with huge spikes and are very poisonous. I also saw Moray eels (very poisonous as well), cornet fish, rays, and many, many more species. The coral was so beautiful. Near our hotel was a shop with what looked like assorted chocolates. We bought a bag of them in all different shapes and colours. When we tried them that evening we learnt that they were all exactly the same, low quality chocolate with peanuts.

We took a bus to Wadi Rum and managed to get a couple of tents in the backyard of a restaurant. Wadi Rum is very much aimed to package tours, it is hard to do economically. In case you're wondering what Wadi Rum is, it's a desert with sandstone mountains coming out of the sand.  It is where "Lawrence Of Arabia" was filmed. Anyway, the scenery was amazing, and the mountains were humbling. We went for a short hike that evening and had a picnic supper of bread, cheese, peanut butter and our peanut chocolates.

Today we took a bus to Petra. The ticket man tried to charge us extra for our luggage but after so long in India we knew how to deal with him. We are planning to spend 3 days in Petra and I can't wait. It is supposed to rain tomorrow although it looks like it will be nice after that.

The beach from where we snorkelled

Local handicraft made using coloured sand.

Wadi Rum

Lunch. Notice the sheep hanging in the background

Varanasi to Amritsar (Mhari)

(Mhari)  After Varanasi we went to Rishikesh via Hardirwar. Rishekesh was nice but we were all a bit under the weather so it could have been nicer.

Next we went to Amritsar

When we arrived in Amritsar we put our bags in left luggage and when to the golden temple. It was very nice but sooo bright and my sun glasses were in my bag. Oops!

We spoke to a guy at the tourist info and he said we could stay in the dorm or at one of the hotels the golden temple provides for families. We tried to get a room at the dorm but the four of us were expected to share three beds with two other people. We tried the hotel next but they all pointed us back to the dorm no matter what we said.

We found a proper hotel which was offering us a room for 700 rs that wasn't bad. Our bags were still in left luggage and the tourist info guy was right beside it so we spoke to him. He pulled some strings and we ended up staying at the N.R.I. ( non resident Indians) hotel which was slightly better than the one for 700rs and it was only 300rs a night.

Inside the small vehicle free area around the Golden temple there was a coke refreshment kiosk and they were selling one 300ml bottle of pop for 5 rupees or 12.5 cents. They also had a Nestle kiosk which had a glass of powdered ice tea for 10 rupees and masala chai (spicy indian tea) for 5 rupees each, not so spicy indian tea was 3 rupees, not so spicy tea bag tea for 4 rupees and coffee was 6 rupees. These drink stalls were in two places, one of which was right by our hotel the other one was in front of the dorms. These drinks were super cheap and it was sometimes hard to get to the front because everybody, even us was drinking it like water. (We had a lot of pop in Amritsar and I had a LOT of ice tea.)

Jordan - Amman to Aqaba (Sam)

(Sam)  Well, India is finished, now we are in Jordan. We spent a few days in Amman, the capital, and did a day trip to a few places including the Dead Sea. You can read about all this on my parents blog. We took a 4 hour bus ride to Aqaba, a coastal town popular with Jordanian and Saudi tourists. It would have been a great bus ride if it were not for the way people would smoke on the bus without even opening the window. At one point we stopped for a smoke break and the man in front of us light a cigarette and smoked it on the bus! It was disgusting.

Aqaba is famous for it's coral reefs, and today we rented snorkels and went to check it out. The reefs were beautiful, in all sorts of shapes and colours and easy to access from the shore. We saw all sorts of marine life, including, jellyfish, clownfish, stonefish, sea cucumbers, and many other very colourful types of fish. We also saw the wreck of a ship that has been turned into an artificial reef. The water was a nice temperature although the beach was nice too when you were ready for a break. There was also a shallow reef plateau and when you swam over it the coral and the fish were just inches away from your face, it was amazing.

Last few days in India (Sam)

(Sam) Our next couple of days in Varanasi were uneventful and we spent most of the time wandering along the ghats. There were lots of hawkers along the ghats, including a man who tried to sell us a parrot in a tiny cage so that we could release and get good karma. It was probably trained to return to him. I also got a massage. The masseur told me 10 rupees for a shoulder massage, of course he kept going and it was impossible to get away, before I knew it I was pinned to the ground getting a back massage. I did eventually get away at which point he demanded 50 rupees, we laughed and gave him 20. Another thing we did was go on a row boat along the Ganges at 6 am to see the sunrise.

We left Varanasi early in the morning and went to Lucknow on the train. We had mutton kebab at a very famous restaurant and saw the Residency, where the siege of Lucknow took place in 1857. The ruins were in a nice park and it was a relaxing place to be.

We left Lucknow that same afternoon and took a sleeper train to Rishikesh. Rishikesh is in the Himalayan foothills and is the global yoga capital. I was sick the whole time so I mostly stayed in bed, but the hills were lovely even though the whole town stunk of incense. There was also a pedestrian suspension bridge but everybody with a motorbike just drove across really fast honking their horns to warn you to get out of their way, it was really obnoxious.

From Rishikesh we took a sleeper train to Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple is the holiest place for Sikhs and attracts huge numbers of pilgrims from around the globe. The Temple itself is not very big. You could just about fit a basketball court inside. It is in the middle of a holy pool with a bridge leading to it. The walkway surrounding the pool, and the substantial buildings around the walkway are made of marble, and combined with the gold on the temple, the effect is blinding. The entire upper half of the Temple is plated in pure gold. I read that the very small central dome alone has 750 kilos of gold! One feature in Sikh temples is the communal kitchen, where everyone sits together on the floor and are served a free meal by volunteers. The kitchens are not for feeding the poor but to bring people together, a man I met said he comes once a month. The kitchen at the Golden Temple can serve up to 100,000 people on weekends. We went on a weekend and the place was crammed, there were people chopping, washing, cooking and serving everywhere. Not only was it a good experience, but the food was delicious too! There were two very spicy curries and a sweet warm rice pudding with coconut.

The inside of the temple is very gold, even the ceiling fans! There was a group of men chanting, and the focal point of the whole thing was the original copy of the Sikh holy book, kept shrouded and guarded over by the head priest. It is a very beautiful place and is not to be missed.

Jordan - Amman, The Dead Sea and South to Aqaba

(John) Three days into our Jordan experience and I am fast putting India behind me. It's not worth trying to make comparisons. I could, but Jordan is best discussed without too much reference to any where else. We have met many people here, sadly they have been mostly men. Women as one gregarious taxi driver told us are not important in Jordan. Men are everything. He laughed heartily when I explained that where I am from men are half and women are the other half. I didn't even try and go into the subject of same sex relationships.

We met a very nice man in our hotel in Amman, called Ernest. He is from Texas and is has been travelling through the Holy land doing a little searching for over 4 months. (Hi Ernest, hope you are well, it was nice to meet you). The owner of the hotel was Mohammed, he was the life and soul of the party, a charismatic character with great ideas and a ton of ambition. Also at the hotel was a woman called Leanne from Alabama. She has Jordanian citizenship and is a Muslim with a southern US accent. We all liked her a lot too. Then there was Abrahim, the taxi driver who drove us to the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo. We weren't sure what to make of him at first as he did not speak any English and was kind of quiet and stoic. He did not seem to know where we wanted to go other than a couple of sights. We had expected our guide for the day to be a bit more guide like. But instead we were supposed to tell him where to go. Sam and Lesley were in the back seat frantically reading the guide book trying to work out an itinerary. Actually it was pretty fun. We managed to break the ice though and Abrahim even bought us all bubble gum.

One of the first Jordanians we met was the man who served us food at the Hashem restaurant close to our hotel. We ordered food for 4 people that would have easily fed 8 people. It cost just 10 JD or $15 CAD. He was memorable because he was so exuberant and happy to see us. Being white foreigners we stick out and people are always saying Welcome to Jordan, sometimes they would like us to come in to their store but usually they just want to be friendly. There is an element of pushy toutism here but the protagonists are no match for the touts we came across in India. These guys are pussy cats. I have had to completely reel myself in and go back to being a nice guy. Having said that, we still managed to get ripped off by our fist experience in a non-metered taxi; we paid way over the odds when we had to get to the Syrian embassy. In every other instance though, the taxi drivers in Jordan have been great. Well, so far, I can't let myself get lured into a false sense of security.

So what have we been up to? Tuesday we flew into Amman. The guide book had prepared us for crazy, dangerous streets that are impossible to cross. The writer had clearly not been to India. While there are few crosswalks, drivers actually slow down and allow people to cross so long as you make your intentions clear. Also there are no two wheeled vehicles. At least very few. This makes crossing the street pretty straightforward. We got off the plane and got in a taxi. Amman was 45 kms away. The trip cost 20 JD ($30 CAD), the going rate. The driver found the hotel with a little asking around. (The hotels we stay in are usually not very well known.) We settled in to the Bdeiwi Hostel and Hotel. It is a small place but the management have worked hard to make it welcoming and it certainly felt like that. We all got a cup of tea as we walked in the door and were able to relax while we sorted out the details.

We were all awake pretty early on the first day, still pretty much on Indian time. It took a while for breakfast to come but we were done by 9.30 and headed out to the the Syrian embassy to learn that they could not give us a visa. (Despite being assured by the Syrian embassy in India that we could seek a Syrian visa at the Syrian embassy in Jordan) Only the Syrian embassy in Canada can give us one. As that isn't going to happen, our only hope is to try our luck at the border. A far as we can make out from research on the net and from what local knowledge we can get, we have a 50/50 chance of getting into Syria. It depends on the mood of the fellow at the border and how much we sweeten his pot.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Amman. We saw a fantastic roman amphitheatre, an ancient citadel site with ruins of roman temples on a hill overlooking the city, and spent time roaming through the shopping streets trying to learn Arabic numbers.

The following day we arranged through our hotel to go to the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo, Bethany Beyond the Jordan and Madaba. It cost a staggering 50 JD or $75 CAD just for the transportation, but it was really the only way to get it done. We saw Mt Nebo first. This is where Moses came and saw the promised land and then is believed to have died. The view across the valley and the Dead Sea to Israel is quite spectacular. Then we went to the Dead Sea. You can swim anywhere along the coast, but if you want to have a good time you need to have a fresh water shower after your float. Also, if you are a woman who doesn't want to be outnumbered by men (200 to 1) and would like to wear a western style bathing suit, you have to go to a resort. The cheapest option cost us 50 JD ($75 CAD). It was pretty nice though and swimming in the Dead Sea was really neat. The water was pleasantly cool. It was fun being at the lowest place on the planet. I thought I might feel depressed being so low, but it actually just made me smile.

After we had washed off the salt and lazed around by the freshwater pool for a couple of hours we set off to see the sight where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Seeing the sight involves a shuttle bus drive and a 40 minute walk through olive groves, taking in some holy spots with the main attraction being the place where Jesus was baptized. The guide book said we should have to pay about 7 JD for adults and at least one of our children would be free. When we got to the sight, we discovered that it would cost us all 12 JD each with no discounts for our children. We had a quick conference and decided that 48 JD ($72.50 CAN) was too much to see the sight and Jesus would probably have agreed with us, so we declined the tour. A representative tried to talk us into it but it was all academic as we after our conference had just missed the last tour of the day. Still we can say that we have been to Jordan and seen the parking lot next to where Jesus was baptized. It was quite special. I'm getting emotional just writing about it.

After that we drove back up to the top of Mt Nebo and turned to visit Madaba. On the way we passed a check point where earlier our driver Abrahim had told the soldiers that we were all French. The soldier must have been pretty stupid as he had looked at me and believed him. The second time through Abrahim told them were French again, just to be consistent. At a different check point nearer the Dead Sea we had been announced as Canadians. Abrahim explained that it doesn't matter where we are from, and he he obviously thought it was pretty stupid that they even ask.

In Madoba we visited a small Greek orthodox church that has a mosaic map of the holy land on the floor that is 1500 years old. Then we found some fruit to eat and Abrahim drove us back to Amman. We regrouped then went out for supper.

Today, we made our way to Aqaba, in the south. Here, we are in a hotel near the beach. The Red Sea is a 100 metres away and we can see Israel clearly across the bay. We came on a government bus. It could have been a great journey but as smoking laws in Jordan don't exist, there were a number of people smoking on the bus and where we were at the back of the bus was particularly bad. On top of this, the bus was clearly overheating which may have explained why there was hot air blasting into the passenger compartment right under the back sat where Sam and I were sitting. The driver had at least insisted on all the windows being kept open. I had a stinking headache by the time we arrived in Aqaba. I think that every man in Jordan smokes. Many women do too. There is no point even asking for a non-smoking hotel room. Next bus we get on we'll try and sit nearer the front, maybe the back rows are the worst.

On the bright side, our hotel room has a TV and a fridge. Aqaba is a fun city. The waterfront area is vibrant, people are out all along the beaches and the shopping streets. We took a walk along the Red Sea front and along the beach. It was early evening and full of people. From the beach you can see four countries - Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia. I went prepared to get in the water but not really expecting to be able to. However, there were lots of kids and at least one man playing in the shallows near the edge so I jumped in and instantly washed all the cigarette smoke of the bus trip away, the cool water soothed my head and I felt good for the first time in quite a while. I think I might like Aqaba.  

Photos: Our first meal in Jordan, Mmmm; Roman Amphitheater - Amman; Roman Temple - Amman; Fingers from 13m high statue; View from Mt Nebo; 1500 year old mosaic map in Madoba.

Dead Sea Photos