Wanderlust Heaven!

This entry will be a bit clipped – have a lot going on over here. No complaints, just a lot on.

Spent my final few days in Jordan seeing the rest of the country’s main sights. Hiked the Dana Nature Park with Marcel…visited Shobak Crusader Castle en route to Petra…and finally, and most prominently, spent a few days in Wadi Musa, the town adjacent to Petra.

I won’t get into the story of Petra here – suffice it to say that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and it well deserves that sticker.

New friend Brian, a New Yorker whom I met on the bus to Cappadocia in Turkey, had recommended the Petra Moon Hotel, so Marcel and I headed there and found it to our general liking. Very near the Petra entrance gate, and near as well to a strip of restos and other shops.

Spent two hard-core days wandering and hiking in Petra with Marcel, the flying Dutchman. We did it all on foot – no rancid donkeys or lame-o horses for us – local tourists and overweight foreigners tended to rely on those modes of transport. I personally wanted a bit of exercise, and besides I feel pretty stupid atop an animal in places like that.

Petra’s full of monumental sights – the Treasure and the Monastery are the most famous, but the place is like one big weird lost world. You enter via the Siq, a 1.2 km path that runs between high rock walls. Recall ‘Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Holy Grail.’ You emerge and see this, the Treasury:

We soon moved on to a clamber up a ways to see the Monastery, and spent a few hours chilling in the hills around it:

Wasn’t bored for a second – was impressed for 95% of the day. Rare experience indeed. The place inspires internal poetry – if I had more time to ruminate here, I’d explain or even make a sorry attempt at poetry, but you’re spared (for the time being).

Finished up with some beers at Wranglers Pub…

Day two – we entered Petra by way of Wadi al-Muthlib, a dry (for now) riverbed that bypasses the Siq and takes you into Petra the long way round. That hike took the better part of an hour…stopped for a bit to have some tea with a Bedouin woman and her two cute kids. Ran into a foreign lass who told us about a great hike up a plateau nearby – we decided to tackle that in the afternoon. Wadi al-Muthlib:

After that, we hiked up a while till we got to a great spot that looked out over the Treasury – classic view:

We had already done a couple longish hikes, and stopped for a lazy lunch at the Crowne Plaza’s buffet spot – not cheap, but we deserved a splurge.

And after a round of burps, we made our way over to the plateau hike, Umm al-Qiryana, which was a good 40 minutes huffing up the side of a mountain (steps were graciously provided), and provided a range of views over the valley:

Also saw Mt. Haroun in the distance.  Supposedly Moses’s bro Aaron is buried there.  Didn’t have time to undertake the long hike out there.

I was not surprised by Petra’s brilliant monuments and sights – I was surprised what a great place it was for hiking. We could have spent another day or two consumed by longish hikes to other worthy destinations – but I think our feet would have protested. All in all, a much-anticipated and truly fulfilled trip to this superb place. Jordan’s done a good job preserving it (with plenty of international help), and I’m glad they have such a cash-spinner to help them develop.

Took care of a few errands that evening. Booked a hotel for the following night in Aqaba…printed out the letters I’d need to hand over in Cairo for my Indian visa…and looked into Cairo hotels.

Marcel and I went out for dinner after that – ended up at Al-Arabi Restaurant, which was pretty damn good. I had fuul, a fava bean paste that’s better than it sounds, and a chicken shish sandwich. After that we moved next door for some tea and a waterpipe. Very relaxing and a good conclusion to a couple challenging days.

Before sleeping I took a lariam (malaria prophylaxis) pill, as I’d be going to India in two weeks and wanted to get started early. Read a bit of my Egypt guidebook, then hit the sack. Lariam has been accused of giving people bad dreams, or worse…but I’d never had a single discernible problem with it, and swear by the stuff. You take it just once a week, and it’s dirt-cheap. Anyway, I woke up in the wee hours after dreaming that a huge cobra was right next to my bed and was rearing up to bite me. I jumped clear out of the bed and ran for the light switch. Which, when flipped, revealed exactly nothing. I moved the curtains – zilch. Nothing under the bed. Was it the combination of the lariam and reading about the wildlife of Egypt? Maybe it was.

Couldn’t get back to sleep – at 4:30 a.m. the muezzin started broadcasting the call to prayer. Reminded me of the 4 a.m. or so Vietnam village wakeup/newscasts. Not charming, and not one of my favorite memories.

Next day, we did a daytrip in a 4WD with a driver and a couple other tourists, a nice French couple from Carcassone. We visited a bunch of spots in the Wadi Rum desert reserve, a very cool part of Jordan that apparently was one of King Hussein’s favorite places. Khalef was our driver, a warm and funny guy who spoke only a bit of English but made it work.

Wadi Rum was where Lawrence of Arabia spent lots of time. He had a house of sorts there, we visited it but it’s now just a pile of rubble. There are other Lawrence-related sights around the desert as well.

Khalef made us a great lunch of BBQ chicken, hummos, bread and salad. Very Arabic. These Bedouins are incredibly self-sufficient – the lunch was restaurant-quality and he did it all himself in 30-45 minutes. While we waited and ate, he turned on the car stereo and cranked some surprisingly catchy Bedouin hits – I recorded a couple, let me know if you want to hear them.

We spent most of the day driving/wandering around Wadi Rum, and at 4 p.m. or so we went to the ‘sunset place’ to watch the sun go down. That wasn’t as spectacular as we hoped for, the sunset was a bit bland, but by then we were a bit weary and it was time to press on to Aqaba, the southernmost city in Jordan and really my final stop in the country. I’d only have that night and the following morning there, before getting on a 4-hour bus to Amman, from where I’d fly to Cairo. It was all happening pretty fast, a bit more quickly than I would have liked…but I had to get to Cairo.

Got into Aqaba around 6 p.m. Showered and washed the desert dust off my body and my packs. Marcel was still traveling with me, we went to a bus station and bought our Amman tickets for the next day – he’d go back to Madaba, and on to Jerusalem from there. It had been a week since we’d met in Amman, on the Jerash tour, and we’d seen much of the rest of the country together.

At one point Marcel and the desk clerk were talking in some unknown tongue. I was about to ask Marcel where the fuck he learned Arabic (Marcel’s Arabic is even worse than mine), but then realized they were speaking in Dutch, another guttural tongue. Apparently the clerk had worked in Europe for years and had told Marcel that. I think the previous night’s cobra dream and lack of sleep had affected me…

Marcel and I proceeded to track down a good pub, Rovers Return, order a couple pitchers of beer and some fries, and recount our stories from the week. I was envious that he’d soon be in Jerusalem – he was envious that I’d be in Cairo, and have a few months more of travel in front of me. Envious creatures we are, we humans…

Moved on to a promising Lebanese spot downstairs for dinner. We weren’t that hungry, given the 2 kg’s of fries we’d just inhaled, so concentrated on mezze, had some hummos with meat, a plate of fried haloumi cheese, and something else I can’t remember. Marcel had to piss – he was gone a while, and was smiling when he returned to the table. He said he’d gone in the wrong door, a red door near the toilet, and behind it was an illicit hostess bar with Eastern Euro women. Interesting. Didn’t surprise me – besides Japan, this part of the world is the world champion in hidden/secret bars and hangouts.

We went in this place after dinner. Turned out to be pretty tame. A Moldovan waitress came over and hung out with us while we had a beer, but she didn’t speak much English and my Russian was only so handy. We left after a half hour or so. Not exactly Bangkok…but we didn’t expect that level of mayhem anyway.

Watched the Letterman Show for a half-hour – can’t recall the last time I saw it. Dave is still the same – fairly comforting to know that.

Aqaba’s climate couldn’t have been more different, and welcoming. Just an hour or two north, in Wadi Musa, it was cold at night and in the morning, and things didn’t dry well in that air. Here, all the stuff I washed after the day in the desert were dry within a couple hours. Amazing. Of course, in the summer this place is probably like hell, but for now it was perfect.

You can also see Eilat, Israel, just across the gulf:

Marcel and I power-walked the few tourist sights in the morning. Really the key draw is the Corniche, the waterside promenade. But we also saw the ruins of ancient Ayla…the Royal Jordanian Yacht Club…the little local museum…and the small castle. We sat on the beach and drank coffee at a cool little spot. Then we had to return to the hotel to get our packs and head to the bus station. Way too short, but a good initial exposure to the small port city of Aqaba.

The bus ride back to Amman followed the Desert Highway, a supremely boring stretch of road that at least has the benefit of being a quick way to go. The bus was smoky and the seats weren’t that comfortable, but we endured. Got into Amman – said bye to Marcel, I’d miss his company – and ran into Yusuf, who drove us on our Jerash tour the previous week. He took me to the airport and I was there with some time to spare. Which was good, because it seemed they had moved up my flight to Cairo by a half-hour. I don’t like that – someone should have emailed me with that news.

Changed most of my Jordanian dinar into Egyptian pounds…spent most of the rest sampling the various food spots in the airport – not half bad. Also had loads of phone credits remaining and tried to run those down by calling friends and family all over the world, spoke with Bob in Bangkok, Ken in London, and Steve somewhere in Missouri. Then I got on my flight – which had been delayed to 8 p.m., the time I originally expected – and we took off soon afterward.

Egyptian Airways isn’t a stellar operator, but it was solid enough. Got into Cairo a bit after 9 p.m., was a bit concerned about visa procedures and long lines but it all went quite well. To be honest, from what I’d read I expected Indian-level crowds and chaos, but the airport was fairly calm.

Found a cheapish car ride to the downtown. The tout sat in the passenger seat – not something I normally like, the two guys could conceivably gang up on me. My knife was in the pack in the trunk, so I kept a pen in my hand in case something happened.

All that happened was that the tout fell right asleep and snored so loudly that it became a running joke between the driver and I for the next half-hour. I kicked myself for being paranoid…then again, it’d be hard to catch me napping.

Took a while to find my hotel, on Midan Talat Haarb. I finally rang the hotel – my Jordanian SIM roamed here – and they spoke with the tout. That still didn’t do it – I finally had to help them and insist that my hotel was right on Talat Haarb circle (midan). They drove there – I spotted the hotel. Slight torture after a long day. Egypt might not offer Indian-style craziness and unprediactability, but it could come pretty close sometimes.

Checked in. Room was in old building with ancient lift, but it was clean and fine. And only US$15 a night – talk about another difference with India, at least Mumbai, where this room would go for 5 times that price.

Was dying for a beer – my guidebook mentioned a couple places, walked around (without the book in hand, that would look too geeky) but couldn’t find them. Was a bit concerned as it was getting close to midnight, and wasn’t sure when things shut down. Finally came across Estoril, a place in an alleyway famed for being a writers/actors hangout. Classic joint – great bar, intriguing customers, and a friendly feel. The barman was dressed in a green tunic and had a turban of sorts – and looked a lot like I recall Anwar Sadat looking. I had a couple locally-produced Stellas and felt a whole lot better.

Funny thing about me – sometimes I worry that I won’t:

-find a good spot to eat
-find a good spot to have a beer
-find a decent place to sleep

…and yet, 15 minutes later I’m usually full/drunk/asleep. Perhaps it’s just DNA kicking in – we all worry to some extent about satisfying our lower Maslow urges. But I think I worry too much, especially given my unmatched track record for filling my gut and resting my head. I could probably parachute into nearly anyplace in the world and be sitting, having a beer, within 30 minutes.

Saw a number of American cars on the street. A Chevy Frontera, a Chrysler Sebring, a Concorde of whatever maker. So we are selling a few of our cars overseas, after all. Nearly every other place I’d been, Toyota was kicking our ass.

Cairo was a lot tidier than Mumbai. Not that clean, to be sure, and not that calm…but it seemed to be a walkable and liveable city. The economy did appear pretty creaky – one sign was that about half the cars driving that night had no lights or parking lights on, a consistent sign that people are conserving energy even at the risk of being involved in an accident. I kept to the sidewalks and kept an eye out.

Cairo is also surprisingly conservative. Nearly all the women wear headscarves – far higher rate that in Turkey or in Jordan. And many guys have a calloused forehead, from praying all the time. Hadn’t seen that before. Hmmm. Perhaps my prior concern about finding a watering hole was warranted, after all.

Went to the Indian Consulate the next morning to try, yet again, for my visa. Filled out some forms, submitted my letters and two photos, and paid a bit of money. The clerk told me that they’d have to correspond with the Indian Embassy in Washington, which would probably take 72 hours, and after that, assuming a go, I’d have to return, hand in my passport, and they’d do the stamp etc. So two more trips to get the visa. This was getting old. I’d better get this visa or I will be very bad company. ‘Nuff said.

That did affect my Egypt travel plans – now will have to get all the way down to Abu Simbel, on the Sudanese border, pronto, and then get back to Egypt within a week. Went and bought a pricey flight ticket to Abu Simbel for Friday morning. Egypt Air’s office was nearby and fairly efficient – more so than the Indian Consulate/Embassy. Are the gods trying to tell me something??

Spent a couple hours in the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum, a renowned collection of the country’s unparalleled treasures. The collection is indeed inestimable, but the museum itself seems to me to be more of a warehouse than a great museum – the labeling and presentation of most items is minimal and, to be honest, a bit lackluster. You’d think by the 21st century, about 150 years after Egypt established its antiquities board and started formalizing its collection, they’d have a world-class building and museum. One is on the books – the Great Egyptian Museum is planned, but who knows when ground will even be broken and when the project will be finished? For the time being, bring your glasses and some aspirin, because you’ll be doing lots of squinting at the labels.

And there are students everywhere, sketching loads of pieces. Why not put them to work creating new, readable descriptions of the pieces? I don’t know that the country needs more sketches of its artwork, even in the service of helping train new artists, biologists, etc. – tourism is critical for Egypt and I think they need to upgrade things like this.

All that said, the Egyptiam Museum has some awesome stuff. There’s a room of mummified animals – a 6-foot-long Nile Perch, a bull, a horse, some cats, and a couple crocodiles that just blew me away. I’d never seen anything like that.

But the topper was the special collection of Royal Mummies. A surcharge applied, of course – the Museum has learned the art of correctly charging/overcharging foreigners. Anyway, well worth it – the 3500-year-old mummy of Ramses II was in there, along with about 10 other mummies of pharaohs (Tuthmosis III, etc.) and some other prominent figures and officials. Most were well-preserved and you can actually imagine them alive today. Wow – a must-see, and I like to think I don’t overuse that term.

What else? Drivers here are insane, I didn’t know 4-cylinder bars could go this fast. The Nile is a huge, imposing river – far more impressive than the River Jordan. I’ll provide some pics next week.

The Ramses Hilton (love the name) sits beside the Nile, and is a spectacularly grey and ugly edifice. Reminds me of the Sydney (downtown) Hilton, another property that has the power to depress upon sight.

Went out for a beer last night – was accosted by Nadeer, a local who was formerly married to a woman from South Carolina, and whose 3 kids are in the States. He sells fragrances and oils…managed to convince me to check out his little shop, which was near the bar I sought. He ingratiated himself by showing me the location of the bar, which had previously eluded me. Talk about a great salesman – I am perhaps the world’s most shopping/buying-averse individual, but he talked me into buying a small $10 bottle of lotus oil, which, I admit, smells terrific. Not sure if I’ll use it myself or give it to a lass – I had one or two in mind. Hopefully it won’t leak all over my stuff in transit – thankfully friend Dri gave me a load of ziplock bags when we met in Turkey. Those things are more useful than money, sometimes.

After buying the oil, and feeling a bit of post-purchase dissonance (oh well – only $10), I went into Cafeteria Stella, a decidedly blokes-only dive where I had a beer and ate chickpeas for a half-hour. What a collection of global souls – reminded me of Leopold’s in Mumbai, but more downscale and desperate. There was a black dude in there, with Nubian features – a few Egyptian ‘businessmen’ – and some people of indeterminate origin. I must have been quite a sight to them as well!

Back to Estoril for another drink. The Sadat lookalike was still tending bar, and the people-watching was still terrific. This place really reminds me of Casa Armas in Manila, the bar is the source of much merriment and most of the customers appear to be regulars. And it occurs to me that this entry is full of analogies – my lengthy travels must be yielding some fruit, they say that thinking metaphorically is a higher-order level of thought than the usual ‘me want beer, me want girl’ sort of brainwaves I’m usually experiencing.

What else? Hillary Clinton might be the next U.S. Secretary of State. I like that call. The Egyptian pound’s subset/penny is the piaster – I love that old French term, it’s in some Steely Dan song that I can’t remember right now. Noticed that a fraternity borther put one of our fraternity composites (photos of all the brothers that year) on Facebook – pretty funny. Elicited a bunch of comments. Got an email from old friend/frat bro Art in Budapest, whom I visited a while back – he just read Henry Miller’s ‘Tropic of Cancer’ and chimed in that Miller believed that the two key things to remember were that you must keep evolving, and that stagnation is the worst crime you can commit. I tend to agree.

Oh yeah – I also finished Junot Diaz’s ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ and thought it was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Terrific voice, and great story. Highly recommended.

Visited the Pyramids and Sphinx today. But will put that in next week’s entry – having Petra and the Pyramids in the same entry amounts to photosensory overload. So sit tight. Over and out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.