Middle East 08

Today, we woke up, packed our trusty backpacks, grabbed some lunch, and walked to the bus station in Wadi Musa.  Now, this is truly the first time that I’m really frustrated about not having pictures postable on this blog. 

The bus station was a total joke. It wasn’t so much a station as it was a parking lot with signs in Arabic.  It is important to note that there is no bus schedule – the drivers arrive with the minibuses and wait until they’re filled before leaving.  We figured taking this public transportation would not only save us money, but would give us a chance to see even more of Jordan than we would if we had taken a taxi.  I’m confident that we would have seen exactly the same 3 hours of desert in a taxi, but possibly with air conditioning.  It was a trip.

We arrived in Amman around 5, walked around a little and looked for cheap places to stay. Decided on a nice little dive called the Concord or something cheesy.

We grabbed dinner at Al-something, where they had chicken rotisseries in the window.  We walked in, and immediately 30 men are staring at us. See, in Jordan, there are women out in the streets (definitely more so here, in Amman, than in Wadi Musa), but, they are completely covered up.  Knowing that this is an Arab country where women are viewed differently, I dressed modestly, a long skirt, hat,  and collared shirt, but I think these men are mesmirized by my ankles. So much for low self-esteem.

 Anyway, Amman is a huge city, the city is on the bottom of a huge hill, and the houses are on top. It’s nice.. you know, for an Arab city.  We passed signs today on the mini-bus for turn-offs for the Iraqi and Saudi Arabia border crossings. I had forgotten how close I really am.

 Don’t worry.. I won’t risk it.

Leaving the day after tomorrow for India, where the posts are sure to be more interesting and less frequent.

Today, we woke up at a ridiculous hour to go to Petra.  Petra is an ancient city built by the Nabateans, an ancient Arab tribe who came from the Arabian Peninsula.  The city is filled with enormous carved monuments, and is a 6 or 7 hour round trip hike.  The hike begins through As-Siq, an incredible 1200 meter long, deep narrow gorge.  It has crazy geological formations, colourful rocks, water channels cut into cliffs, and dams.  Through As-Siq brings you to Al-Khazneh (the Treasury) – this is where one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed.  Words can’t describe how enormous all of the monuments are, and, unfortunately, I still can’t upload pictures to show it.. 

I’ll skip the rest of the monuments except for the final one; Ad-Deir, the Monastery.  It’s set on top of 800 stairs cut into the rock, with incredible views on the way up.  It’s huge in size and is beautifully awesome.

 Okay, so throughout the entire hike, all of the Bedoins and children are offering “Donkey Ferraris” , or Taxis (horses or camels). It’s really cute, and exhausting.

 That said, that is my installment. I’m leaving on the public bus tomorrow morning for Amman, which should be ridiculously hot, and hopefully provide me with an internet connection strong enough for me to upload pictures.

Jordan is pretty crazy.  We stayed in Eilat last night for one more night of attempted debauchery (I'm too old) and crossed the border this morning at 8am into Jordan.  I think there should be a Saturday Night Live skit ... [Continue reading this entry]

I have resolved to be better about writing these.. I spent this past week on the Sinai Peninsula. For those of you who don't know, the Sinai Peninsula used to be part of Israel, but was overtaken.  In 1979,  ... [Continue reading this entry]

 You know how sometimes you get really, really into something, and are dilligent for a while, and then forget about it, life takes over, you fall behind, but still think about it... but it seems like you have neglected it ... [Continue reading this entry]

 I spent another day in Jerusalem at the Jewish Agency, learning about the two holidays here in Israel this week.  In addition, I got to see a movie that was done very intimately depicting a family who's young son is missing ... [Continue reading this entry]

This isn't a terribly exciting update, so below is an outline of the  contents (in case you want to skip the super boring parts)  1. Complaining  2. Israeli Memorial Day and my day in Jerusalem  3. Plagarized Jewish stuff  4. Bragging  5. Hebrew School Stuff  6. Empty ... [Continue reading this entry]

since my last email, work continues to rock.  The president of my Nepali Women's Voice group teamed up with another friend of mine, Bhuvan, and have created their own magazine, almost all in Nepali, except for the articles by yours ... [Continue reading this entry]

The last few days have been pretty whirlwind. School has gotten better, I'm learning a lot and understanding more and more each day. Our afternoon activities have been okay, but are getting  increasingly controversial. This week, ... [Continue reading this entry]

I have a mandatory program in 10 minutes... so just the facts. This is what i've been doing: went to the city of david for a tour, supreme court and outside of knesset. spent the night at the kotel before touring ... [Continue reading this entry]