Petra, Wadi Rum and Amman, Jordan: Day Twelve (12/1)

I woke up sore and tired from walking all day at Petra, but we were on another epic 3 hour drive back to Amman. As I have said before, I am not a car trip type person so doing this day in and day out was very hard for me. But we had an amazing breakfast overlooking the pool and Petra prior to departure.

On the way back Amman we stopped into Wadi Rum. It is famous for it's rock climbing, ability to drive a 4x4 in sand dunes, horseback riding, and camel safari's. It has also been a set for many Hollywood films such as Transformers and Prometheus.

However, our experience of Wadi Rum was anything but fun. We sat in an old pick up truck with rusted door handles without any covers driving around very slowly in steep sandy hills. It was like being in SF but in a crappy car and lots of sand. Not my idea of fun. Every 30 minutes we stopped at a Bedouin tent to have some local tea. The only redeeming part was seeing the Lawrence of Arabia plaque left from when they used Wadi Rum as a film set. 2 hours later, we got back into car to head back to Amman.

We were promised a tour of Amman, but instead our driver just drove for 15 minutes showing us some of the rich people's home prior to dropping us off at our hotel.

Short post, because there was nothing to see, eat, or do. Complete waste of a day in a car. The highlight was when I was sitting in the lobby with WiFi to Facetime and check all my emails. Please skip Wadi Rum even though it's on the way back from Petra. It's not worth it.

Amman and Petra, Jordan: Day Eleven (11/30)

The weather is def. a lot colder in Jordan. We actually needed more than just a windbreaker to keep warm esp. in the early morning hours. It felt like we were back in SF with the misty fog and wind. I loved it. I love when it's cold in the mornings when you are having a hot cup of coffee and getting ready for your day.

We started out with breakfast at our hotel, the Marriott Amman. I loved breakfast here. Finally, we had properly crisped hash browns and non-watery eggs. They also still had my beloved foul so it was the perfect mix of Egyptian and US foods.

Again, we were off for another epic 3 hour journey. Ugh. For once, I wished we were in a tour group instead of on a private tour so there would be someone to talk to! FYI, Jamous is not the best driver either. I had to ask him several times to not gas it and then brake as it made me very car sick. I honestly thought I was going to hurl several times. Luckily, I brought along some candies to suck on and some prescription pills.

3 hours later with a coffee break for Jamous, we arrived at Petra. I was beyond excited to finally fulfill a childhood dream. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Petra after I found out it was a real place and not some Hollywood set for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I never thought in my lifetime I would be able to go to the Middle East with my Mom given the culture and the state of unrest. This was the highlight of my entire trip.

We started out with a short horseback ride to the base of Petra. These were absolutely gorgeous horses. They were well kept but tame enough for non experienced riders to enjoy the experience. I even convinced my Mom to sit on a horse even though she only did it for the picture. Pro tip: Make sure when you are around horses is NEVER to walk behind them. Horses can kick their legs at any moment and their legs are incredibly powerful. You can break a bone, so make sure to remind people you are with to not walk too closely behind a horse. I had to keep reminding my Mom as even though the horses looked tame, if startled they are dangerous.

After our 15-20 minute and some time for photos, we started to walk through the trail to get to the base of Petra. For those of you who are disabled or unable to walk long distances, they have a horse driven carriage you can take. Along the walk you will notice a lot of rock formations, amazing colors and even find Nemo. Take time to enjoy the sceneary beyond your camera. In the early morning hours, the tour groups from cruise ships and what not have not yet arrived so it is a very peaceful and serene walk. After about 1 hour (downhill), you will finally see, Petra, the Treasury where Indiana Jones was filmed. The moment I saw it, I literally gasped. It was more beautiful that pictures or a video can depict. It's pretty amazing. There isn't anything inside like in the movie but the outside was more grand and in better shape in terms of preservation that I thought.

In front of the Treasury you will see a lot of local people offering camels rides and selling their wares. We chose to walk around and take our time to enjoy the sights. Upon our walk, we met women who had made camel bone necklaces, which I of course bought 3. They love American cosmetics so be prepared to give up your cosmetics for their local fares. I was approached several times for my lipstick despite being used.

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Marguerite Van Geldermasen, the author of, Married to a Bedouin, son Rami. He was warm and inviting and told us some stories about growing up in Petra.

From there we kept walking towards the Ad Deir, or the monastery.

Finally, we needed to walk back. I personally love walking and would prefer that to sitting on some poor animal. My Mom was a trooper and walked the entire 3 hours back with me. We stopped in front of the treasury for one final pictures since the sun was setting and it was much better lighting. Childhoold dream fulfilled. I was happy as a clam and so happy that I could share this experience with my Mom.

We were pooped after walking in the hot, dusty sand all day. We checked into our hotel, the Marriott Petra and shared some obligatory nachos. I inhaled it so fast, I didn't even have time for a picture, but I did take a picture of the hotel. Yup, we love our nachos. Then it was off for a hot shower and some much needed sleep.

Aswan and Abu Simbel, Egypt: Day Two (11/21)

After a long day of traveling, we had what I would define as a quick nap as we were up at 4:30 AM local time to catch our flight to Aswan via Egypt Air. With a quick hearty breakfast of instant cup of noodles from home, we were set to head off to finally see something. Our tour representative, Mohammed Basheer met us early in the morning to walk us through Cairo Airport. For us US-based globe trotters this was a new experience. Mohammed was able to walk us all the way to our gate until the final bag scan. The only downside to this is that because you have a final scan before you board, you can't bring any water on-board your flight. But the actual process of boarding was def. an experience worth writing about. You think Chinese people don't know how to line up? Egyptians are even worse. It doesn't matter if you are in first class or no status, everyone rushes the door and pushes to get to the front, they have no concept of a line or waiting patiently. The second part of it is that there is no jetway, you actually have to take a shuttle bus to your plane and then haul your own luggage up a set of stairs all while fighting all the Egyptians pushing and shoving you to get ahead.

After a quick 1 hour flight, we arrive in Aswan which is at the southern most point of Egyptian and about 10 degrees warmer. It was a humid 85 degrees when we landed and we were greeted by another tour representative, Mustafa.

We had a nice drive by our driver, H through central Aswan with the city on one side and the Nile River on the other side. We arrived at the dock to take the ferry boat to our hotel, Movenpick Aswan. Upon arrival we were greeted with fresh hibiscus juice, which is similar to cranberry juice but sweeter and less tart.

After a quick refresh, we went to the main side of Aswan to meet with our tour guide, Friday and our drive H for the 3 hour drive to Abu Simbel. Sadly, due to the current situation of 80-90% less tourists as a whole, Abu Simbel airport only had 2 limited flights per week so most tour operators are now forced to plan a 3 hour drive from Aswan for tourists. Prior to all this, Abu Simbel had a busy airport with multiple daily flights shuttling tourists in and out. On our way, our tour guide picked up a local roasted chicken, hummus, french fries and pita bread for our lunch. We had a strict deadline to meet at 11 AM at a tourist checkpoint at which point our car was inspected. We were lucky enough to be the last car in the caravan and given a back up driver and a tourism police officer armed with a machine gun.

The drive to Abu Simbel was nothing but dessert, red sand for stretches. There was only one highlight, about 1 hour in there was a mirage on the left hand side of the freeway. It looked like there was a palm tree and huge pond. After 5 minutes when we passed what looked to be the center of the mirage, you saw nothing but sand. It was pretty cool and def. worth waking up for!

We knew after 3 checkpoints, we knew we had reached the city of Abu Simbel. There were small villages, each government subsidized. They had built from the center of the city out and as we proceeded into the city center, you could see the lush trees and flowers in bloom. Who knew a desert could look so green and lively?

Finally, we reached Abu Simbel. Friday gave us a brief overview of the two temples we were visiting and gave us 45 minutes to explore ourselves. An interesting fact about Abu Simbel is that the government moved the entire 2 temples in fear of the it sinking in the Nile River after the completion of the High Dam. Every single piece was cut and put back together and reinforced. Can you imagine the process of taking apart and putting together? A side note, we were the second group to head to Abu Simbel from Aswan but while here we only saw 4 tourists not including ourselves. It was so sad to see how much tourism has died in Egypt. It was nice to be VIP but it was terrible knowing the consequences it had on the Egyptian people.

Temple #1 was a tribute to Pharaoh Ramesses II built for himself. Temple #2 was temple Pharaoh Ramesses II built for his Queen Nefertari. To read more about the history of Abu Simbel, click here.

After some pictures and exploring, we headed back into the car for the long three hour drive back.

Finally, we arrived safely backed in Aswan famished. We decided to eat at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel which gave us a fantastic view of Aswan at night. I had the Egyptian lentil soup which was served with fried onions, croutons and fresh lemon juice. It was hot, thick and exactly what I needed. My main course was spaghetti bolognese which was sour and salty but I just didn't feel like eating stringy, dry meat. For dessert, we ordered strawberry and vanilla ice cream. Movenpick is famous for their ice cream and it is sold all over Egypt but we were lucky enough to have it from the source. The strawberry wasn't creamy but more of a sorbet. The vanilla was to die for. Creamy and a true vanilla flavor that only a vanilla bean could provide versus vanilla extract. After dinner, it was time to hit the sack as tomorrow would be another long day of sightseeing.