All good things come to an end...

So when I last left everyone I was off to Wadi Rum for my last weekend in Jordan. After that weekend, I left and headed to Indonesia for some nice R&R over the Thanksgiving break. I went with Jon to Batu Karas which is South East of Jakarta. It was a great time, I actually was able to get up on the Surf Board again and caught some waves all by myself (which I didn't think was too bad given it was only my third time on the board when I caught the wave).
Anyhoo, so I didn't get eat any Turkey on Thanksgiving but did get to see some wild Turkey's running about Indonesia which is a very rare sight but how appropriate since it was Thanksgiving.
After Indonesia I headed back to DC to finish up 3 weeks of work there before headed to NJ for the holidays. So now that I"m back in Jersey don't expect to hear from me until after the New Year when a new adventure might begin!

Happy Holidays!
Colleen

Wadi Rum

So I spent the my last weekend in Jordan at Wadi Rum which has been a recommended spot to visit while in Jordan. I had been told by multiple people in Jordan that it was a must do while I was here....so I figured I would save the best for last. I will admit that it was pretty nice even for the short period of time we got spend there. I went down with my co-worker and Hilary's friend Stacy.We took off early Friday morning from Amman and managed to get to Wadi rum in 3.0 hours (usually a 4 hour drive) and one speeding ticket later (that was after being pulled over 3 previous times and let off since we weren't from Jordan). So we went around Wadi Rum in a SUV and checked out all the famous spots in the dessert, pulled over a couple of times to hike up some mountains, they apparently don't care if you fall and kill yourself here, they let you do pretty much anything without any equipment. After all that we went to this Bedouin camp site where we had a fire and they cooked us a really good dinner. It was just the three of us staying at the camp site so we had the run of the little tent area which was super cool. We drank about 10 glass of Jordanian tea which is a black tea with LOTS of sugar in it. They actually boil the sugar with the water first and then add the tea leaves. After all that we crashed out under the stars which was pretty amazing.

The next morning we found a horse ranch and went horse backriding around the area, it was really beautiful and I am happy to say that my many years of lessons came in handy. It all came back to me and i was able to ride around the place, it was pretty amazing. Sooo sad to say but that was my last weekend in Jordan and now i'm off to Bangkok and Indonesia...more later

Beirut in Beirut

Ok well not really but that city does have a strange energy or feel to it. I had to head up to Lebanon for 3 days for work but don't worry I did manage to squeeze in some time to check out the city. The city felt a bit depressing to me, I'm not exactly sure thats the word but its the closest thing I can come to this late at night. There are 5 star hotels next to some hotels which are war torn with bullet holes in them. It is crazy to think that a 15 year war went on in this country. The entire downtown was completely rebuilt after the war ended, so its beautiful and new looking but it doesn't exactly fit into the cities identity. I went to dinner one night with some friends of friends who live in Lebanon and got an understanding a bit more of the history and what it was like during those 15 years. It seems the perspective is that things are still a bit uneasy between two religious groups in the country. I guess that was part of what you could kind of feel when you are there...however Beirut does have one of the hottest night lives in all of the middle east just so everyone knows.

Wadi Dana

Jordan has some really beautiful landscape which I never realized until I got here. There are a number of Wadi's (or valley in Arabic) and last weekend I went to Wadi Dana which is about 2.5 hours south of Amman. However we left on late friday afternoon and we didn't account for getting a flat tire along the way which I guess is pretty common in Jordan. So we spent about 45 minutes in this little tire station waiting to see if they could get a tube to fix our flat, unfortunately they were not able to fix it since all the shops were closed on Friday. So we drove the rest of the way to Wadi Dana on the spare which was an actual full tire thankfully...We did get lost on the way there since it was dark and you are in the middle of the desert. When we did find out way, we got to this little family run hotel/campground and they had dinner waiting for us. It was delicious.

We pretty much crashed out and then got up early on sat for a hike. The place was beautiful, kind of like the grand canyon only about 100 times smaller. The weather was perfect and it was really cool to be some of the only people along the path or even out there hiking.

On the way we ran into some Bedouin kids who were out with their goats, it was pretty cool, they chatting with us a for a while and then we continued along on our way. All and All an awesome weekend and it was great to get out some and see more of Jordan.

Oh Yeah Cairo

Ohhh what an amazing city Cairo is, well I'm not sure it's the city or just the crew of people I went with. I was off in Cairo this weekend with some fellow ADP'ers who were working in Nairobi on another ADP project. We had a blast, it is a very safe and easy city to get around by foot or taxi. So where to begin...we started on Friday morning by walking from the hotel to see the Citadel. I was apparently a celebrity and didn't know it because I had a bunch of teenage boys come up to me asking to take my picture with them. It was hilarious! After the boys left we went into this amazing mosque and I had to take off my shoes and wear a nice green cape to cover my shoulders (even thought i was in a tshirt) it seemed to be random about who they picked to wear the cape.Anyway when we came out a bunch of girls came up to me and wanted to take their picture with me so I let them, the one women even lifted up the front flap of her burka to take the picture. So I guess I have officially made celebrity status in Egypt!! Who knew they loved Blonds so much. hahaAfter that we headed to Islamic Cairo for some Lunch and to see some of the tourist stuff. There were tons of mosques around and these little tiny alleyways which contained a bunch of vendors selling stuff and at night it becomes this really hopping night market. It was really cool.Then sat we got up early and headed to the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. We got up really early so we were some of the first people there which was great for taking pictures b/c there were no tourists around. After we saw all three pyramids of Giza we went inside the Pyramids which was really crazy. It was super small tunnels that you had to take up to this really HOT room which is where the tombs were stored. Below is me inside the Pyramid at the opening.Then we continued on to the step pyramids and to see some local art work. The last day we spent walking around Cairo just stopping at shisha/coffee shops and hanging out and people watching. It was a great weekend and tons of fun, I laughed so hard on sunday that I literally cried so I figured that was a sign of a good weekend!

Aqaba

Went Aqaba two weekends ago which is on the southern part of Jordan. It is a beach resort which is located on the red sea/gulf of aqaba. Did a little snorkeling but mostly just sat by the pool and relaxed! I did get to meet some local Jordanians in the shuttle bus to downtown and they invited Tim and I to go to dinner with them. It was a good time and I managed to learn some new Arabic words and tried some new foods! ok more in a bit about my weekend in Cairo!!!

Jerash, Bethany-Beyond-The-Jordan

So last weekend was a busy one, I pretty much saw all of the northern part of Jordan. Let's see Friday started off with going to Jerash and seeing the ruins. It is an example of a Roman provincial city and one of the best in the middle east apparently. I did feel as if I was wondering around Europe at some points. After that we went to Ajloun city to see the Al Rabad Castles which was one of the castles from the 8th century and it has some amazing ruins of Jordan from the top of the castle.After that we went up to Umm Qais (or as Tim and I called it UMM Kayyyy) This was the furthest north in Jordan you can go without entering into Syria. Umm Qais is in the northwest corner of Jordan and have amazing views over the Golan Hights in Syria and the Sea of Galilee in Isreal & the Palestinian Territories. It took a bit longer then expected to get there but we managed to make it just as the sun was setting over the Sea of Galilee and it was beautiful. The area was actually closed to tourist but we managed to sweet talk the guard to let us enter after hours to see the sunset since we drove 1.5 -2 hours to get there.

So then on Sat. after we did a bit of work, we headed over to Mt. Nebo which is the site where Moses died and was buried, he was said to have seen the promised land from Mt.Nebo for those who aren't that religious. After that we headed to Bethany-Beyond-The-Jordan which is the site where Jesus was baptized by JohnIt was a pretty amazing site, we were right on the jordan river and at the location of the baptism we could actually throw a rock over to the West bank. This site was apparently validated by Pope John Paul II in 2000 when he performed an open air mass there. Oh the history, its pretty amazing!!!After that we head to the dead sea for some floating and mudd treatments (that we put on ourselves :) ). So it was a full and busy weekend, we managed to only get lost about 10 times throughout the two days which when all is said and done made for a fun experience.

Tanjung Lesung and Krakatoa

So I have now officially hiked an active volcano! I went to Tanjung Lesung which is on the western tip of the island of Java and hiked up Krakatoa volcano which last had an eruption in April. It was a great time, went on some bike rides, runs, learned to sail, and went snorkeling. I saw some pretty amazing fish and coral reefs and there wasn't anyone around for as far as the eye could see, it was great!

Visas and Taxis in Jordan

So apparently Jordan is updating their visa process; I arrived in Amman this afternoon and got in line to get my visa on arrival only to be have my picture taken and my fingerprint scanned as I got my visa. There was no reason for this and when I asked I was told its a new process and only happens for some people. Well apparently I must be a threat or something because I had to go through with it along with the Canadian who was in front of me in line.
So after that I got my bags and tried to find a taxi, like most airports a number of people come up to you and ask if you want a taxi. The way the system works in the Amman airport is that some guy comes up to you and asks if you want a taxi, he then takes a $1.50 JD cut and takes your bags and brings you over to this guy who is calling in all the taxis. There is no line, its just about who is more aggressive in terms of getting in front of this guys attention. So then they kind of decide to give you a taxi at some point, there is no process that is followed it just kind of everyone standing around this guy waiting to get his attention.

well I kind of sat backed an watched this whole thing happen to try and understand how to get a taxi myself. After about 15 minutes of standing around and not being able to get a taxi myself or get this guys attention, i noticed a cop standing on the side of the road watching it all. So i decided to go over to the cop and ask how i could get a taxi. Well he proceeded to flirt with me and tell me how I should take off my sun glasses so he could see my beautiful eyes. It was just classic. He said he would help, which he eventually did, he called over to the guy in charge and i got the next taxi to pull into the area. If only i had realized this at the start I could have avoided standing around the airport for 15 minutes. The funny part is that after the cop put me in a cab, he proceeded to follow my taxi and wave at me for a couple of feet and then eventually blow me a kiss as he took off. All I can say is only in Jordan do these things happen! Thought everyone might get a kick out of that story....

Petra

For those not familiar with Jordan, Amman is in the North East and Petra is about a 2.5 - 3hour drive south from Amman. It is past the dead sea but north of Aqaba (which is on the red sea/Gulf of Aqaba).So Petra was amazing; it's difficult to believe the city was built out of rock back in ~7000 BC. At one point it was home to approximately 20,000 people. Some other interesting facts are that only 5% has been excavated. Also Petra means 'rock' in Greek.

The pictures don't do it justice.Enjoy!

Time to float

I must say that I love Jordan; it is very pretty and the weather is perfect right now! Nice sunny mornings and a cool breeze at night; doesn't get much better weather wise. So I managed to sneak away for a day to the dead sea which is about 45 minutes from Amman. What a funny experience! First off Rhona and I got pulled over for speeding at which point the police officer did not speak any English so it was alot of pointing and eventually they just let us go. Then we were stopped twice at check points they have before you enter the dead sea area. Both times the cops asked us where we were from and said Welcome to Jordan very enthusiastic. People here are so welcoming and friendly; they really want people to experience Jordan.

So the sign above was all around right as you enter the hotel area of the dead sea. It is pretty classic and as you can imagine it is pretty impossible to drown in the dead sea given that you immediately float in the water. It is a strange experience to be standing in the water but not touching the bottom of the ocean, just kind of bobbing around. The only issue is if you move the slightest bit you legs automatically float to the surface; so it is pretty difficult to keep yourself from floating to the surface. That is dried up salt on the rocks near the shore of the dead sea.

Word to the wise; do not shave your legs prior to going into the dead sea or get the water anywhere near your eyes, it could be painful!! Rhona and I stayed at the dead sea for dinner and to watch the sun set over Israel which made for a great day!