Golden Tulip Privilege Eilat

... the colours of the mountains and sands change colour as well. Very beautiful and very isolated out there. On return to the camp the other group turned up and it was 2 Chilean girls and their guide. They were on a year holiday and it was nice to swap travel stories with them as they were on their way to Egypt. They had worked and saved in NZ before setting off on their travels and had been to SE Asia before here. We had a lovely chicken and vegies and bread ...

... just a few miles away (and a few miles in the other direction is Egypt). Not complaining, though; I love this kind of terrain. But the heat is powerful: by mid-afternoon, it was 42 C (107.6 F)! ("But it's a dry heat.") After settling into our nice room with a view of the pool and the sea, we walked 20 mins. in the direction of Egypt to go to the Marine Park, an impressive complex with a well-known underwater observatory and an underwater boat trip ...

... kommt zu unserem Kompost und bedient sich an den Essensresten der Touris: tagsueber Voegel und Geckos, nachts Igel, Fuechse und Wildkatzen. Gerade die Katze ist immer besonders gruselig, wenn ich abends den Rest vom Huhn wegwerfe, sie bereits auf dem Felsvorsprung wartet und alles, was ich von ihr sehe, ihre beiden reflektierenden Augen sind. Genauso cool sind die Leute hier. Neben meinen Bedouinen-Kollegen Mahmoud, Latief und Salem, die zwar kaum Englisch koennen, aber ...

... there before that time as it was on the ancient trade route from the east to the west. Aqaba is Jordan's only sea port where oil and cement is exported. Although Jordan has no oil it is one of the main ports used by Saudi Arabia. There is also a container port there. The tourist industry is expanding with the building of new hotels. I saw many lovely beaches from where you can go diving and snorkling to view the rich and varied sealife ...

... upon arrival in Egypt. It was too suspicious, so we said no thanks and made a call to the credit card company for sanity's sake. That meant we'd be here in Aqaba for 5 days--a beach and pool vacation. Biggest decisions of the day were "which pool?" "where to eat lunch/dinner?" and "do you want to go down to the beach?" We read books (I bought Queen Noor's biography and read it there) We got copper colored tans. We napped in the sun and in the shade--listening to ...

... opposite from Aqaba is Israel's port town on the Red Sea called Eilat. Our destination in Aqaba was the Mövenpick Resort. At the Mövenpick, we were dropped off by the buses and then had to walk through security before entering the hotel. At the front desk, we were required to present an ID in order to get our day passes. Immediately after being handed our day passes, we all flocked to the beach. It was already a really warm day- hotter than any day in Amman. The Red Sea was ...

... e patrimoine: "t'as un immeuble mais pas envie de t'en occuper? ok! C'est ton immeuble, c'est ton problème!") Les contrastes sont saisissants. Les photos Bauhaus de la veille ont été prises à deux pas de chez moi, dans un quartier résidentiel (ambassades) qui semble avoir été directement importé d'Allemagne.Tout cela à 300 mètres de la plage où, en bons Méditerranéens, les israéliens laissent leurs mégots et autres sacs plastiques... Ce ...

... seemed calm, peaceful, nice, smiling, friendly and open. Kind of like I hope to be. Eli has guided us up a hill to a viewpoint. We dismount Farouk and look at the beautiful distant views. Eli describes the kibbutz where he volunteered and recommends that we go there. It is Kibbutz Nato Smadar and he says it is a special place, growing organic produce, fruit, olives, grapes, cheese. I'm putting it on our list for our next visit to Israel ...

... is also quite a bit of copper ore just lying around. We enjoyed walking through Wadis (dry river beds) and climbing through natural sandstone arches. As the sandstone is pliable by the forces of nature there are also a few magnificent pillars and mushroom-shaped formations created by the erosive powers of wind and water. At the end of the trip we filled some souvenir jars with many different colours of sand as tiny aide-memoirs of all the colours that make up the desert here.

... exodus from the queue we were in to the Ovda queue by many more people than just my family. And unfortunately for me , as we were all scrambling under the barrier the woman who had previously very condescendingly said to me about the flight being 'High Risk' as though it was a matter of course, having entered the queue at the allotted place was breezing by with just enough time to shoot me a withering look, as if to say you poor untravelled people. The only experience we are ...