Intercontinental Intercontinental Jordan Amman

... than the Hashem downtown. Hard to say. I can say I am likely to gain approximately 47 pounds while I am here.

Saturday:

I think I mentioned that Devan’s time is running out here. She leaves the 27th so she is running around trying to fit all the last minute purchases and visits. So…. we met for lunch at Wild Jordan which was delicious. Yea, some places still sell food during the day but it is uncommon and basically only at tourist places ...

... notice on my walk that the presence of Pilipino housekeepers is really quite obvious as every house is being swept out or having its windows cleaned by one of these women.

I returned sweaty and dehydrated (no food, drink, gum, or cigarettes in public during Ramadan until sundown), downed my water bottle, and was just in time to head out with Rebecca, Ali, and Ali's boyfriend Casey. We went to a mall that was kind of like a giant k-mart and then Casey, who ...

... other country thus far, as well as getting asked to be photographed with no fewer than six locals
~Taking in seeing the full expanse of the Dead Sea and then Israel east to west from the air as my flight ascended after takeoff from Amman. I could also clearly see the Wailing Wall/Dome of the Rock from no more than 15,000 feet on this Royal Jordanian flight to Athens.

My arrival in Athens would mark the 6th continent ...

... og glede. Vi var virkelig gode eselførere, ikke minst veldig snille, da vi alltid hoppet av i motbakke.

Wadi Rum på sin side er et ørkenområde tatt ut av alle ørkenstereotyper med sanddyner, flotte ørkenfjell og små vannkilder. Det var her Lawrence of Arabia holdt til da han hjalp til med det arabiske opprøret mot Osmanerne. Her red vi for første gang på kamel, og det ga virkelig en småbåtfølelse. I tillegg touret ...

... despite the cacophany of car horns and car-dodging pedestrians!). The citadel and Dead sea Scrolls were interesting, as was the amphitheatre. Met up with the 'Intrepid' guys at the start of an overland tour through to Petra, Wadi Rum and into Egypt.

Looking forward to it!!!

Take care

Richy :)

... at the sky though it was time to hit the hay. The air in the desert is very cool and fresh at night. The air was fresh in Nepal and cool high up, but it was also thin. In Wadi Rum it was full, cool and fresh, just great.

So we wanted to go back to Amman the next day but there is no easy way back to Amman from Wadi Rum, unfortunately. You really have to go back to Petra first for any chance of not spending a fortune. The Taiwanese girls had paid for a full ...

... die man klinisch Toten spritzt - nur kulturell: Ich nahm ein Taxi in Ammans ultramodernen Stadtteil Al-Sweifiyah, lief erstmal zum Subway und hab mir ein volles footlong Spicy Italian mit einer Endlos-Ladung Sprite und zwei Cookies reingezueffelt. Dann bin ich eine Weile an den vielen Klamottenlaeden und BMWs am Strassenrand entlanggeschlendert, bevor ich ins nagelneue Al-Baraka Shoppingcentre rannte und mir den neuen Star Trek Streifen reingezogen hab - und das im ...

... the Muslim call to prayer, which is sung from all mosques out of loudspeakers five times a day. After a few more hours sleep we all headed out to see the sights of Amman, namely, a roman theatre, a roman Odeon (music amphitheatre) and two small museums. We got those done fairly quickly and then enjoyed wandering around downtown. The roads in Jordan took some getting used to, and crossing them was certainly a skill to be learned. You ...

... bin ich der erste Surfer auf seiner Couch und machte es mir gleich in seinem Wohnzimmer gemuetlich. Das ist naemlich Teil eines grossen Mehrfamilienhauses, das von ueber zehn Italienern bewohnt ist und auch allgemein in einer von Italienern dominierten Nachbarschaft liegt. Da kommt Freude und vor allem Erinnerungen an Malindi auf! =) Mit den Arabisch-Studentinnen Paola und Wanda und dem Weltreisenden Nicolo gings spaeter noch in den Buchladen-Bar-Hybriden "Bookscafe ...

... I imagined it (except in my version there were a lot less people). There really wasn’t much to see down there but it was definitely worth the walk. Now, the way up is a whole different story! The funny thing is that on the way down I wasn’t thinking about anything except how cool is was going to be to see an ancient site that was in the middle of nowhere and thousands of years old. Then I started my ascent. I had not realized the walk up ...