Jordan Suites Hotel Aqaba

... mew).

I was reading a book called the God Squad about Paddy Doyle being put into an orphanage in Ireland and being ill treated for most of his childhood. One of the waitresses asked to see it - probably attracted by the title and I had to tell her that it wasn't a nice story I was reading (although I'm sure she was angling for it as a cast off - 'it would be lovely if you had two of this book' and I'm sure it will be jettisoned before I ...

... der von immer mehr Fluglinien auch direkt angeflogen wird.

In Aqaba angekommen beginnt unsere Suche nach dem Hotel, das ich gebucht hatte. Nach einigem Herumfahren entdecken wir eine Touristeninfo, die uns den Weg beschreiben - etwa 8 Km ausserhalb der Innenstadt Richtung Saudi Arabien (Die Grenze ist nur 10 Km weiter und wenig spektakulär - mitten im Industriegebiet (Schwefelchloridfabrik) und überqueren darf man die Grenze nur, wenn man nachweisen kann, dass man nach ...

... will go down. When we got to the immigration office we were waiting in line for the person to get back.. they must have been on a break or away. After waiting about 15 minutes, and almost making it to the office, our guide, Riad, showed up and called us away. It took about 30 seconds of him flashing paper work and immigration forms and we were off. While we were waiting some guy began yelling at the girls, presumably because they were wearing ...

... I was most impressed with the sites, the natural beauty, and our excellent GAP guide Saad. The pyramids, the nile, camel rides, donkey rides, all experiences I will never forget. However, Egypt is no oasis. It is very polluted, you cant find a garbage can anywhere on the streets. The food is not as good as other places we have been and have been tempted by the mcdonals and pizza huts (but are proud to say we have avoided, cause that is just wrong!) Egypt also lacks a ...

The night at the Bedouin camp was cold and uncomfortable, but it was definitely worth it. Patrick decided to sleep outside. So I went out to see where he was sleeping. His sleeping bag was under a cliff. The moon was close to a full and the sand around his sleeping bag was shimmering. Went to the race track after a quick breakfast of bread, cheese and tea. By chance, we were in Wadi Rum on the day of the biggest camel race of the year. Camels arrived from both Jordan ...

... tre dans un piège à touristes se confirme : on ne me parle qu'en anglais, les taxis insistent lourdement (presque comme à Louxor, la référence jusque là), et je croise nombre de compatriotes/collègues occidentaux. Il faut dire qu'à l'instar d'Hurghada ou de Sharm, Aqaba est une dont la réputation est montée très vite ces dernières années, surtout grâce aux sites de plongée ...

Aug 30 Departing Petra, Mohammad and I headed south on the Kings Highway with ultimate destination being the Wadi Rum desert. I had heard numerous stories about sleeping under the stars of the Wadi Rum, 4x4 trucking across the sands and possibly camel trekking through the vast desert terrain. With temperatures soaring to about 100 degrees, and a driver who didnt ...

... 10 hrs later. I lost sight of the Palestinians but then saw another traveler! A german girl was on the bus from the Werehouse to the ferry dock. We just looked at eachother, drenched in sweat, shaking our heads in disbelief. Once at the ferry dock there was another mad dash to get on the ferry. I waited in line around a bunch of men, a Muslim woman looked at me and motioned to go ahead, it was sweet and all the men gladly parted away to let me go passed. I ...

We took things easy this morning. Our volunteers slept in for the most part, though several of them couldn't sleep as long as they would have liked. Several went shopping or walked around Aqaba. We asked for input for lunch, and Western Food won again: this time Burger King, an easy walk from the hotel. At 2:00 a guide from the Captains Camp in Wadi Rum was at the hotel to guide us to the spot where we would spend the night. It took about 90 minutes to ...

... on the land. The indigenous population, largely comprising of desert dwelling Bedouin (nomadic Arabs) tribes, tended, until independence from the Brits in 1946, to live under the thumb of governors sent from Jordan's larger and more powerful neighbours.

An outwardly progressive country, its present government is something of a rarity in the region; a stable force with leanings towards democracy under a constitutional monarchy (established in 1952). It's a ...