Goodbyes.

I hate goodbyes.

Our last night in Madaba. We had dinner at King Shaurma - no one wanted anything fancier. We all huddled around tables in the upstairs eating area. We talked and laughed as we had throughout the trip - I would soon miss the stories that everyone had to tell and the sound of the laughter. In fact, I laughed so much on my last few days in Jordan, that I returned home with laryngitis!



On our way out, we said goodbye to the guy that had been shawarmas for us all day. I never knew his name but he was so kind to us.



It was too early to head back to the hotel so Daniel suggested we go down the block to the Ayola Cafe for drinks, sheesha, etc. More talking and laughing - it was something that came naturally to this group and I think it's why I enjoyed being with them so much. From our first meeting in Cairo, I knew there was a never going to be a dull or quiet moment!

Daniel snapped this last photo of the group.

From left to right. Daniel, Bridget, me, Alex, Sandy, Dora, Lei, Laura and Zdena.


Back at the hotel, Daniel made the hotel to airport taxi arrangements for everyone so we had one less thing to worry about.

The group then gathered in the lobby for one last game of Kings and Asses and more talking and laughing. Daniel, Zdena and I watched as the others played.



Then it came time to say goodbye to everyone. We all gave each other big hugs and well wishes. It was a very bittersweet moment - I tried not to cry but I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I walked back to our room.

Interlude. Lei.

Before we decided to go on this trip together, Lei and I were pretty much strangers. Although we work in the same company and our professional paths had crossed a few times, we didn't know anything about each other. But we had something in common that's this insatiable desire to travel the globe. We took the chance on each other and I'm so glad we did. Looking back on the trip, I realize that so much of the fun that I had was because of Lei.

Nothing like spending 24x7 for nearly three weeks to get to know someone. So, here's my impressions of Lei....and I did give her fair warning that I would be posting this up!

Jerash.

Our last afternoon in Jordan would be spent exploring Jerash.



After we got back to the hotel from our trip to St. George's Basilica, we cleaned up a bit and met back in the lobby for our ride to Jerash. Kirsten was not coming with us as her flight home was leaving mid afternoon. As we stood on the front steps of the hotel, we each gave her a big hug and wished her a safe trip. It was a tearful goodbye, especially for Laura - the two had grown so close together on the trip that they had already made plans for Kirsten to visit Laura in New Zealand. For the rest of us, it was just sad to know that we would all soon be going our separate ways.

Madaba - the Mosaic Map.

Today is our last full day in Jordan and it began as all the other mornings had, with a simple breakfast of ayish, cheese, egg and tea. We had the morning on our own. Bridget, Laura and Kirsten went to visit Bethany - a site along the River Jordan where it is believed that John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ. Daniel, Alex, Sandy, Dora, Lei and I went off to explore Madaba. Zdena decided to go her own way.

The six of us retraced the steps that Daniel had laid out for us the previous night. Our first stop was Greek Orthodox Basilica of St. George. The church was built 1896 A.D. over the remains of a Byzantine church.

Day 16. Comes to a close - Madaba.

From Mount Nebo, we continued north on the Kings Highway, eventually arriving into Madaba. A seemingly quiet town, Madaba was a good place to unwind after a hectic day of travel.

Compared to the other places we had stayed at along the way, the hotel in Madaba felt like a 5 star hotel to us - Lei and had large room with cable TV (with English channels) and a hair dryer which came in handy for both Lei and I. ....and best of all, there were three beds - one to pile our stuff on, one right next to the window and the other right next to a full length radiator. Take a guess who took which bed to sleep in!

Day 16. Mount Nebo.

We drove from the Dead Sea, up through the surrounding mountains, to arrive at Mount Nebo.



According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy, Mount Nebo is where Moses viewed the promised land that God was giving to the Hebrews. Sadly, Moses was forbidden by God to ever set foot on it.

"I will give it to your descendants; I have let you see with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." (Deuteronomy 34:1-4)

Day 16. The Dead Sea.

From Karak, we continued north on the Kings Highway, motoring under menacing skies. I kept hoping that the skies would clear up as it would truly be disappointing to spend time at the Dead Sea under dark clouds.

Day 16. Dana Nature Reserve and Karak Castle.

On Day 16 we left Wadi Musa and headed north on the Kings Highway. Our final destination for the day would be Madaba but we would be stopping at various points along the way.

Our first stop was to be the Dana (pronounced DAH-nah) Nature Reserve. The Dana Nature Reserve contains a remarkable diversity of landscapes - ranging from wooded highlands to rocky slopes, and from gravel plains to dunes of sand and is home to about 600 species of plants, 37 species of mammals and 190 species of birds.

Interlude. Shop Signs.

I'm oddly fascinated by signs - road signs, shop signs, etc. Don't ask me why because I have no idea why. Anyway, as we toured Jordan, I found myself snapping away at the banners that were hung up outside shops. Soon enough, I discovered there was a pattern to them.

The common approach to Jordanian signs is 1) make them BIG relative to the structure they hang above and 2) put a picture on them that describes what the store sells. So, even if you don't speak a single word of Arabic, it's not hard to figure out that this shop is a butcher....

Petra - The Monastery.

Today, we returned to Petra. Our destination was the Monastery - known as Ad-Deir in Arabic.

Our guide, the previous day, had suggested that we plan on returning to the Treasury around 9a to see it in the morning light. With that in mind, the group met downstairs for breakfast and headed out around 8:30 - it would take us about an hour to walk from the hotel to the Treasury.

By the time we arrived, it was around 9:30a and the Treasury had indeed taken on the red/orange light of early morning light - it was no longer red rose as we had seen it the afternoon before.

Petra - The Treasury.

Ancient beauty awaited us at the end of this day.

Wadi Rum.

It's Day 13. Our journey today would take us to the Wadi Rum.


The first time I heard the words "Wadi Rum" was on a Travel Channel show where then Prince (now King) Abdullah took travel correspondent Peter Greenberg on a tour of Jordan. They rode motorcycles through the Wadi Rum and spent time in a Bedouin camp.

Goodbye Egypt, Hello Jordan!

It's day 12 and we're headed for Aqaba, Jordan. Though I was excited about finally getting to Jordan, I was sad to be leaving Egypt. Really sad because I had such a wonderful time there - I would like to return some day.

Interlude. Trekking fashion.

What can I say? When we started out in Cairo, we pretty much looked like your stereotypical tourist - street clothing with the cameras hung around our necks. By the time we got to Aswan and Cairo, we had started to morph into trekkers. Dressing to look "nice" was quickly tossed out the window in favor of comfort and practicality - hiking pants and fleece jackets soon became de rigeur.

Case in point about dressing for practicality. Lei at Nuweiba. She has on her black gym pants, rolled up to the knee. But because she needed pockets and her gym pants didn't have any, she unzipped the legs of her hiking pants and wore them as shorts over her gym pants. She has one sock on because she cut the bottom of her foot on the coral reef and wore the sock to protect the wound. Because she didn't want her sock to get dirty, she put her flip flops on. Not sure whose definition of beachwear this is but what a vision it made!

Interlude. Food.

Okay, I confess. I ate like a pig on this trip and for a pittance!! Familiar food items like kabobs, felafel, shawarma, hummus, baba ghanouj and tabouleh were everywhere to be found, cheap as can be and ever so tasty. Ordinarily, I'm not fond of lamb but what I ate in Egypt was so wonderful, I've become a convert!

I also learned to appreciate labneh which is a yogurt based cheese that was often the spread in sandwiches and showed up at the breakfast table in Jordan.

Interlude. Laundry.

The thing about travelling with a backpack is there's not a whole lot of room for clothes - especially when you have to carry a sleeping bag as well.

The education of Julee - lesson in currencies.

This past Wednesday, Lei and I went to the Credit Union and placed an order for Egyptian pounds (EGP) and Jordanian dinars (JOD). According to our Egypt guidebooks, there are plenty of ATMs in Egypt so we basically got a small amount of currency to get us going and then we'll use our debit cards to withdraw whatever else we need while we're there. I'm hoping we can do the same thing in Jordan.

Egypt & Jordan. The Itinerary.

Here's our travel route. The description of days 1-18 is what's posted on Intrepid's website.

Egypt and Jordan - Here we come!!

It's been more than a month since I posted anything to my travelog and SOOO much has happened since then. As best as Lei and I have tried to be organized and plan this trip, the events that have transpired over the last month have been an odd mix of bad luck (GAP trip cancelled, Lei having to wait 6-8 weeks for Jordanian visa approval) and good luck (Intrepid tour available, Egyptian visa in one day....for each of us). Organization and planning be damned!

The planners.

Here's proof. Lei's a manic planner. She showed up in my office this past week and handed me a project plan listing all the major tasks, dependencies and resource assignments that needed to be done in preparation for our trip. There were even a couple of checkmarks indicating a couple of completed tasks! No detail is too small for Lei - there are even separate task entries for packing the daypack and the backpack!