May 2, 2004
Jordan and The Med, The Red and The Dead (Seas)
This update is a little late and a little long. We were on vacation! Scott got a couple days off for Israel's independance day, so we took our first big trip.
What a trip! The blue line shows our route
You will notice from the above picture that we had quite a trip. We drove 1006 km (about 625 miles) and that was just in Israel. We were on a bus for the parts in Jordan. We started out in Haifa (on the Mediterranean) on Friday and drove to Eilat (on the Red Sea). We walked on the beach, ate at a fun Japanese restaurant and spent the night in a hotel. In the morning we met the friends we were traveling with, the Alsop family from Portland and the Browne family from Idaho Falls. The Alsops are here with Intel and the Browne's are here for medical school. After breakfast we headed to the border and crossed into Jordan. We didn't know that it cost 71 shekels a person to leave Israel, but other than that the crossing was uneventful.
The Red Sea
You don't see a sign like this everyday.
As we had 16 people in our group, the travel agency had arranged for a bus to pick us up at the border. We rode on the bus for two hours to our hotel in Wadi Mousa/New Petra. After some lunch, we went to the old city of Petra. Petra is most famous for the building carved into the rock that was in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was roughly a one and a half mile hike through a narrow canyon, called the Siq, to get into Petra. Petra was the center of the Nabatean culture. The Nabateans interacted with the Greeks, the Romans and many of the tribes and cultures of the Middle East. Petra was a stopping point on many trading routes, including the Silk Road.
The canyon leading into Petra.
At the end of the Siq, we were rewarded with an amazing sight, the Treasury of Petra. There are just a couple of empty square rooms inside the Treasury, nothing like in Indiana Jones. It is just mind-boggling how they were able to carve so much into the mountains.
The Treasury building of Petra
In the picture below you will note Tyler's primary mode of transportation. His legs didn't even get a chance to get tired because he only wanted to ride on Scott's shoulders.
Two packhorsesAfter a very tiring day, we returned to the city of New Petra and ate at a traditional Middle Eastern restaurant. We then went to the hotel and collapsed into bed. We barely made a dent in all there was to see in Petra on the first day, so we were happy that we had another day to spend there.
We decided that if we wanted to see more of Petra, we would have to move faster. So we decided to rent a couple of camels. At first Tyler was convinced that the camel was going to eat him and he fussed so much that it started to bother the camel. Once we got going though, Tyler enjoyed the ride.
Tiffany and Brooke about to climb on their camel.
Tyler on a Petra city street. If you look carefully you can see a mountain in the background shaped like a camel.Petra is called the Rose Red city because all of the buildings are carved into the side of mountains that are an amazing red color. Petra goes on and on through the mountains for miles. We didn't see all of it, but did catch most of the highlights. We even ate lunch in a cave that was an ancient Nabatean home.
The Rose Red CityWe left Petra the second day again very tired. We ate some more Middle Eastern food and bought some delicious baklava for dessert.
Here is our group at the Hotel in New Petra.
On our third day in Jordan, we took a jeep tour of Wadi Rum. Wadi means valley and it is an enormous desert valley.
We even had the added experience of a flat tire in the middle of the desert. Fortunately our drivers were well experienced at changing tires in the desert sand.
Wadi Rum
Our jeep with a flat tire.After the jeep tour, we crossed back into Israel and drove to the Dead Sea. There we stayed in a hotel that was luxurious by comparison to the the other hotels we stayed in. After a good night's rest we floated in the Dead Sea, played in the hotel's pool and then drove home.
The Dead Sea as seen from our hotel room.
Tyler-isms:
"The animal's going to get me." - Tyler was convinced that the camels, the horses and the donkeys were all out to get him.
"I want to ride a camel later." - translation: I never want to ride a camel again.
"The camels go home at night and play cars." - without hands!
"Their mommies hold them." - When we saw baby camels.
"That camel has rocks coming out its bottom." - hmmm.
"I want somepin else." - As usual he doesn't want what we are eating for dinner.
"Mazgeen" - magazine
"My tummy hurts, I have to go lay down." - Tiffany said this once, Tyler hundreds of times.