Singapore Stop Over

To be honest, I was against this idea. I honestly thought that it would be better if we just bit the bullet & went straight home. However...I have to admit, I think J1 definitely had a moment of genious when he booked us a couple of nights here in Singapore before the final leg of the journey. After hours & hours of waiting to fly, in both Amman & Dubai, as well as the sardine-like compression of flying with Emirates whose planes seemed to be designed especially for midgets, we needed a break. (I would like to be positive about this airline, but in all honesty...I cant! I would Soooooooooooooooooooooo like to get on my little bandwagon about aircraft space allocations & the contradiction between the 'safety' video & the reality of whether some of us could actually carry them out in the pitiful space provided...........but I will spare you!!!! ) All I will say is that heaven is being able to stretch ones limbs & lie horizontal! What we had been COMPLETELY ignorant of, was that our stopover was timed to coincide perfectly with Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations! This has meant that the shops in all the mega malls are predominantly closed (not necessarily a bad thing) & there have been amazing decorations, fireworks & celebrations instead. Our hotel treated all us visitors to a Lion & dragon dance show, which was amazing. It set us up with high spirits as we braved the high humidity & ventured forth to the impressive Asian Civilizations Museum. A great place to spend a few hours. We have also managed to see 'The Narnia Exhibition' which, being just very big kids at heart...we thoroughly enjoyed!!!! We feel relatively refreshed to now embrace the next part of the trip home. Here we come.....

Over...already????

It is hard to believe that the trip we have had in the planning for the past year & a half, has finally come to an end. It still, after all these weeks & adventures, feels somewhat surreal, to have actually visited these places that ever since childhood, have held such exotic fascination for both of us. Would we have changed anything? Overall, we have been very pleased with our itinerary planning. The only change we would make, in hindsight, is to reduce our time in Abu Simbel & have at least one night in Alexandria. We didn't get to the far flung desert oasis of Siwa, but feel we haven't really missed out, having visited a few of the other oases. The guides we booked, mainly through Casual Cairo Detours were excellent & we were also happy with White Desert Tours & Nour El Nil Dahibeyas. It wasn't a cheap trip, but we enjoyed the variety of accommodation & ways with which we travelled. In Jordan we actually travelled with On The Go Tours, which was unusual for us, as I tend to be rather scathing about tour companies. However, this was a small group & we thankfully got on well with the other couple...the delightful Jenny & Mike from London. We were happy with the itinerary & I was happy to leave all the organizing up to someone else!!!! Our guide was more like a friend showing us around her home country instead of a guide with clients. We truly valued that difference. In fact, the surprising treat has been getting to know our guides & through them a glimpse into their real lives in these very real places. The question we have been asked a few times has been...did we have a camel ride? The short answer is "No", but did have a very romantic camel trek into the Sahara 20 years ago in Tunisia, just to see the sunset! At that time we were highly suspicious that we just might be pregnant with our first child. This proved to be a correct assumption. Now, as we finish this first big 'childless' trip since that time, we are so happy to still enjoy each others company just as much as we did back then & look forward VERY much to seeing our grown up children on our return. Thanks for keeping us company on this trip & I hope that we have encouraged...at least some of you....to venture to Egypt & Jordan yourselves sometime! Cheers.

mad about mosaics in madaba

Well...guess what? We began with another freezing morning and numb body parts as we walked around the streets of Madaba. This town was a large Christian town in the Roman and Byzantine periods and then disappeared under the sands of time. If it had not been for a second group of Christians being exiled here to Madaba in the 1890's there would have remained some 12 Churches and homes hidden under the ground. We were fortunate enough to explore some of the discovered mosaics. Special views included the famous map of the Holy land in mosaic form. There were earlier mosaics that actually showed faces and animal forms. A special one was of a dancer (?Salome) dancing with a naked man. Many of the mosaics were covered in dust and J2 wanted to get out the vacuum cleaner and clean them up!!! The other thing that Madaba does is replica mosaics with a college for mosaicists. The hotel is even called the Mosaic City Hotel. We met the uncle of Julia Sawahlia (a British actress in many films) and J2 got to try out a hand made, Bedouin style dress in the shop. The time ended with a late lunch, warming cup of tea and the opportunity to say goodbye to Jamila. Her parting gift was to take us on another walk to the best bakery in town. There is a tradition that after Friday Mosque the locals will go and eat a special dessert. This is layered pastry,(or was it sponge?), filled with a mozarella like cheese, covered in honey syrup, chopped pistachios and cooked. Sounds weird but it was so good we had seconds. It was straight out of the oven, the best way to eat it. Great way to say goodbye.

Food Glorious Food

One of the things we both take pleasure in is eating...& it is a skill we have been exercising with enthusiasm since arriving in Jordan. Whilst in Petra, we had the opportunity to learn how to cook some Jordanian dishes, so, as you can imagine, we happily donned aprons & got stuck in! It was fabulous fun & we enjoyed the company of the other couple who were learning as well. It was quite a festive atmosphere as we sat down together to eat the results of our efforts! As well as a traditional Lentil Soup (also known as 'Poor man's meal'), we cooked 4 meze dishes. Two of these were cold; babaganouj & fatoosh, and two hot; lamb stuffed toasted pitas & a tomato & pine nut sauce. As meze come before every main course, we have been comparing our efforts with those dished up to us at restaurants since. We have yet to find a fatoosh rival, our babaganouj was as good as a well respected restaurant here in Madaba serves up, and our lamb toasties.....no one else comes close!!!!!! Our main dish was chicken cooked with onion, potato & tomato. Added to the flavour is a combination of 7 different spices.(Nothing like KFC!) We have had another version of the same dish, but not quite as tasty! One of the big things Jordanian cooks value is freshness. Even the chicken is as fresh as it can be. The birds are alive in the shop when the cook comes in, chooses which bird/s are wanted, then they are slaughtered, plucked & quartered right then & there, before they are taken away to become something delicious! A bit of an eye opener to us! Our guide, Jamilla has also introduced us to a few taste sensations, including a falafel wrap, doused with a dollop of chilli, salad & of all things...chips! GREAT snack for lunch! As our last meal together, she took us to a restaurant in a restored ottoman building. The atmosphere was charming with a huge log fire roaring away. When the meze arrived, there were so many that we questioned whether we'd have room left for mains, it was all so delicious. However, when the main dish arrived & it happened to be chicken....it didn't take long for us to recognize, that ours was very obviously superior!!!!

Salt & Mud

Today our destination was the Dead Sea! Enroute we stopped for a quick glimpse at another HUGE Crusader castle (well, what remained of it) at Karak. Then it was all about the salt! Our first surprise was how big the Dead sea is. We met it at the southern end & drove up to a more northerly part. It was incredible to think we were 400 metres BELOW sea level, the lowest point on earth. GULP! Since we will never go to the highest point on earth...we think one outta two aint bad!! It was fascinating to stop & see the crystalized salt forming at the edge of the water. Our driver picked up a piece for our closer inspection & to our surprise, found it very much like coral, & hollow in the centre. Across the water we could make out kibbutzes in Israel, Jericho & in the far distance, little specks we took to be Jerusalem! We were booked to spend the afternoon in a spa resort...which, believe me, sounds more impressive than it was! It had claim on a small 'bay' of Dead Sea coast line & that was all we needed. I was determined to go in even though there was a cool wind blowing. Although a little cool to start with, it was quite pleasant once in. Bobbing like a cork is quite an amusing pastime...I felt like I had invisible inflatable floaties underneath me. I had no problem rolling over sideways but moving into a sitting position from lying flat required some maneuvering!! There were trays of Dead Sea mud to try, so we slapped as much on as we could before freezing in the wind! I'm not sure how long we should have left it on before rinsing off, but the increasing coolness of the wind encouraged us to return to the water pretty soon after slathering!! Salt water has the ability to highlight scratches & abrasions one never knew one had & it STINGS! This didn't deter from the pleasure of being here & the whole whacky experience!

The Chill Factor

Canvas tents offer little in the way of insulation during Jordanian winter....in the desert. Sleeping with 4 layers of clothing on, 2 pairs of socks & 5 thick blankets, I was as snug as a bug until nature required that I remove myself from hibernation! Arctic is the word that comes to mind. But, oh, how beautiful the early morning sun was over the red cliffs of Wadi Rum. Breakfast was around the camp fire in the main tent, where we gratefully began by wrapping numb fingers around cups of sage tea. Our guide, Jamilla, started making us a special type of toasted sandwich; pita bread lined inside with olive oil & a sprinkling of dukka, then placed to toast on both sides over hot coals. Scrumptious! It was a cosy little group that tucked into these, seated on low cushions, stunning rugs all over the floor and the fire absorbing our total attention! All good things must come to an end & any vestige of warmth was just about to. Our journey back to civilization was on the back of an open topped jeep! MAJOR CHILL FACTOR! The scenery was stunning & included patches of last nights frost! We drove through the area where the Peter O'Toole movie of Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Jamilla's father was in the film...one of the casts of thousands, & not even he can find himself on the movie!! Despite the cold, we were in awe of the beauty around us...but were very, VERY happy to get into our lovely warm van at the rendezvous point!

In the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia

This afternoon we left Petra to go to Wadi Rum. This is a large nature reserve in JOrdan where we were to stay in a campsite run by local bedouins. The trip was interspersed with a number of stops to highlight some of the sights. Heading into a landscape of sandy plains with large mountains layered around these flat areas led to Lawrence (of Arabia!)falling in love with this location. He even had his face sculpted in the local stone, had a stone house built and had a spring named after him. He is highly respected in this region. We even saw the seven pillars of wisdom that he used to name his book and the real pillars were very impressive. We spent the next few minutes trying to work out what were the seven intellectual pillars of wisdom... still not sure! The next stop was one that the ancient Nabateans used, as their caravans made their way through the area. They would stop here to refill their water supply & they would write messages on the rocks for the next caravan due to come through. Some of those pictograph messages still remain. The camel drawings were identifiable but personally there could be a debate that they were really dinosaurs! The campsite we are staying in tonight, is made up of several small tents with small beds and hopefully plenty of blankets. It is located close to some large rocks that we cliimbed to sit and watch the sunset. What colours! It is cold at night here and the sky is completely full of stars. In the large central tent a fire burns to welcome us. Dinner was superb in this environment. Lentil soup, salads, rice and chicken cooked with vegetables. Sounds so dull.... but it was very nice. So far we would have to say that food in Jordan is a step above that found in Egypt. And tonight it is followed by chestnuts roasted on the open fire!!!