Jordan in Photos - Highlights from our Time in Jordan

The Jordan portion of our Honeymoon was amazing. I picked out a few photos try to capture some of the highlights of our time in Jordan. Travelling through Jordan was a great experience that shouldn't be missed. 

Sunset over the Dead Sea. At night the lights of Bethlehem can be seen.

We had a great time with the Dead Sea mud. 

Yes, you really can read while you float in the Dead Sea. It's that buoyant.

Relaxating, Dead Sea style

Sunsets from the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea are amazing.

The beautifully calm environment of the Dead Sea.

Looking down the jagged coastline of the Dead Sea.

Our first sight of the amazing Treasury structure in Petra.

Petra was basically empty during our visit.

 

Pamela makes friends quickly.

The natural colours in the rocks in Petra are amazing. 

Lots of opportunities to challenge my fear of heights while hiking through Petra.

Amazing views from amazing places makes Petra a must visit.

The gigantic "Monastery" or Al-Deir is definitely worth the walk up while visiting Petra. Looking closely you can see me in the monstrous doorway.

A closer look at the doorway of the "Monastery" in Petra. 

Having a lot of fun in Wadi Rum

The sand here is so very red and fine. All of our shoes were completely filled with the stuff. Even weeks later the fine sand was still seeping out.

The tented camp where we stayed in Wadi Rum. There were seven of us in the whole camp. Definitely an amazing experience and one of the highlights of our trip.

Nothing like watching the sun fall on another day in Wadi Rum. Bring a jacket, a big jacket, if you plan on visiting in the winter.

The iconic photo of camels crossing the desert at sunset in Wadi Rum. A magical experience in a magical place.

Vertical monoliths are the skyline in Wadi Rum. A climbers paradise.

The colour and texture of the landscape is something not to be forgotten.

While visiting the port city of Aqqaba, Pamela took a camel ride through town. Any place you can ride a camel down the street is okay in our book.

The ancient Roman city of Jerash is a must visit on any trip to Amman.

The remains of  Jerash are a tribute to the engineering marvels of these ancient civilizations. 

A collonade lined ancient street reminds us we're not in Kansas anymore while walking through Jerash.

It's hard to appreciate the magnitude of Jerash until you're standing in the middle of it.

The River Jordan provides a natural border between Jordan, near side, and Israel, far side. This interesting experience was part of our tour of the Baptism Site. 

The reported site of Jesus' Baptism

The ancient map of the Promised Land in the floor at the church in common day Madaba, biblical Moab. 

The view of the valley looking down from Mt. Nebo

Nothing like spotting a castle used during the Crusades while driving down the road.

Yes, Jordan is that good. 

We hope you enjoyed the photos from our time in Jordan. Please let us know through comments if you have any questions about our time in Jordan.


Cheers for Now -


Pamela and Dave

Honeymoon Favourites – Hotels and Resorts

During our extended Honeymoon we were fortunate, or sometimes unfortunate, to stay at over 70 different lodging accommodations over 270 nights. The accommodations ranged from basic camp sites with no services to luxury five star properties with all the services you could possibly imagine. Albeit there were many more four and five star hotels than basic camp sites but it's our Honeymoon so we had to splurge

This list is our top eight hotels/resorts factoring in location, value, amenities, food and service:

       1. Sheraton Full Moon Resort and Spa, Maldives

    The Sheraton is such an amazing place and was our true Honeymoon. It all starts just after you clear immigration and customs at the Male airport. Your boat drivers are there to meet you and escort you to the resorts speedboat where you are soon zoomed over to the private island that is the Sheraton. Our room, an private and freestanding Ocean Bure, came complete with our own plunge pool, unobstructed views of the ocean and sunrise, espresso machine, outdoor shower, magnificent bathroom including huge standalone tub and the most comfortable bed you could ever hope for. Especially after spending the previous 20 days in Nepal.

    When not enjoying our Ocean Suite we swam in the crystal blue waters of the Indian Ocan, snorkeled, went to the gym and took many-many photos. Some of which can be seen in our Paradise Part 1 and Part 2 articles. Finding a good meal was not a problem on this piece of paradise. There are several well-priced restaurants at the resort. We normally ate so much at the breakfast buffet that we couldn’t eat again until dinner. Having been travelling in Asia for a while I already, I loved the beef burger and fries. The Maldives are a dream destination for many, including us, and definitely lives up to the bill. We’re already talking about going back as soon as we can.

       2. Six Senses Hideaway Resort and Spa, Hua Hin, Thailand

    This was our first stay at a Six Senses property and boy were we impressed. Upon check-in your private butler escorts you to your suite where you’re given the grand tour which includes your private plunge pool, espresso maker (you can tell this does it for me), outdoor bath and shower, entertainment system and 24hr a day phone number for service. Whatever we needed at whatever time, we were instructed to call the butler service. The resort grounds are beautifully tended and stimulate your ultimate relaxation.  If your tired of your private pool you can visit the the large, ocean-facing, pool for the guests staying at the sister Evason property (both on the same grounds).

    The food at the Six Senses was second to none. Home-made ice cream from the bar and milkshake and smoothie concoctions that soothed your soul had us convinced already that we were in our own culinary heaven. It wasn’t until we tried the Beach, the resorts Italian  restaurant that we discovered true bliss. An ocean-view and fresh lemongrass set the stage for a true culinary delight. No matter what we ate, my favourite was the cannelloni,  we could tell the meal was prepared to the highest standards possible and used the best ingredients. If you prefer Thai, the resorts indoor/outdoor Thai restaurant serves amazing Thai dishes under the stars while you enjoy live music. We really loved this resort and hopefully will return to either it, or another Six Senses brand property. Click here to read more on our time at this resort.

       3. Hyatt Regency Sharm-El-Sheikh, Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt

    When I think about this place three words come to mind: service, service and service. The only Hyatt out of several to make our top list is situated in a beautiful location on the Red Sea. The staff here really know how to make you feel special in their attention to detail and overall hospitality. If snorkeling or diving is your thing then this is a must-visit. We loved this place so much we never left the resort and you can read our entire article about our visit here: Completely Spoiled inSharm-El-Sheikh

      4. Movenpick Dead Sea Resort and Spa, Dead Sea Area, Jordan

    Do yourself a favour and visit Jordan. The country in a whole is a great place to visit and one of our favourite in the world. Do yourself an even bigger favour and visit the Dead Sea while in Jordan, it’s an amazing experience and definitely one not to be missed. While at the Dead Sea give yourself a huge treat and stay at the Movenpick Dead Sea Resort and Spa.

    The resort is situated right on the Dead Sea and includes several great restaurants, a world-class spa (seriously world-class) and arguably is filled with some of the best ice cream in the world. In each and every eating establishment you can order any one of a range of dessert platters, ice cream coffee drinks or just plain ole’ ice cream if it suits your fancy. Pamela ended every breakfast buffet with freshly prepared pancakes topped with swiss chocolate ice cream. Heaven over and over again and all for about $130 USD a night.  Come for the Dead Sea and stay for the food and dessert, you won’t regret it.

      5. Le Meridien Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai, Thailand

    I'm sure there are some great places to stay in Chiang Rai but for our money the Le Meridien Chiang Rai is the place to be. The amenities, service and food are all impeccable. We felt like royalty staying at this property and would go back anytime. We loved the pickup/dropoff airport service and the rides into and out of town. The property can arrange escorted tours for you at really good prices or you can go out on your own and negotiate with your own guide/driver. Overall it was a great place to spend our time in Chiang Rai.

       6. Wadi Rum Camp, Wadi Rum, Jordan

    The only camp to make our list and to be honest we don’t know the proper name for the camp itself. Our group of five were the only visitors at this camp which looked like it could accommodate ten times that amount. We were treated to a four wheel drive tour before heading to camp to watch the sunset and dine on one of the best meals we’d had in a long time. The freshly cooked traditional meal was cooked in the ground and was just what the taste bud Dr. ordered. Despite being below freezing that night, we were warm in our blankets and treated to a morning breakfast and fire before heading off to explore the rest of this beautiful area of Jordan. Click here to read our post from Wadi Rum

      7. Nirvana Resort and Spa, Bang Bao, Koh Chang Island, Thailand

    Unfortunately for us it rained, more like poured, almost the whole time we visited the Thai island of Koh Chang. Fortunately for us we were staying at Nirvana to ride out the storm. The Balinese inspired resort boasts some great rooms complete with large bath, high ceilings and monkeys who try to break-in. The monkeys weren’t the best part but it was entertaining to watch them try to open our front door. Value is what gets this property on our list. It was off-season so we paid about $30 USD a night and for were given an awesome ocean-view room complete with an amazing cooked breakfast. Dinners at the resort were equally impressive albeit the menu was a little small. The property has built walking tracks around the headland where you can catch some amazing views while relaxing on the purpose built deck. The staff are great and the DVD library was definitely a blessing during all those rainy days.

       8. Tara Angkor Hotel, Siem Reap, Cambodia

    This four star property in Siem Reap was a last-minute decision as we decided to stay a couple extra nights in Cambodia. For approximately $40 USD a night we were treated to four star standards, a full breakfast each morning and two half hour massages. The in-house restaurant serves up some amazing dishes including a fish curry in a coconut that had to be one of my favourite dishes from the whole trip. After dinner you could venture into the bar where you could play a dart game for drinks. After many days of temple touring it was great to relax and indulge ourselves at the Tara Angkor.

Hopefully our experiences can help you out on your travels. A couple notes from the author; there are three different Thai hotels on this list which hopefully shows you how good Thai service can be and two of the eight are in Jordan, we loved Jordan. As always, we welcome your feedback.

We’ll definitely be coming up with our list of least-favourite hotels very soon, some of which may surprise you. 

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave

Our Middle East Adventure - Gift Wrapped

Sunrise over the Red Sea in Egypt

We just concluded an amazing seven weeks in the Middle East. There were some ups and downs to the seven weeks but thankfully there were a lot more ups then downs. We've written a few articles already but have quite a bit more to write about in the near future. We wanted to quickly summarize our experiences and let you know what's next for us.

Checking out the travertines in Pamukkale, Turkey

Turkey
We didn't know what to expect with Turkey, prior to arriving we hadn't done much research on places to go/things to do so we really didn't know what to expect. Everything about Turkey turned out to be great. Pamukkale was Pamela's favourite and I was mesmerized with Cappadocia as soon as we got there. Next time we'll make sure we visit Turkey in warmer months as the coastal towns and sea were stunning but just a bit too cold in November.

Having a great time in Jordan

Jordan
Jordan is great. Our time at the Dead Sea was so much fun especially our Spa Day. We visited the ancient Roman city of Jerash (article coming soon), famous biblical sites including Jesus' Baptism site, Mt. Nebo and Madaba/Moab  (articles also coming soon), Petra and Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a place that will live in our hearts forever and someplace we wouldn't hesitate to go back. For anyone wanting to travel to the Middle East but are a bit nervous I'd recommend going to Jordan first. We found travel easy, locals welcoming and many really good tourist sites.

Looking out the airplane window at the reefs of Ras Mohamed near Sharm El Sheikh

Egypt
Egypt for me is a contradiction. Some places we absolutely loved, some places we didn't really like at all. Likes include the Pyramids, Abu Simbel, Dahab, Sharm El Sheikh, Egyptian Museum and the Valley of the Kings. I really-really loved our resort in Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula. I found myself very sad when we had to leave, which was a first for the whole trip. 

Dislikes include Alexandria, central Luxor, Cairo, the overnight trains (hated those) and Mt. Sinai. I personally found areas of Luxor and parts of Aswan to be feral places filled with people who's only purpose in life was to sexually harass women or annoy the crap out of us with stupid comments. No place else in the other 15 countries we've visited so far on this trip was as bad as Egypt when it came to harassing women. Yes, in many countries people stare, we're used to that, and every once in a while you'll hear a comment, but the amount of crap that went on in the Nile area of Egypt was unbelievable. 

Pamela in front of the 7 star Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
We concluded the Middle East portion of our trip with four days in the beautiful city of Abu Dhabi. We visited some amazing shops, a seven star hotel complete with a gold dispensing vending machine and took part in a super fun desert safari including dune bashing and camel riding (article coming soon).

North America is up Next
We're now in a very warm Los Angeles spending the holidays with family and friends. It's great catching-up with everyone while enjoying home cooked meals and familiar restaurants. Following New Year's we're off to Banff, Canada for snowboarding then to the Caribbean for a seven night cruise followed by a short stay in Miami then five nights on the island of St. John, one of my favourite places. After St. John we're going to head back to the West Coast for some more snowboarding in Mammoth, Tahoe and Park City. Following our fill of snow we'll be off to South America for our sixth and final continent of the trip.

Thank you to everyone who'e following us around the world and checking out our website. We're getting some great feedback and truly hope you're enjoying the posts and pictures.

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

Petra

Our first sighting of the Treasury at Petra

Petra was the capital and center of commerce of the Nabataean region in its time with a population varying from 35,000 – 50, 000 people.  So you can just imagine it’s size! The word Petra comes from the Greek word for stone and stone is what you’ll find here, many many buildings carved right into the walls of valleys or mountainsides.

In front of a very empty Treasury at Petra

The city was built in a valley surrounded by rocky mountains, with the main entrance a 2 kilometer long gorge (or Siq in Arabic) that runs down to the city. It was built strategically in this location for security to protect the people and the riches of the city. It’s said Petra was at it’s most glorious and prosperous period between 23BC and 40AD. Shortly after 40AD the commercial trade route which made Petra rich was changed by the Romans when they invaded Jordan. Following the economic slide of Petra and the Nabataeans, Rome was able to successfully invade and conquer around the year 106 AD.

Our group in front of the Treasury

Okay, enough about boring history, time to talk about our visit. Petra is an amazing place, this Wonder of the World is such a vast and spread out ancient city that it’s impossible to do it justice with just a one day visit, but as most people do, we tried.  The park opens pretty early, we rolled in around 8am and found a very empty park. A twenty minute walk had us through the Siq (Valley) and were at the most famous landmark of Petra, the Treasury.  Thankfully we had the place to ourselves and were able to take quite a few pictures, some with camels, before moving on with the rest of our tour.

It was love at first sight, Zasou the Camel and Pamela

Leaving the Treasury we walked down the Street of Facades, past the Royal Tombs and onto the Grand Temple, Winged Lion Temple and finally to the museum where we stopped for a short break. There are several places to eat inside Petra but we would recommend bringing in your own food and drinks as the price of everything inside Petra is very high.

Hanging out in the rocks

Break time over we headed towards the rear of the park and up the 800 stairs to the “Monastery” or Ad-Deir as it’s known locally.  On the way up you’ll pass many people trying to sell you donkey rides and souvenirs. To us it looked the donkeys were horribly mistreated, we even saw one donkey get “jump-kicked” by it’s handler, so we didn’t even think about contributing our money towards their services.  On the way up the hill we walked past two small children sitting on the side of a cliff, the boy was holding a very large knife and wanted his picture taken with it. The girl, who did not want her picture taken, was throwing rocks at any tourist that came by with an aimed camera. It was a pretty interesting sight to see.

Two small children on a cliff, boy holding big knife but wanted his picture taken. Girl didn't want her picture taken. Tourists take a photo, girl throws rock at them, boy hits girl with knife.

At the top of the 800 steps, which are well worth the climb, we found what we were looking for....Ad-Deir, an amazing carving of gargantuan proportions carved into the hillside. In our case we found it empty so we had plenty of time for photos and climbing opportunities. Photos done we had our lunch and did some additional trekking around the place before it was time to head back. While walking down the steps from Ad-Deir we had a funny incident with a Bedouin donkey driver. While walking by he saw Pamela and started this converstation:

Bedouin (Smiling): You are a very lucky man
Bedouin: Amazing Woman
Bedouin: How many camels my friend?
Me: A lot
Bedouin: One Million
Me: More
Bedouin: Wow

If you’re visiting Petra in the fall or winter you should be prepared for some very cold morning and evening temperatures. Much of the park is in the shadows and we found it very cold. We dressed in layers  that we peeled off and slapped back on again throughout the day. The early afternoon was the nicest weather, especially in the sun.

That's as close as I was getting to the edge. #scaredofheights

Staying warm and enjoying the view of the Monastery

Admission price to Petra is steep, 50 Jordanian Dinar ($71 USD) for a one day pass. It’s only 55 and 60 Jordanian Dinar for a two and three day pass respectively so it’s well worth the money to spend a few days at Petra to get the best value for your time and money, exploring it in sections at a time I think would be the best way to take in as many of the spectacular sights it has to offer, and learn about the history and traditions of the people that built and occupied Petra.

In front of Ad Deir, aka the Monastery

Climbing up on the Monastery

We hope you enjoyed our post and photos from Petra. The remainder of the photos from our trip can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/Petra?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave

Wadi Rum – Desert Paradise

About 90 minutes by car from Petra in Jordan lies the desert protected area of Wadi Rum. Wadi, meaning valley in Arabic, and the name Rum means high place in Arabic. Mentioned in the Old Testament as Arum, Rum was easily one of our highlights of the Middle East if not the whole trip. The stellar rock formations, red sand dunes and endless vistas are worth coming here and staying here for at least a night. We were brought to a visitor center in the middle of a red rock walled valley where we met our bedoin driver. We hopped into the back of an rickety old Land Cruiser and were off on a three hour safari tour.

Our Land Cruiser safari truck

The first stop was a natural spring where Camels come to drink and some old Aramaic writing can be found. Did you know camels can cover 35 kilometers a day,  go many days without water and have a gestation period of 12 months? Hence the nickname “Ship of the Desert”. We loved watching the camels here in Wadi Rum, they looked amazing with such huge rock formations and vast valleys as a backdrop. Next on our safari was more Aramaic characters which pointed out the direction of water holes using pictures of camels as arrows. A couple quick photos and we were off.

A giant red sand dune to conquer was next. A few of us walked up the red dune and took some silly pictures while at the top. We then proceeded to run down the dune, filling our shoes with red sand at the time. Most people would empty their shoes right then and there, but not Pamela. Pamela saved the sand from her shoes and put it into a container, possibly for a scrapbook, possibly for something else…in either case we have the red sand that filled her shoes.

The sand here is so red.

Jumping on the Dunes

Pamela taking a flying leap

Lawrence of Arabia inhabited Wadi Rum for many years. It’s said that he wrote his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom here in Rum. We made a stop at the supposed ruins of his old house for a few paparazzi style photos and to chat with a local Bedouin.  Wadi Rum is inhabited by local Bedouin tribes who also operate the camps and teahouses/souvenir shops throughout the valley.  We found all the locals here very nice and a bit less pushy than the locals in Petra. 

In front of the former house of Lawrence of Arabia

The last stop on our desert safari was a large arch carved from the winds blowing through the valley. We climbed up some pretty steep rocks to reach the top of the arch for a really good photo opportunity. I (DW) got my pic from the top of the arch then climbed down to get pics from the bottom. I’m not that big of a fan of heights so I was more than happy to get off the top of the arch with the excuse that I needed to take photos.

Pamela on top of the arch

Pamela showing off in the arch

We reached our isolated camp, called Madalla Camp, a few minutes before sunset. We stowed our gear in the large tent, as our small group of five was the only guests there we got to pick any tent we’d like. The camp sleeps between 30 and 40 people so us five really felt like we had the place to ourselves. Gear stowed we climbed up the rocks behind the camp for one of the best sunsets I can remember. As we were watching the sunset two camels with a Bedouin rider walked by in the distance, it was magical to watch.  After a few minutes of photos we climbed down and were ready for some tucker.

Watching sunset from our tent camp

Our tented camp in Wadi Rum

It gets really cold, really fast once the sun goes down. Thankfully the main tent was warmed with a fire so we could drink our tea and eat dinner in warmth, albeit smoky warmth. The tent wasn’t well ventilated so the place was so smoky it was hard to see, we needed to go out every few minutes to get our eyes some oxygen.  The included dinner at the camp was amazing. Chicken and vegetables were cooked Bedouin style in an underground oven which had to be dug out when the food was ready. Along with the chicken we had lamb, rice, bread, vegetables and many other dishes that really gave it that home cooked feeling. It was definitely the best meal we had while in Jordan. Being on the road for so long we really miss home cooking, this gave us the taste we were looking for. Stuffed with dinner we retired to our tent where Pamela and I gathered as many blankets as we could from other tents to make our bed. We ended up with four or five big blankets to help keep us warm in the below freezing night time temperatures of the Fall. I can only imagine how cold it would be in the dead of winter. That being said in the summer it’s so hot that you can’t get cool in a tent and many people prefer to sleep outside.

Standing in front of our tent in Wadi Rum

The cook removing our dinner from the underground stove.

Wadi Rum is the quietest place I’ve ever been. I took a short walk in the middle of the night and to my surprise I could hear absolutely nothing, no wind, no bugs, no anything….the silence and solitude of the place was amazing.  The amount of stars visible from Rum is more than any city dweller can ever imagine. We were lucky enough to not have a moon or clouds on this night so we thoroughly enjoyed our stargazing time, albeit freezing cold.

Sunset with some camels walking by

A very cold morning in a very desolate place

The next morning we ate breakfast and were driven back to the visitor center. It’s about a 25 minute fast jeep ride from the camp to the visitor center. On the way we marveled at the awesomeness of the place while passing camels. It was a great experience, one that anyone coming to Jordan must try.

All of our photos from Wadi Rum can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/WadiRumJordan?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave