Petra, Jordan food and dance

8/28/09 - Two days ago

A really nice shop owner showed us how to wrap the traditional Bedouin scarf around our head (I think it's the male style) and then showed us how to do Jordanian dancing. It was hilarious!!

Afterwards we ate at an authentic Jordanian cuisine place and ate yummy hummus and other stuff I can't recall. This is Lily with Arabic Coke. And yes, I got french fries. But the sandwich was Jordanian style!

Petra, Jordan - up the mountain!

8/28/09 - Two days ago

You all will be proud of (and shocked at) us - Lily and I climbed over 900 steps to get to the monastery at the top of a mountain in Petra! The views at the top were wonderful, as was the cool carving of the monastery.

I think my favorite part, though, was that as we were hiking up a pack (horde? pride? school?) of mountain goats came down right past us! It was sooo cute...especially when there was one baby straggler about two minutes behind the rest.

Petra, Jordan - The Bedouins

8/28/09 - Two days ago

Petra's ancient city is still inhabited by about 20 Bedouin families who live in the caves. Most of them make a living by selling things to tourists. Since they are so used to conversing with foreigners, a lot of them speak English. It was fascinating to talk with them!

This old woman was a chain-smoking fiend!

The Flintstones sign says "Bedouin Accessories & More." Ha!

Petra, Jordan - Modes of Transportation

8/28/09 - Two days ago

As you walk throughout the ancient city

throughout the ancient city men and boys on camels/donkeys/mules/horses all try and convince you to take a trip in their "air-conditioned Ferrari." It's pretty funny, actually. Lily and I refused (me because I'm cheap and her for the more noble reason of concern for the animals' well-being) but we did end up climbing on a donkey just for a minute after we made friends with a Bedouin guy.

Camels are sooooooo funny-looking!!

This would have been our preferred mode of transportation:

Petra, Jordan - The Ancient City

8/28/09 - Two days ago

Petra is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was constructed by the Nabataeans in the first century BCE (BC) as their capital city. Almost all of the structures are actually cut out of the surrounding rock, instead of free-standing. It was also the setting of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...I guess I should go watch that movie now.

I suppose since the place has lasted over 2100 years the Jordanian government doesn't feel the need to restrict anyone's explorations within the site. You can climb all over the facades and columns and go up any of the ancient steps.

Petra, Jordan - Day One

8/28/09 - Two days ago

Lily and I crossed the border at Eilat and into Jordan! First impression: Jordanian soldiers are much nicer than Israeli soldiers. One guy who checked our passports pointed out my nose ring and laughed that it wasn't in my picture. They all were like, "Welcome to Jordan!" We hopped in a taxi with two other travelers and went two hours to the city of Petra.

The Jordanian landscape is absolutely breathtaking. The vast Arabian desert has powerful mountains with huge sandstone pillars dotting the countryside. The best part is that you really do see camels!! Mohammad, our cab driver, put on Arabic music the whole way. It was so much fun.

Here are what Jordanian dinars look like:

Weapons and Impatience in Israel

Two interesting phenomena


Now, before I conclude my Israel portion of this travel blog, I feel the need to discuss two interesting aspects of Israeli life.


Number One: Weapons

Most people consider Americans gun-happy, but I have never in my life seen so many guns in one week. The soldiers (18-20 year olds mostly; they have to do two years) are required to carry around their gun wherever they go. This includes the public bus, where you might have a (hopefully unloaded) gun pressing up against you in the crowd. NOT cool. I'm sorry, but I just don't trust these young kids (or anyone for that matter) not to accidently blow someone's foot off. I stayed as far away as possible.

These are not just regular little guns, either. They looked like crazy Uzis or something to me.


This is the only picture I was brave enough to take of a soldier and his gun. (Women carried them, too, though so at least there's gender equity in that case.)



It wasn't just soldiers who had guns, though. I must've seen at least a dozen people in plains clothes with a gun loosely tucked into the back of their pants' waistband. I stayed away from them too. Somehow all these guns did not make me safer.



The best part is that every 15 minutes or so there's this announcement at the Tel Aviv airport in a friendly female voice: "Please be advised that no weapons of any kind are permitted in the airport. Thank you." That totally didn't stop them, though. I saw several just in plain sight!


Number Two: Impatience

So, I have to say that I did not expect the complete lack of respect for the concept of a line. I had (naively) assumed that a country such as Israel, with so many ethnicities from around the world, could only function with proper order and fairness. Wrong. So, I ended up taking no less than twelve buses while in the country, and this is what would happen at every single one:


People would stand in a line in the gates leading up to the bus platform, only to surge forward and shove everyone out of the way when the bus actually arrives. The line completely disappears, and you have to elbow your way in. Lily warned me, but I was still shocked. I managed to get on all the buses I had dutifully waited in line for, but I would have been quite upset if I hadn't.


At the airport this morning (jumping ahead in time of these posts...) I was treated to my last Israeli line-shoving (thank God.) I stood in line at McDonald's and watched as about four different people came up behind me, pretended to need a closer look at the menu, and then next thing you know they are ordering at the counter before you. An old man in front of me yelled at two of the girls, but with no consequences. It made me feel better, though. I had already learned that saying, "excuse me, I've been waiting here" doesn't get you the result you want - just a strange look. Oh well!


Unfortunately at the times of these incidents I was too frustrated to think to document the phenomenom with a photo.