Day 4: Leh

The plan for day one in Let was to acclimate to the high, high, high altitude and not get sick. Leh is at 11,483 feet. To put that in perspective:

Breckenridge is at 9,600 feet.

Cusco, Peru, is at 11,152 feet.

Machu Picchu is at 7,972 feet.

Those are some of the highest places I've been previously. Once you're over 9,000 feet, they tell you to take it pretty easy to acclimate. Altitude is no joke.

The tricky part is that as soon as we landed in Leh, ALL WE WANTED TO DO WAS EXPLORE. Man, this place is AWESOME. Beautiful, high, dry, sandy, surrounded by snowcapped mountains and monasteries. Buddhist monks walk around in red robes and New Balance sneakers. The local shop owners are SO POLITE.

"Hey! How are you? Have a nice day!" instead of "You need to buy this from me now."

Our hotel, which was FABULOUS, was right across from one of the many Buddhist monuments, called Gomang Stupa, and very close to one of the monasteries, this one not ancient, built in the 2000s. We were very close to one of the main roads, which was being re-done while we were there. Like 10 men, a cement mixer, shovels, and a steam roller managed to complete the whole road in the 3 days we were there. Super impress.

So what did we do this first day in Leh?

Well, we started out resting and drinking water. Then we ate the hotel breakfast, which was delicious. They served us yummy fresh apple juice and put scarves around our necks when we first arrived, waaaay before check-in time, at 9:30 a.m. They immediately put us in our room, no extra charge, and invited us to breakfast. That's how great this place was.

After breakfast, we drank more water and rested more and Taylor turned on Indian news. Then we went for a walk around Gomang Stupa. Then we drank more water and rested more. Then Taylor really, really, really wanted to climb to the monastery near us, but I insisted that wasn't a good idea, because HELLO, ALTITUDE. 11,483 feet is no joke, guys. So we ate some lunch at a nearby restaurant and he tried the local veggie-noodle broth called thukpa and I tried clear broth soup. Both were pretty good.

Then we went back to the hotel and they gave us tea and cookies. Then I decided since the hotel offered oxygen, I wanted to try it, so we got some oxygen and met a fellow American named Melissa who had been traveling around India on business, but decided to take a few days trip to Leh because the locals highly recommend it. We invited her to dinner with us, and we wandered around Leh trying to find this mysterious place called Bon Appetite that the hotel owners told us was one of the few places in Leh that served alcohol.

We ended up going around a weird path, not finding Bon Appetite, but instead going to a place that offered bonfires, called KC's. They served alcohol! So we sat around a bonfire, sipping wine and eating naan bread. Was a pretty great night.

We walked home reeking of burning wood, staring up at the sky where you could actually see the Milky Way, and were in bed by 11.

What was supposed to be an easy, chill day was jampacked with awesome, and neither one of us threw up due to altitude sickness. Success!

Day 3: Agra

Our wakeup call for Day 3 wasn’t quite as terrible: we got up at 6 am to catch a train at 8 am. Wendy caught us a taxi outside the school and told him to please drive fast because we were running a little late and the man did WORK. We got to the station with 25 minutes to spare.

We had first class tickets, which apparently means we got fed. What? The food just kept coming. First they gave us toast and cornflakes, then some sort of curry, then steamed milk for our cornflakes, then tea. I was in awe. They started the whole thing off with a rose. Yes, they gave everyone a rose. I was impressed.

When we got to Agra, the driver and guide Evan and Wendy had arranged for us were waiting. Our guide was CK, and he was great. He took us to the Taj Mahal, of course, which I wanted to see because, duh, it's the Taj Mahal, but oh my goodness, was it stunning. Pictures do NOT do it justice. It’s seriously like a castle in the clouds.

CK also took tons of pictures of us and made us do a ton of cheesy poses, which was pretty amusing.

From the Taj Mahal, we went to Agra Fort, which was HUGE. I had no idea it was so huge. It was pretty awesome, but not as beautiful as the Taj Mahal, of course.

After Agra Fort, CK took us to a restaurant. I was a bit skeptical because it was called Bon Barbecue. Barbecue in India? Um, OK.

GUYS. It was AWESOME. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, but it started with tons and tons of appetizers, which came out on kebob sticks and were set on grill on our table. I stupidly didn’t take any pictures of the appetizers, which I think were the best part. There was spicy mutton, chicken, chicken wings, chickpeas, shrimp, pineapple, these DELICIOUS fries cover in some sort of spicy sauce (my fave, of course), some sort of chickpea patty…I can’t even remember it all. It just kept coming and coming and was so good that by the time we went for our main course, I was already stuffed.

After lunch, CK took us around to some of his friends' shops. We were totally not gonna buy anything, but once we saw how the marble and carpets are made, we had to. I guess that’s why they show you the process.

From there, we went to the train station and rode the train back to Delhi. And they kept feeding us again. We got home around 8, then packed for our flight to Leh the next morning. Yay for another 4 am wakeup call, right?

Jaipur: Elephants and Monkeys, Oh My!

I'm sitting in our hotel in Leh, adjusting to an altitude of 11K+ feet, so this seems like a grand time to write a blog post. The problem is we’ve done so much since I wrote the last one at 2 am Sunday I don’t even know where to start.

We took a taxi from the American Embassy School to the airport to catch our flight to Jaipur. SO MANY PEOPLE were outside on the green median on the way to the airport. Delhi is seriously like the city that never sleeps. Kids were playing games, men were doing yoga, friends were socializing. I saw one old man leaning back and wiggling his feet in the grass. It was awesome.

Good thing I had Wren to teach me how to go through airport security in India. I didn’t realize there was a separate women’s line. We walked through together, then she hopped up on a step, handed a lady her boarding pass, and got scanned with a metal detector. I just did exactly what she did. My niece might be the best traveler ever.

We boarded the plane, which was so teeny tiny it had propellers. Oakes insisted on sitting with Taylor so he could play Pokemon. Wren showed me her smelly markers. Somehow even though the flight to Jaipur was only an hour, they served us breakfast, which was some chicken-veggie-salad-esque sandwich with a KitKat.

Once we landed in Jaipur, our driver from Elefantastic picked us up. He had a cooler of beverages in the back that he offered us periodically throughout the day. He was great. He took us to Hawa Mahal first, some sort of palace with over 300 windows. We explored that.

Then he took us to the monkey temple, where we met up with the Monkey Man, who carried around a bag of Lays potato chips. Apparently chips are the monkey’s favorite food. He gave us the chips to hand out to the monkeys. I was a little terrified to touch a monkey, but I ended up letting one on my shoulder, then he dropped down and hung off my arm. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

The monkey temple was popping. There was a spring coming down the mountain, and a bunch of Hindi people were jumping into the water.

After the Monkey Temple, it was time for our Elefantastic journey to begin. The owner hosts each guest in his own home and serves them dinner. It was a delicious vegetarian feast. We were served some sort of curried pumpkin, WHICH WAS DELICIOUS, cabbage, chickpeas, naan bread, and rice. All of it was really tasty.

From the owner’s house, we were driven up a really bumpy road to the elephant sanctuary, where our two elephants were awaiting us. We were assigned Chakta and Shaku. The owner taught us how to handle the elephants — apparently they love being petted on their trunks, around their eyes, under their chins. He said the most important thing was to feel comfortable and happy around the elephants because they can sense if you're nervous. He said we needed to maintain as much eye contact as possible and cuddle in close to the elephants because they like to smell you.

Chakta is apparently a sassy elephant. She likes to fight other elephants, so her tusks were really short.

First we cuddled the elephants and fed them. Then we were given safe plant based paints and bamboo sticks to paint the elephants. I realize quickly we used sticks because it feels like we’re scratching the elephants and they love it. Chakta was leaning into us.

I drew a tree, an asterisks, and a cloud because I had no idea what to paint. Taylor drew a Tennessee Volunteers T. Our elephant’s handler drew a nice outline for us to color in, so we did that too.

After we painted the elephants, we took them over to a field and gave them water with a hose. They can drink SO MUCH WATER. They collect it directly in their drunks (gallons!), then dump it in their mouths. Once they’d had enough water to drink, we started spraying them and washing the paint off. After they were nice and clean, the handlers asked if we wanted the elephants to bath us. I was already pretty soaked but didn’t want it to sink down into my underwear, so I said no, but Taylor and Oakes hopped onto Shaku and got sprayed by her trunk.

Once they’d dried off, the elephant handlers hopped up onto the elephants VIA THEIR TRUNKS (it was so cool), and saddled them up with pillows and blankets. We climbed some steps onto the elephants' backs and rode them down a trail. It was bumpy at first, but once you got used to the rhythm, it was nice and relaxing. Evan and Taylor were suffering, though. The elephant is a very wide mount.

After fun with the elephants, we hopped back into the car with the driver and he drove us to some shops. I got a pair of elephant pants.

Then it was off to the airport and back to Delhi. I stupidly dropped my ID somewhere outside, but luckily that was all I dropped. We basically showered and went to bed as soon as we got home. We were all really exhausted.

All in all, Elefantastic definitely lived up to its amazing reviews. I’d recommend it to anyone. The Monkey Temple was also amazing, and having a driver to take you around in India is definitely the way to go.

Delhi

It's 2 a.m. I must be lonely. Or jetlagged. 

Please excuse my MatchBox 20 reference but it IS 2 a.m. and I am awake. What better chance to crack open the ole laptop and write a recap of the trip so far.

It began many moons ago -- Thursday at noon EST, to be exact. We began our trek to Atlanta.

A few things of note happened:
1. There's a 7kg weight limit on carry on bags so we ended up having to check a bag anyway.
2. An old lady passed out while waiting to go through security.

We spent our few hours before the flight eating carbs, since we had given up carbs so far this year and knew that wasn't sustainable for India, where a lot of places only have vegetarian options. So we ate some yummy fries. Oh, fries, I have missed you so.

The plane was remarkably empty. Taylor and I got a whole 3-person row to ourselves. There were tons and tons of empty rows. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. Maybe.

We arrived in Doha, Qatar, around 4 p.m. Qatar time. Our connecting flight to Delhi was around 8 p.m. I'd eaten "breakfast" on the plane but Taylor had not, so he wanted some food. He really wanted Burger King because we'd heard beef is scarce in India. So yes, we ate Burger King in Doha.

The interesting thing of note that happened in Doha was Taylor wasn't allowed to get a pedicure. Apparently only women could be served at the salon.

The flight to Delhi was much more packed. They served us a meal, so I ate again. How many meals had I eaten at this point? What time was it? Where was I? Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret.

We arrived in Delhi around 2 a.m. Delhi time. This is 9.5 hours ahead of U.S. EST, 2 hours ahead of Qatar. That .5 ahead of EST really throws me off.

Evan and Wendy had arranged a driver from their school to pick us up at exit 6, but he wasn't there. It was pretty overwhelming, with tons of drivers waiting outside and we couldn't find ours. I activated my international plan and called Evan. Turns out our driver was waiting at exit 4 instead.

He drove us to the school.

Ah, driving in Delhi!
A. I didn't even realize they drive on the left side of the road. I am dumb.
B. Lanes? What are lanes?
C. I see why my nephew Oakes gets carsick and prefers tuk-tuks (auto rickshaws).

Poor Evan had to meet us at the school entrance at around 4 a.m. He led us to their apartment, where we showered and passed out.

I had my alarm set for 10:22 a.m. because getting up and pretending the day is normal SHOULD help with jetlag. I guess not if you're me and up at 2 a.m. the next day anyway.

Evan, my niece Wren, and Oakes took us around the American Embassy School campus. It's lovely. I definitely see why they like it here.

Wren told me there was a monkey on the playground the other week. I decided I needed to see a monkey.

Saturday's itinerary was pretty light, thankfully. We took a tuk-tuk to lunch. We ate Mexican. In Delhi. And it was really good! I didn't even realize I was hungry until I started eating the chips and guacamole. I also insisted Taylor order a margarita because, uh, why not?

After lunch, we took another tuk-tuk to Humayun's Tomb. I know it's a stunning piece of architecture, but a few other things stood out to me beyond the construction:

1. There we well-dressed men posing all over the place. Evan said it was for their Tinder profiles. This is amazing.
2. Two men asked if they could take a "selfie" with Wren. Wren is a little blonde girl. She is apparently rare and exciting. Wren said no, so they asked Oakes. He complied.
3. Delhi is hot. This wasn't even a hot day. But the humidity! Wow.
4. The squirrels look like chipmunks but are called squirrels.
5. There was a tree that has little white flowers that women use to make incense. I love those flowers. I want that tree.
6. There were parakeets everywhere! Parakeets -- in the wild! They make the pigeons look like, well...pigeons, I guess. I feel like there's some metaphor to create between different people and pigeons and parakeets, but I haven't had any caffeine yet and can't get there.

We talked about maybe going to India gate, but decided to go home and relax a little instead.

Did you know Pez candies have the same effects on people that crack cocaine does? Wren ate a Pez and proceeded to do martial arts with a pool noodle. I asked Oakes how she has so much energy.

"It's the sugar," he said. "She does this sometimes."

Amazing! I wish sugar had the same affect on me.

Evan and Oakes play a game of ultimate frisbee every Saturday night, so Taylor and I decided to join them. I've never played ultimate frisbee before. I didn't realize there was so much running involved. I foolishly thought the little bit of exercise I got by playing for 20 minutes would help me sleep.

What a fool I am.

Taylor and I walked back to the apartment to cool off and just outside the gate to Evan's apartment, a monkey just ambles by. I FINALLY SAW MY MONKEY. The monkey climbed up the stairs to another building, then jumped onto the roof. I'm not sure what the monkey's plan was, but the birds on the roof did not approve.

We topped off the day by eating some leftover curry chicken the nanny made. I also discovered na'an bread and re-discovered peanut butter and bananas. Guys, why is a banana covered in peanut butter so good? Maybe I'll have one for breakfast...

I didn't think I liked Indian food that much but it was really good. The curry chicken, not the peanut butter. Though the $8 jar of Skippy was also really good.

Then we went to bed with the kids, because we have a 4 a.m. wake-up call since we are flying to Jaipur to PLAY WITH ELEPHANTS.

Tomorrow...Jaipur!

Planning India

It has been many moons since I've written here. A little over 3 years, to be exact.

I haven't traveled too much in those 3 years, though. I went on a cruise to the Bahamas, which isn't very travel-blog worthy. I also visited my oma and opa in Germany in February, but that was just 5 days at my grandparents' house. I mean, I could go into details about how I got up and ate lunch and then dinner and hung out in my grandparents' overheated living room, while occasionally helping clean the kitchen. Or I could describe our trip to Limburgh and Montabaur for shopping, but I'm pretty sure I've already written blog posts about those things, so I'll spare you those mundane details.

This blog post is the intro post to my NEXT big trip, debuting in September 2017 -- 2 months away! I'm off to India for this trip, to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Delhi. But the itinerary I've worked out so far doesn't actually feature much time in Delhi.

We talked about possibly going to Sri Lanka, but Wendy (sis-in-law) described Sri Lanka as India-lite and we only have 12 days, so why waste time in India-lite when we can see India proper? Also, we are going during monsoon seasons, so while beaching in Sri Lanka sounds fab, there's a really possibility we'd be beaching in the rain.

Then I thought about going to Nepal, because a flight to Kathmandu is only 1.5 hours and $150! But to be honest with you, the only reason I'd be flying to Kathmandu is to say I've been to Nepal, and Wendy also described Nepal as India-lite. So we're back to, "Why go to India-lite when we can do India proper?"

Then brother Evan said hey, if you want to see the Himalayas, why not see them in India and go to Leh? So I Googled Leh and boom, Leh it is. From Leh we can go to Pangong Tso, a salty lake in the high Himalayas (aren't all the Himalayas high, though?) that borders Tibet! Where the air is so thin they suggest you don't stay too long but we're totally gonna camp there because we are so badass, yo! Where you have to take one of the three highest motorable roads, Chang La Pass, to get there!

Chang La Pass is so high up they advise you not to spend more than 20 minute there. Because, you know, you kind of need oxygen to live. And oxygen is scarce up there.

Then Taylor wants to go to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, a Hindu sacred city where people go to die, where pilgrims bathe in the Ganges, where corpses burn in the streets. So that will be weird.

So yeah, I'm still working on the itinerary but it goes something like this:

Saturday - Delhi
Sunday - Jaipur
Monday - Agra
Tuesday - Leh
Wednesday - Nubra Valley
Thursday - Pangong Tso
Friday - Leh
Saturday - Varanasi
Sunday - Varanasi
Monday - Doha, Qatar

I'm also working on my MUST PACK list, as I do. I've discovered there are a lot of things people suggest you take to India that I wouldn't necessarily take to Europe.

Such as Lifestraws. Because Delhi belly, obvs. Also, Nuun tabs. For electrolytes. Also, headlamps. Because power goes out? Not sure. Also, toilet paper, because that's not always a thing there.

The best suggestion was lady pee cups, because people pee in the streets. You know I'm totally bringing one.

I'll probably post my whole pack list once it's complete, no worries. I am sure you were worried. Because everyone is as into packing as I am. I love packing. Packing, packing, packing.

I don't know how to end a blog entry anymore because I haven't written one in 3 years, so I'll just end it on this note.

KOJ pt 3. CAMELS.

~June 27~

Petra! Today was Petra day. I missed the shuttle from my hotel to the gate, so I walked to Nicki's hotel, then went to the gate with her group. I bought my ticket -- 55 JOD for 2 days. Again, NOTHING is cheap in Jordan, but most especially not Petra.

The road to Petra begins as a wide open gravelly sandy path with horses on one side, and walkers on the other. There are a lot of men trying to sell you horse rides. They tell you it's free, it's included in the ticket, but it's not actually free. They'll make you tip them 20 JOD by the end of it.

It's a good thing I don't really like horses and the thought of riding one terrified me anyway, so we just walked. It's about a 10-15 minute walk on gravelly roads, then you get to the Siq, which is the famous canyony part. That goes on for about 20 awesome minutes. Nicki and I felt like Indiana Jones.

Then the Siq opens up to the Treasury, the carving that's famous from Indiana Jones. There are lots of camels and donkeys here, and people trying to sell you an "air conditioned taxi." An air conditioned taxi is a ride on a horse or donkey. I just ignored them. Nicki was on a hunt for a necklace one of her friends wanted, so we stopped in a lot of shops, which were sprinkled along the main road. We'd gotten separated from her group at the point, but eventually found them sitting on some stairs farther down the main road. They had a Penn State archaeologist there explaining how many years they'd dug in that area and that it had once been a pool and garden.

Then her group went off to lunch and I ate a pickle and drank a coke. After lunch they went back to their house, so I was on my own and began my solo exploration. I thought I might climb up to the monastery but someone in her group said it was a long trek and I was already pretty tired, so I just went back in the direction

I'd come from and climbed various stairs. I really like exploring outdoor areas so I had a lot of fun, but it was super hot and I was tired and had all day the next day to explore, so I headed back to my hostel about 2:30.

Good thing I did, because the trek back up the Siq is LONG and arduous because it's up hill, and then I had to trek up to my hostel, which was also uphill. I could barely move by the time I got back, but I eventually met up with Nicki for a yummy dinner.

~June 28~

So begins my first day of solo travel. After having explored Petra halfway by myself the day before, I thought I'd be fine today. Except for some reason people would NOT leave me alone Saturday. No matter how many times I said la shukran (no thank you), they men selling horse rides wouldn't stop asking me. La shukran and two men still followed me on donkeys, hoping if they stuck with me for 15 minutes I'd pay for a ride. No, no, no. I want to explore alone, leave me alone. One even lectured me about chatting with locals, how helpful it is. Sure, maybe, if the locals aren't trying to SELL ME SOMETHING.

I hightailed it for the monastery first thing Saturday morning because I knew it'd be a long trek and I wanted to get up there before it got to hot. It was definitely a trek. I was super worn-out by the time I got to the top. The views were amazing, though, and pictures don't do them justice. You could see Israel from there, or so a random goat herd told me. For some reason I let this little old man guide me to random places. He led me to some cliff with a nook and took my picture. While I was sitting there with him and he was smoking, I was thinking, "Wow, this is really dumb of me. He could legitimately push me off the ledge and kill me." But he

did not. He led me out. It's just he kept trying to show me other views and I had to insist no, no thank you, I really need to get back down the mountain, but thank you for your tour!

And then I scampered off, thinking it was the only time I'd be dumb enough to be led to a cliff with a strange man.

Oh, I was wrong.

After I got down from the monastery I took a breather and drank a coke, trying to get up enough energy to make it up to the Highest Place of Sacrifice. The paths in Petra are not easy. There's so much sand, or so many rough stones and gravel, or so many stairs. Nowhere you walk is easy and I honestly don't know how I'd have done it if I was in worse shape.

After my breather I decide hey, I need to try to get up to the

Highest Place of Sacrifice because when else would I have the chance? So I begin my trek with my big bottle of water, and of course a man tries to offer me a donkey ride. I say no, and let him pass me. Well, at one point I freak out that the steps are not steppy enough and I might get stuck up there and I decide I'll go back down, but donkey man is still watching me and he yells at me that I'm almost there, so I decided to suck it up and at this point I let him lead me where I'm going.

Except I don't think he led me to the Highest Place of Sacrifice. Instead he leads me to some cliff and takes my picture and tries to convince me to take a horse ride out to the entrance another way. I say no, not because I figure he'll charge me a huge sum of money, but because this path had already freaked me out enough and I didn't want to take a scarier path. Like it was steep and rocky and I slipped at one point and got thorns in my hand. I was not about to go another mysterious way, even if it was on a horse. What if I fell off the horse?!

So I finally convince the guy to let me go my own way and he leads me to the path we'd taken and I run into the first donkey man who'd lectured me about not talking to locals. I'm just like, is this for real. Really.

Well, thank goodness there's an American family there, so I decide to attach  myself to this family and chat with the woman who's from Michigan. Turns out they'd run into the horsemen at the entrance to Petra and had taken the long "scenic" route in. It was 2:30. They hadn't even seen anything, and the woman said the path had been terrifying and she obviously wanted to just leeeave. Her husband ended up paying 170 JOD for the ride for her, her son, and himself. That's $240.

Yeeeesh.

There was also an Asian guy up there asking for directions to the Highest Place of Sacrifice, but the lady (Jude) and I began the trek down. They hadn't come up this way, so she was happy to have me leading her, and I was happy to have company so many the horsemen would stop bugging me.

At one point there's this scuffle and the horsemen are chasing the Chinese dude and yelling and me and Jude are like ahhh what is happening so we're trying to book it down the path, but like I said, the stairs aren't really stairs...more rocks with a slash drawn in them. So it's not the fastest route to take down.

We saw the Chinese dude later and he said they'd tried to take his money but he got away. I expect he let them lead him to the place he was looking for and expected money and he'd said no. I'm honesty surprised none of my donkey followers demanded money from me for leading me places.

Once we're down, I separate from the family and head back. I decided to take a taxi this time because I was super tired, then I just sat in my hotel room the rest of the night eating chips and drinking Coke because I couldn't move.

My legs hurt sooo bad. I did the trek in barefoot shoes, which worked OK but they really use your calve muscles, so my calves were super angry with me.

~June 29~

The first day of Ramadan. Knowing there'd be no food during the day, I get up for breakfast. I had no real plans to leave the hostel after how much I'd been bugged the day before, except maybe meeting up with Nicki for dinner.

So that's what I did. I read all day, then met up with Nicki once the sun went down and restaurants opened. I ate chicken and fries and it was good.

~June 30~

I had nothing to do Monday but wait for my bus ride back to Amman, which wasn't till 4:30. The bus was only 9.50 JOD, not bad at all, and there were only 6 people on it. Once I got to Amman, 3 hours later, I tried to find a taxi. At this point I literally only had 25 JOD on me, so I had to find a taxi ride for that much. I had a 20 and 5 singles.

The first taxi guy I ask says it's 50 JOD to the airport. I was like uh, no, how about 20, and he says 25. So I say OK, but that's all I have, so that has to be enough. I don't know if he understands me, but I just want to get to the airport at that point, so I hope on in.

He's telling me how no one is on the streets because it's Ramadan, but then is quiet for the rest of the ride.

That's when I notice he doesn't have a taxi meter, which sends off red flags in my brain. Hmmm...all taxis are required to have a meter... I also don't see a certificate saying he's a taxi driver...but the taxi said taxi on the outside.

So I just plot in my head. I notice we're definitely going to the airport, so I figure worst case scenario, when we get there, I open the door and get out before paying him, then the most he can do is take my bag. Oh well, bye bye camera, clothes, souvenir. The bag on me has my passport and everything I needed to get home, so that was all that mattered to me.

We get there, I open the door, hand him the money, get out, and am about to grab my suitcase from the trunk when he's like, "Excuse me, excuse me" and waves my money at me. He's like "This is only 6." So I take it and examine it, like, no, there's a 20, I gave you a 20, I only had a 20 and 5 singles!!! But he handed me 6 singles. So I'm like, what the HECK, check my wallet for my 20, then realize he's actually trying to scam me by replacing my 20 with a 1. Really. REALLY? So I say, NO, I GAVE you 25, then I shut the door, grab my bag, and go inside. He'd obviously realized he couldn't scam me at the point, and shrugged and left, but I was so mad I was shaking.

Lucky for me I legitimately only had 25 JOD on me, so I knew he was wrong.

So here's where I stop before I get into the part where I was so mad about all of that and I'll just write down some general notes.

1. The men were very nice, but very pushy. They wouldn't take no for an answer. I don't think I was ever in any real danger, but it was really frustrating for my no's not to be taken seriously. When I say no, I MEAN it.
2. Petra is wonderful and I'd totally recommend it, but it's superrrr exhausting.
3. Jordan is NOT a cheap place to travel. Everything is very expensive.
4. Everyone seemed to love America, so there was no anti-American sentiment.

KOJ part 2. Who knows what miracles you an achieve?

~June 25~

So one thing I noticed when researching what to do in Jordan is a most people recommend using the hotel and hostel sightseeing excursions, because most hotels out of Amman take daily trips to various places. I had my fingers crossed the hostel we were staying at would have a trip to the Dead Sea, and sure enough, there was a trip on Wednesday. Score!

We woke up bright and early Wednesday to partake in the hostel breakfast before our trip. It was quite delicious. Fresh omelettes, bread, hummus, jelly. We met up with our driver, who was wearing a LSU shirt. Nicki went to LSU, so she commented on his shirt but he didn't get it.

So I only really cared about seeing the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo but this car ride included other stops. It was 22 JOD each. Our first stop was Madaba, where a mosaic of the Biblical world was uncovered in a church. It was pretty cool.

Then we stopped at another church with lots of mosaics, then a museum of the history of Jordan as presented via religions with wax figurines. It was weird. At one point the tour guide pointed out the women were all unhappy because they worked all the time and had no fun and then men were all smiley because they partied all the time. Nicki and I were both like, what?

We also put our names on some mosaic tiles for what is supposed to be the largest mosaic in the world. Look for our names on the sails!

Next was Mount Nebo, which is really just a short little visit. You can see where Moses looked out and saw ~the holy land. Nicki and I proceeded to sing The Prince of Egypt, because there can be miiiiracllles, when you belieeeeeve (when you belieeeeve).

Though hope is frail, it's had to kill (it's hard to kill.)

I am Moses

No, I am Moses

Next was the Dead Sea. We drove down a cliffy cliff with hairpin turns because the Dead Sea is the lowest point in the world...?

Its surface and shores are 427 metres (1,401 ft) below sea level,^[3] Earth's lowest elevation on land. Source

 Our driver drove us to Amman beach. It was 20...? JOD to enter? Something like that. Guys, I am telling you, Jordan is NOT CHEAP.

On the bright side, there was a pool and lockers and a restaurant right by the beach you had access to for that money. So we put our stuff in the lockers then headed down to the salty salty water. We spent a little while debating how to go in. There were other tourists who were wearing bathing suits, but we'd been told you never ever wear a two piece in Jordan. So Nicki decided to not wear pants, so I decided to just wear my bathing suit top. Compromise?

The water was hot. Like bath water. And salty. Like so salty it buuuuurns your skin. And you can't swim in it, because you just float. They are not exaggerating. Nicki and I floated a bit, then I got out of the water to take a picture of her floating because that's what tourists do at the dead sea. While I was waiting on my salty salty hands to dry, a manboy comes up to me with mud on his fingers. Apparently Dead Sea mud (or as Nicki calls it, Jesus's poop) has healing properties and such, so of course they sell it. This manboy was offering me a free sample, so I allowed him to put it on my face.

Nicki had become friends with an Asian man floating in the Dead Sea, so they just saw me talking to this man. They didn't realizing he was applying blackface to my face, so when I turned around, they were both startled to see that I had become Julianne Hough.

Well, I took Nicki's floating picture and realized I had quite the problem now. You're not supposed to get Dead Sea water in your eyes because it's sooo salty. I have contacts. How was I going to get this mud off my face?

Answer: very, very carefully. I very delicately cleaned my face with the sea water, then used the rest of my bottled water on my eyes.

I was a bit Dead Sea'd out at that point. I didn't like that it wasn't a normal beach where you can layout and get nice and toasty. The water was super hot and salty. So we went back to the Amman Beach pool to get the salt off. We were going to eat at the restaurant, but it was only a buffet, and the buffet was 14 JOD! So I ate a bag of chips and Nicki ate some nuts.

So began the days of not eating. Ha.

When we got back to Amman, we went to some nearby restaurant I'd found on Trip Advisor. It was pretty good! All vegetarian, but very filling. Hummus, falafel, lots of bread. After dinner we went back down to the cafe and watched the World Cup, then went to bed.

~June 26~

We met up with another Amy who was in Nicki's archaeological group at breakfast, and then she joined us on our trip to the Amman citadel that morning. It was quite the hike up, but very pretty.

The rest of the day we just waited till we had to take a taxi to ACOR to catch Nicki's group's bus. They were kind enough to let me ride with them, which was great and saved me some money and stress. The bus ride to Petra was only supposed to be 3 hours, but we stopped at the airport to pick some people up and ended up sitting at the airport for...2.5 hours? We didn't get to Petra till 10 p.m. and they were kind enough to drop me off at my hostel on the way. Thank goodness! The way up to my hostel from their was only a little over half a mile but straight up hill and winding. I did the trek a few times without my bag and can't imagine it WITH my bag.

My hostel! Rocky Mountain Hotel in Wadi Musa. I really liked it, so much I decided to stay near Petra Sunday night and head back to Amman to catch my flight Monday evening. Since it was off season, they kindly upgraded me room to one with a big bed and a nice view of Petra. There were fresh omelettes for breakfast every morning and they were really nice about answering all my dumb questions about the Jett bus back to Amman, ha.

Also. It had a shower with a curtain separating it from the bathroom.

Glorious!

Petra in a separate entry.