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.

The Kingdom of Jordan! Part 1: The Importance of Sleep.

For some odd reason I really slacked on blogging during this trip. I think it's because I didn't bring my laptop and I don't really like blogging on my iPad? That wasn't an issue in Greece, though, but alas! Or perhaps it was the 3 nights I got 0 sleep. Or perhaps it was how exhausted I was after wandering around Petra. At any rate, I will do my best to write the trip down. It's only been a week! I should be able to remember, no?

~June 21~

So began my überlang journey to Jordan. Plane tickets were quite steep no matter where you bought them in the US. I'm talking $1200-$1800. I discovered tickets out of Chicago were only like $1100, and that a plane ride to Chicago was only $200 RT, so thinking I'd use my mileage to buy a plane ticket to and from Chicago, I bought the tickets out of Chicago.

I purchased my trip back with my mileage a-OK (only 10,000 miles). But the trip TO Chicago was 25,000 miles, or $212 one-way. I was like heeell nah, and decided that I'd rather ride all night on a Megabus for $38. So that's what I did. So my journey began at the Megabus parking lot in Nashville at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 21.

I didn't sleep at all, though I tried. I couldn't figure out how to close my seat's vents, so I was freezing the entire ride. So cold. So so so cold! I also didn't want to drink anything because I didn't want to have to pee. My struggle was real.

~June 22~

We finally got to Chicago about 6 a.m. Sunday (June 22). I had all these glorious plans to gallivant over to the Bean! Maybe get breakfast! Maybe go to the beach! But by the time I got there I was like nah, and walked a couple blocks over to the metro station.

So I'd extensively Googled how to get from the Megabus stop to ORD, and I'd come across a $6 figure. Not bad, I thought, not bad. But when I tried to buy my ticket with their automated thingie, it was only $2? So I asked the lady working there if that would get me all the way to ORD and she said yes. My sleep addled mind was excited -- so excited I couldn't figure out how to pay for my ticket. Turns out you have to select your payment type, you can't just swipe your card.

This is why sleep is important, folks.

The metro ride was about an hour, 22-stops, but luckily a straight shot. I got to ORD about 7:30 a.m. and then set about on my next great adventure: finding the United lounge with the showers.

Showers!

I have the United credit card, so with it I get 2 free passes for United lounges a year. I never saw what the big deal was till I realized I'd be traveling for over 48 hours with no shower, so then I decided the best use of these passes was the handy showers they added to the Chicago lounges a few years ago. Yas!

Loungin'

I got to the lounge about 8 a.m. but was biding my shower time, see, because I wasn't going to leave for Toronto, then Frankfurt, till 5 p.m. I finally took a shower at 11 a.m. and it was glorious. I figured I'd nap at the lounge, but all I really succeeded in doing was losing my iPad. I forgot it in a lounge chair when I got up to shower, and didn't realize it was gone till an hour later. Thank goodness someone had turned it into the front desk!

Again, this is why sleep is important.

Nothing of substance happened the rest of the day besides not sleeping. My flight to Toronto was fine, then I hung around Toronto for 3 hours until we boarded the plane for Frankfurt about 9 p.m.

Oh! Except when the Canadian customs guy told me my passport expired in October (which I knew) and that some countries won't let you in if your passport expires within 6 months (which I didn't know). So I started freaking out and decided I'd just use my German passport in Jordan, JUST IN CASE. I tried to figure out if Jordan was a country that didn't let you in with a passport expiring in 6 months. It didn't look like it, but hey, I had 2 passports, why not use both. I then vowed to renew my passport as soon as I returned to America. (I actually just sent my passport in the mail yesterday, July 10, so I am good on my word!)

I love the Toronto airport, though

My big plan was to sleep the entire flight to Frankfurt, so I took some Nyquil tabs as soon as I got on the plane.

I did not sleep. I maybe dozed a few hours? The only way I could get my mind to shut up was to listen to the KidzBop station on the airport radio, so my moments of sleep swung in and out to the sounds of children screaming Wrecking Ball and Happy.

So I guess you can say my slumber came in like a wrecking ball.

#dropsmic

~June 23~

Too bad I didn't sleep because Germany looked lovely! I had a 9 hour layover in Frankfurt--more than enough time to go off and see my grandparents. But not on no sleep. There's no way I could have navigated the trains.

Deutschland!

I didn't really do much in Frankfurt for those 9 hours. I found the showers, of course. Frankfurt has showers that cost 6 euros. Not bad, not bad. So I took a shower, because flights across the Atlantic make me feel gross, then I wandered around aimlessly till I found a quiet gate, where I laid down and napped for 2 hours. Oh, glorious sleep! 2 whole hours!

Here is my issue with the Frankfurt airport: the terminals are not connected and it's huge. That means you don't know what gate you're connecting at till hours before, and then you have to go through security again. I landed in B, but was flying to Amman from Z. Not a HUGE deal because I had 9 hours, but I hate going through security, so I gripe.

I met up with Nicki at terminal Z around 3:30 p.m., then we spent a few hours trying to get the internet to work, mostly unsuccessfully, then ate some delicious currywurst (!!), then watched some World Cup, then caught the flight to Amman at 9:30 p.m.

Ich liebe currywurst

They served us dinner on the flight to Amman. I feel I should point out at this point my body wasn't as confused by time and dinner and sleeping because I hadn't really slept, so I was just eating whenever felt like it. This meal I mostly declined because I'd had the currywurst. I ate the bread and salad I think. I also tried to nap. Nicki says I dozed a little. Go me! At that point I'd forgotten what it felt like to sleep, ha.

~June 24~

We got to Amman late, about 2:15 a.m. maybe? Then we had to immediately rush to an ATM because you have to pay 40 Jordanian dinars to enter the country.

At this point I want to point out that the Jordanian dinar is worth more than the US dollar. 40 JOD is actually $56. That's not cheap.

The line for the visas as long, as to be expected. We waited and waited and I worried I'd have an issue with my passport, what if they tried to speak to me in German?! What if they demanded my US passport once they realized I am only half German?! But there was really no reason to worry. I got through fine. Then we tracked down Nicki's luggage, then we found the driver from the hotel who was to pick us up, which was easy because he had a sign with my name on it and the hostel name.

He was super nice and chatty for 3 a.m. He randomly stopped at a convenience store and someone brought him coffee. To his door. It was curb side?

The car ride was also my first exposure to the fact that in Muslim countries they chant their prayers from mosques on loud speakers throughout the cities. There was chanting periodically throughout the day and night. The driver also chatted to us about how Ramadan was coming up on Sunday. Nicki warned me no restaurants would be open. I was too sleepy to really think about what that meant.

We stayed at Jordan Tower Hostel in Amman. The customer service was great. The owner stayed up till 4 a.m. to let us in, poor guy. We were supposed to be staying in a dorm but since we got in so late he just let us have a triple room on the bottom floor so we wouldn't wake anyone. There were bathrooms and showers on each floor, but our room was the bottom floor, so we had to trek up a million stairs (OK, exaggeration) to get to the bathroom.

This shower situation.

Now, if you've picked up on anything in this meandering trip blog of nothingness so far, it's that I need to shower regularly or I go nutty. So of course the first thing I do when I get to the hostel, despite it being 4 a.m., despite not having slept for over 48 hours, I go to shower.

And I discover this conundrum: a faucet next to the toilet, with a shower head above it.

...the shower and the toilet were one. There were hooks on the door. There was a sink.

There was a shower next to the toilet.

I was so confused, and so glad I brought shower shoes.

Roman Theater

Nicki and I got up about 1 p.m. Tuesday. I had slept for 8 whole hours! We drank a liter of water each and then set off to find the Roman Theater, which our driver had told us was right next to the hostel. But we asked the hostel owner for directions anyway. He said go right and then right and then it was right there.

Where?! We couldn't find it!

We went up to a tourist police and asked him for directions. He pointed behind him and said it was right there.

We asked if we could have a map anyway. He looked at us like we were dumb Americans, but gave us a map anyway. We walked about a minute in the direction he was pointing and oh, oops, the Roman Theater was literally RIGHT THERE.

We then decided we were hungry, so we went back to the hostel and asked where we should eat.

So then I started getting Arabic texts

He suggested the cafe part of the hostel, so we ate there. Nicki got some chicken and rice dish and I got an egg sandwich. We were both pretty tired at this point, so we pretty much spent the rest of the evening watching soccer.

Oh! And we got SIM cards for our phones. It was 14 JOD for me, which I thought was worth it since I was going to be alone on Saturday-Monday. Turns out Verizon iPhones come unlocked...that's why I could just insert an Orange SIM card. Nice!

OK, I'm going to actually do some work now and I will continue June 25-30 in another blog entry. Plus this is hella long.

So I never posted about my trip in April to Germany/Prague or my trip to Denver, or my trip to Cali last November.

Fail. Perhaps I'll rectify this at a later date, but for now I just wanted to prep the blog for my trip to Jordan with Nicki.

I've really been mulling over what to wear because it's going to be HOT HOT HOT, but it's also a Muslim country, so you have to be quite covered. We'll see how this goes.

Also, my trip there is gonna be so so so long. I'm taking the Megabus to Chicago; I get there at 5:30 am, then I fly out of Chicago at 3 pm to Toronto, then I fly from Toronto at 9 pm to Frankfurt, where I will arrive at 11:30 am, then I fly from Frankfurt to Amman at 9 pm and arrive at 2 am.

It'll be a long trip. I'll probably post a lot then because I will be bored.