Day 15: Road Trip to Petra

Today I got up early and met my driver for my trip to Petra, which is about 4 hours south of Amman. The driver had planned to stop at a few places along the way, but it was pointless because the fog and rain was so bad. We went through a town called Madaba, which is home to a Greek Orthodox Church. Not sure of the significance; my driver spoke very little English. All he told me was "#1 church in Jordan," so I took it for what he said and snapped a couple photos. The city was flooding and completely covered in trash.

As we drove the the mountains, we could barely see 10ft ahead of us, cruising at around 15mph. I can only imagine how beautiful the mountains and valleys that surrounded us were, the fog and rain wouldn't let me see far, thank goodness for google images! The windy and steep roads reminded me of the many drives I took as a kid to my grandfather and his borther's mountain houses outside of Cashiers, North Carolina.

We made a slight detour from our trip to visit the Dead Sea. I would never forgive myself if I literally drove past it and didn't go in because of the weather. The view of the Dead Sea was absolutely amazing, and the Israeli coast looked like something out of a movie with its steeep mountainsides. The area that we went to for the Dead Sea was very touristy, but as you can imagine, no one was there. It was in the high 30's F and drizzling. My driver asked me if I wanted to eat before I swam, I told him that I need to wait at least 30 minutes after I eat before I can swim or I may drown (the "30 minute rule"), he didn't get the joke. As I got undressed down to my bathing suit I kept telling myself, "this is crazy!" while I was shivering my teeth away. If you don't know about the Dead Sea, it contains an extremely high amount of salt and you simply float in the water.

After my swim in the sea, we continued our journey to Petra. As we entered back up the mountains, the rain and fog began to pick back up. As we ascended higher the rain turned to snow and the roads to ice. The higher we got the worse it got. We encountered several wrecks and had to stop multiple times to help push others up the road. I had to get out three times to push us up the road.

Once we got out of the mountains and onto the Desert Highway, the snow was gone, but the high winds were still there. As we entered Petra, the snow picked back up, but as we descended into the lower part of Petra, the snow was gone. It was amazing to see the extreme weather changes as we ascended and descended the mountains.

The drive took us much longer than expected, so I just hunkered down in the hostel for the night. Of course the power cut off tonight, so it has been bitter cold in my room (around high 48 according to the thermostat on my watch). The power just cut back on, so I wanted to write this before I went to bed. I am 8 hours ahead of eastern standard time.

Tomorrow, I am waking up early to enjoy all the sights in Petra. With my ticket for entry to all the sights, I get a free horseback ride because we are in the tourist off season. Not going to complain with that!

Day 14: Jordan

I arrived in Amman, Jordan around 1am. The ride in, while dark, was an eye opening ride; there were huge houses made of marble and stone with driveways filled with high end European cars and some American made cars. Downtown Amman is getting a much needed facelift, in progress skyscrapers and offices are filling the area. My hostel is on the outskirts of downtown Amman in a poorer area. One thing I will say off the bat, Jordan is a very filthy country, trash is littered on every street and spread amongst the farms, it's pretty sad. When I got to the hostel, I settled in and got a couple hours of sleep.

I woke up around 7:30am and caught a share taxi to the city bus station, Tabarbour. Share taxis filled the streets near my hostel and wait until they are completely full before departing. When I got the the bus station, I boarded a bus for a city called Jerash, which is home to the Greco-Roman city Gerasa. Gerasa is currently one of the most extensive Roman cities still standing and was built around 120-130 AD. Of many other things, there is a hippodrome, large gates, and two theaters still standing. While the site is crumbling, the city doesn't do much to keep it up. The site, along with parts of the country are covered in trash. Many of the wholes or underground stairwells that I wanted to explore, were filled with trash. I spent the whole afternoon exploring the city. Lucky for me, as soon as I got back to my hostel, it began to pour rain. I haven't been talking about weather that much since I started this blog, but I have yet to have have more than 48 hours of good weather.

To my surprise the Jordanian people are extremely kind. Most that I walked by would either ask me where I was trying to go and then point me in the right direction, or say "welcome to Jordan."

Tonight is my last night in Amman, I hired a driver for about $30 to drive me to Petra on a 6 hour road trip.

Istanbul Wrap Up

While I have the time, I want to go ahead and wrap up my time in Istanbul. Contrary to what I posted, Istanbul is a great city, it was just not at all what I expected. I was expecting it to be more traditionally old, but the city is very centered around tourists, so most things that I did, I was engulfed by tourists. The worst part about my visit was the weather, it really took away from my experience. It was in the low 30's F the entire time with mixed rain and snow. Even the people from Denmark, the UK, and Germany we complaining about the weather, so it's not because I am from the south. The city is covered with massive mosques that are completely different from the ones I experienced in Morocco, which is mainly due to the Ottoman empire and their architectural style and influence. There is an ancient Turkish calligraphy that is somewhat similar to Arabic, but looks much more challenging to comprehend. Both Turkey and Morocco have been a great introduction for me into the Islamic religion and Muslim culture. I believe that my thirst to learn more about it is what is keeping me going to other middle eastern countries.

The people in turkey are extremely kind, it was like being in the south. It was easy for us to ask a fellow Turk for directions and he or she would take the time to try to explain in English or go out of his or her way to guide us to our destination. After one of our meals (we had eaten and already paid), a Turkish waiter took me all the through a mall next door to an ATM. As soon as we got the the bottom of the escalator, he pointed them out and went back up the elevator. I was pretty amazed by his generosity.

Since Istanbul is a big city, it was expensive, so to be a backpacker is not easy. I really wanted to explore eastern Turkey, but the weather this week is really bad: it is snowing in the east and flooding in the south, not my luck, so I am almost forced to move on.

Of course I am biased, but I think that my hostel really made my experience here great. The people I was able to meet and the generosity of the staff was incredible. However, I think it has spoiled me, as it is the first hostel I have been in since my journey began where I am no my own. I don't think that my hostel in Amman, Jordan is going these the same.

I spent all of my time on the European side of Istanbul. From what I have heard, the Asian side is primarily residential. There were a couple things I wanted to see on the Asian side though, I just didn't have enough time, but it was enough time to spend another day here. I am very excited for my trip to Jordan, I foresee trips to the desert and an adventure or two on a camel. I would love to read a magazine while floating in the Dead Sea!

Day 12 & 13: Istanbul

Monday

We got a late start on the day and made our way to the famous Blue Mosque, which is right by our hostel, for a visit. When we got there, it was prayer time, so we were unable to enter. Luckily the mosque was putting on a free introductory 35 minute class about Islam and the Turkish Muslim culture. It was very interesting and answered many questions that I had. What has surprised me the most is that when I think of a Muslim, it tends to be very stereotypical and negative. I am completely wrong. They are very peaceful and giving. The Qur'an preaches and ensures these practices, which I find to be very interesting. Everything from the way and how they pray to the fundamentals of the religion are very different from Christianity, but I am enthused to learn about other cultures and religions while I am traveling. After the Islamic lesson, we made our way into the blue Mosque, which was absolutely beautiful. Surprisingly, this Mosque was built in 7 years and contains over 21,000 tiles (may I remind you that they had zero technology, cranes, etc. and this was all done by hand, amazing).

After the Mosque, we made our way out of the city, near the large Historia Mall, to a Mediterranean based Turkish restaurant that our Islamic lesson teacher referred us to. We got a meter Kebab, which was absolutely amazing and contained different types of nuts in it that truly complimented the meat.

After lunch, we made our way back the hostel to sit back and relax for a while. We met up with some friends from Zurich and Britain for our last dinner in Istanbul. We ate at an amazing restaurant where the ceiling was covered in really small light fixtures, which was something I had only seeing in furniture stores. We sat in their lounge after dinner and drank beer and talked about our country's cultural differences. It is weird to say, but I feel that since the beginning of my trip, hands down the coolest thing is to be able to speak with all of these people from around the world that are just as interest to learn about American culture as I am about theirs. This general interest in people is unlike anything I could have experienced in South Carolina.

Tuesday

I have booked my flight to Amman, Jordan and get there around midnight. I have been spending most of today with what little friends are still here and organizing everything so that I can hit the ground running tomorrow in Jordan.

The hostel I have been in, Cheers, I cannot speak highly enough about it. The staff is truly one of a kind. Always making sure that you are having a great time, giving you ideas of things to do that may be a little off the beaten path, and providing good ideas for restaurants. In the lobby they are always playing great music and there is a bar on the 3rd floor, kinda self explanatory. I feel that this was great for me, mainly because I arrived so late in Istanbul, it was hard for me to get to know my room mates because they were not there. Since there was a bar upstairs, I was able to go up there and meet so many people that were staying in the hostel, so the next day we already had a great group ready to go explore.

I am not sure of the internet situation in Jordan, so it may be some time before I can write another post. I hope everyone has been enjoying my posts. My goal is to tell you what I am experiencing through my eyes, so if I don't like something, I will tell you that I didn't like it. I will be seeing things and places that few people that I know have see outside of the Internet or movies, so I want to make sure that you are receiving an unfiltered view of every experience that I have. Who knows what I will encounter in Jordan. Only time will tell and anything is possible.

Until next time!

Day 11: Istanbul

Today was my second day spent touring Istanbul. The weather was absolutely awful. It was a mix between rain, snow, and high winds. A recipe for disaster.

We first tried to visit the Blue Mosque, but we arrived and it was the beginning of midday prayer, so we were not allowed in. We then made our was to the spice bazaar, which was a little better than the grand bazaar. The Turkish delights were really tasty.

We spent most of the day hiding in restaurants, dodging the weather. We then took the tram to the Galata Tower, which is one of the oldest towers still standing built by the Byzantine Empire and was used as a light house. It is now a night club, classy.

We spent some time eating and enjoying the sights from the tower and then made our way back to our hostel. When we got back we joined some others there on a trip to a Turkish Bath. It was amazing and very relaxing. They fully wash you and massage you while you are pretty much naked. You are in a huge marble room, which really added to the experience, not to mention the guy who massaged me was humming a Turkish prayer, which helped me meditate. I then went to the pool in this small cave and then to a steam room and then sauna. I came out very sleepy and relaxed.

I joined up with friends from Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Denmark, and Australia for a great dinner. Now we are all drinking back at our hostel Cheers