istanbul: petra jordan and istanbul turkey

Petra, Jordan and Istanbul Turkey

A bit delayed but here nevertheless:

So on to Petra. After 1 week of hellish work, party because of a

terrible boss while in Jordan, I decided to take my last day and go to

Petra. I woke up at 5:15 am and took the 6:30am bus, which took 3

hours and arrived in Petra. For those of you who don't know Petra is

nominated to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It's pretty

amazing and it's rather hard to describe... but I'll try anyway.

We drove up from the desert to see this city on a hill pop up out of

nowhere. There is an actual city right before Petra called Wadi Musa

that's on this hill and just below you see this amazing red rock

formation. Just outside the rock formation there is a gate: the

entrance to Petra. I decided to forgo the tour guide and the horse and

walk. I walked down and down and into this amazing cave-like path.

Since it was 9 or so in the morning, most tourists weren't out and

about yet and soon I was all alone and heard absolutely nothing but

the sound of my own footsteps on the sand echoing in the high rock

walls around me. I walked fast until I got to the Treasury (the

picture from a couple of blogs ago) and soon after hired a guide with

a donkey... excuse me a mule. I rode the damn mule all the way up to

the Monastery and above overlooking the cliffs. Let me tell you, I

have not been on a horse (or other equine animal) since I was 15 years

old and my thighs are absutely killing me today.

So, as most of you know I talk to anyone, and the Bedouin guide,

Simair, talked my ear off about everything from his romantic

encounters with foreign women, to the history of the Bedouin to the

Muslim religion. It was pretty obvious he was trying to "seduce" me.

Apparently, according to a guide I read, some women go to Petra and

fall in love with these guides and give them money and all that. To

give Simair some credit, he was quite good at this game but of course

I saw right through it immediately but let him talk. He even made a

fire in the middle of the desert and heated up some black tea, which I

drank (it's rude to refuse) and it was actually pretty good. Only real

problem I had during this trip is that 1) his non-stop talking was

annoying after a while and 2) he kept whipping the poor mule. I felt

sooo terrible for the poor animal, but I couldn't really say anything.

He even accidentaly hit my ass once or twice while hitting the mule!

Though... with my badonkadonk ass it does tend to get in the way.*

*I've been told by several people though, that perhaps that was done

on purpose which shames me to no end.

I returned to Amman that same day and went out to dinner with LBB. We

went to an all you can eat sushi night. Amazing idea that I think

would make a sh*tload of money here. Pay $20 and all the sushi you

want (good sushi) is yours.

At noon on Wednesday I left Amman and arrived in Istanbul at about

3:30. Immediately upon arrival it was as if a black mood had lifted

from me. Amman is rather depressing as I mentioned before, and the

bitterness I had post-work issues didn't make it much better. Istanbul

is like a combination of Rio, Paris, Uruguay, and Edinburgh. It's

AWESOME, so eclectic, so alive! Everyone speaks at least 3 languages.

I've been confused for French, Spanish, Russian, British and American

and they've spoken to me in each of the languages! I've already been

to the Bazaar and bought some Apple Tea for my mom and some bowls for

me and Bergle. I'm getting everyone's Christmas presents here so if

there's anything you want specifically please let me know now.

Pictures will follow of course.

Cheers for now.

by Jo at or around 2:42 PM

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Thursday, 14 February 2008

petra jordan and istanbul turkey

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