Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uQzs9uSALb4RPJLSA
Jordan only recently got rid of their quarantine requirement, so I jumped at the chance to visit here as my last stop before temporarily going back home for my friend Arjun’s bachelor party on Hilton Head Island in early/mid March. They actually have a dual requirement of second COVID PCR test on arrival, which I did and got the email result for within 4 hours while in my hostel. It’s shocking how much more efficient alleged developing countries are at this stuff than the US of A.
Spent a day in Amman which was a surprisingly nice city. It’s really the first city I’ve been to for historic sightseeing purposes since Cairo, so this was a really nice reminder to be back in my personal bread and butter of travelling which is urban history. It was a surprisingly clean city (I was expecting India or at the very least Cairo levels of chaos), and for some weird reason I love the middle eastern urban architecture style of short flat topped buildings that sort of look mud built when they’re all fairly modern.
A fun fact I learned while in Amman was that it used to be called Philadelphia back in the day. Go Birds. Anyways I sort of just wandered around the city, checked out the Citadel which was a pretty cool Roman ruin on top of a hill with a good overlook of downtown, as well as a well preserved Roman theater in the middle of the city. Every tourist place I entered, they would ask where I’m from, I’d answer New York (I always say NY and not the US when people ask me), and they would smile and shake my hand…it’s become more and more clear to me just how much a lot of the places I have been to just miss tourists. To sort of reiterate what I mentioned in my last post, it honestly is really nice to travel during COVID because you get places to yourself and when you do meet tourists they tend to be far more interesting people (since they are lunatics like me and travelling during a pandemic). But at the same time, even from just talking to hostel owners and tour operators, it’s obvious that a lot of these places cannot really survive that much longer and the tourism landscape globally might be irreversibly altered (especially in terms of budget travelling) once tourists actually lose their paranoia and begin travelling due to hostels and operators shutting down. I think this is especially true for cultural tourism sites that are located outside of big cities (like Petra). Not to sound too much of a cynic, but I’m really trying to just travel as much as I can now to take advantage of this golden window.
Also in Amman, I had this wonderful dessert called Kunefah at this well deservedly famous place called Habibah’s. It’s sort of this fried cheese covered in a crust made of pistachios and other nuts that is soaked in honey. It’s incredibly decadent and delicious. Me being the idiot I am, I ordered half a kilo mentally thinking I was getting half a pound when a half kilo is 1.1 pounds. Wound up eating this for lunch and spent a few hours afterwards lying down in my bed to recover…really am beginning to show my ripe old age of 28.
After Amman, I went to the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba to scuba dive for three days. I got my nitrox certification here, which basically lets you dive for longer (but at a shallower depth). It’s also good if you want to do more than two dives a day, which I might do in the future if I ever do a live aboard.
Aqaba was awesome – pretty much the same coral landscapes underwater as Hurghada. However, because this is Feb and I was in Hurghada in Oct/Nov, the visibility was slightly worse due to seasonal changes, and the water was a bit colder (like ~7 degrees Celsius colder). So while the rolling hills of coral reef underwater were still spectacular, they weren’t quite as vibrant as when I saw them in Hurghada. The highlight of Aqaba however was the countless wrecks. The king of Jordan is apparently a big diver, so he has been sinking countless vehicles over the past 20-30 years to create new diving attractions – and ultimately, these will all transform into coral reefs in the future. While I would obviously much rather see “natural” wrecks (like WW2 wrecks in the Pacific Islands), seeing these artificial wrecks is still pretty cool. Though the artifical nature obviously did dampen my enjoyment a little. And the really cool thing here was that my dive shop offered complementary photos due to COVID, and this was with a legit camera and not a GoPro. So the photos turned out fantastic.
I met and befriended this married couple who both work for the US state department in Aqaba as they worked in Amman and happened to be diving the same time as me. I want to believe that they do some legit shit (they have been stationed in Afghanistan before, used to work in the FBI, CIA, and NSA, want to be stationed in Ukraine next, and sort of subtly made it clear that even if I asked what they did they wouldn’t answer). Weirdly enough, I’ve met a lot of state department and similar folks lately – also met an American girl in Wadi Rum, the only other tourist in my camp, who worked for the department in Lebanon and was on vacation in Jordan, plus my military friend from Mozambique who is applying for a state department gig based in Russia and my friend’s friend and her friends who all worked in the UN in Maputo. I’ve also met a ton of NGO employees both lately and over my entire retirement so far (literally every single Tinder and Bumble date that I have been on since I quit my job has been with an NGO employee which is just nuts). I suppose part of that might be due to the fact that I’m primarily travelling in developing countries so you get more of those types – both NGO.
Also in Aqaba – the hostel I stayed in, Hakaia Community, was fantastic. It was run by these two brothers who were incredibly nice and incredible chefs to boot…they insisted on cooking a delicious breakfast every morning and also invited me to their place for a dinner one night where they had some friends over. I gotta say, I thought Jordanian food would be like Egyptian food and just very “there”, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The dish they made this one night was called Maqlooba. It reminded me of a less spicy version of biriyani from India or Pilaf from Central Asia (which I’ve only had in Russia as Russia has a ton of good food from former Soviet Republics), where the rice is cooked with the meat juice and it is just so good. At this dinner, I met this older Hungarian/Swedish couple who are in the midst of motorbiking around the world…they’ve been stuck in Jordan the past 10 months because of COVID. Conversation turned to Iran and then it’s history, and I brought up how the deposed Shah of Iran’s daughter/niece (I forgot exactly what relation this girl had) went to my high school in the 70s/80s, and her bodyguard masqueraded as a special needs instructor. Dr. Dorman, my AP world history teacher (he’s largely responsible for me being super into history and thus in a way into travelling I guess), mentioned this to us back in 10th grade. Anyways, this couple then one-upped my story by saying how their daughter’s friend went to a private boarding school in Switzerland where she was classmates with who she thought was a son of a wealthy South Korean businessman…turns out that it was Kim Jong Un.
After Aqaba, I went to Wadi Rum for a couple of days. In the ~90 minute drive from Aqaba to Wadi Rum, I went from experiencing ~80 degree farenheit weather in Aqaba to ~40 degree farenheit weather in Wadi Rum. And it would drop to below freezing overnight and early morning! At least I got to justify the half of my duffel bag that has been lugging around winter clothing since early October…the only other time I wore it was in Ukraine.
Wadi Rum was amazing. It was in many ways like a more extravagent and grander version of the American Southwest, with a flat dessert plain as far as the eye can see punctuated by massive rock formations (“mountain” is probably too strong of a word here). It was like an awesome amalgamation of (primarily) Canyonlands National Park with a sprinkle of Zion National Park. And no offense to my first night in Sossusvlei in Namibia or my week in Kenya, but the night sky here was far and away the best one I think I have seen. Just a crystal clear viewing, and I was even able to snap a photo with my phone and get some constellations.
My first day here, I had a local Bedouin guide and went for a ~8 hour walk “near” our campsite. The guide carried cooking materials (he was almost like Samwise Gamgee with his cooking pot and plates and stuff attached to his backpack) to cook a surprisingly delicious lunch over a campfire he would set up, and we just sort of wandered around the vast expanse as I climbed random rock formations every now and then. It really was a cooler Canyonlands (and I looooved Canyonlands!). The second day, we got in a Jeep and drove around to see a wider area of the area, and did the same drill of periodically getting off so I could wander around.
Wadi Rum means “Valley of the Moon” in Arabic (Wadi is valley and Rum is moon…apparently the lost city Aram of the Pillars – featured in Uncharted 3! – gets its’ name from Wadi Rum). It really is an alien landscape, though I would argue that it’s more Martian than Lunar. Endless sandy expanse, towering red and white rock formations, just amazing. I wouldn’t say this was particularly close to Ladakh in terms of natural beauty (but Ladakh is on a crazy pedestal for me), but this really makes me want to explore other desolate regions like the endless sand of the Sahara, and Patagonia. Honestly, Wadi Rum is probably up there with Namibia for me in terms of natural beauty and that is very high praise since Namibia was pure magic.
After Wadi Rum, I drove over to the catalyst of my Jordan trip, Petra. I spent 3 days here – on my first day, I spent ~8 hours at the site (from 6am to 2pm), and literally ran into my first tourist at 1:30pm towards the entrance. It’s just mind boggling to have a place like this to your own. The next 2 days had a handful of local tourists as it was during the Jordanian weekend (Friday/Saturday).
So obviously the main reason I wanted to go to Petra was because Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was my favorite childhood movie and probably still my 3rd favorite movie of all time – after LOTR (all 3 extended editions count as one movie of course) and Goodfellas. Having the entire area (Petra is huuuge…takes probably 2+ hours of a straight walk without stopping to go from end to end) to yourself was a nice cherry on top. I spent multiple hours across my 3 days here just sitting by the Treasury and admiring the view. Even the walk to see the Treasury was epic…it’s basically the first sight you see in the archaeological park, and you need to walk ~20+ minutes through a narrow canyon before getting there. It’s honestly a pretty awesome reveal when you get through the final canyon part and see it appear through the cracks. 3 days was probably a stretch (2 is enough) but it was nice as it let me take my time and go slowly. If anything, it was worth it just to see the Treasury in person. On my first day, I did the Monastery hike which was a solid workout of a ~200 meter elevation gain. The Monastery itself is almost like a grander version of the Treasury, but obviously doesn’t have the oomph of being in an Indiana Jones movie.
On my second day, I did the Al-Kubtha trail, which was a decent hike – roughly 150 meters in elevation – which ended with this incredible overhead viewpoint of the Treasury from the top of a canyon cliff. Probably my single favorite view in Petra, and I literally spent a couple of hours just sitting there and observing, while playing the Indiana Jones theme song on my phone a few too many times.
On my final day, I did the High Place of Sacrifice trek, which was another ~150 meter elevation hike. At the top point, there was a great view of the rolling hills and canyons of the Petra area, and you could even see a mountain peak in the distance which is the alleged burial site of Moses’ brother Aaron. From this peak, it was just over an hour of a winding descent, and this was honestly one of the highlights of Petra. It was really the first time I got lost city vibes as this was away from the main drag of Petra, as there were tons of random carvings, caves, etc. on the cliffs here that you could just walk up to. During the descent here, I found what appeared to be a Roman coin in one of the countless empty tombs/caves in Petra. At first I thought it was a fake, as a ton of hawkers in Petra offer to sell “authentic” coins for ~15-30 USD a coin, and since a lot of these Bedouins sometimes sleep in the caves, I thought one of the hawkers might have dropped this. But it was in terrible condition, chipped, and quite small, so it seemed like a lot of effort for a fake. A kid from my high school used to intern at the Met in the antiquities department and dealt with coins, and in general knows a ton about Roman/Greek history, so I reached out to him with pictures to ask what the odds are that it’s real. He said that it’s basically 100% real, and was even able to identify the coin as a 4th century Roman bronze, minted in Antioch, and probably featuring the emperor Constantius II but definitely an emperor from the house of Constantine. He then sent over a picture of a perfect coin of what he was describing and it actually looked a ton like mine…similar portrait of an emperor in the front, and a “soldier spearing a fallen horseman” image on the back that was apparently quite common for the type of coin I had found.
The town near Petra, Wadi Musa, means Valley of Moses, as apparently some Biblical shit with Moses allegedly happened in the area. Jordan, as it neighbors Israel (though according to the locals the only western neighbor is Palestine), was the site of a lot of Biblical history, most of which I wasn’t too interested in because there’s minimal factual evidence behind a lot of the sites.
Overall, Petra was great. In terms of cave architecture that I’ve seen, I would probably place it on par with the Ellora caves (cave 16, the Kailasa Temple, is honestly one of the most jaw-dropping things I’ve ever seen) and above Mahabalipuram and the Ajanta caves (though objectively, the architecture in both Mahabalipuram and Ajanta are more intricate and impressive). In terms of lost cities, I’d still place Hampi above Petra, with Angkor still in a runaway first place.
After Petra, I went back to Amman, but stopped in a couple of towns, Um Ar-Rassas and Madaba on the way. Both have these crazy good preserved Roman/Christian mosaics that are like 1500 years old. In Um Ar-Rassas there is this giant mosaic floor of a church that is almost 100% intact, and there were some really cool patterns and city illustrations here. And in Madaba, they had this cool archeological park which again had some really impressive church floor mosaics that were almost 100% intact. The highlight was definitely the Madaba Map, which is this partially intact mosaic map of the Holy Land (modern day Israel/Palestine/Jordan/Egypt), and is 1500 years old and the oldest surviving map of the region. It’s apparently been verified by archaeological digs in certain sites that have confirmed map descriptions, such as ancient gate and road locations in Jerusalem.
My last day of sightseeing was taking a day trip from Amman to see Ajiloun Castle and Jerash. Ajiloun castle is an Islamic castle built by Saladdin during the Crusades – so it’s not “technically” a Crusader castle as it was built by the Ayyubids and not the Crusaders. Still, as someone who doesn’t know all that much about medieval siege warfare, a castle is a castle. Was pretty cool to kind of wander around for an hour in the giant stone rooms, and the view from the top was pretty neat as well. One cool thing I learned here was that the Mamaluks – who ruled Egypt and the Middle East for a few hundred years before the Ottomen took over – were actually Ayyubid (dynasty founded by Saladin) generals who revolted and took control.
After Ajiloun, I went to Jerash to check out the Roman ruins there. They were honestly pretty cool – not quite to the level of Ephesus or Termessos in Turkey, but definitely in the next tier. There was a really well preserved main road with pillars on either side, a decently well preserved temple for Artemis, a really cool giant circular plaza surrounded by pillars, and a Zeus temple that I illegally climbed up to get a nice view of the entire archaeological site. Was also a nice full circle on my almost half year abroad during COVID, as I started by going to Turkey to see Istanbul/Edirne and Roman ruins, and ended by seeing Roman ruins in Jordan. Will obviously still be going abroad but still, this is sort of one “leg” in my mind as any trip back to the US punctuates it. I will say that I will always associate this 5/6 month stint abroad with sub-Saharan Africa (much like how my first stint abroad is mentally associated with India as that was over half my time), even though only ~3/5 of my time was spent in that region.
I spent a few more days just hanging out in Amman, eating the great food and sweets and hanging out. Went to the state department couple that I met in Aqaba’s apartment for dinner one night – they had a super nice place and are both huge history nerds so that was a fun evening. Also went to this BDubs knockoff called Buffalo Wings and Rings to catch the Leeds-Southampton game, and hung out with some NGO people that I had met in Amman as well – they worked for Mercy Corps in the Syria response team but had never been across the border, and in general it seemed like a really interesting job and life. Mostly hung out in a few neighborhoods that actually reminded me a ton of Istanbul, as it felt very European while still clearly in an Islamic country…the prices also reflected Istanbul here too. Pretty lowkey last few days but was a nice way to end the trip.
Honestly, Jordan is one of my favorite countries that I have visited, if anything for the diversity. You have amazing diving in Aqaba, a fantastical nature/landscape area in Wadi Rum, “local” civilization ruins in Petra, Roman ruins in Jerash, OG Christianity churches and mosaics in Madaba and Um Ar-Rassas, medieval Crusader history in Ajiloun Castle (plus the other crusader castles in Jordan that I didn’t see), and of course Islamic culture in Amman. Not to mention the the many things I didn’t see, like additional Roman and Nabataean (the civ that built Petra) ruins, Biblical sights like the alleged location where Jesus got baptized, the Dead Sea, Ummayad villa/palace ruins in the eastern dessert, etc. Just an amazing country and honestly could have spent a lot more time here and not been bored.
This post-COVID international 5-6 month stint has been great. Gun to my head the highlight of it all was Chernobyl which is on my Mount Rushmore of travel places, and beyond that I also saw other big ticket bucket list items like the gorilla trek in Uganda and Petra. Namibia and Uganda were both absolutely magnificent places to visit, Jordan was awesome, Turkey was great, Ukraine as a whole was very nice, Egypt was great as well, Victoria Falls was so much fun, South Africa was socially a great time…really no complaints at all. Still have ~2.5 years left and am cautiously optimistic that I have the money to last the whole time.
In terms of major bucket list things on my list, I would say (in no particular order) they are – Patagonia, Kashmir in India, Pakistan, tiger safari in India, Mongolian horseback trek, Amazon Jungle, a legit Sahara Dessert camp, Switzerland, Madagascar, baby gorillas and volcano trek in the DRC, east Asia but especially the rest of China, Italy, the entire Middle East/Central Asia stretch (so like from Syria/Iraq/Iran to Uzbekistan to Afghanistan), Kilimanjaro (which I’ll hopefully do with my sister in June!), and my pipe dreams of climbing Everest and going to the Moon or Mars while we’re at it. Obviously would want to see way way way more than that but I guess those are some of the places that I’ll try to go out of my way to see, even if it means paying a little more for flights or dealing with not ideal weather. Since if COVID has taught me anything it’s that I can’t just assume that opportunities will be there forever.
I’ll be in Boston for a weekend to see my high school friend and also might be seeing a friend I met in Egypt for a dinner there as well since she lives in the area. Then will be home for ~10 days, probably catch up with a HS and college buddy who are both in NYC as well as seeing my parents and sister, who’s flying over from Michigan to see me for a few days, before going to a college friend’s bachelor party in Hilton Head Island. The plan is to fly straight from there to Cancun and spend some time in Mexico (ideally minimizing my time in Cancun). Maybe Central America after that? Who knows.