Thurs. Nov. 10th Aqaba, Jordan
By Jain
It is a beautiful day here in Jordan. The temperature is about 90 degrees, sunny and literally no wind. We decide not to go to Petra because the trip costs $300.00 each and it takes about 2 ½ hours on a bus one way. Our decision is primarily based on the fact we both want to come back to to Israel and Jordan to spend more time exploring these countries on our own. Of course we could have arranged our own transportation to Petra but our Concierge said he didn't recommend it. Although Jordan is one of the safest countries in the middle east (which may not be saying a lot) he reminds us there aren't any AAA services in the desert and if you are in a car that happens to have any sort of mechanical breakdown you might be out of luck. You may be there on a lonely highway for hours with buzzards circling above and miss the ship. Of course what would be worse is missing the night's ship entertainment.
Instead we decide to go into Aqaba city to look around and go to one of the beautiful beaches. We choose the Kempiniski Hotel that has a white sand beach and has loungers and a great view of the sea and the marina. It is a very fancy hotel in the midst of downtown Aqaba and many of these upscale hotels provide a sharp contrast to the downtown shops and neighborhoods which look to be pretty run down and poor.
Jordan is an Arab nation said to be upper middle class, but 14% live in poverty, and there is high unemployment. Jordan shares 200 miles with Syria. The country has been very accepting of Syrian refugees that escaped the violence of Syria. Refugees here do not live in camps but fit into lower end jobs that the locals don't want. I have read the Jordan population has increased by 10% and that alone has placed a strain on water, schools, and resources.
On the beach, we ordered margaritas! Jay is still conducting his worldwide search for the perfect margarita. The word that best describes it is "Bad". I mean they looked frosty and pretty but tasted like pure lime juice…. desperately needing some sugar. Now all I could think of is all that sugar we have in our cabin. The other day Jay asked Jomar (our butler) for some more sugar and we now have at least 100 packets of sugar for his coffee. I guess he thinks Jay really likes his coffee sweet. Oh by the way the margaritas were 33 euros that means they were about $18.00 each.!!!!!!!! Fortunately we didn't have to pay for lounge chairs on the beach that included a bottle of water, a cold washcloth and a free shot of fruit juice made with bananas, strawberry, and what looked like and tasted like some aloe vera.
Tomorrow we are back in Egypt..Good Night
By Jain
It is a beautiful day here in Jordan. The temperature is about 90 degrees, sunny and literally no wind. We decide not to go to Petra because the trip costs $300.00 each and it takes about 2 ½ hours on a bus one way. Our decision is primarily based on the fact we both want to come back to to Israel and Jordan to spend more time exploring these countries on our own. Of course we could have arranged our own transportation to Petra but our Concierge said he didn't recommend it. Although Jordan is one of the safest countries in the middle east (which may not be saying a lot) he reminds us there aren't any AAA services in the desert and if you are in a car that happens to have any sort of mechanical breakdown you might be out of luck. You may be there on a lonely highway for hours with buzzards circling above and miss the ship. Of course what would be worse is missing the night's ship entertainment.
Instead we decide to go into Aqaba city to look around and go to one of the beautiful beaches. We choose the Kempiniski Hotel that has a white sand beach and has loungers and a great view of the sea and the marina. It is a very fancy hotel in the midst of downtown Aqaba and many of these upscale hotels provide a sharp contrast to the downtown shops and neighborhoods which look to be pretty run down and poor.
Jordan is an Arab nation said to be upper middle class, but 14% live in poverty, and there is high unemployment. Jordan shares 200 miles with Syria. The country has been very accepting of Syrian refugees that escaped the violence of Syria. Refugees here do not live in camps but fit into lower end jobs that the locals don't want. I have read the Jordan population has increased by 10% and that alone has placed a strain on water, schools, and resources.
On the beach, we ordered margaritas! Jay is still conducting his worldwide search for the perfect margarita. The word that best describes it is "Bad". I mean they looked frosty and pretty but tasted like pure lime juice…. desperately needing some sugar. Now all I could think of is all that sugar we have in our cabin. The other day Jay asked Jomar (our butler) for some more sugar and we now have at least 100 packets of sugar for his coffee. I guess he thinks Jay really likes his coffee sweet. Oh by the way the margaritas were 33 euros that means they were about $18.00 each.!!!!!!!! Fortunately we didn't have to pay for lounge chairs on the beach that included a bottle of water, a cold washcloth and a free shot of fruit juice made with bananas, strawberry, and what looked like and tasted like some aloe vera.
Tomorrow we are back in Egypt..Good Night
Sent from my Galaxy Tab® S2
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