Planning for Egypt and Ramadan

The trip for Egypt is fast approaching and well I do like to plan everything out and then change it all. Nothing ever seems to go as planned though but it is hard for me to let go of the control I fool myself into thinking I have over things, so plan I must at least for now. I remember wanting to go to Alaska forever and planning it all out in my head down to the tiniest details and sadly being let down when the trip I went on did not live up to the image of it I had in my head. I am working on this to change and not be such a control freak but it won't be easy and won't be over night.I spend my days googling places to go , things to see and do and making lists, rearranging the lists and well you get the idea.

Ramadan- I am going to try to do it like a local and fast during the day, will see how it goes and I will keep you posted. I told everyone if they find me passed out just shove a snickers in my mouth and I should be good to go in no time, haha.

Shopping in Jordan 7-12-11

http://www.jordanjubilee.com/genjord/shopping.htm

There is a great link telling you a lot about shopping in Jordan. Personally I have not yet been to the artisan shops just the local markets. Since we are in Asia it is natural to expect everything to be made in China and while very affordable is of poor construction and low quality. Reminds me of shopping at the dollar store in america. There are some interesting and fragrant spice stalls as well as fresh produce and lovely dried fruit stands as well as roasted nuts. Among these stands are also fruit smoothie vendors that make a great fresh mango smoothie. One of my favorites has been lemon, mint and sugar cane blended with ice-very refreshing during the hot day. Also available all the normal fast food restaurants are in abundance here: Mc Donalds, burger king, hardees, KFC, popeyes, pizza hut and lil ceasars.

Wadi Rum 7-10-11

There is only one word to describe Wadi Rum desert and that is spectacular. Being from Florida I have never been to the desert, so I was doubly excited to go. The air is so dry that it feels like it reaches in and sucks out any moisture you might have in your body. If you even think about sweating it evaporates instantly, so drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated is a must They say there is hyenas in the desert but thankfully we did not see any.
The camps are run by bedouins/traditional people of the desert that used to herd sheep and goats but now are tourist guides. The women stay in the village and prepare the food and the men serve as tour guides and drive around in toyota trucks with bench seats in the back for the tourist.The bedouin camp was simple, rustic but complete with a lighted walkway to the bathroom and they had hot showers too. Dinner was simple but delicious grilled chicken, veggies and rice with soft drinks and tea/coffee. Then there is music and more tea by the fire until everyone is ready to go to sleep. The bedouin hospitality was great, they even rescued us from being stuck in the sand on 3 different occasions. We opted to sleep outside the tent, by the fire and under the stars, I feel asleep trying to count them all. The view of the stars at night was simply amazing. There were so many shooting stars throughout the evening I lost count. We then awoke at 5:30am for a short hike to watch the sunrise. If you go there in person you can haggle about the price, if you book it online the price is fixed. We got a much better rate in person and the camp only had 3 other tourists in it, which made it 7 tourist and 4 bedouins-they stayed on the perimeter of the camp to watch for hyenas etc. After our hike to watch the sunrise there was a simple but filing breakfast of tea/coffee, bread (pita like) called hobis, cheese (like laughing cow), hard boiled eggs, jams or honey and olive oil and zatar ( herbs mixed with sesame seeds). My Arabic friends were laughing at me because I mixed the zatar with my cheese and smeared it on my bread, it was good none the less, they used olive oil instead. After breakfast they took us on a 2 hour ride into the desert where we saw may huge, ancient rock formations. We even saw a few camels grazing there, they came right up to the truck, very neat.
This is a huge park and 1 day here is not nearly enough to scratch the surface. If you rent a car to drive here just make sure its a light one as our GMC envoy was to heavy and got stuck in the sand multiple times. Your cell phone wont work here no signal so it will be hard to call for roadside assistance. If you are near a camp even if you are not part of the group they will come and help you and they didn't charge us anything either. I will be back when the weather is cooler to try this adventure again. Oh hey you can even bring your snowboard and ski down a sand dune. Only problem is you have to get up to the top first and I was happy to just watch for now anyway.

The Dead Sea 7-5-11

I was invited to a BBQ at a home by the dead sea. It reminded me a lot of Florida, with its palm trees and humidity. Sitting there by the family pool, I looked across the sea to land and they told me that was Israel. It looks like you can swim across to it, in reality swimming is restricted to certain areas to prevent this. There were some scary wild cats fighting over some scraps of food, otherwise it was a quite and peaceful evening.