Dead Sea.
Dahab, Egypt
On Wednesday, Jerry (South Korean roommate), Hydir (Pakastani traveler) and I all went out for breakfast in Amman before Jerry and I headed east towards the Dead Sea. First you take a local taxi to the local mini-bus station. Almost the moment you arrive, drivers (or handlers?) ask you if you're going to the Dead Sea and quickly put you on the right bus. Mini-buses are like over sized mini-vans and seat around 10-15 people. You pay a flat rate to take it, regardless of where you get off. In our case, the bus was going to a town called South Shuna, where we'd have to switch buses to travel to the Dead Sea. Other then some incredibly loud Arabic music on the way to South Shuna, the trip was rather uneventful. There's not much to the Jordanian landscape outside of Amman. It's mostly just rolling, rocky and barren. In South Shuna, some local guy made sure we got on the right mini-bus which was bound for a town called Suweimeh, which is about as close as the buses will take you to the Dead Sea unless you're fortunate enough to actually get a specific "Dead Sea" mini-bus, which we weren't.
Somewhat to our surprise, the mini-bus just dropped Jerry and I off on the side of the freeway, just outside the town of Suweimeh. Basically, the bus doesn't go any further and did a U-turn after we had gotten out. I had been told that we would have to hitchhike a little bit, but I didn't realize that we'd just get dropped off in the middle of the desert on the side of the freeway.
About 200m south along the highway was a military checkpoint. They have these scattered throughout the Middle East and while they look rather imposing, I'm not exactly sure what they are looking for. Most times I just show my passport and they wave us through. Jerry and I walked up to the checkpoint and told the office we were trying to get to "Amman Beach". He checked out passports, waved us through, then basically told us to either wait by the side of the road for a lift, or to start walking the 5km to the resort. Waiting sounded better so Jerry and I started trying to get a ride from the passing cars. After the first half dozen or so cars didn't stop, I'm pretty sure the checkpoint officer said something to the next car because it started to pull over to pick us up before we even had our thumbs out. Turns out it was two Jordanian guys in their 20's trying to Amman Beach as well. So Jerry and I piled into their lime green, white-shag-carpet-on-the-dashboard, blue lights everywhere, sedan and headed south.
Most people who visit the Dead Sea from Amman go through Amman Beach. It's a resort complex that has swimming pools, deck chairs, a small beach and most importantly showers. The water is so salty that you absolutely need to take a shower after you've gone swimming, otherwise you'll be left with a salty residue all over your skin. (Some hardcore travelers travel a few kilometers south of Amman Beach to a natural spring, which allows them to rinse off the salt water for free. I am not such a hardcore traveler.)
We paid 5 JD each to get into the resort, which sounded like a deal when the person initially said it was 8 JD each, we later learned that it should have been 4 JD from our hotel receptionist who seemed particularly furious that we had paid 5 JD. Apparently the ticket they gave us actually said "4 JD" in Arabic on it. We were supposed to have been given a green ticket in English, but instead got a white ticket in Arabic. For what it's worth, I can now read numbers in Arabic... /sigh
Swimming in the Dead Sea is pretty much how people describe it... You just float. It doesn't really look all the different, and as you walk into the water it doesn't feel any different, but when you actually go to lie down in the water, you notice that you just float, without any assistance. You can lie on your back in a sort of recliner position and just float along. Swimming on your chest is sort of hard because your ass and most of your legs are out of the water. Oh, and don't get any of the water in your eyes because it just stings really badly!
For some strange reason, a few school girls, who were part of a much larger school trip, took a liking to throwing small stones and rocks at Jerry. He didn't seem to mind and in fact seemed to enjoy a bit of the attention, but I did find it odd how close a few of the rocks actually came to hitting him. Strange. Out of the water and on the beach, we spent some time actually hanging out with the students. One boy in particular by the name of Elliot, was extremely chatty and kept wanting to talk. That quickly drew over more students and before long we had a little gathering on the beach. While the conversation was all pretty basic, I was surprised when the young female teacher came and started talking with me.
She couldn't have been much older then her early 20's and very quickly the conversation turned towards Israel and America. She didn't really have much to say, but I do remember her just straight out telling me that she "Hates Israel." and "Hates America for helping Israel." Seemed like a rather strong position that I didn't want to explore while standing there on the beach in my swimming shorts. However, it does go to show just how complicated the situation is in the Middle East. Here is a young female teacher, in charge of teacher a bunch of young kids, and the third or fourth thing out of her mouth after meeting me was about Israel. I would have loved to have spent more time talking to her and listening to your views, but it was neither the time nor the place and with Jerry on his rather insane schedule, we showered off the salt water and started trying to hitch a ride back to Amman.
While it didn't take all that long before a driver stopped to pick Jerry and I up, I have to wonder if maybe I could have gotten a ride somewhat sooner on my own. You see, as nice as Jerry was, he looked rather funny in his outfit. Picture the following. South Korean male, about 5'6", brown leather Spanish cowboy hat, backpack on his chest (reverse style), white tennis shoes and jeans rolled up just above his ankles for some reason. Again, super nice guy buy maybe not the most optimal look when trying to hitch a ride in the Jordanian desert. Anyways, one van did stop and the driver drove both of us (and several other people that he had picked up along the way) back to South Shuna. I'm pretty sure only Jerry, myself and another couple ended up paying the guy. The 3-4 locals in the back just hoped out and said thank you. While I don't mind getting paying a bit to help out, he ended up charging us more for that short leg then the amount both mini-buses cost us to get there! Sometimes I wonder how much I should argue with people over such relatively small amounts, but it gets a little tiring when you see a bunch of locals hop out of the back and go on their way, while the driver keeps telling the 4 Westerners to each pay 1 JD for a ride that the min-bus does for about 0.2 JD.... /sigh
From South Shuna, it didn't take all that long to catch the mini-bus back to Amman, then a taxi back to our hostel. Jerry packed up and was on his way out as I went for a little stroll and came across a really nice cafe that was mentioned in Lonely Planet. This was one of those half cafes, half bookstores and could easily have been in San Francisco. What was particularly interesting to me was the big "Green Mountain Coffee Roasters" sign that hung out front. For those not in the know, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is to New England what Starbucks is to Seattle. When I went to school in Vermont, everyone stopped at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters each morning for, well, coffee. Apparently, "Books C@fe" in Amman is the exclusive distributor of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters for Amman... Go figure. I travel half way around the world and come across a cafe that prides itself on selling coffee from Vermont. Incidentally, they had really good thin crust pizza there as well, so I was happy after dinner that night.
Normally I wouldn't recount a trip to an internet cafe, but after dinner while checking email and what not I couldn't help but laugh at the situation I found myself in. The cafe had arranged all the computer terminals in such a way as to ensure that each computer screen could not be seen by another user. However, from where I was sitting back in the corner, I could see the screen of the person that was in front of me (though sitting perpendicular to me). Honestly, I never care to look at what other people are doing, but in this case, I couldn't help but notice the fact that said user was looking at some serious gay porn . Each time someone walked even close to his terminal, he'd quickly switch browser windows to something else, then switch back as the people walked away. (Even though none of those people would be able to see his screen unless they leaned over the top of the monitor.) This guy was definitely looking at some rough sites and as I got up to leave, I just had to give him that "I know what you've been up to." look. Needless to say he was a little startled when I got up from behind him and I suspect that he'll be a bit more prudent where he sits the next time he surfs gay porn... Lord/Allah knows how well that would go over in Jordan...
Kenny
On Wednesday, Jerry (South Korean roommate), Hydir (Pakastani traveler) and I all went out for breakfast in Amman before Jerry and I headed east towards the Dead Sea. First you take a local taxi to the local mini-bus station. Almost the moment you arrive, drivers (or handlers?) ask you if you're going to the Dead Sea and quickly put you on the right bus. Mini-buses are like over sized mini-vans and seat around 10-15 people. You pay a flat rate to take it, regardless of where you get off. In our case, the bus was going to a town called South Shuna, where we'd have to switch buses to travel to the Dead Sea. Other then some incredibly loud Arabic music on the way to South Shuna, the trip was rather uneventful. There's not much to the Jordanian landscape outside of Amman. It's mostly just rolling, rocky and barren. In South Shuna, some local guy made sure we got on the right mini-bus which was bound for a town called Suweimeh, which is about as close as the buses will take you to the Dead Sea unless you're fortunate enough to actually get a specific "Dead Sea" mini-bus, which we weren't.
Somewhat to our surprise, the mini-bus just dropped Jerry and I off on the side of the freeway, just outside the town of Suweimeh. Basically, the bus doesn't go any further and did a U-turn after we had gotten out. I had been told that we would have to hitchhike a little bit, but I didn't realize that we'd just get dropped off in the middle of the desert on the side of the freeway.
About 200m south along the highway was a military checkpoint. They have these scattered throughout the Middle East and while they look rather imposing, I'm not exactly sure what they are looking for. Most times I just show my passport and they wave us through. Jerry and I walked up to the checkpoint and told the office we were trying to get to "Amman Beach". He checked out passports, waved us through, then basically told us to either wait by the side of the road for a lift, or to start walking the 5km to the resort. Waiting sounded better so Jerry and I started trying to get a ride from the passing cars. After the first half dozen or so cars didn't stop, I'm pretty sure the checkpoint officer said something to the next car because it started to pull over to pick us up before we even had our thumbs out. Turns out it was two Jordanian guys in their 20's trying to Amman Beach as well. So Jerry and I piled into their lime green, white-shag-carpet-on-the-dashboard, blue lights everywhere, sedan and headed south.
Most people who visit the Dead Sea from Amman go through Amman Beach. It's a resort complex that has swimming pools, deck chairs, a small beach and most importantly showers. The water is so salty that you absolutely need to take a shower after you've gone swimming, otherwise you'll be left with a salty residue all over your skin. (Some hardcore travelers travel a few kilometers south of Amman Beach to a natural spring, which allows them to rinse off the salt water for free. I am not such a hardcore traveler.)
We paid 5 JD each to get into the resort, which sounded like a deal when the person initially said it was 8 JD each, we later learned that it should have been 4 JD from our hotel receptionist who seemed particularly furious that we had paid 5 JD. Apparently the ticket they gave us actually said "4 JD" in Arabic on it. We were supposed to have been given a green ticket in English, but instead got a white ticket in Arabic. For what it's worth, I can now read numbers in Arabic... /sigh
Swimming in the Dead Sea is pretty much how people describe it... You just float. It doesn't really look all the different, and as you walk into the water it doesn't feel any different, but when you actually go to lie down in the water, you notice that you just float, without any assistance. You can lie on your back in a sort of recliner position and just float along. Swimming on your chest is sort of hard because your ass and most of your legs are out of the water. Oh, and don't get any of the water in your eyes because it just stings really badly!
For some strange reason, a few school girls, who were part of a much larger school trip, took a liking to throwing small stones and rocks at Jerry. He didn't seem to mind and in fact seemed to enjoy a bit of the attention, but I did find it odd how close a few of the rocks actually came to hitting him. Strange. Out of the water and on the beach, we spent some time actually hanging out with the students. One boy in particular by the name of Elliot, was extremely chatty and kept wanting to talk. That quickly drew over more students and before long we had a little gathering on the beach. While the conversation was all pretty basic, I was surprised when the young female teacher came and started talking with me.
She couldn't have been much older then her early 20's and very quickly the conversation turned towards Israel and America. She didn't really have much to say, but I do remember her just straight out telling me that she "Hates Israel." and "Hates America for helping Israel." Seemed like a rather strong position that I didn't want to explore while standing there on the beach in my swimming shorts. However, it does go to show just how complicated the situation is in the Middle East. Here is a young female teacher, in charge of teacher a bunch of young kids, and the third or fourth thing out of her mouth after meeting me was about Israel. I would have loved to have spent more time talking to her and listening to your views, but it was neither the time nor the place and with Jerry on his rather insane schedule, we showered off the salt water and started trying to hitch a ride back to Amman.
While it didn't take all that long before a driver stopped to pick Jerry and I up, I have to wonder if maybe I could have gotten a ride somewhat sooner on my own. You see, as nice as Jerry was, he looked rather funny in his outfit. Picture the following. South Korean male, about 5'6", brown leather Spanish cowboy hat, backpack on his chest (reverse style), white tennis shoes and jeans rolled up just above his ankles for some reason. Again, super nice guy buy maybe not the most optimal look when trying to hitch a ride in the Jordanian desert. Anyways, one van did stop and the driver drove both of us (and several other people that he had picked up along the way) back to South Shuna. I'm pretty sure only Jerry, myself and another couple ended up paying the guy. The 3-4 locals in the back just hoped out and said thank you. While I don't mind getting paying a bit to help out, he ended up charging us more for that short leg then the amount both mini-buses cost us to get there! Sometimes I wonder how much I should argue with people over such relatively small amounts, but it gets a little tiring when you see a bunch of locals hop out of the back and go on their way, while the driver keeps telling the 4 Westerners to each pay 1 JD for a ride that the min-bus does for about 0.2 JD.... /sigh
From South Shuna, it didn't take all that long to catch the mini-bus back to Amman, then a taxi back to our hostel. Jerry packed up and was on his way out as I went for a little stroll and came across a really nice cafe that was mentioned in Lonely Planet. This was one of those half cafes, half bookstores and could easily have been in San Francisco. What was particularly interesting to me was the big "Green Mountain Coffee Roasters" sign that hung out front. For those not in the know, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is to New England what Starbucks is to Seattle. When I went to school in Vermont, everyone stopped at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters each morning for, well, coffee. Apparently, "Books C@fe" in Amman is the exclusive distributor of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters for Amman... Go figure. I travel half way around the world and come across a cafe that prides itself on selling coffee from Vermont. Incidentally, they had really good thin crust pizza there as well, so I was happy after dinner that night.
Normally I wouldn't recount a trip to an internet cafe, but after dinner while checking email and what not I couldn't help but laugh at the situation I found myself in. The cafe had arranged all the computer terminals in such a way as to ensure that each computer screen could not be seen by another user. However, from where I was sitting back in the corner, I could see the screen of the person that was in front of me (though sitting perpendicular to me). Honestly, I never care to look at what other people are doing, but in this case, I couldn't help but notice the fact that said user was looking at some serious gay porn . Each time someone walked even close to his terminal, he'd quickly switch browser windows to something else, then switch back as the people walked away. (Even though none of those people would be able to see his screen unless they leaned over the top of the monitor.) This guy was definitely looking at some rough sites and as I got up to leave, I just had to give him that "I know what you've been up to." look. Needless to say he was a little startled when I got up from behind him and I suspect that he'll be a bit more prudent where he sits the next time he surfs gay porn... Lord/Allah knows how well that would go over in Jordan...
Kenny
posted by Kenny Carruthers at 12/23/2005 05:27:00 AM
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