France to go

Sorry again for the long delay between posts — it’s tough to get a good deal of time to blog while on the road. I did keep up my journal, though, so let’s take a look at the rest of my around-the-world adventure, starting with 3 days in Bangkok, Thailand.

On the night of August 4, we took the sleeper train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok because we’d heard it would be a fun way to travel. In retrospect, we probably should have just spent the money on booking a flight. We rode in a second-class car, and I had an upper bunk while Evan had a lower one. The food was inedible, and there were no veggie options, though we had the good sense to bring some snacks. The car seemed to be infested with what looked like baby cockroaches — I squished quite a few, and saw many more scurrying about under our seats and on the walls. And sleeping on a train is no real substitute for sleeping in a bed, especially when there’s some anxiety about vermin, so we arrived in Bangkok exhausted.

We caught a cab to our hotel — the New Siam III in Banglamphu, the backpacker area, but the room wasn’t ready. To keep from falling asleep, we went for breakfast at a nearby cafe, then went downtown to buy our Japan Rail tickets. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the downtown malls, and went to visit the Ocean World Aquarium, which is conveniently located in the basement of a mall.

The underground aquarium was surprisingly expansive, and we even got to ride a glass-bottomed boat around the top of the biggest tank. We also saw the sharks and sting rays at feeding time from the tunnel that goes through their tank.

The rest of our time in Bangkok, we visited more classic sites, like the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. The palace was as extravagantly and elaborately decorated as I ever could have dreamed, though a good deal of it was off limits, and at Wat Pho, we put coins in the long row of bowls along the giant, temple-sized reclining Buddha for good luck and a long life.

We climbed up the pottery-encrusted Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn, which is the oldest temple in the city. And we spent a lot of our time traveling between sites on the express river boats, which aren’t too fast, but have good views, though the river is a scarily murky brown color, and they don’t get stuck in traffic. Still, we did take a cab across town once, and we ended up paying only a little more than we would have had we taken the sky train-express boat combo that we would have needed to get back — and got a comfy, clean, air-con ride for about $3.

Photos coming soon!

We’ve got our gear, now where do we jump?

Today Evan and I went on the Flight of the Gibbon treetop zip-line adventure. We got picked up at 8:30 a.m. and driven out of Chiang Mai, up a windy mountain road. We got outfitted with harnesses, helmets and “brakes” — V-shaped pieces of bamboo. Then our group of 8 was driven to our starting point — a platform by a tree on one side of a gorge.

After some brief instruction, which included pretty little — basically, you just hold on to the rope, keep your feet up and brake when told — we were clipped in, then sent off, one by one, hanging from a steel cable, to a platform on a tree maybe 10-seconds’ journey on the line away. When we got there, we were clipped to a safety line while we waited for the rest of the group to cross, swaying the tree each time they hopped off the platform and put their weight on the line.

Oh, I jump now? Here I go…

The day continued with us leaping between the trees, past streams and by plenty of lush greenery. There were also a few rope bridges to cross as well as 3 points where our instructors belayed us down to lower platforms — sometimes as frighteningly fast speeds for parts of the journey.

We were constantly reminded, “Legs Up!” to keep them from smashing into the landing platforms, and of course to “Braaaake!” Some group members did better than others with taking directions, but everyone ultimately got across safely, including a little kid who one the longest line got stuck halfway across because she wasn’t heavy enough to make the journey. The instructor went out and met her, the pulled her to meet the rest of us. One of our guides, Jabu, liked to cross the gaps upside down, which was quite a sight. I don’t think we could have done that in the harnesses we had, though.

Post-lunch activity: waterfall hike

When we were done with the tree course, which lasted about 2 hours, we had some lunch up by the main office. Then we were driven to a pretty waterfall that we hiked up (well, climbed the stairs to) as a group but sans guide.

Sadly, that was the last stop on our mountain adventure. We drove back to town, had some food, and shopped at the outdoor market by Tha Pae Gate. Then I got all caught up on my blogging (whew!).

Check out all of our high-flying photos (they’re quite funny) in Evan’s Facebook album.

Evan’s ready to cook!

One thing Evan and I have wanted to do for a long time is take a cooking class, and we heard that Chiang Mai was the place to do it. We signed up for a day-long course at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, and were picked up in the morning and taken to The Wok restaurant, where we were going to learn about Thai ingredients and how to put them together.

We started by taking a trip to the market, though most of the class actually stayed in the cooking demonstration room to hear about what we got to see in the market. When we got back, we started on the first of our 6 dishes of the day. Unfortunately, we wolfed almost all of the food down so fast that we didn’t didn’t get any good photos of it. Oops. Or should I say, burp?

Our first dish was tom yam soup, which is a sweet/sour/spicy prawn soup. Since I don’t eat fish and Evan doesn’t like prawns, though, we made tofu and chicken versions, which turned out splendidly. We just added some ginger, lemongrass, mushrooms, tomatoes, shallots, chili peppers, cilantro and lime to our broth, and we had a delicious and quick soup. Definitely one to try at home — and we got a recipe book so we could recreate the dishes we learned to make.

The next dish was fish cakes. Evan made the fish version while I made a tofu version that came out really well. All I did was mash up tofu with some soy sauce, egg, tapioca flour, green beans, kaffir lime leaves and palm sugar than toss it into oil in a wok. The instructor made some sweet and sour cucumber sauce to go along with them, too.

Next, we made green curry, which was our most complicated dish because we had to separate the oil out of the the coconut cream in our wok, which wasn’t exactly an obvious process. Thank goodness our instructors told us when to leave it, turn up or turn down the heat. As with most of our dishes, our instructor encouraged us to use lots of chilies, so it turned out super spicy. It was still really delicious, though, and we also had a chance to let it cool off while we cooked some pad thai.

I’ve done pad thai before at home, and as expected, it was a bit of a scramble to get everything cooked  the right amount. Still, it was relatively easy, and for the veggie version, instead of fish sauce I used soy sauce, and instead of oyster sauce I used mushroom sauce. The pad thai and curry lunch with rice was delicious and filling, and it was interesting to compare how the dishes could turn out a bit differently even with the same ingredients and the same instructions.

After lunch, we finished up by making a chicken salad — I made mine with mushrooms — which was my least favorite dish of the day, though still quite tasty. And we made a dessert of boiled, dyed-red water chestnuts, which we coated in tempura flour before boiling. They turned out translucent and ruby-like, and we at them in coconut cream and sugar syrup with ice to keep it cool. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did — it was a great, refreshing end to a thoroughly delectable yet stuffing day.

Who wants to come over to dinner when we get back to LA?

We left Ko Samui on July 31 from its adorable, superbly landscaped, hut-based airport. It’s really very charming. We flew through Bangkok to Chiang Mai, where we rode in the back of a pickup truck, also known as a songthaew here, to our hotel — Your House Guest House — where we got a nice, big room with a big bathroom, air conditioning and a balcony for about $21. The only drawback is that we’re right next to 2 bars, which play competing loud music until 1 or 2 a.m.

Our first order of business was getting lunch, and we went over to Aum vegetarian restaurant and used book shop for our best meal in Thailand so far — eggplant, mushroom and tofu stir fry, and khao Soi, a peanutty noodle dish that’s a northern Thai specialty. Yum!

A temple in Chiang Mai

Then, we wandered to the river, where we were hoping to catch a boat. The boat was broken, though, so we turned back and explored some of the temples that were on our way. They all had elaborate dragon banisters, lots of gold Buddhas and plenty of colorful and shiny decor.

Temple ruins, Chiang Mai

We continued our temple tour the next day, with some of the larger temples in the city center — an area surrounded by a square moat and some old and crumbling defensive walls. Once again, there were lots of big Buddhas, dragon ornaments and red and and gold decor. We even got to see some young monks chanting in the main temple, then go on a procession around the buildings carrying flowers.

Royal relic tombs, Chiang Mai

We also visited a temple out of the city center that had a royal graveyard (or at least tombs for royal relics), which consisted of a lawn full of white structures that looked like a play palace complex.

Since it looked like it’d start raining (and it did soon after), we headed to the mall to go see The Dark Night, which we’d been meaning to see for a while. The tickets? 180 Baht for the 2 of us (about $5). Thankfully, there was no intermission, though we did have to stand for the national anthem before the movie started.

It was still pouring when we got out of the movies, so we hired a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motor cab, to take us to the night bazaar. We shopped, ate and marveled at the expansiveness of the nighttime-only stores that sell everything from toys to clothes to dried fruits and more.

While walking home, though we got the surprise of the day — we saw a baby elephant and some people (its owner?) just hanging around outside of a convenience store. We didn’t go over to gawk or ask to touch it.

See more Thailand photos in Evan’s Facebook album.

Sunset on Bophut Beach

Our first stop in Thailand was an island in the gulf called Ko Samui. We stayed at the Smile House for the first two days on Bophut Beach at the north end of the island, which was a nice place, set back a bit from the beach, then we moved a bit farther out in Bophut to the Cactus Bungalows where we had a bungalow just steps from the sand.

Bophut Beach, Ko Samui

We spent the July 25 to 29 sitting on the beach, reading, napping and not going very far from our hotel. It was only on our last day on the island that we actually got out to do something — we went to Ang Thong Marine Park.

We took the Action Islanders Adventure speed boat tour, and somehow got on the slow boat. Well, the boat itself went quickly, but we had to make a stop at a neighboring island before heading off to the marine park, which was quite a bit detour. The ride between the islands was quite choppy and Evan was NOT happy — he’s not exactly a huge fan of boats or water. About 5 minutes into the ride, he turned to me and said, “I regret coming out here.” He decided to stick it out, though, even though our driver said that the trip to the marine park would be as bumpy if not more so than our first leg, and he took some Dramamine, which helped a bit.

When we got to our first stop — a cove to go snorkeling in — we relaxed on the boat for a while before going in. When we decided to put on our masks and head in, we both ended up having a good time. I was a bit scared at first, since I don’t like fish very much, but I steered clear of the biggest schools and the areas where people were throwing bread in the water, and some quite a few types of fish as well as lots of coral.

The Lagoon

Our next stop was an island with a saltwater lagoon in its middle — the island that inspired The Beach. We hiked up to a viewpoint, then hiked down to the lagoon, though you can’t go in. The hike was short, but it was on some super steep and treacherous staircases.

We then boated a short ways over to a picnic area for lunch where there were wooden swings between the beachside palms and beautiful views of other islands.

Kayaking — does the pose look familiar?

The best stop, though, was our last — kayaking. Evan and I shared a kayak, and our guide took us around a small island, going into some seaside caves on the way. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for when the guide started splashing everyone. We also stopped at a very small and quiet white sand beach to do a bit of swimming — definitely an island paradise.

Thankfully, the trip back couldn’t have been more different from the trip out — it was essentially flat, totally smooth cruising to Ko Phra Ngan. Evan said it it were always like that, boating could possibly be considered pleasant. The shorter inter-island trip was a bit bumpy, but it was pretty quick, and a one-eyed van driver took us back to our hotel. Thank goodness the sea got calmer and our activities were fun because aside from the trip over Evan did end up having fun.

Exhausted when we got back, we had a little snack, then while Evan napped, I read and napped on the beach, then had a Thai massage in a hut on the beach. It felt like I’d imagine a visit to a chiropractor would — lots of stretching and pressure — and I felt very relaxed when it was done.

Next stop: Chiang Mai.

See our photos from Ko Samui and our first days in Chiang Mai in Evan’s Facebook album.

Sorry I haven’t written in a while — the keyboards in Istanbul are a bit hard to type on because some of the letters and punctuation marks are in different places, and I just haven’t spent too much time in front of the computer lately. Good thing I’ve been writing about my days in a journal. Here are some of the highlights…

The Blue Mosque

July 13, 2008

After our adventures in Jordan, we headed over to Istanbul on a very annoyingly timed 3:30 a.m. flight, which left us with no sleep for the night and brought us into Istanbul so early in the morning, we had to wait about 5 hours for our hotel room to be ready. In our waiting time, we had breakfast at our hotel, Hotel Tashkonak, on the rooftop patio, and took a short walk through Sultanahmet, the old part of the city where the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque and plenty of the other tourist sites are. Then once our room was ready, we slept the rest of the day.

July 14, 2008

Once we were well rested, we started exploring Istanbul in earnest. We started out with the Little Aya Sofiya, which is a pretty church-turned mosque with a graveyard surrounding it and a pretty domed roof. Then we visited the tomb of a bunch of sultans, which we happened to come across. All their individual grave markers/sarcophagi were standing like little houses under a domed roof.

Next we went to the Blue Mosque, or  Sultanahmet  Mosque, which is one of the most beautiful sights in the area. It has soaring minarets, domes everywhere you look and a lovely courtyard and garden. Inside it looks like a pretty standard mosque, though it does have some nice tile work, with mostly blue floral designs on the tiles. I’m glad I bought a head scarf when I was in Egypt so I didn’t have to use a loaner.

We couldn’t go in the Aya Sofiya, which is right across from the Blue Mosque, because it’s closed on Mondays — we explored it a few days later — so we headed across the street to the Basilica Cistern, an ancient roman cistern with a hodgepodge of columns taken from across the city and a vaulted roof. There were some carp swimming around in the water, and in the far corner, there were two columns whose bases were upturned Medusa heads. The theory as to why one is on its side and the other is upside down is that the Romans, being Christians, meant to show that they were just using the blocks as building materials, not worshiping false idols.

Continuing our super-tourist day, we went to Topkapi Palace, a huge complex for the sultans and their families. The treasury had an interesting collection, with lots of rubies, emeralds and diamonds, and there were some very elaborately tiled walls in the harem. It was also neat to learn about the palace’s history, complete with scheming concubines, murdered princes and the sultan’s mother ruling the roost while the sultan walked around in silver-soled shoes.

We also walked around the hippodrome, which isn’t much to see, except for two obelisks, a column and a fountain. It functions more as a pedestrian thoroughfare and makes a pleasant place to stroll.

The Basilica Cistern

July 15, 2008

We decided to head out of the city for a day to explore the Princes’ Islands, a set of 9 Islands in the Sea of Marmara where people from Istanbul keep summer villas. The only transport allowed on the small, hilly islands are bicycles and horse cards, though there are some motorized vehicles allowed for the police, garbage men, etc.

We went to the biggest of the Islands, which we got to by ferry, and got some ice cream straight away, since it was a hot day. Then we started our walk to the monastery up in the mountains, which ended up being more of a church than a monastery, but maybe we missed something. The walk was really lovely — the big houses had huge gardens, and because of all the trees, we had lots of shade. There were also great views of the sea, the other islands and Istanbul.

When we finally got up to the monastery area, we had a nice lunch, explored the small Greek Orthodox church where people had left little trinkets, like watches and jewelry, in hopes that their prayers would be answered. There were also lots of white bags, papers and cloths tied to the trees and bushes on the path leading up the hill, which apparently also symbolize prayers.

July 16, 2008

We woke up to rain for the first time on our trip, but by the time we had breakfast and set up a lunch date with a friend who lives in Istanbul, it had stopped. Before lunch, we decided to tour Aya Sofiya, which is much more impressive from the inside than the outside. Outside, it looks old and staid compared to the blue mosque, but inside, it’s all gold and there are some incredibly detailed mosaics in its gallery. It would have been amazing to see it in its original glory, with its large open spaces and soaring dome, which were unfortunately obstructed for us by scaffolding put up for reconstruction work.

By the time we were ready to leave, there was a thunder-and-lighting storm raging outside, so we ran to the nearby tram stop, getting soaked in the process, and trammed and funiculared to Taksim to meet our friend who took us out to a lunch of traditional Turkish food. We had dishes like “The Imam Fainted,” a tasty cold eggplant dish, dolmas, stuffed peppers and pureed eggplant. I also had Turkish coffee with dessert — strong and bitter as expected.

July 17, 2008

It was time to see something of contemporary Istanbul, so we went to the Istanbul Modern, a great museum that showcases Turkish modern art. We were introduced to plenty of talented artists we’d never heard of, and toured the temporary “Design Cities” show, which showcased important works from cities that influenced popular design over the years. The museum also has a fantastic cafe overlooking the Bosphorus, though it seems like just about every restaurant in Istanbul has some sort of water view, which is always a nice touch. The rest of the day’s tour included a trip up Galata Tower and down the Kamodo Steps.

July 18, 2008

We thought we might avoid it because of our crazy experience at the bazaar in Egypt, but we ended up going to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market anyway, and boy were we surprised. It wasn’t crowded, the shopkeepers didn’t hassle us too much, and the shops had some really interesting and colorful items. We also went in to a bunch of mosques, though at this point they all started looking a bit the same.

July 19, 2008

We had a nice relaxing day of sleeping in, then sat at a tea garden eating ice cream and baklava and playing checkers for most of the afternoon. Evan beat me every time.

July 20, 2008

We went to tour Dolmabahce palace — another home for the sultan’s, though newer than Topkapi and in a European style. The grounds were beautiful, with manicured gardens, fountains and little ponds with lily pads and an expansive view of the Bosphorus. Touring the interiors of the buildings, though, we needed to go as a group with a guide. The groups were pretty big, and the palace’s big rooms echoed and made it hard to hear our guide. We also kept running into the group ahead of us. Still, the building was impressive, with huge chandeliers, carved ceilings and a lot of trompe l’oeil painting. Touring the harem, our guide did a better job, though we had some rogue tourists who kept arguing with her and trying to strike out on their own.

After getting lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near Taksim, we took the metro to Levent to go to the mall. The Kanyon mall was huge, modern and gorgeous. It’s an indoor-outdoor multi-level space with posh shops, curving walkways and a spherical movie theater. We shopped a bit and saw Hancock — with an intermission that included commercials (not cool to interrupt a movie so abruptly like that and then make us watch even more ads!).

July 21, 2008

Lazy day lounging at the hotel, researching Thailand and reading. We ordered in food with the help of the super-nice staff at the hotel and spent a lot of time using their free lobby computer.

View of the Bosphorus

July 22, 2008

It was time to get out of the city again and go on a Bosphorus tour. We caught the ferry at Eminonu and took it up to Anadolou Kavagi, where we climbed up a hill to a ruined castle, where we had great views of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, which were both a  tranquil turquoise blue.

When we got down from the mountain, we caught a bus down to Kanlica where we had a strait-side lunch featuring the town’s delicious yogurt, which really was better than any of the yogurt we had elsewhere in Turkey. We watched plenty of ships passing by and even saw a dolphin. By the time we were done with lunch, it was too late to visit any of the other sites we’d hoped to get to — just about everything around Istanbul closes at 4 or 4:30 — so we hopped on another bus to Uskudar, then took the ferry back to Eminonu.

We walked along the coast back to our hotel, passing swimmers and sunbathers on the rocks (there’s no beach there).

July 23, 2008

One of Evan’s brother’s friends who we’d met for drinks earlier in the week played tour guide for us all day. She brought us to a Greek Orthodox neighborhood where we visited a church and an impressive large high school on top of a steep hill. We also toured Bosphorus University, which as its name suggests has some beautiful views, then had a long and relaxing lunch at a waterfront cafe in Ortakoy.

We spent the rest of our day in Istiklal, hanging out in a cafe reading while avoiding some rain, then going out for a makeup birthday dinner, since in Jordan we never had one, at a rooftop restaurant.

July 24, 2008

With our flight to Thailand in the evening, we had one last day to spend in Istanbul and I knew what I wanted to do — go to a hammam/Turkish bath. Evan didn’t want to come, so he went on his own errands while I headed to the Cemberlitas Hammam, right near the Grand Bazaar. The Hammam dates back to the 1500s, and the men’s side is supposed to be grander than the women’s, though it was still a neat experience.

The main bathing room has a warm raised central platform, where most of the activity takes place. I started out relaxing there in my bath sheet while others were getting bathed around me, staring up at the small circular skylights in the pink domed ceiling, and soon an attendant came in to give me my bath. There was lots of water, soap and scrubbing with a loofah mitten. There was also a bit of a massage and I also had my hair washed in an adjacent alcove. The most surprising part of the experience, though, was that the attendants don’t really wear much clothing. Like only bikini bottoms. The guide book did not prepare me for that — I thought I was the only one who was going to be exposed.

Well, I chalked this one up to being an interesting cultural experience, and I despite some initial anxiety, ended up enjoying myself and feeling squeaky clean and relaxed by the time I was done.

Evan and I spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Dervish Tea Garden, drinking tea and playing backgammon. I won every time.

When it was time to finally leave, we had a nice time at the airport, hanging out in the Turkish Airways lounge, which was really nice (we somehow managed to fly business class to Thailand — our longest flight!). There was a business centers with computers to use, a big dining/drinking area, a separate kids’ room, a TV lounge and a sleeping lounge. The flight itself was fine — we both slept most of the way — though Turkish Airways has the worst business class food I’ve ever had, worse than most economy meals I’ve had. There were at least huge TVs, and on their flight monitor, we could check out the front and rear views from the airplane — it was quite cool to see it approach the airport and land!

Check out our Istanbul photos in Evan’s Facebook album.

Yup, that sand-bottle says “Happy Bearthday”

July 7 we drove down to Petra on the windy, hilly and at times very scenic King’s Highway to stay at the Movenpick resort and celebrate our joint birthdays July 8 (yup, we share the day… Evan’s 5 hours older than me).

We got up early on the 8th to try to beat the heat a bit, but had to do a few things, like get more cash in town, before we could get to the main event of the day — exploring Petra. When we finally got our tickets, it was already quite warm, but much of the path down to the site was in shady canyons, so we felt like we were doing fine. We walked past carvings in the gorge, and got more and more excited to get to finally see Petra’s famed Treasury as we continued our descent. Finally, we reached the end of the narrow canyon and lo and behold, the Treasury was right in front of us — a giant, pillared building hewn out of the pink rock.

The Treasury at Petra (look familiar from Indiana Jones?)

We walked on further, past elaborate tombs, an amphitheater and other grand structures carved into the sandstone. We made it all the way to the center of the ancient Nabataean town before I started feeling ill. I hadn’t been able to eat much since my stomach troubles the day we went to the dead sea, and though I was trying to drink plenty of water and electrolyte drinks, they didn’t seem to be enough.

We started the long walk back in the midday sun, trying to find any shade we could, and finally got a horse carriage to take us up the last long, completely exposed stretch. When we got back to the hotel, Evan called a doctor, who insisted on taking me to his clinic to get IV fluids and antibiotics since my blood pressure was very low. He struggled to get the IV in, which was quite painful, and the doctors weren’t explaining everything they were doing as I lay on the bed in their un-air-conditioned clinic, which made me a bit anxious.

Evan sat by my side, held my hand and read me stories from the Neil Gaiman book we brought along (Smoke and Mirrors, which is really good, by the way) and I was sent back to the hotel about four hours later, IV setup still in my hand because I still needed another dose that evening.

Somehow, I also managed to lose my sunglasses somewhere between the security checkpoint and our room on the way in from Petra… we looked everywhere trying to find them, but to no avail. I bought a new pair in Aqaba.

We had a quiet birthday dinner courtesy of room service, and Evan even had a cake made for us — it was strawberry shortcake decorated with an assortment of fruit. The doctor came to see me shortly before midnight to give me another dose of IV antibiotics, and he brought me a birthday present, a decorative sand jar that had my name and camels on one side and “Happy Bearthday” on the other.

Petra by night

The next day, I felt much better and we took it easy, taking a small drive to “Little Petra,” another gorge with carved-out structures. We made it back into Petra at night to experience the walk down to the treasury by candlelight, which was really nice. It was still warm, but not too hot, and the candles glowing amber in paper bags lined with sand gave a wonderful ambiance to the place. Evan and I even saw a shooting star on our walk out.

On the 10th, we got up early to get to Petra before the sun — when it opened at 6 a.m. We had the place to ourselves. Even the shopkeepers and donkey and camel guides were still asleep (many of them just sleep right there in Petra, on cots or mats outside or in caves). We explored the East Cliff and took the staircase hike up to the High Place of Sacrifice, which gave us some great views.

That afternoon we went down to Aqaba, on the Red Sea, which is probably Jordan’s most beautiful and scenic town, but with the temperatures soaring well over 100 degrees, it was too hot to do much of anything, and we headed back up to Madaba on the 11th to relax before we head off to Istanbul.

We didn’t make it to Wadi Rum to go camping in the desert because I’m still not feeling 100% better, but Jordan has been an amazing place to travel and I’d love to come back to spend more time here.

You can see all our photos of Petra in Evan’s Facebook gallery.

July 6, we went to Hammamat Ma’in and the Dead Sea.

Going under the hot waterfall at Hammamat Ma’in

Hammamat Ma’in is a hot spring complex off a windy road with views of the Dead Sea. We got past the gates, where there’s a hotel and spa (which are both closed and apparently everything by them is off limits), parked, and were directed to the main attraction — a hot waterfall.

We walked up the steps to the caves behind the waterfall and found two men sitting in the steam who told us that the water up there is too hot to go in. On the lower tiers, under the falling water, the temperature was a bit cooler, but not much. We were only able to stay in the water for a few minutes before getting too hot.

I went in wearing my shirt and Evan’s shorts since there were some families also in the water, and the women were just going in wearing all their clothing, veils included.

There was also another waterfall we had access to, but nobody was swimming in it because it was even hotter than the one we went in. Our guidebook promised nice walks through the gorge, which we were hoping to do, but we were turned back by guards every time we tried to explore farther than the main waterfall, which was a bit disappointing.

Evan covered in Dead Sea mud

After the hot springs, we drove on a winding road down to the lowest place on earth — the Dead Sea. We got day passes to the Marriott resort, and went down to the beach to slather ourselves in dead sea mud, bake in the heat, and float around in the seriously salty water, which didn’t feel as slimy as I remembered from my trip to Israel 10 years ago.

When we were done by the sea, we had some lunch at a Champion’s sports bar, which felt eerily like being back in the U.S., then hung out by one of the three pools.

If you’ve been following my Twitter or Facebook updates, you should know that this is the day that my dehydration problems started — a rather uncomfortable combo of a stomach bug and not being able to absorb enough water, which resulted in spending the afternoon in a clinic getting IV fluids and antibiotics two days later… on both Evan’s and my birthday. More on that soon.

To check out more photos of us at Hammamat Ma’in and the Dead Sea, check out Evan’s Facebook gallery.

Flying to Jordan on Royal Jordanian (very nice!)

We arrived in Jordan yesterday afternoon and immediately felt more at home than in Cairo. The visa process was a snap, the passport control lines were short and we had our bags and a rental car pretty quickly. Our hotel in Madaba, a small town not far from the capital, Amman, was easy to find, even when using a map without many street names labeled. Actually, it’s been easy to get around everywhere, since the exits are clearly marked and the roads are well maintained.

Mosaic map of the Holy Land in Madaba

We spent the afternoon exploring Madaba, which is known for its Byzantine mosaics. We visited the Church of St. George to see the mosaic floor map of the Holy Land from the 6th century A.D. (I think), then went to another site nearby to see a collection of very detailed mosaics from other ancient churches and homes, many of which were incredibly large, intact and vibrant.

The mosque in Madaba

We also visited the town mosque — a new pretty building with a gold dome from the outside that’s actually painted a pale pink on the inside. It also had some impressively large chandeliers.

The North Theater, Jerash

Today we headed north to see the Roman ruins at Jerash and the crusades-era castle at Ajloun. Jerash was absolutely amazing — it’s been restored so that many of the main public areas in the town are intact, and there’s plenty to see on the huge site, including triple-arched gates, a hippodrome, two theaters (which they still use for concerts), 8 ruined churches and temples, and impressive oval courtyard surrounded by columns, and a long main road, the cardo, also lined with columns.

Ajloun Castle

After Jerash, we headed west through the mountains to Ajloun, where a castle sits atop a high peak. We explored the vast rooms, saw some great views from the top of the towers and had fun exploring the many hallways, doorways and other areas open to visitors.

See more pictures in Evan’s Facebook Gallery.

Thanks for being patient with us — it’s taken a while to get a decent combination of USB ports and internet access for us to upload our photos. Evan put most of our Egypt ones up on Facebook, and he’ll be uploading them on his site soon, too, when he can. You may have also noticed that I updated my previous trip posts to include a few photos.

Check out our photos:

• Egypt Part 1
• Egypt Part 2

Sunset over Cairo from the Nile Hilton

Where we left off, June 30, Evan and I had a bit of a rough day in Cairo. It took us a long time to hail a taxi into the city from near our hotel, which was in the suburb of Mohandisseen, and about 10 minutes into our ride our cab was rear-ended. Being hit from behind, while we were stopped, forced us into the car in front of us, and then we were hit again from behind, most likely because the car that hit us first got hit again. It was quite a shock, but nobody got hurt, thankfully. It did, however, put a damper on our day.

The cab driver did manage to get us to our stop — a metro station only about 2 blocks away from where we were hit — and without much time to recuperate, we headed underground to figure out Cairo’s metro system. There are only two lines, so it was pretty easy, but everyone pushes to buy tickets and get on the train, though nobody seems to rush up and down the escalators like they do in London.

We finally arrived at the Coptic quarter where we relaxed for a bit, then visited the beautiful Coptic Museum, which was housed in an impressive building with ornate carved-wood ceilings and had a nice collection of stone carvings, textiles and books.

We wandered around the walled in Coptic quarter for a bit after we were done with the museum, but weren’t able to see much since it was after 4 — closing time for most of the attractions there.

To unwind from our stressful day, we went up to the rooftop bar at the Nile Hilton to grab a drink and watch the sunset over the Nile, then had a nice dinner at a great Lebanese restaurant, Sabaya, in the Intercontinental.

Alexandria, Egypt

We were feeling a litle overwhelmed in Cairo with all the noise and traffic, so we decided to head to Alexandria July 1. We took the train, which was nice and quick and air conditioned. While we were waiting on the platform, though, we saw something new — trains would come in on further platforms, and tons of passengers would be in such a hurry to get out that they would exit the wrong side, jumping down onto the tracks to scramble over to and climb up on another platform.

In Alexandria, we were happy to be able to walk to the center of town from the train station and found a nice little budget hotel right on the sea. We were 5 floors up and had a balcony with a great view of the coast and an accompanying sea breeze.

Fort Qaitbey

After getting some lunch at a rather touristy pizza shop, we walked west down the coast to Fort Qaitbey, which sits on the site of the old pharos/lighthouse of Alexandria, and was apparently made with some pieces of its ruins. The fort was picturesque and well-preserved, with great views of the city. It looked like a stylized fairy-tale castle and had lots of corridors, walks and rooms open to explore.

We stayed at the fort until closing time, then walked back down the corniche to our hotel where we watched the sunset from our balcony.

Biblioteca Alexandria

The next day, July 2, we visited the catacombs, Pompey’s Pillar and the Biblioteca Alexandria.

At the catacombs, we descended a spiral staircase surrounding a central pit - where bodies were lowered down — and then got to explore the underground world that was started as a family tomb in the 2nd century A.D. There was a room for the family to dine to mourn/celebrate their dead relatives, and there were plenty of crpyts to wander past in the maze of chambers. There were also some carvings and murals of Egyptian, Greek and Roman funerary practices and myths, like Isis and Osiris, and Hades and Persephone.

After our time underground — where we were the only tourists — we headed back up to the sunlight and down the street to see Pompey’s Pillar, the only roman remain left standing and intact in all of Alexandria. The pillar was monumental, but everything around it was in ruins. There was an underground library to explore, which was neat, and there were also some sphinxes brought in from Heliopolis. There was also supposedly a Nilleometer, and though we saw the sign for it, we couldn’t discern anything in the vicinity that could be used to measure the depth of the Nile.

We walked back to town and headed to the east end of the coast and to the library — Biblioteca Alexandria — the iconic disc-shaped building meant to be the modern verson of ancient Alexandria’s famed library, which was completely destroyed. As striking as the building is from the outside, looking like a UFO, the inside proves even grander, with a massive, open floor plan with tiered levels, plenty of computers and many different museum exhibits. We stayed until 7 p.m., closing time, enjoying the quiet, the air conditioning and the beautiful modern surroundings.

Today, July 3, we headed down the corniche once again, this time to seek out a juice bar which our guidebook said has the best mango juice. Ever. Well, I’m no mango juice connoisseur, but the pulpy juice was deliciously sweet and fresh and made a great breakfast. The juice bar was also quite a spectacle, entirely decorated with fruits, outside and in. It smelled fantastic.

We didn’t do much else in Alexandria save for heading to the train station to make our way back to Cairo. We found a nice little hotel downtown called the Hotel Osiris, and we took a sunset felucca ride on the Nile before a nice, relaxing dinner — a great way to spend our last night in town.

Tomorrow we’re off to Jordan to have more adventures… and hopefully we’ll be able to post some photos, too.

King Zoser’s pyramid at Saqqara

June 29:

Today, Evan and I went to Saqqara, Memphis and Giza. Our guide, Sahar, and a driver came to pick us up early in the morning, and we headed to Saqqara first, passing Giza along the way, to see the oldest Pyramids in Egypt. We saw the step pyramid of King Zoser, which is nearly 5000 years old, and which was almost eclipsed by the palace structure leading up to it (photo coming as soon as we are able). There were also a bunch of stray dogs, who followed our tour guide around. She usually feeds them, and today was no exception. We also went to see a tomb that had some amazing designs on the walls, and some even with the original paint.

We left the desert to head back past the “green line,” which marks the boundary between the lush irrigated land and the barren desert, and went to a carpet school. We saw people making knotted and woven carpets, and I learned how to make a knot, and made my mark on a carpet! Then, of course, we went to the shop where we looked around, got quite a sales pitch, and ultimately left without anything, though they did have some very nice carpets.

Statue of Ramses II at Memphis

Next it was off to Memphis, where we saw a few ruins and statues in an outdoor museum. The most impressive piece was a giant statue of Ramses II.

After Memphis, where the Pharaohs ruled, it was off to a papyrus store to see how the world’s first paper was made. We got to see papyrus plants, then see our guide to the store slice off the outer skins, cut the center into strips, soak the strips (which would normally take six days), arrange them in a criss-cross pattern, then press them flat (which would normally take another six days). Then we got to see the finished product, write on it, test its strength, and get it wet.

We browsed the artwork, and saw plenty of the expected Egyptian themes, as well as some Christian ones and even two Jewish ones - a Happy Hannukah one and a Ten Commandments one. We settled on a plain sheet for us to decorate with our own artwork.

The Sphinx and a pyramid

We finally made it out to Giza, bought our tickets and stepped out to see the pyramids. They were huge, as expected, and we got to stand on some of the lower steps. We opted not to go inside, because from everything we’ve read and heard, walking down a steamy claustrophobic passageway to an empty room was not worth the extra cash. Our guide took some funny photos (coming soon) of us “holding” pyramids, and at one point hung out of the window of our moving van with Evan’s camera to take a photo for us.

The one disappointment was that being at the pyramids felt like being back at the bazaar. We couldn’t turn our heads without being asked to ride a camel - “Egyptian Cadillac! Its name is Michael Jackson! No? Will you come back later?” We stayed off the camels, didn’t buy any plastic pyramids, and weren’t lured by a boy yelling, “Ice! Ice!”

We also saw the Sphinx, which seemed to be home to quite a number of pigeons. There was also a great view from the Sphinx to the three pyramids in the background.

Oh, and guess what’s right in front of the Sphinx? A Pizza Hut! That must be the most scenic Pizza Hut in the world.

We ate dinner in Zamalek (a district on the island in the center of the Nile) at a restaurant called L’Aubergine. The food was good, and upstairs there was a bar packed with people watching the Euro 2008 finals (¡Viva España!). It seemed to be a bit of a Westerner’s haven.

Now we’re back at the hotel, figuring out what to do tomorrow.

Well, we’re just finishing up day 2 in Egypt, and it’s already been a bit of a wild ride. We haven’t been able to upload any photos just yet, but I have written down what we’ve done over the past two days, and we’ve included this lovely webcam photo from the hotel’s lobby computer.

June 28:

Early this morning we arrived in Cairo, about an hour or so later than planned. We got our visas from one of the banks by Immigration, and then joined the Passport Control queue. We also made the (sort of) mistake of asking one of the policeman patrolling the line about our visas, since the man at the bank said to have a policeman put them in our passports. Well, after looking a bit confused, and searching through our passports, the policeman stuck mine on one of the blank Special Modifications pages, and stuck Evan’s diagonally spanning two pages. Thankfully, it turned out not to be a problem, and we were stamped on through to the baggage claim quickly enough.

Once we grabbed our bags, we found the driver for Havana Hotel and went with him to his car. The parking lot was packed, and we were parked in. There were words, lots of honking, and we eventually got out to the craziness that is Cairo’s streets.

Two-lane roads are treated as three lanes, everyone passes from every direction, motorcyclists don’t wear helmets, and horse-and-donkey-drawn carts use the same roads as everyone else. We even saw a bicycle in the left lane of the freeway. We did manage to make it safely to the hotel, and tipped our driver what we later learned would’ve been the full fare from the airport.

In front of the Egyptian Museum

This morning, we headed out to the Egyptian Museum. The place is massive and filled to the brim with Egyptian antiquities, statues, carvings, sarcophagi, jewelry, mummies… The King Tut section was amazing, especially the gold mask, jewelry, and nested sarcophagi. Plus some of the side rooms with extra-special pieces, like Tut’s gold mask, were air-conditioned — very nice in the midday heat.

We stopped for lunch, and when we felt rested we set out for Khan El-Khalili bazaar. We spent quite a bit of time, sort of accidentally, in the non-touristy, calm southern side of the market and its surrounding neighborhood, which we liked very much. The narrow streets were full of stalls and locals doing their shopping. I bought a scarf, we didn’t get hassled, we had children say hello to us, sing, and then ask for money, but we just smiled and laughed them off.

Buying a scarf at Khan El-Khalili bazaar

Then we got a little bit lost. We started wandering further down the alley-like streets, and we got to an area full of construction shops. We decided to head back to where we came from — of course not on the same path — and wound up down an incredibly busy street, which had a traffic jam of cars, trucks, mopeds, rickshaws, donkey carts, and pedestrians. We had to walk in the road amidst all this because there were no sidewalks, and we almost got squished by a truck making a very close turn to a car. A young man made the truck stop and pulled me to safety, but it was a pretty scary moment. We ended up having to walk back the way we came, and finally found our way back to our starting point.

When we crossed over to the touristy side of the market, we were hassled and chatted up at every turn. We left the market shortly after we arrived there, feeling rather spent.