Dubai

Only a short 3-hour flight from Amman, we arrived in Dubai for a two-day layover on our way to Southeast Asia.

Our hotel, the Arabian Courtyard (a nice and affordable place by the way) was located in Dubai's old city right next to the Dubai Museum.

This ship outside the museum is a dhow, a traditional sailing vessel used along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

One might easily forget with all the western influences, but Dubai is one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Islam is the official religion here, too.

One of the mosques in Dubai's old city...

Sunset over the Dubai Creek.

Ok, so much for the historic part of Dubai. But what the city is really famous for is, of course, its insane growth and the city's modern part. And for building's such as the famous Burj Al Arab, self-proclaimed the "world's only seven-Star hotel":

It was nice to watch at night from the beach ... although even at 10pm, it was still ridiculously hot.

Next day: time for a visit at the Dubai Mall, the world's largest (of course...) shopping mall.

Just studying the floor plans can take hours.. :-)

Just in case you're not really into shopping, there are a few other entertainment options..

How about ice skating? (yes, ice skating. In the desert!)

Of maybe a visit at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo? (Yes. An aquarium. In the desert!)

By the way, notice that glass panel? It's - yes!! - the world's largest acrylic panel! Size 32 m x 8 m, weighs about 250000 kg. Another world record! Go Dubai! :-)

Ok, granted - this is a lot of fun...

But just in case you're still bored at the Dubai Mall, there's an even better highlight waiting for you at the nearby Mall of the Emirates:

Ski Dubai - an indoor ski resort!

(yes. A ski resort. In the desert!)

(And no, we actually didn't go skiing... it just can't beat the Feldberg.)

And then it was finally time for the mother of all highlights:

  THE!
  TALLEST!
  BUILDING!
  IN!
  THE!
  WORLD!!!

 Completed in 2009, Burj Khalifa is 830m (2,723 ft) high ...








...and although the observatory is only about halfway to the top, the view from up there is pretty darn amazing.

And watching the famous Dubai Fountain is nice too ... both from the top and from below. 

Last day before moving on:

No, we didn't take that picture ourselves -
it's from the NASA website... :-)

You've probably seen or heard of the Palm Jumeirah? A bunch of artificial islands right off the coast.

How crazy is that .. we had take a look.

Well, this is the view from the top floor of the Atlantis resort at the "top" of the palm...

(a pretty sleazy joint, only five stars...)

... and from the (artificial) beach, with Dubai's skyline in the background.












Did we already mention that it was HOT? Very very hot! Even the water felt like it was boiling.

So, our advise: Come and see Dubai for a day or two if you have a chance - but don't ever spend your summer vacation here, unless you want to stay in air conditioned buildings most of the time.

Time to move on - next up: Thailand!

More adventures in Jordan: Petra and Amman

Remember this scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? (with Sean Connery and Harrison Ford)

It was shot at the ancient city of Petra, the next UNESCO World Heritage Site on our route and (at least since the movie came out) probably Jordan's #1 tourist attraction.

So...


Spot the differences!


Spoiler alert: there's actually no temple and no holy grail inside. :-)

But let's step back: to get to Petra from our previous stop, the Wadi Rum desert, we had to hire our personal cab driver.

Not as expensive as it sounds: for the 2h drive, we paid 40 Jordanian Dinar (about $55), including some nice scenic stops on the way.







Entering Petra, after a short horse ride ...

... we arrived at the Siq, an amazing one-mile long canyon.

The Siq leads to Petra's most famous building, Al Khazneh (the Treasury).

From here on, the options were walking (as we did on day 1) or board a camel, as we did on day 2...

... to see more ancient tombs ....

 ... and donkeys (insert obvious joke).

Another highlight was the Monastery (Al Dier) - getting up here required climbing a flight of over 800 stairs.

If you think it looks vaguely familiar, you are right! It's a simplified version of The Treasury.

Unfortunately, it was now time to say goodbye to Angela -
she had to head back to Seattle to work. :(











We got on a bus to Jordan's capital, Amman, to explore Jordanian city life. Overall impression: an interesting mix of traditional Arabic and modern western styles and people. Brand-new shopping malls next to traditional neighborhoods.



A short hike up from our guesthouse: the view from Jabal al-Qal'a, a.k.a. the Amman Citadel.

Notice how all the houses in the city look similar? They generally use the same kind of sand-colored stones, giving the city a uniform look.

Hercules' temple (or what's left of it) is the main attraction on the Citadel grounds.



Time for some nourishment: hummus, falafel, and beans with bread at Hashim - a very affordable yet famous eatery in town. And afterwards: coffee and people-spotting at the Jafra Café.

Next up: insane temperatures in Dubai. Stay tuned...

Jordan - in the desert

After 10 days in Israel, our next destination was the neighboring Kingdom of Jordan.

Wadi Araba Border Crossing, one of only three land crossing between the two countries, connects the Israeli city of Eilat with Jordan's only coastal city, Aqaba.

This picture was taken in no man's land between the two border terminals. Felt a little weird... although Jordan and Israel have diplomatic relations since the 1994 peace treaty, you could still feel that they're not exactly close friends yet.

Again, we got fairly lucky and were able to get all the paperwork done quickly and without any problems. Some people, so we heard, get detained and questioned for several hours for no apparent reason. So we even found ourselves with a few hours of extra time in the afternoon and went snorkeling in the Red Sea. :-)

The next day, we went to see Zedane.
No, not him ... ->

Him! The guy in the middle is  Zedane Al-Zalabieh, and he organizes trips to Wadi Rum - the "Desert of Mountains".

Our tour guide on the right introduced himself as "Alex" - although he later admitted that he just picks a name that's easy to pronounce for tourists. For tour groups from Italy, for instance, he's "Luca".

So, ready for pictures from the desert? Here we go:

We reached our place for the night, Zedane's Bedouin-style camp in the middle of the desert....

... time for Sylvia and Angela to relax.

Sunset...

The amazing thing in the desert is: it's so unbelievably quiet!

Chicken, potatoes, and onions for dinner...

... and the best part of all: sleeping outside under the free sky!

Never seen so many stars before.. amazing!

<- the next morning...

The desert trip was one of the absolute highlights of our travels so far! If you ever have a chance to visit the Middle East, don't miss Jordan and the Wadi Rum desert!

Coming up next: Petra, Indiana Jones, and Amman. :-)