Egypt and Jordan Travelogue

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

2004-04-21T09:30:00.000+08:00

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a large rock formation that named after Thomas Edward (TE) Lawrence, also named Lawrence of Arabia's book. It's located just beside the main road to Wadi Rum, just south of junction to Diseh. Whether you're on a tour package or not, or with a guide or not, usually you won't be brought to Seven Pillars of Wisdom or even stop by the main road to have a look on it. The logic is that the attraction is easy to reach and see.

So keep a look up when boarding the jeep from the Desert Highway to Wadi Rum village. As we sat behind the pick-ups, so I had no way to ask the jeep driver to stop for a while when we passed through the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but it's good enough by just viewing from the moving jeep. Or else you may need to pay additional charge to visit it from Wadi Rum.

Rum Intersection at Rashdiya

2004-04-21T08:30:00.000+08:00

The taxi driver kept promoting his tour guide, and he even took out his mobile phone (yes, mobile phone on desert highway, Jordan is not undeveloped after all) to call the tour guide to discuss about the price (and may be, who knows, since he was talking in Arab language, asked for his rewards).

I had actually made a booking with Attayak Ali which recommended by Ruth's Jordan Jubilee. We opted for "A Day with the Bedouin" with overnight in desert, and visits in 4x4. It would costed us 25 JD per person if 3 person in a group or less, or 20 JD is more than 3 person. (Price has since increase - 40 JD per person for up to 2 person, 35 JD for 3 and 30 JD per person for 4 person and above).

So when the taxi driver told us the price is about 20 JD for about the same itinerary in Wadi Rum, I was still thinking it's a steal. So we ended up agreed to join the tour instead of the originally we booked. It turned out to be one of the worst we made during our whole trip in Egypt and Jordan.

The famous Rum Intersection that leads to Wadi Rum from Desert Highway at Rashdiya, with our taxi driver and his taxi.

As expected, our taxi driver dropped us at the intersection to Rum Village from Desert Highways instead of Rum Village itself. At this point, I don't think we had much choice except to join the tour guide that our taxi driver contacted. To add salt to the grain, the tour guide kept chasing us to board the pick-up without much desire to negotiate with us.

We were later taken directly to the tour guide, Mohammed's house without going through Wadi Rum's Visitors Center. But according to Lonely Planet Jordan guide book, you will be able to arrange a guide at the visitors centre based on the next available guide on the roster there.

Bus and Taxi to Wadi Rum

2004-04-21T08:00:00.000+08:00

4 of us who decided to go to Wadi Rum, that's Wei Heng, me, Tim and Chris woke up early in the morning to catch the bus to Wadi Rum.Actually we weren't so early, it was already about after 7 am. I rushed to main bus/minibus station at Ar-Reem Street, which is just a walking distance from Petra Hotel. To my surprise, there was hardly any bus in sight. What greeted me instead was few people that directed me to taxi. I tried to ask for the bus to Wadi Rum, but everybody there seems didn't know or uncertain about it. Finally a taxi drive came to me and offered to drive us to Wadi Rum for JOD 10 per taxi.

The fare was quite a bargain, Tim and I both thought so. So we happily departed in his taxi. And as you expected, but to our surprise at that time, the taxi driver started to promote his tour guides in Wadi Rum halfway into the highway.

The six lane wide Desert Highway, a surprise to me that thought such a good highway won't exists in Middle East.

Street View of Aqaba

2004-04-20T21:00:00.000+08:00

Along King Hussein St (Corniche), which runs more or less north-south along the coast through the centre of the town, and follows the Gulf of Aqaba around to the west as far as Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and to the south as far as Saudi Arabia.

At central Aqaba

A Night In Aqaba

2004-04-20T20:30:00.000+08:00

Aqaba, is just a gulf (Guft of Aqaba) from Eilat of Israel. The night view was superb. Actually, Taba of Egypt is just further down.

At a square in Aqaba, along the King Hussein Street (Corniche), the main street in Aqaba.

A corner of Aqaba Castle (Mamluk Fort), built firstly by the Crusaders in the 13th century, then by Mamluks during the reign of Sultan Qansur al-Ghuri (1510-1517). It was renovated and enlarged by the Otoomans in 1587 and 1628.

Entrance to the Aqaba Castle. We reached there at night, so it's closed. Just beside the fort was Aqaba Museum and visitor's centre.

Dinner at Aqaba

2004-04-20T20:00:00.000+08:00

After settled down and had a shower, the first thing to do of course, was to have a full dinner. The restaurants are plenty, although with English sign were more scarce. Tim, the Canadian guy we met at the immigration, joined us. The dinner costs me about JOD 1.50, plus drink of JOD 0.75 - expensive! Anyway, it's desert country after all. So expect to pay about the same for a bottle of mineral water too.

Excellent View from Rooftop of Petra Hotel

2004-04-20T19:30:00.000+08:00

It's also possible to sleep on the rooftop of Petra Hotel, for about JOD 1.00. The rooftop not very clean though, and it might getting very cold at night during winter. So sleeping bag and even camp is best to have. The rooftop however, provides great view of Aqaba and Gulf of Aqaba and its neighbouring countries.

Petra Hotel

2004-04-20T19:00:00.000+08:00

After immigration clearance, we boarded a service taxi to Aqaba town center for JOD 1 each after some bargaining. The shock that I had was that everything in Jordan was very much more expensive than in Egypt.

We headed to Petra Hotel, a very clean and comfortable hotel that has lift to each floor! Almost all foreign tourists on the ferry came to Petra Hotel together, including Wei Heng and me. We paid JOD 2.50 each for a 4 single beds' room with attached bathroom, together with Jim and Chris.

Bus to Aqaba Immigration

2004-04-20T17:30:00.000+08:00

After alighting from the ferry in Aqaba port, there was bus that brought us to Aqaba immigration building, free of charge. As only foreign tourists (not of Arab origin I believe) were allowed to alight from the ferry first before of the pack, so there were only few of us on the bus.

Jordan Visa

2004-04-20T17:00:00.000+08:00

As at our time of arrival, the 14-days tourist visa for Jordan costs ....... $0. Yes, it's free. It's a special ASEZ visa that introduced by Aqaba Special Econimic Zone Authority. All arrival by Aqaba should be able to get the visa free, which is only valid for 2 weeks. For longer period, there is a stamp on the passport that stated that you need to report to police before 14 days.

Slow Ferry really Slowwww.......

2004-04-20T16:30:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, we called the Nuweiba port ferry ticket office to check the departure time of the ferry from Nuweiba Egypt to Aqaba Jordan, we were told it's on 11 am and 12 pm for slow and catamaran (fast ferry). When we reached there, the ticket officer told us it's actually on 12 pm and 3 pm. Guess what, we thought the slower ferry should arrive about the same time with the fast catamaran as there was 3 hours gap. And it's cheaper too at USD $32 each. But it's not case. The slow ferry only departed on 2 pm! 2 hours late. And half way we can saw the fast catamaran sailed passed us.

The slow ferry carried almost everything, and it spent a lot of time loading these lorries, thus the delay.

There supposed to be a few classes of 'cabins' on the ferry. But I am not sure, because we only been asked to pay 1 price, and that's USD $32. We walked all over the ferry, virtually nobody care about our class of tickets. So we settled ourselves into this air-conditioning lounge. Here Chris from England came to join us, as we're the few foreign faces on the ferry. Beside, we also met a German guy who paid a tour agent to arrange for him. He was not happy with the arrangement, including the promised 'high speed catamaran', but ended up together on the same ferry with us.

On the roof of the ferry there was a canteen, and a lot of Arabs and Africans that seated themselves here. Basically there is few things to buy here.

The ferry we took. There was Jordan immigration on the ship where we'd submitted our passports to them, only to re-took our passports at Aqaba immigration. We also left the ferry first with other tourists before others did, so there were only few of us who took the bus that brought us from the Aqaba port to the immigration building. Here we met another nice guy from Canada Tim. So you can guess also that at the Jordan immigration, only few of us occupied all the counter.

Tip: There is money changer on the ferry itself. The rate is about the same you can get in Jordan.

Tip: Nobody will tell you that you need to submit the passport to the Jordan immigration ON the ferry. So keep a lookout. Anyway it's of no harm if you don't manage to submit it. Just wait a little while longer at Aqaba customs.

Dolphin in Red Sea Gulf of Aqaba

2004-04-20T16:00:00.000+08:00

It's possible to see Dolphin swimming around the ferry when the ferry half way to Aqaba. Too bad I noticed it too late and had too few time to get a proper shoot. But it seemed like all local passengers (although most of them didn't understand English, but we still managed to get their meaning) of the ferry knew about it, except tourist. I guess this was the only advantage of taking this slower ferry.

There was simply a lot of fish in Red Sea. Here the fishes swam around the ferry before departure.

Telephone in Egypt

2004-04-20T15:30:00.000+08:00

I purchased a phone card to call back to Malaysia at the Nuweiba immigration building for EGP 10. Talked about 1 minutes and 30 seconds, at it costs me EGP 7! Communication in Egypt really expensive. I used my Singapore mobile phone and roamed in Egypt and I was really consent with my phone bill. I really hated 1 insurance agent who called us but didn't want to hanged up the phone even though I told her I am now overseas, until I told her I had no money to chat with her! Really annoyed those insurance agents.

Goodbye Egypt

2004-04-20T15:00:00.000+08:00

Last look of Sinai of Egypt and Nuweiba port. Good bye Egypt, hope to see you again.

Nuweiba Port

2004-04-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

Nuweiba Sea Port

Waiting Area before going through the immigration. Wait here or wait in a hall after the immigration as they won't let you go to the ferry too early.

Immigration building was under renovation, so the appearance was so-so. There were special counters that specially for tourists, which were virtually no need to queue.

After immigration it's a short distance to the ferry. They arranged the bus to ferry us there, right in front of the ferry. It seemed like tourists get privileged treatment everywhere. We no need to checked in our luggages, got own counters for immigration, allowed to have a seat in the bus, and also allowed to board the ferry first.

The Way to Nuwaiba

2004-04-20T11:30:00.000+08:00

Sinai is after all a desert that filled with barren and jagged mountains and desert sand dunes.

Some part of Sinai has been declared protected area to preserve its natural environment. Right out of Dahab to the interior is Saint Katherine Protectorate.

Landmark marking arrival into Nuweiba

Service Taxi to Nuweiba

2004-04-20T10:00:00.000+08:00

We had searched for service taxi to Nuweiba yesterday night. We agreed to pay the driver EGP 30 each, as was the only person who approached us. The agreed price was for 4 person, and when Julia decided to join us, we still needed to pay the same price! Anyway, be it 4 or 5 person, the price was expensive in a non air-conditioned car.

Actually there suppose to be bus to Nuweiba in the morning, but afraid that we might not be able to catch the ferry to Jordan in time, we decided to pay more for the service taxi. To be fair, the taxi driver was responsible. He brought us to the Nuweiba port ticket office first to buy the ferry tickets. After that we boarded the taxi again, and he drove us to the entrance of the port. The distance was not that far, but anyhow it's nice that at least they did what they said, and brought us right to the Nuweiba port, without the need for us to turn back to buy the ferry tickets again.

It was a small taxi, so as usual, big luggages went to the top.

Last Look at Dahab

2004-04-20T09:30:00.000+08:00

Dahab beach front, along Masbat area.

Small bazaar at Dahab, all closed in the early morning hour. Tourists also nowhere to be seen.

Goodbye Dahab

2004-04-20T09:00:00.000+08:00

Today was our last day in Egypt. We carried our backpacks to go to Mashraba of Assalah to take taxi to Nuweiba. Everybody who saw us was so friendly. The bided us farewell and invited us to come back again. But all of them only wanted to take photo with Wei Heng.

Same with this guy from another restaurant.

Met with Another Asian

2004-04-19T20:00:00.000+08:00

At the evening stroll we met with Julia. She was from Taiwan this time. She ended up traveled with us to Jordan before going to Jerusalem.

Red Sea

2004-04-19T18:00:00.000+08:00

We finally woke up by the evening. It's late so snorkeling was no longer viable. However I still decided to have a swim in the Red Sea. Actually the beach along Dahab was not so beautiful. It's more famous for diving and snorkeling. Red Sea has long been selected as one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World. But nevertheless, I had swimed in the Red Sea.

No Appearance in Dahab

2004-04-19T17:00:00.000+08:00

This afternoon, it's very hard to imagine a person as 'kiasu' (mean afraid to lose in Hokkien) as me, nowhere to be seen in Dahab. Instead, I stayed in the hotel room for the whole afternoon, sleeping. We were simply too tired, and too lack of sleep after the hike to Mt Sinai. We had to ignore all those who came to find us, including Teresa who missed the bus to Cairo and came to ask us to go for a swim.

St Katherine's Monastery

2004-04-19T12:00:00.000+08:00

When we came down from Mt. Sinai, the Monastery of St Katherine was not opened yet. So everybody was waiting at the entrance beside Central Tower.

Bell Tower of Church of St Katherine

Moses's Burning Bush where Moses heard the voice of God coming from.

Beautiful paintings in Monastery of St. Catherine, also called Monastery of Transfiguration or Monastery of Burning Bush.

Well of Moses

At entrance to Basilica of the Transfiguration (Church of Saint Katherine), outside fresco depicting the Transfiguration of Christ.

Basilica of the Transfiguration or Church of Saint Catherine interior. Photography is not allowed, so this photo was taken from outside by Sing Wei.

Monastery of St Catherine

2004-04-19T11:00:00.000+08:00

The first view of St Katherine Monastery from Steps of Repentance

Great view of St Katherine's Monastery from Steps of Repentance.

Elijah's Basin

2004-04-19T10:00:00.000+08:00

Elijah's Basin is a small plateau below the Mt Sinai summit, dominated by a 500 years old cypress tree which marking the spot where the prophet Elijah heard the voice of God.

Camel seen at Elijah's Basin