Wadi Rum and Petra

I don't really have anything new to say but a picture is worth 1,000 words, right?

We arrived at the desert nature preserve of Wadi Rum and were given an off road tour.

Despite the harsh environment, many people lived there.

Lawrence of Arabia



My climbing crew, triumphant at the top.



The sandstone provided great traction but broke off in you hand sometimes.

We explored unti the sun went down...

... and the moon came up.

The next day was Petra

It was alot of walking

I still don't think I saw it all

The Monastary

Ignoring all signs and the shouts of the merchants we climbed to the top of the Monastary

Then we headed home

Spring Break

Quick Facts, then pictures.
Sri Lanka is not a country Americans visit often because its on the other side of the world, but the Sri Lankan people still praise the US for its aid after the 2004 tsunami. Sri Lanka is also home to sizable populations of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buhddists, yet they seem to get along fairly well. A war between the Tamil and the Sinahlese very recently ended on the island and while it has the potential to begin again, the people are genuinely tired of it. Here are some of my pictures.

We arrived at 2 in the morning at wandered around until breakfast



The next day I went downtown to see what I could.

The busy streets of Columbo

The Indian Ocean was very warm and had some great waves

A Hindu Shrine

There was a strong military presence on the streets. I knew a war just ended but I still wasn't expecting it.

Playing cricket at the park.



The food was very spicy but scrumptious



They're watching a cricket game on a tiny TV

The tuck-tucks all had weird little sangs written all over them.

A Chinese guardian outside a buhddist temple

Waiting for the sunrise after a difficult climb up Adam's Peak. This is a holy site for Christianity, Buhddism and Islam

It was worth it

During the climb down it was easier to see



We traveled around by train. It was great to be able to see the countryside and there were no assigned seats so I always tried to sit between the cars.



In the town of Kandy, the fire chief invited us in.

Making friends on the train

12 hour layover in Dubai for architecture fans.

The tallest building in the world

Enough uploading. And they lived happily ever after.



Skipping Rocks in the Holy Land

Hey guys,
I feel like its been a while so I might as well update you. Some of you may have heard that I'm going to spend my spring break in Lebanon and Turkey but several days ago there was a loud... sound during the day. At first we were told it was the aftershocks of an earth in Turkey but the next day we started hearing rumors that it was an Israeli airstrike somewhere around the West Bank. Now, Arabs love rumors and conspiricy theories so I'll probably never know for sure what it was but the more research I've done the more likely it seems that Lebanon and Israel will be at war again soon. Instead of that spring break I'll be going to Sri Lanka instead to explore the jungle and meet buhddists.

For one of my classes I got an internship working at the Department of Palestinian Affairs and as part of that I accompanied my boss to a Palestinian refugee camp just outside of Amman. There we met a delegation of Norwegian members of parliament and their aides. We toured the camp briefly and alot of empty words were exchanged about improving the situation.

Monday we had another excursion to the holy sites in Jordan and topped it off with a visit to the Dead Sea.


A mosaic map of the holy land in some church...



The view from Mount Nebo where God killed Moses

Surprise there are churches in the holy land

Jesus was here. Being baptized.

That's... the legendary Jordan river?

Across the river is the occupied West Bank. On the left are two Israeli soldiers with loaded assault rifles. Behind me was a Jordanian soldier similarly armed and a techincal with a mounted M-60 machinegun. It wasn't exactly relaxing being between them.

We finished out the day at the Dead Sea swimming and skipping rocks. Here's a pro tip you won't find in any travel guide. Don't fart in the Dead Sea. It seriously burns.

Aqaba

We had a three day weekend so a group of us decided to ride a bus for 5 hours to the resort town of Aqaba. Aqaba is the only place Jordan touches the ocean.

It was very relaxing but I don't have very many pictures. We just sat around the beaches. Here are what I have.

The water wasn't warm but we snorkled and looked at the coral. In the background is Israel.

Sunset from my hotel balcony. Don't let it fool you, it was not a nice hotel but the price was right.

More things. You can see part of a big barge. It's a bustling seaport as its Jordan's only access to the highseas.

The second day we paid to go to a hotel's private beach. This hotel happened to be about 5 miles out from the city so we took a taxi. Its also 5 km from the Saudi border and next to a Jordanian Naval base. We had to go through a military checkpoint to get there. After a day at the beach we needed a ride back to the city. The cab ride would cost the outrageous sum of 17 J.D. or 25ish USD. Defiantly, we decided we'd walk until we could hail our own ride. On the way out we again had to pass through the military checkpoint. The 2 guards were very confused at first but we explained we were going back to our hotel. "Ma fii siiara?" (not in a car?) No, we said. Both of them just cracked up and we walked on. After about a mile a bus stopped for us and charged us 1 J.D. each to ride back to town. It worked out great.

For the first time since I left I wish I was back in Wisconsin because of the protests against Scott Walker's bill. I'm following the story here in Jordan and it is even making it in the news over here. That's impressive considering Libya and Bahrain are experiencing massive unrest and violence.

Some have you have already seen this but I thought it was worth posting.

A related picture from Egypt again. I really like it.

Who Said Jordan Was Boring?

We went to Ajloun, a fort constructed during the crusades, and Jaresh yesterday. Jaresh is touted as the Rome away from Rome. As this is a blog, not a lecture, I won't go into much history but it was a day well spent.

Ajloun Castle

At the top of a hill, the castle controls the surrounding area.

At some points it was kind of like spelunking

After lunch (which was delicious, probably ate an entire lamb) we went to Rome

Or maybe it was Scotland

Yup, definitely Scotland

The gladiator prepares for battle

The long road home

Some other random things:
I saw a dead dog sticking halfway out of a dumpster and when I asked about it I was told that people just shoot stray dogs on sight. This obviously doesn't apply to cats though since I see them everywhere.

My international relations professor met with Saddam Hussein and Saddam gave him a gold plated AK-47 as a gift. My professor didn't want it so sold it to some one for 5000 J.D. cash. He now realizes it was worth hundreds of thousands.

Iran, Yemen, Jordan, and Baharain are all experiencing unrest to some extent. I would bet serious money that Jordan won't be revolting any time soon. Yemen on the other hand might. I'll be curious to see how this effects the region.