It's a short 90 minute drive from Wadi Musa to Aqaba. Heather and I fell asleep in the car for most of it. We had decided not to include a day trip stop to Wadi Rum (of Lawrence of Arabia fame), even though it's along the way.
We checked into the Double Tree Hilton, for 89JD a night. We're finding there's not much mid-range accommodation in Jordan. Our criteria for hotels includes heat in the room, hot showers, and a comfortable bed. The mid-range hotels (for what exists) don't meet all of those, so we may end up in higher end hotels for the rest of the trip.
Our room is pretty nice, with the hottest shower we've had on the trip so far (out of four places we've stayed). It's the first shower we didn't have on full heat. We also got a complimentary cookie when we checked in :)
Because we had taken a private car, we still had most of the day to tour around Aqaba. Walked through the souq, which here is just the busy commercial area, and not like the souqs in Morocco. Saw some cool antiques that we liked, especially some antique Bedouin coffee grinders. Unfortunately these weren't for sale in the store we saw them in, but just "museum" pieces. We think they were for sale, because they had Visa signs all around. Anyways we're on a hunt for another one that is for sale.
We dropped by Dive Aqaba (I'm doing a couple days of diving with them). Got some restaurant recommendations (one down side of staying at a Hilton is that they don't really know what we're looking for in travel -- we'd much rather find a street stall serving falafel than a fancy restaurant). We had dinner at a seafood place called Al Moubrak. It was good, but not great. We stepped into a dessert place for something small, and they gave us samples which was all we really wanted. But the samples were amazing so we bought a small platter of desserts for JD2. Now we have enough desserts to last us a week.
...
Had to set my alarm yet again to get up for diving. The breakfast at the Hilton was excellent.
We walked over to Dive Aqaba, just around the corner (the Hilton is very conveniently located in Aqaba). Signed some disclaimers, got fitted for wet suits. Heather was planning to snorkel, and I was diving. They gave me two wet suits (a first for me) and dive boots.
The dive site was about 30 minutes out from the dive shop. There was a couple from South Africa on the boat (he was diving, she was pregnant so was just snorkeling, so it worked out well with Heather diving too), and a family of three, learning to dive.
The first dive was just over coral. I was a bit disappointed by the coral, it was mostly dead and not very many fishies. Also the water felt darned cold, far colder than the advertised 24C. We think it was maybe 20C. The sun had disappeared behind clouds when we came up, so we were shivering for a while before heating up. We were hoping for lunch before the second dive, but it was just a 45 minute break and then back into the cold.
The second dive was cool, it was a wreck dive through a tanker that had been scuttled. We dove under the wreck (25m) and then through the ship, through some rather small areas. I think the divemaster was using the first dive to gauge the South African's and my abilities, because it was a bit technical and I don't think everyone goes through the ship. Anyways it was way cool.
In busy season I can imagine that the wreck is covered with divers, but with tourism down so much, there was just one other dive shop at the wreck.
Lunch was onboard during the slow ride back, and was excellent. Although, I find anything excellent after diving.
The dive excursion took up most of the day -- by the time we showered and changed, it was already 5pm.
The South Africans were cool to talk with, they are similar in travel style to us. They highly recommended Wadi Rum, so we've decided to give it a go. We looked around for tour agencies in the tourist area, but didn't see any -- I think they're all affiliated with hotels. We're going to check out a cheaper hotel for the tour, because we don't want to book through the Hilton :)
Had dinner at Ali Babas, it was the best meal we've had on the trip so far. We split a number of appetizers and a main (sayadieh - a local specialty of fish layered onto rice with tomato, onion and pepper sauce), and we liked every dish. We want to go back for the sayadieh, because by the time we got to it we were full from the other dishes. Heather tried a local Cabernet Sauvignon that went well with dinner.
From the looks of it we might be spending Christmas on a bus back to Amman. Oh well, everyday is like Christmas when we're on vacation :) Also realized today was the day the world was supposed to end.
I'm reading a book called Redshirts by John Scalzi that Craig recommended. It's written from the perspective of the ensigns that get killed off in Star Trek episodes. It's rather funny.
Well we're off for a herbal tea and some Jordanian sweets.
We checked into the Double Tree Hilton, for 89JD a night. We're finding there's not much mid-range accommodation in Jordan. Our criteria for hotels includes heat in the room, hot showers, and a comfortable bed. The mid-range hotels (for what exists) don't meet all of those, so we may end up in higher end hotels for the rest of the trip.
Our room is pretty nice, with the hottest shower we've had on the trip so far (out of four places we've stayed). It's the first shower we didn't have on full heat. We also got a complimentary cookie when we checked in :)
Because we had taken a private car, we still had most of the day to tour around Aqaba. Walked through the souq, which here is just the busy commercial area, and not like the souqs in Morocco. Saw some cool antiques that we liked, especially some antique Bedouin coffee grinders. Unfortunately these weren't for sale in the store we saw them in, but just "museum" pieces. We think they were for sale, because they had Visa signs all around. Anyways we're on a hunt for another one that is for sale.
We dropped by Dive Aqaba (I'm doing a couple days of diving with them). Got some restaurant recommendations (one down side of staying at a Hilton is that they don't really know what we're looking for in travel -- we'd much rather find a street stall serving falafel than a fancy restaurant). We had dinner at a seafood place called Al Moubrak. It was good, but not great. We stepped into a dessert place for something small, and they gave us samples which was all we really wanted. But the samples were amazing so we bought a small platter of desserts for JD2. Now we have enough desserts to last us a week.
...
Had to set my alarm yet again to get up for diving. The breakfast at the Hilton was excellent.
We walked over to Dive Aqaba, just around the corner (the Hilton is very conveniently located in Aqaba). Signed some disclaimers, got fitted for wet suits. Heather was planning to snorkel, and I was diving. They gave me two wet suits (a first for me) and dive boots.
The dive site was about 30 minutes out from the dive shop. There was a couple from South Africa on the boat (he was diving, she was pregnant so was just snorkeling, so it worked out well with Heather diving too), and a family of three, learning to dive.
The first dive was just over coral. I was a bit disappointed by the coral, it was mostly dead and not very many fishies. Also the water felt darned cold, far colder than the advertised 24C. We think it was maybe 20C. The sun had disappeared behind clouds when we came up, so we were shivering for a while before heating up. We were hoping for lunch before the second dive, but it was just a 45 minute break and then back into the cold.
The second dive was cool, it was a wreck dive through a tanker that had been scuttled. We dove under the wreck (25m) and then through the ship, through some rather small areas. I think the divemaster was using the first dive to gauge the South African's and my abilities, because it was a bit technical and I don't think everyone goes through the ship. Anyways it was way cool.
In busy season I can imagine that the wreck is covered with divers, but with tourism down so much, there was just one other dive shop at the wreck.
Lunch was onboard during the slow ride back, and was excellent. Although, I find anything excellent after diving.
The dive excursion took up most of the day -- by the time we showered and changed, it was already 5pm.
The South Africans were cool to talk with, they are similar in travel style to us. They highly recommended Wadi Rum, so we've decided to give it a go. We looked around for tour agencies in the tourist area, but didn't see any -- I think they're all affiliated with hotels. We're going to check out a cheaper hotel for the tour, because we don't want to book through the Hilton :)
Had dinner at Ali Babas, it was the best meal we've had on the trip so far. We split a number of appetizers and a main (sayadieh - a local specialty of fish layered onto rice with tomato, onion and pepper sauce), and we liked every dish. We want to go back for the sayadieh, because by the time we got to it we were full from the other dishes. Heather tried a local Cabernet Sauvignon that went well with dinner.
From the looks of it we might be spending Christmas on a bus back to Amman. Oh well, everyday is like Christmas when we're on vacation :) Also realized today was the day the world was supposed to end.
I'm reading a book called Redshirts by John Scalzi that Craig recommended. It's written from the perspective of the ensigns that get killed off in Star Trek episodes. It's rather funny.
Well we're off for a herbal tea and some Jordanian sweets.
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