June 15, 2010 – Creative Meanderings

Progress!

Going Mental No Responses »

Jun 152010

Here’s my progress report –

*At last my Jordan trip updates are done – with pics even! 🙂 I was motivated by the fact that I’m going on another trip today and don’t want to confuse them….

*I’ve completed and submitted at least a comprehensible draft of my dissertation proposal so that I can have a bit of peace for next few days while away. Revisions, etc. to come upon my return, no doubt.

*I’m probably not doing a chapter proposal as it’s just one headache I don’t need to contend with right now. However, I will continue to plug away with my research project when I return from my trip until I leave for the summer holidays, but at least there’s no pressure with it – just need to make progress. 😉

*I’m leaving tonight for a four-day trip to Sri Lanka with a friend, so it’ll be awesome to get to some cooler weather and escape briefly!

More to come,

-T

Jordan: Day 4 (Night 5)

General, Meanderings Abroad No Responses »

Jun 152010

Truly, four days/five nights is enough to see the best of Jordan. If you want to camp in Wadi Rum or see more of Petra, then adding a few days would be okay, but in general as a tour-guided tourist, I was happy with the amount of time exploring this country.

The last day took us to Aljoun Castle and and Jerash – ruins of a Roman city – and then back to explore a bit of the downtown area of Amman. The castle was nothing special.

05-Apr-2010 01:15, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 01:15, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 7.9, 14.1mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 01:44, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

However, Jerash was spectacular. I probably could have spent a full day here taking pictures and walking around, but it was quite warm, so a half-day was good. 😀

05-Apr-2010 03:06, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 03:11, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 03:13, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 7.4, 11.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 03:23, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 8.1, 15.7mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 03:44, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 03:50, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

Downtown Amman also has some Roman ruins, but not much time is really needed to see those. The town itself wasn’t much different from those you might see in other developing countries. I was reminded of Morocco going through the noisy market and walking down the male-prevalent streets.

05-Apr-2010 06:36, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.9, 7.9mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 06:58, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

05-Apr-2010 07:16, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100

From here, I said my good-byes to the best traveling companions I could have asked for. Despite my Spanish tour in Jordan, it was really a wonderful trip. I hope to see them again soon somewhere in the world!

Until the next trip,

-T

Jordan: Day 3 (Night 4)

General, Meanderings Abroad No Responses »

Jun 152010

03-Apr-2010 11:31, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.6, 9.4mm, 0.769 sec, ISO 400

03-Apr-2010 11:32, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 4.0, 14.1mm, 0.25 sec, ISO 400

03-Apr-2010 08:21

The previous night held entertainment at the Wadi Rum camping grounds with traditional dancing and music. It wasn’t quite like camping as I know it, but it was fairly comfortable despite a few mozzies ruining my sleep….

In the morning, we were up and off to see the sand dunes and rock formations of Wadi Rum. We went “4x4ing” (nothing too crazy) and got to see the spectacular views the scenery had to offer.

03-Apr-2010 21:14, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.6, 9.4mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 100

03-Apr-2010 23:29, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 7.7, 12.6mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

03-Apr-2010 23:35, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 7.2, 9.4mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

From there, we headed back towards Amman with another stop near the Dead Sea for a swim. I stayed in the pool this time as getting all salty wasn’t really interesting to me in my very tired state!

One more day to go – I decided to bump up my departure to the next night because the tour guide had been coming on to me the whole trip in Spanish and he knew I had no plans for my last day. Since I was going to be alone with the Olaverri family returning, I just thought it would be best to cut the trip. Besides, after tomorrow’s itinerary, there wasn’t much left to see without going to another country or something….

More to come,

-T

Jordan: Day 2 (Night 3)

General, Meanderings Abroad No Responses »

Jun 152010

We got up early the next morning to make our way to the ruins of Petra before the heat fully set in. However, being flexible with time is something to be learned when traveling in this part of the world. So, when our tour guide finally arrived, it was already warming up! On the positive side, the tour was in English!

You have the option of riding horses from the entrance at the Visitor Center to the Siq, which are canyons carved from years of flooding between the rocks. However, as I’m allergic and Amaia was a bit afraid of the four-legged creatures, we chose to do the walk.

There’s a lot of history that could be retold and such, but pictures can say it all, I think. So, here are some photos from Petra.

03-Apr-2010 01:17, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125

03-Apr-2010 01:31, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

03-Apr-2010 02:11, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 4.1, 17.3mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100

Though I got tired out the Olaverri family continued exploring while I rested. They say you can spend about three days exploring all the areas of Petra!

Overall, I was quite impressed with it and am so glad that I was able to see it.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Wadi Rum campsite for dinner and sleep!

More to come,

-T

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