Aqaba

Waking Up

We intended to sleep late since the night before neither Ibrahim nor myself got much sleep. We woke around 10am, just in time for the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast was buffet style and tasty.  The entire tour group was spread around throughout a number of hotels, which made getting started in the morning extremely arduous.  We had a soft start time at noon, but that time was given to everyone – and some hotels were spread pretty far apart. Throughout the morning Ibrahim made several calls to the tour guide to see when the bus would be at our hotel – each time he called a message saying the recipients cell phone was off. Ibrahim mentioned the tour guide was probably out late the night before. The tour guide was young and seemed like a very fun and crazy guy. Although he spoke little English I did like him - he was very charismatic and meant well.  I found the telephone message interesting – in the US there is no consistent ring pattern or message returned when a cell phone is off network. Coincidently, after we naturally checked out we got a call from the tour guide. He said the bus was at the hotel and would leave in a few minutes – we needed to rush to the bus. Since we were on our way outside it wasn’t an issue. This was how the tour group operated throughout the trip. We were very rushed, tours were not well organized, and the operators were very unprofessional. 

When we booked the tour and accommodations, the tour company offered a few different lodging options. I imagine this allowed them to remain competitive and still cater to upscale clients. Ibrahim insisted on 5 stars – that would hold true even when he was arranging my accommodations. I think starting negotiations with a 5 star hotel gave him more wiggle room throughout negotiations– although I’m not exactly sure how. Although I paid for my accommodations, he actually took care of making the arrangements and always started 4 or 5 star hotels. He mentioned he was able to get a substantial discount because he worked for the government.  Since he was a native Arabic speaker it made sense to have him do the talking.  When I arrived I did a quick price search on Kayak for the hotel I ended up staying at – Kayak’s price was almost double what I ended up paying. Ibrahim’s discounts were legitimate and saved me a bundle.

Aquarium

After everyone was on the bus we head for an Aquarium. En route, Ibrahim started telling me about a seaport we were passing by. The guide overhead and had the driver turn around so everyone could take notice.  The guide told me he spoke next to no English, so I was surprised he understood Ibrahim’s comments to me. Maybe I’m spoiled because Chicago has the Shed Aquarium, but I’ve seen more exotic looking fish at pet stores back home.  There was a small reef exhibit replicating the marine life in the Red Sea. The guide picked up some of the marine life and talked about it in Arabic. Although I couldn’t understand him, I was fairly convinced he knew what he was talking about. 

 

Entrance to Aquarium

 

 

Tour Guide and me

Beach

The next stop was a public beach off the Red Sea. Jordan is on the east end of the Red Sea. UAE, the country I was at before arriving at in Jordan is on the west end. Amit is a member of a private beach club in UAE’s capital city of Abu Dhabi, so he took me a guest one day. He had mentioned the beach at the club was much better than other beaches. He specifically noted the sand was of much better quality – literally imported in from another country. I don’t recall making it to a public beach in the UAE, but the public beach in Jordan was awful. There was no sand, rather crushed rock. Ibrahim mentioned private hotels have much nicer beaches, but charge for use. Unlike in the states, families were not laying out on the beach. Instead, they gathered in circles around the few cabanas scattered around the beach. It would be more accurate to call the waterfront a park rather than a beach.  

 

Me at the beach

 

Family at a cabana in background

Cruise

After spending an hour at the beach we boarded the bus and head for a cruise along the Red Sea. We bumped into the man who road a 4x4 throughout Wadi Rum with us the night before. Feeling we was scammed by the 4x4 experience, je was very dubious of the cruise. “If the cruise is not 90 minutes I am going to stay something to the guide”, he warned us.  The boat we boarded was essentially a huge party boat. Ibrahim and I sat outside at the very front of the ship. In the back there was a cash bar and apparently dancing. The tour guide may his way into the interior captain’s cabin of the ship. The captain even let our guide steer the ship for a bit, while smoking of course.  The region was very interesting – within viewing distance is the border of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The Saudi coast is mountainous and is essentially uninhabited. The Israeli coast is home to the resort town of Eilat, which  borders Jordan. Although Jordan and Israel have friendly relations with one another, there is no border passage between the two countries through these towns.

 

Our party boat

 

Our tour guide commanding the boat

Chinatown

Before heading back we stopped in an area called Chinatown. Ibrahim had mentioned Aqaba was not subject to the same tax rates as the rest of Jordan, sort of like a duty free shop to some extent. He also mentioned the mall was full of Chinese replica merchandise. I found nothing of interest in the mall or it's surrounding shops. 

Heading Back

We left for home around 6 pm. We stopped at a rest area that contained bathrooms and a shop. The toilets were basically a hole in the ground. The rest area features bootleg cassette tapes, not CDs!

 

 

Cassette tapes for sale

 

Rest stop rest room

En route to Aqaba we went through customs control where all bags were x-rayed. Ibrahim mentioned this was for safety – they were searching for weapons.  Although we did go through a checkpoint where everyone’s passports were checked. However, our bags were not x-rayed leaving Aqaba.

The drive back took between 5-6 hours. The area by the entryway turned into a smoker’s paradise, so the drive back was a fairly miserable experience. Most of the time the driver made it a point to open his window whenever someone smoked - something I appreciated.

Just as when we were heading to Petra, the drive was filled with extremely loud Arabic music. There were a couple of birthdays so the guide brought out some lit candles on something I think was a cake. Everyone was taking pictures of the party and celebrating. I’m very cautious when photographing people – I normally won’t do it unless there are a number of other people doing so. The bus was full of people taking photographs of the big party that developed. So I snapped a single picture – almost immediately a short angry man bolted for me from the back. He was yelling at me in Arabic. I wasn’t photographing him or his entourage and I wasn’t about to take his crap – dozens of others had cameras and snapped photos just as I did. To me he was a racist. I was much bigger, stronger, and much more handsome. He had nothing on me. Since I was with Ibrahim,  I really held my anger back. The situation dissolved when Ibrahim explained to the man we did were not photographing him or his family. Ibrahim would later tell me some villagers from the sticks are paranoid people like me will use their image disrespectfully.  So I guess I was right, he was a racist.

Ibrahim and me, taking in the long bus ride

Party time

We got back to Amman after 1am. Some people were literally dropped off on the side of the highway. Apparently it’s perfectly legal to park on the side of the highway, as a disable vehicle would do in the US. After returning to Amman Ibrahim took me to the hotel I stayed at my first night in Amman.

Checking In

The hotel was apparently booked, but they found me a room. It wasn't the junior presidential suite like Ibrahim felt I should have, but it would do. The WiFi in the original room was awful, so I had to switch rooms. So much for my room being the last. The hotel and staff were very nice though, and at 35 JD ($50 USD) it was a bargain. 

Tomorrow

Poor Ibrahim would have a rough day tomorrow, while I would be able to sleep in. His brother is a pediatrician in Jordan. Every few years he moves to the state for about a year for continuing education purposes. Tomorrow, his brother would arrive and his entire family would greet him at the airport. Since I was in Amman, near the airport, Ibrahim would pick me up en route to the airport around 2-3pm. I'd have until that time to rest up and walk around the hotel.