So, I am actually quite tired and not sure entirely what has happened in the last 2 weeks but here’s a quick run down of what I’ve been up to:
- Cruised in a felucca down the Nile, learned how to steer then slept on the shore after a bonfire with dancing
- Climbed Mt. Sinai and almost died
- Had a small Egyptian girl ask for money then pat my stomach lovingly when I said no. Nothing beats getting told you need to drop the vacation weight by begging children.
- Sat around in the “Bangkok Hilton” for 7 hours waiting for a ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba
- Was repeatedly harassed in a nice way by Egyptian and Jordanian men.
- Floated in the Dead Sea. Craziest thing.
- On a biblical highlights tours without trying: Mt Nebo where Moses ascended to Heaven, Bethany across the Jordan where Jesus was baptized, the pillar claimed to be Rachel after she was turned into salt and many more
- Learned how to sleep on a bus in 7 million different positions.
- Experienced a hot waterfall
- Safely made it into Syria
- Walked around Petra for 2 days and met the nicest people
- Saw more inappropriately dressed tourists than I ever want to see again
- Was driven in a Jeep all over Wadi Rum aka Lawrence of Arabia country and then slept under the most beautiful stars
- Rediscovered my love of climbing all over rocks
There is much much more but I’m exhausted nwo and will go crash on my bed in a hotel where my room is acually underground and has windows but just a view of dirt. Why not save on windows and curtains and leave it as a wall? I’ve stopped asking questions like this in tMiddle East. They do things differently here and that’s good.
June 20, 2008 at 7:06 pm
So…Lawrence of Arabia should’ve had it so good (hotel, whether underground or no, and hot bath). Thought of you today while closing in on EP Library, seeing a Somali woman swaddled in form-defying (vs. form-fitting) clothes and speculated about mid-eastern men’s fears about women appearing to be as beautiful as they are, solving problem by mandating that their women wear bundles of clothes to make them look shapeless. You comment on foreigners dressed inappropriately…I assume that means form-fitting? Means you’re beginning to see through the locals’ eyes. That’s good. Now ask ‘em who they’d like in the White House.–Phil.
June 20, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Ashley,
Oh How I love the insights from you , even if just short recaps of your experiences. I imagine your journal is much longer and insights you are experiences. Keep the running monologue, I love it.
MOM
June 28, 2008 at 11:47 am
might i ask a theoretical question? what does ‘flitting around the pinball’ look like? the golden snitch?