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| Petra City - Jordan |
Happy Birthday mom. For your birthday, we are taking you to ……
The mall? Dinner? Aqua Park?
No it’s a big surprise.
Where?
Jordan ………Joooorrrdan... finally!
Surprised me, my daughter. Surely it was a lovely gift. First the 99 wishes on FB and now the hundredth being the surprise trip to my dream vacation, planned by the dad daughter duo.
My mind had begun floating, visualising floating in the Dead Sea.
Visiting the home town of the Dead Sea was different excitement. We packed on the 22nd night and flew on 23rd morning of October 2015. Like always my one year old son had thrown a chaos in the flight. We had to survive his tantrums in the four hours flight, hence we had to check in online on Qatar Airways Web Check in to save more time and to book my usual bassinet seat for the baby. Travel with naughty little one was big time adventure by itself. Fiddling like desert penguins, we safely landed in Amman the capital city of Jordan.
From the crabby taxi, where my son made friends with our tour guide to a luxurious hotel where we made friends with an Indian family from Oman. We decided to rest entire day and explore the closest malls or parks in evening. We had to sleep early for a big day, the next day. It was an hour's journey to the Dead Sea.
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The dead sea was a blast. Imagine no waves in the sea. Imagine you lie down and your body does not sink but floats like a log. A log. You try to feel like a dead body in the dead sea. This sea showed what a good friend water was to my water phobic hubby. He also manged to get the dead sea mud on him which is good for skin. We had a photo shoot of each one of us floating, while, the cross eyed looks by my son from a distance alerted us to give a break to water adventure. Little children are banned entry into water as it was rich in oil
which makes it possible to reduce the gravity. Oh! You get off water and an oily you comes out. The water park made up is for kids entertainment as alternative. After a mesmerizing day in the sea without sinking or carried away by no waves, we finally had to move on.
Petra City was next in the list. En route we did cover random places. Mount Nebo (In connection with Moses mentioned in the bible) was one. Madaba was next. Where we relished a lunch that I still cant stop polishing. A special dish called the upside down in other words it a huge stove full of Arabic Biryani with a bunch of different veggies in it.
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| In Madaba - Foundation of Handicrafts |
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| Handicrafts -Madaba |
After lunch we traveled some more to a beautiful place in the middle of no where. A museum / mini shopping complex, called Foundation Handicrafts. We bought a lot of dead sea products and a stoned bracelet for my daughter.
Soon, a little after sunset we checked into a five star in Petra. We woke up to a breath taking sunrise next morning. Multicoloured mountains! Never witnessed this beauty before.
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| Old City Of Petra |
The five star buffet breakfast served as fuel for the tough day to a long car journey to the most awaited "Rock City".
The tour guide had filled us completely with a lot of information, that we breathed and even burped history.
The excavations in this city had let to stories as old as 2000 BCand to the Romans in early 100 AD. Main religion of the inhabitant -Nabataens worshiped Arab Gods and goddesses. but not Islamic. The tombs, the water ways, the treasury, the stadium of those times. were main attraction spots. Two to three hours of walk among these rocks and then we retired in the rooms.
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| Wadi Rum -Desert |
That very afternoon we had check out to reach our next destination Wadi rum . The Sands.
It was known for its popular sunset with rocks and sands building up the sun's beauty, but we missed it , due to heavy rains. However most thrilling time was the golden chance to spend the shivery night in a tent house that too with WiFi! Following morning were spent travelling across the sands in an open gypsy discovering the rock city, its sands while the clouds danced on our heads.
Next morning we headed to the city Amman which was a last stop and the last strip of my gift wrap. The tour in the hill city had more history to unearth. The Roman pillars of Hercules, temples and tombs, Panoramic view of the city built of white stone, museum displaying the antiques. Eye popping moment was witnessing the 6000 capacity stone stadium of the Roman times intact. She was a beauty.
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| Amman City |
That night ended the gift session of the Yatra (holiday). From the "present" to memories that would soon become a past a glorious past. A perfect holiday. Mesmerizing experiences. We packed and left the rainy rock city to the airport on the 28th night of October. One different vacation away from hustle bustle of city chaos. The unique experience from day 1 to day 5 .
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