Only slept for 2 hours today because I had to wake up at 3am for a phone interview. It might be weird to have a phone interview while backpacking in middle east, but since the position is with one of the biggest hedge fund, I can’t refuse this opportunity. It seemed like the job market in the financial sector has been improving lately because I have been getting more emails about openings in the financial sector in my mailbox. Since I woke up early, I decided to walk to the Abdhali bus station from my hostel in the old city. It’s only 30 minutes walk.
Took the 7.30am bus and after passing customs, arrived in Damascus at around 11am.

Decided to find my own way to downtown instead of taking a taxi since I have time and thought it’s a more exciting way. Took a public bus to downtown

and in Damascus there were only 4 budget hostel in the same neighborhood at Saroujah st. Stayed at Al Saad since the other 3 nicer ones were full. Got the cheapest room at the hostel rooftop (300 SP ~6USD).

Walked around the old city.

Ate kebab for lunch.

Started at Bab Touma which is the Christian quarter of old Damascus. There is a big souq in the old city with shops selling all kinds of stuffs.

The citadel

Went back at night, visited the Umayyad mosque. The mosque was converted from a Byzantine cathedral in AD705 when Damascus became the capital of the Islamic world.

This is the famous ice cream store in the souq.

Met the first Malaysian at the hostel and with 2 other travelers (swedish and aussie), we got a service taxi to Dead Sea and Mount Nebo at 7.30am (35 JD split by 4 person).

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Mount Nebo is where Moses believed to be buried.

In the bible, it mentioned that God showed Moses the promise land on Mount Nebo but he didn’t manage to get to Israel. It’s possible to see Jerusalem and Jericho from Mount Nebo when there’s good weather.

The dead sea is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean. No fish can survive because it’s too salty.

Dead Sea

We went to Amman beach (12JD, which is a little pricey than expected), there is a swimming pool

and shower room which are quite important because the salinity of the sea will make the skin uncomfortable.

Because of the high salinity of the dead sea, it’s very easy to float on the water.
Floating on dead sea

Got back to Amman around 2.30pm. I went to the bus station trying to get to Damascus, Syria. But because of Eid, I wasn’t able to get any tickets and all the service taxi increase their prices so I decided to go to Syria tomorrow morning instead. Moved to Abbasid Palace hotel (5JD) because they have free wifi so I can get on the web again. Met another Malaysian lady on the street, this is the second malaysian traveler I met after almost 8 weeks traveling, and both malaysians I met were in Amman.

Took the 6.30am bus from Petra to Amman (5JD, 3hours). Amman is a very old city. It was conquered by the Assyrians, followed by the Persians, and then the Greeks. The city became part of the Nabataean kingdom until 106 AD when Philadelphia came under Roman control.
In 326 AD, Christianity became the religion of the empire and Philadelphia became the seat of a bishopric during the beginning of the Byzantine era. Then comes the Umayads and Abbasids. After the Islamic conquests, Amman became part of the Muslim empire, until the Ottomans were forced out by the Allies, with the help of the Hashimites, who formed a monarchy that continues to rule until the present.

Today is the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of the fasting period of Ramadan so most shops are closed. Checked in into Hostel Mansour (3.5JD). It’s an OK hostel, nothing too fancy but it’s cheap. Amman is a city of 2 millions people on 7 hills.

Amman is famous for old Roman Theather

and Citadel. The citadel has been inhabited for centuries, important as a military and religious site.
Click here for a 360 degrees view of Citadel Hill in Amman.

Walked towards the famous 127m flag pole, I read that it’s the highest in the world.

Jordanian kids wear their best for the first day of Eid.

In the evening, walked to the west part of the city which is a more modern part of the city. Other than that, there are not a lot to see in Amman.

Waited at the bus station at 7.40am to get a minibus to Petra. The minibus didn’t leave until 10am. It’s 2 hours ride to Petra (5 JD). Met Julia and Sam again as well as a Dutch friend Roul.

Got to Wadi Musa around 12pm and stayed at Valentine Hostel (3JD, got the cheapest dorm).

View of Petra from hostel

Petra is voted as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World and is famous for Nabataens architecture. Petra is just 2km from Wadi Musa and to get into Petra, a day pass cost 21JD. I decided to stay at Wadi Musa for 2 days since there is only one bus a day to Amman early in the morning because of Ramadan.

I got a 2 days pass for 26JD since it’s almost 2pm and the site close at 6pm daily. Met a Taiwanese and we spent half a day walking around the ruins. We covered quite a lot for half a day.

Petra is the capital of the Nabataeans around 2000 years ago. The entrance to Petra leads us through narrow gorge called the Siq

After 30 minutes of walking, we got to the Treasury, Al Khazneh

After 45 minutes hike, arrived at a peak called place of high sacrifice.

Petra is a big site of around 40 square km.

Went back to Petra next day morning.

The Monastry

View from a peak

With the team

Went back to the hostel in the afternoon after covering all the sites on the map. My shoes after walking for 2 days at Petra

Took the 10.30am bus to Nuweiba (15 LP, 1 hour ride) in order to take the ferry across the dead sea to Aqaba, Jordan. The fast ferry is only an hour to Aqaba but cost US$70 plus US$10 departure tax from Egypt.

Traveled with Julia and Sam who I met from the bus station at Nuweiba. We got a free Jordanian visa on arrival and after getting off from the ferry terminal, we were expecting touts to offer us hostel room since there were touts everywhere in Egypt but we didn’t see any. This was the only time where we missed the hassling from touts. There weren’t any hostel in Aqaba and just hotel. Got a room at DWeek hotel in the city for 10JD (1USD=0.70 JD).

Jordan is cleaner than Egypt and people here obey the traffic lights. There were also less hassling for tourist.

Aqaba has one of the highest flag pole in the world.

Things are slightly more expensive than Egypt, Jordanian dinar value is similar to the Euro. Even though the average salary for Jordanians are only 200-300JD but a meal cost 3JD, 1% of their salary. I also noticed that Jordanian loves Mercedes Benz, there are many here, mostly old ones.

As always there are the Chinese doing business everywhere. In Aqaba, Chinese massage centers are pretty popular.

This one called Lord of the Rings Chinese Massage

Aqaba is the only place with sea in Jordan (beside dead sea).

Arrived in Dahab around 11am after more than 18 hours of bus ride across the desert.

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Dahab is a touristic place beside the red sea. It’s famous for scuba diving and snorkeling.

Scuba divining is around $44 per dive. Since I am not that into scuba diving and felt Malaysia has better dive site, I did snorkeling instead in the afternoon. The red sea is pretty salty so it’s easier to float.

Joined a hiking trip to Mount Sinai (70 LP). Mount Sinai is the place where Moses received the 10 commandments. It’s around 2 hours away from Dahab. The van picked me up at 11pm at night, we arrived at the foot of the mountain at 1am. After hiked for 2.5 hours, we waited to see sun rise at the peak of the mountain.

Climbed down the mountain and visited the St Katherine Monastery. This is one of the oldest continue occupied church, around 1400 years old. Arrived back in Dahab around 12pm.

Ate Koshary (5LP, $1) for lunch again, ate 2 bowls to fulfill my daily calories intake after the hike this morning. Went snorkeling in the afternoon again and then tried Egyptian fried chicken for dinner.

Took a tour to the West bank of Luxor (140 LP). It’s hard to tour all the sites in west bank on my own since it’s quite far away and the weather is hot (Its 44 C today). The van picked me up at 8am and we went to Valley of the Kings, which have tombs of the Pharaohs. No photos are allowed inside.

Valley of the Kings

Temple of hatshepsut

We also visited Valley of the Queens, there are less tourist there compared to Valley of the Kings.

Colossi of Memnon

Then took a bus to Dahab at 4.30pm (130LP). Stopped once at around 6pm and got some free food because fasting was over. We stopped a few times for passport checking. Stopped at Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh then Dahab.

Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom around 4000 years ago. There are many famous temples and tombs here. Once I got off from the train, there are many touts and taxi drivers trying to bring me to their hostel. Luxor is the capital of hassle in Egypt.

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Stayed at Hostel Oasis, recommended by a friend and on lonely planet. I got my own room for 20 LP, around $3.5.

Took a minibus 0.50LP to the Karnak Temple

Met DiXi again on the street and she wanna visit the Mummification Museum, so I just tagged along. The museum was a joke, there is only a small room and cost 25LP. We went to the manager to ask our money back but did not succeed.

Luxor Temple. The ticket cost 25LP for students and I just took pics from outside.

Went to a Bazaar at night. The people who deal with tourist in Luxor are very irritating and very good at hassling tourist. Everyone is trying to get money from tourist by asking for baksheesh and using other tricky tactics. It’s hard to trust the people here.

Took the metro to Mubarak station then took the 9am train to Alexandria, around 200km from Cairo.
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The city was founded by and named after Greek conqueror Alexander the Great. Arrived at the city around 12pm.

Went to the Alexandria Bibliotheca (5LP). During ancient times, Alexandria had one of the greatest library in the world. The library was no longer here so the bibliotheca was built instead.

Walked around the city for 4 hours.
Sights

Then took the 5pm train back to Cairo. Again, the weather here is so hot, probably above 100 Fahrenheits again. Arrived cairo around 8pm, then take the 10.15pm train (165 pounds) to Luxor. The train is very old and dirty, will arrive in Luxor 10am the next day.

Friday and Saturday are the weekends here. It’s around 38C (around 100 Fahrenheit maybe) today. Took the metro to Mar Girgis and visited old cairo, Coptic city which is a Christian neighborhood.

Tried walking to Salah El Din Citadel from the Coptic city. After walking for 40 mins under the sun, I decided to take the bus instead. Found out that the Citadel was closed because of Ramadan.

Someone directed me to an old mosque (one of the oldest 1200 years old) which has a minaret on top of the mosque. I was asked to donate 50 pounds to the mosque because I have a student card, for non student they require 100 pounds, around $20. And the guy that showed me the way asked for donation as well.

View from the top of the mosque

There are still many poor people in Cairo so people always try to get money (they called Baksheesh, tips) from tourist.

Walked to the bazaar (for locals), then to Khan El Khalili bazaar (more touristic). Someone brought me to a papyrus shop, spice shop and perfume shop there. It’s so chaotic and crowded at the bazaar,

after an hour walking in the bazaar, I can’t wait to get out and had a hard time finding the Attaba metro.

Most of the buildings here in Cairo are old, the public transportations and infrastructures here are still undeveloped and chaotic. People throw rubbish everywhere on the street. President Mubarak has been in power for 26 years and people here don’t see any changes soon.

It’s very hard to find a place in Cairo with air condition. I spent some time at the intercontinental hotel lobby and KFC for the afternoon to get away from the hot weather.

Got my train ticket (35 pounds) to Alexandria tomorrow morning at the train station which is 30 mins walk on Ramses St. from Talab harb area. Met Muhamed and he brought me to eat Koshary (a local food with rice, beans, macaroni, fried oninons..).

We watched soccer and he brought me to a mountain with his BMW to get a good view of Cairo at night.