Aqaba is a pleasant enough city in Jordan several hundred kilometres from Amman, the capital. Jordan is a very small country known officially as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and just happens to have within it's bounds a remarkable place called Petra, an area inhabited thousands of years ago by Nabateans who cut buildings into the local sandstone creating some stunning, symmetrical designs, the one called the "Treasury" being most often shown on travel brochures.
There is much more of course than the travel brochures show. Also, Wadi (Arabic for river) Rum is within a stone's thrown of Aqaba and Amman and a popular tourist spot because of its natural beauty.
As we had visited both Wadi Rum and Aqaba some years ago, we didn't see much sense in paying to visit them again, so we did a a one hour taxi tour of Aqaba driven by a very nice man called Ibrahim.
Ibrahim took us to some ancient ruins that we wouldn't have seen if we had eg, taken the open top bus tour of the town, which was twice as expensive. We also visited a Thursday market where locals buy their fruit and vegetables each week. It was nothing flash, just a lot of people in an area selling foodstuffs from the back of trailers, utility vehicles, boxes and so on. The produce all looked fresh and enticing, especially the huge apples and smallish bananas, a couple of which we tasted.
Our first stop a was Mc Donald's outlet (yes, even at Aqaba) where we bought a cup of coffee so we could use their internet which was much better than that provided on the ship. We paid some bills, updated some apps and wrote emails to the family and a few others. Thank goodness for Maccas!
After our tour with Ibrahim, we walked about the township for an hour or so and decided to return to the ship. Christina had bought a couple of pairs of cheap tights and a black shailer to put over her shoulders.
One of the most interesting things about our visit was Ibrahim showing us an area of many hectares that had been purchased by the UAE royal family in which it intended to build a modern accommodation suburb complete with hotels and shops.
It's a huge area and will probably use tens of billions of the UAE's oil money. From what Ibrahim said, I'm not sure that all the locals are impressed with the idea, but in reality there is nought they can do to combat money.
Robin
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Salalah, Oman
Unfortunately, the Sapphire Princess only berthed at Salalah for five hours so we didn't bother getting off. By the time we would have disembarked, we wouldn't have seen much of the area and it would have been time to head back to the ship.
We visited Oman frequently while living at Al Ain and have been to Muscat, the capital, but not to Salalah, which is said to have some lovely countryside. Maybe another day we'll get to spend more time there to explore the sights.
Robin
Heading for Aqqaba, Jordan
We visited Oman frequently while living at Al Ain and have been to Muscat, the capital, but not to Salalah, which is said to have some lovely countryside. Maybe another day we'll get to spend more time there to explore the sights.
Robin
Heading for Aqqaba, Jordan
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Dubai - Still Interesting
Dubai is a 'world hub' as Sheik Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the zillionaire Ruler of Dubai, puts it.
Realising that oil isn't forever, the Sheik set out to make Dubai a hub for everything so that when the oil runs out in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, from which Dubai inherits much of its wealth, it won't revert to the Bedouin past.
You see, Dubai doesn't have oil. It has a large airport, world class medical centres, world class conference facilities, numerous five star hotels, and is a relatively cheap tourist Mecca. Add to that the tallest building on earth, a huge mall that includes a fully functional ski slope and you'll see that Dubai is exciting and different.
When we lived at nearby Al Ain from 2005 to 2008, Dubai was a mess of cranes and construction machinery - and dust from the nearby sand dunes. Now, the highway overpasses, many of the buildings and a modern sky rail are all up and running. The dust is still ever present.
The concrete stanchions and walls of the highways are nicely decorated with a variety of inexpensive designs. None of the bland 'just concrete' we see in Australian cities.
There is a new port building near which our cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess moored.
We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa building which had not then been completed when we returned to Australia. From the top we got a very nice 360 degrees view of Dubai.
In the Emirates Mall, we saw the expat workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the expensive Gucci, Victoria's Secret and other outlets and smelled the scent of oud as we passed by the traditional perfume shops.
We saw the Emirati women clothed in black from head to toe, the men in their dish-dashas. The brown skinned children with bright brown eyes and black hair doing what kids everywhere do.
The trip brought back many happy memories of those numerous times we visited Dubai when 'home' was just 130 km down the road. The comfort of our unimaginably big mansion; the man who looked after our garden and washed our cars for a pittance. The heat emanating from the concrete. The easy life of an expat.
I expect that in time most of the people in the world will visit Dubai as it's centrally located and now a waypoint for many aviation and shipping companies. If you haven't been there yet, add it to your must see travel plan.
Robin
Realising that oil isn't forever, the Sheik set out to make Dubai a hub for everything so that when the oil runs out in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, from which Dubai inherits much of its wealth, it won't revert to the Bedouin past.
You see, Dubai doesn't have oil. It has a large airport, world class medical centres, world class conference facilities, numerous five star hotels, and is a relatively cheap tourist Mecca. Add to that the tallest building on earth, a huge mall that includes a fully functional ski slope and you'll see that Dubai is exciting and different.
When we lived at nearby Al Ain from 2005 to 2008, Dubai was a mess of cranes and construction machinery - and dust from the nearby sand dunes. Now, the highway overpasses, many of the buildings and a modern sky rail are all up and running. The dust is still ever present.
The concrete stanchions and walls of the highways are nicely decorated with a variety of inexpensive designs. None of the bland 'just concrete' we see in Australian cities.
There is a new port building near which our cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess moored.
We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa building which had not then been completed when we returned to Australia. From the top we got a very nice 360 degrees view of Dubai.
In the Emirates Mall, we saw the expat workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the expensive Gucci, Victoria's Secret and other outlets and smelled the scent of oud as we passed by the traditional perfume shops.
We saw the Emirati women clothed in black from head to toe, the men in their dish-dashas. The brown skinned children with bright brown eyes and black hair doing what kids everywhere do.
The trip brought back many happy memories of those numerous times we visited Dubai when 'home' was just 130 km down the road. The comfort of our unimaginably big mansion; the man who looked after our garden and washed our cars for a pittance. The heat emanating from the concrete. The easy life of an expat.
I expect that in time most of the people in the world will visit Dubai as it's centrally located and now a waypoint for many aviation and shipping companies. If you haven't been there yet, add it to your must see travel plan.
Robin
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