More from Jordan

Sept 11: Each morning I get up, make myself some tea and go out to the orchard and relax, read a book, or let my mind wander.  Listening to the news now and what is happening in the US to commemorate 9/11.  I got a copy of an interview I did with KUOW before I left, and it feels strange listening to it and feeling so relaxed and not really thinking of anything.

Went to the city today to get some things.  Walking around the town of Madaba and seeing signs all over the place with our family name and different people from the tribe and realize what it would be like living in a small town.  The population is 150,000, it really isn't small, but when most of the people are related to you it is very, very small!

Sept 12: This morning I woke and went to the Allenby Bridge border crossing with Israel.  I wanted to see what had changed and the process that clients go through to go across.  The drive from Madaba down to the Dead Sea to the crossing takes about 45 minutes.  It was really hot (about 85) and getting warmer.  Got there and talked to the police about what I wanted to do and see if I could take pictures.  They were very helpful, but no pictures.  The crossing, if doing VIP services, is $94 one way.  You get to go to a special lounge to wait and someone comes and takes your passport and will get it signed and stamped.  You are then taken to a waiting car or a van depending if you are traveling alone or with others.  The crossing takes no more then 10 minutes.  If you do not take the VIP service (which we normally include in our tour services) there are buses that leave every half hour and you have to do your own paper work and carry your own luggage.  Most of the people that are working there are from the secret police.  The VIP lounge is run by a private company contracted with the government.  They will call to the Israelis and tell them that you are coming and then someone from the Israeli side will meet the car or van and take you to a lounge. 

The Israeli side doesn’t move as fast as the Jordanian side.  Then it also depends if you are an Arab of Palestinian descent.  You could have been born in the US, but you had family in Jerusalem or they have property - they will have all this listed and they ask you these questions to verify, then you go thru a series of questions back and forth and one agent to another and maybe after two or three hours they will let you go.  It is unbelievable how much information they have on Jordanians and Palestinians.  When you give your name they will pull it up and let you know when you last came in to Israel and where you stayed and also the name of your father and grandfather etc.  If you are an American with no other papers, and not with any political group, it is quite easy to go in to Israel.  I entered Jordan with my Jordanian passport so when leaving Jordan for Jerusalem I have to give them my Jordanian passport, and then go in to Israel on my American passport.  I had to tell the Israeli border officer that I was doing that since I had no Jordanian visa/entry stamp in my American passport.

People don’t realize that you can enter Jordan at the airport and get a visa on arrival.  If you are flying into Israel first and then going to Jordan you need to get a Jordanian visa from the embassy in the US – they do not issue the visas on arrival at the border crossing.

Rita in Jordan

The owner of Caravan-Serai Tours, Rita Zawaideh, is in Jordan right now and has sent her daily diary to be posted on the blog so you can get a first hand account of what she is seeing there. Her family is there and she is staying at their farm just outside the city of Madaba. They grow olives, grapes, and other foods, and raise a few animals. The Jordan office is also in Madaba. The posts are being broken up into smaller pieces, and here are the first few days. Photos to be posted soon too! Enjoy! 

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Sept 8: After 14 hours of flying I arrived at Beirut airport.  I was making a connection to Amman from here and I was really surprised at how full the Beirut-Amman flight was.  I was trying to figure out why and started asking people -most of them it seems are Lebanese that usually drive to Jordan to see relatives, but because of the situation in Syria they’re flying.  The airlines have added more flights to be able to handle all the traffic going both ways.  No one is driving since they are not sure of the situation and what is happening from day to day.  A lot of the problems, I was told, are at the border towns.

The flight took off on time and I finally arrived in Amman at 6pm after having left Seattle at 10am on the 7th.  I had my nieces and nephews meet me at the airport for arrival and then I was driven to the house about 30 minutes away in the town of Madaba.

Sept 9: Waking up to peace and quiet, not really feeling anything of the world around me.  Sat outside in the orchard with the grapes dangling down and being able to pick them and eat fresh grapes off the vine, the kids bringing in bread with thyme and oil, leben (a yogurt without water similar to cream cheese but so much better for you), olives, jam, white cheese - a feast fit for a king. There is a nice breeze and the smell of jasmine.  I eat away and have my tea while sitting on a rocking sofa, day dreaming.  I enjoy talking to the kids and relaxing, getting over the jet lag.

In the afternoon we go to the office to check on reservations for clients.  Up the street is a salon and I am able to have my brows done with string – a traditional way of plucking them.  It hurt but is so fast and lasts a lot longer then using wax!

Sept 10: We start to cook for the clients that are here in Jordan - they have been invited to the farm for a traditional Jordanian meal.  We are making grapes leaves, stuffed zucchini, tabbouleh (parsley salad,) rocca salad (made from arugula) yogurt and cucumber salad, humus, chicken sumac rolls, stuffed pastries with cheese, spinach, sausage, so much food.  The group comes by 1pm, they have no idea that I am in Jordan and are surprised that I am here.  We visit for a couple of hours and eat and they get to meet the rest of the family. We then send them on their way to Kerak and then to Petra to spend the night.

Tonight friends come over and we have a nice night of music and dancing and just playing around.  Lots of discussions about what is happening in the region, but really no feeling or idea of what is going on around us.  It is so strange since in the states I am glued to the news.

Looking forward

After quite a tumultuous spring in the Middle East and here at Caravan-Serai Tours, we are looking forward to getting back to "normal" this fall. People are starting to get over the shock of what happened in the wake of a demand for democracy in decidedly un-democratic countries, are are beginning to think about traveling there again.

Of course, there are still places we do not recommend you travel to, such as Libya, Syria and Yemen, but destinations such as Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are safe. We also have a group planned for Oman and Dubai this fall!

Be sure to check our website (which is undergoing renovation right now!) to see the latest tour offerings. Join us in Turkey next spring, or Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in April 2012. And as always, we can do private tours to any of our destinations.

It's been a crazy spring, but we are getting back on track with travel to the Middle East and North Africa, and we hope you will too!

A few more photos of India

Amber Fort, Jaipur

Jaipur

Inside the Amber Fort

Rita (left) on her birthday elephant ride at the Amber Fort

A man with is monkey

Parlaiment buildings in Dehli

Snake charmer on the street in Dehli

Taj Mahal

Final post about Rita's trip to India

To finish off the last report - I went to a shopping mall in Delhi - just like any Mall you will see in the world except all the security. There are metal detectors before coming into the mall, then the security in the stores is unbelievable- about 3 or 4 people in a store and I am talking about small places. I tried to see if this is always the case or something different, but people say they have had it for a long time.
Walking in Delhi I now see the traffic for real - and the cars, bicycles, motorcycles, cows, goats, etc- every mode of transportation in this place all on the same streets, makes it very hard to move around. I was telling Maha in my office that we thought the traffic in Cairo, Egypt was bad, but there is no comparison. Cairo is like a dream walking between the cars to get to the other side of the street, but here in Delhi you really are taking your life into your hands by doing crossing the road! I did it and put my hand out as I was crossing, but it did not seem to help much. You still had to jump and run to make it. They do have overpasses and also a subway system, but it didn't seem like it was used when you saw the number of people out on the streets. But I am told it is used a lot, just with a huge number of people that come in from the villages it’s hard to tell.

Also, you do see the beggars, all over the place and wonder how these people survive. There is a huge difference in the classes - you have the very powerful Indians that are wealthy and own so much and also they are the ones that control the contracts for outsourcing and then a middle class that is now working in those businesses, and then a poor class and then a very, very poor class.

I think it will take India a long time to get out of this and join the modern world in so many ways. I am ready to leave this place with so many mixed feelings about trying it as a destination, not knowing if I could get all the services that I want for clients, or should this be something that is pushed for the adventurous that do not mind the long bus rides or the trains to move around. There are flights between some of the major cities, but travel to others would need 5 or 6 hours on the road, with not that many rest stops that are clean or provide food and facilities. I would definitely not recommend people to go during this time of year (May through the summer), but to go earlier in January, February or March or late in the fall - any other times would be very hot and not especially relaxing or enjoyable in that kind of heat.

All in all it was an interesting experience, but I am ready to get back to rainy Seattle, to my own bed and also have some cheese. That’s one thing that was hard to find here so if you are a cheese fanatic, like me, not much in this country.

At the Delhi airport waiting for the flight it has been delayed two hours, the shopping is not that great mostly like any duty free shop- so if you want to buy trinkets and local goods do before departing, it is not like most airports that have local handicrafts for sale – just western items, liquor, candy, etc.

Announcement made in Hindi, only way to know was watching all the people line up - no numbers or seating called out, no handicap, or parents with children loading first - it was first come, first on board - you did have seats assigned, don't get me wrong on that.

The flight is crowded. Because of the strike they were waiting for other flights to come in and connect with this one. We ended up leaving another hour later - so the flight was three hours late. I found people on the flight to be very pushy and not polite. I had a woman next to me that was sitting in the middle seat of three seats - I asked her to move to the aisle so we would have a middle seat between us. She said no, this was all hers and I needed to move somewhere else. I sat down next to her and refused to move and she kept poking me with her elbow. Now this is a woman that was about my age and maybe older. Very aggressive, I just thought this is not worth it and moved to another aisle seat. Once the plane left the ground someone else tried to do the same thing and she did the same to her and that woman left. That old lady got what she wanted and slept on the three seats. I was not very nice, when she left to go to the rest room I "accidentally" spilled a bottle of water on her seat......... I then had a good sleep in my other seat and forgot about her. As I say when you get older, you don't care what people say about you or what you do-----I like being older.

Good night

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May 4: Well after a 22 hour flight I am exhausted and so happy to be in Seattle with the rain and the cooler weather - getting a cab home and making myself some hot tea with crackers and cheese, and my little Omar jumping up and down excited to see me. There is no place better than home and in your own bed. I will be thinking about India and if we at Caravan-Serai might include it as a destination in the future.

Agra and back to Dehli (sent late May 1st)

Rita's last day in India:

Left Agra last night after visiting the most unbelievable museum in Kohinoor - it has the most beautiful gems - emeralds that are billions of dollars and also pictures that were made from gems and embroidered with silk threads on top of silk thread so made it seems three dimensional. The artist has been written up in National Geographic. Some beautiful stuff and the owner is so humble and nice - it is a family run business.

Then we had a long drive back to Delhi - it took 5 hours and the traffic is really very heavy in the evening.

Before I left Agra I went to see the Oberoi Hotel where every room in the hotel has a view of the Taj Mahal. For $500 for a standard room the service and the people and the location are perfect. They have a great spa. The prices were about the same as other hotels that I visited. I was surprised at the prices for 4 star hotels – they were very high, running at $250 and upwards for standard rooms.

Agra is a shoppers paradise and you can get a lot of beautiful items and a lot of jewelry in garnets, rubies, sapphires for very low prices. But it depends on the quality like everything else. Also you will find sandals, shoes, and other leather goods. So come with an empty suitcase to carry your gifts back. I came with a carry on and really had to stop myself from not buying up a storm, which I usually do.

Today is my last day in India before I take a red eye flight out of here. Hoping that the flight will go out since Air India is still on strike and 126 flights have been cancelled. Only 10 pilots have shown up to work. What the airline is doing for some is taking people by train to other big cities and combining the flights. This would mean filled flights. Which will not be great - the flight that I had on the way over was half empty so I was able to stretch out and sleep most of the flight over. Air India, if you have never flown it, is really a good airline and the flight attendants were so nice and accommodating to everyone.

Going out for some last minute shopping and running around to the city. I am told that the temperature is down to 98 today so it will be a bit cooler.
Back with more later.

Taj Mahal ~ Amber Fort ~ Elephants (sent May 1st)

Here is another post from Rita on her trip to India.

This is the day I was waiting for - going to Agra and seeing the Taj Mahal. It is everything that you expect and more, really an incredible site. The guide told me that about 3 million people visit this place a year. I would not recommend coming in April or May and the summer. Today we started out at 5:30am to miss the heat, but that is really not the case since it is hot no matter what! The temperature today was at 114 and when you come from Seattle OMG that is hot (and humid!). No matter how much water you drink you would lose it faster then you can imagine with the sweat.

I spent about three hours just looking and wandering around the grounds that are kept so clean and green. I can see why the Indians are so proud of this place, so much Islamic architecture and workmanship in the tiles and the carvings. It is one of those places that you could come back to time and again. One visit is not enough.

I stayed at the Orient Taj Hotel which is only about a 10 minute ride to the Taj. Then you need to take a little motor bus to the entrance and walk about 10 minutes to get to the gate. Lots of security -people are not allowed to take in food, or any other objects like files, notebooks, pads, or paints; just a camera and water only. They are afraid that people will be picking at the mosaics and trying to remove them or afraid that someone might carry a bomb in the other materials. The hotels also have a huge amount of security here. Pat downs and screening of bags etc. I believe a lot of this is from the hotel bombings they have had. They need the tourism.

The only thing in India that is annoying is all the vendors- they get into your face and try and hawk their wares- they do not understand NO - you are suppose to just keep walking and have no eye contact or anything with them. Once you talk that means you are interested and they will keep at you even when you get into your bus. I have never seen anything like this. When traveling in the Middle East or North Africa once you say No or “go away, I am not interested” they usually leave you alone. Not here. You get this from little kids to adults, all the same. You have to keep yourself from not shouting Leave Me Alone! That is the one thing that was very hard to deal with.

Still not seeing a lot of beggars, though. In the villages that you drive through you do see little kids at the bus that are putting their hands to their mouths asking you for food - I would get some cookies or something and give it to them, but it was not enough they would keep wanting more. They would not say THANK YOU or anything just as if you did nothing. It was very interesting.

I had a man wait for me with a bicycle carriage and I was told to give him 50 rupees which is about 1US I thought he waited so long and was nice that I gave him 5USD - he asked for another 5US and said you are American and have money give me more.

Agra the city is very crowded and people come here for the Taj and also for the Agra Fort which is still in use by the military, but they will show you around. You get to see about 25 percent of it. The city is also known for its leather and shoe factories.