I've been travelling a lot for the last few weeks. Mostly for pleasure (minus one country which was lots of fun anyhow).
I started in Qatar and went to Oman for work. From there I went to India (Pune and Mumbai). Then back to Oman for a week. I spent a night in Doha and then flew to London and then Cincinnati and finally arriving in San Diego. From San Diego, I spent a few days in New York. A stopover in Paris and then a 9 day vacation in Jordan. Finally I'm back in Doha for a little bit.
Let me rewind a bit as there are a few stories to tell. Oman. What an amazing country. There are mountains and an ocean and people that know that they are living in paradise. It is so relaxing. My working hours at my client are something like 9-1:30 (government). When you see someone (whether you know them or not), you go into a greeting in Arabic where you ask how they are, how their wife is, how their _fill in the blank relative_ is. You go back and forth until you run out of people that you know in their lives. The goal is to not be the first one to give up. It's so much nicer than the "Fine" response we're all used to. It does make meetings stretch out while everyone does this to everyone else. I'm planning on taking Genny to Muscat or Salalah in a few weeks.
I had two weeks to spend in Oman, but since Genny was going on a girl's weekend to Dubai, I was looking for places within a three hour flight to visit instead of going home. I happened to send my buddy Jake (who I started at the same time in Microsoft with) an email and received an Out of Office remark saying that he was going to India. So I decided to visit him in Pune. Pune is reached by flying in to Mumbai and then taking a two hour bus ride (or a connecting flight which I didn't know existed). So I went there for the weekend, and came back a little early to hang out with my uncle and family before catching the flight back to Oman. Unfortunately, Gulf Air cancelled the flight back to Oman until the next day due to a fuel line something or other. So I ended up staying with my uncle for another day.
Oman has this great restaurant/bar called Trader Vic's. Actually, it's not only Oman. It's all over the world. It just happens to be in the same hotel I'm staying in. I think there is one in Chicago, but I've never been. For those of you looking for something else to do in Chicago, go to it. But, don't say I didn't warn you.
Reaching San Diego was a long trip, but worth it. I had a chance to witness Aaron and Steph's wedding. It was a stunning event with a beautiful view. Paul presided and gave (another) brilliant ceremony. I'll be putting up pictures eventually. Good times were had in SD, although I did think it was odd that all the New Yorkers were complaining of the heat. I don't think it could have been more than 75, tops.
New York was also fun. I stayed at Paul/Liran/Lee's place and Alok met up with me there for three days. I imagine it is one of his last vacations for the next 4 years or so. While walking through the Bronx, we walked into a place that had really good Mac and Cheese. Although the wait was an hour, it still was tasty.
Jordan next. I met Genny and Sara in Amman for a week++. After spending a night in Amman, we went to Petra by way of Karak Castle, Madaba (amazing mosaics), and a few roadside falafel places. We stopped at one and all the local boys came by and peeked at us. By us, I mean Genny and Sara. One guy came into the shop and wanted a picture with us. It was like China for me for them. Petra was amazing. We had a guided tour with Ahmed who told us about the history and the Nabateans, Romans, etc. Pictures to come. We saw the famous Treasury and then continued walking past the tombs to the Monastery. I don't know of any (there may be some though) civilizations that didn't build, but instead carved their homes and sites. They say that Petra is only about 20% discovered. We met a Jewish group there who said that we might have trouble crossing the King Hussein Bridge back into Jordan as we needed to get a visa prior to crossing. Other crossings would be fine though. So we decided to see Eilat instead of Jerusalem. We headed to the Red Sea and through Aqaba (only Jordanian city on the Sea) to Eilat. Before getting to Aqaba, we went out with the Bedouins (nomads) into the desert of Wadi Rum. We took a four hour camel ride to get there and then ate dinner, danced, and drank tea (sweet tea with sage). Actually, it seemed like we drank tea between everything we did. We ended up camping under the stars with another group of 5.
In the morning we continued south. Eilat is much more developed than Aqaba, but Aqaba is growing. At the border we took a taxi to the border (my taxi driver said "your ferment - really bad" - yes, I stunk.), walked across and took another taxi to the hotel. However, actually getting into Israel is a challenge. They let Genny and Sara in without problems, but they asked to see my diploma, asked for my Microsoft ID and business card and asked me many questions about the pages in my passport. It also didn't help that I was carrying brake pads in my luggage. But, Eilat was worth it with the nice snorkeling and amazing Boardwalk (the real name is the French equivalent which is escaping me right now - starts with a p).
We ended up back in Amman and returned the rental car and took minibuses/taxis everywhere we went from then on. The night was spent with Karim, our great friend who Sara met while in Thailand. He took us to Salute which is an amazing spot overlooking the city for dinner and drinks. We then spent a day at the Dead Sea (which is NOT the world's saltiest place) where we coated ourselves in the mud (if you've shaved, definitely don't put it on your face), the girls got spa'd out, and we enjoyed relaxing. At night, we went out with Hussam and Tala (friends of mine that I met while consulting in Dubai) who took us to a Chinese restaurant (Ren Chai) and then dancing at Nai. Genny and Sara learned how to dance from Tala, and I even picked up a few moves from Hussam.
The next day we went to Jerash - one of the 1001 things to do before you die. It is the one of the best preserved city from the Roman Empire. BTW - the Lonely Planet makes a really good guide book. Well recommended from me. At night we went to a wedding party with Karim again after having Sara eat proper Lebanese food @ Fakhr el-Din.
And now we're home.
Genny's sick :(
and - it's our two year anniversary today!
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