Middle East
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #6 On Top Of The World
Wadi Musa, Jordan 2019. This is the first travel photograph of this collection which wasn’t taken by Michaela. Our host Ahmed took it as he lead us on a thrilling trek through the rocky desert location around Wadi Musa, making our way eventually to the magnificent and world renowned sight of Petra. As we sat gazing at our wonderful surroundings, Ahmed took up Michaela’s camera and captured our moment.
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Karolina’s Coincidence
When we first met Karolina, she was upside down. Looking out across the spectacular desert scenery of Jordan as the sunset swathed the rock formations in ochre shades, but upside down nonetheless. But then yoga people do seem to spend large parts of their day in positions which are fairly alien to the rest of us. Karolina isn’t just a lover of yoga, she is an exponent of acroyoga, a somewhat more exotic and expansive yoga form – and, what’s more, she’s a big fan of yoga-ing in exotic locations around the world and posting beautiful photographs on her Instagram site @acro_yoga_engineer After a brief and slightly disconcerting chat with…
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Travel Stories: Camels And Khaled
Having already handed over the money for the camel ride, we weren’t unduly worried by the fact that Khaled was now negotiating a fee with the animals’ handler and obviously taking a cut for himself, what concerned us far more was that Khaled appeared in the midst of a deal with a boy aged about eleven. “Come” said Khaled, “we are ready.” As we mounted the camels, Khaled was clearly giving the boy directions back to our camp, which, given the expanse of empty desert between our current location at the Lawrence Spring and Eid’s camp several miles away, was another worry. But in the flick of a camel’s eyelash…
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When I’m 64…..
Will you still need me, will you still feed me…so went the Beatles lyric. Well, I’m about to find out whether Michaela will still need and feed, birthday greetings, bottle of wine, and all of those things, because I am actually 64 today, and “celebrating” (if that’s the right word) a second successive lockdown birthday. I don’t think we really thought, on my 63rd, that we would be back in the same situation a year later. There have been some rather more exotic locations for our previous birthdays, most notably the year before COVID, on the occasion of my 62nd, when we were staying with a Bedouin family in their…
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Haggling & Bartering: Our Guide
We have often read, in posts by all kinds of travellers including the most experienced, that they don’t enjoy or feel comfortable with the practice of haggling over prices in bazaars and markets in certain cultures. On one level, we find this really surprising, as we have had great fun doing this in places as disparate as Turkey, Morocco, India, Jordan and even Singapore, and without fail we have enjoyed the whole experience. On the other hand, we think we perhaps do understand what it is that the British in particular don’t like about the practice. So here’s our 5-minute guide to how to enjoy. Firstly, don’t think that you…
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Were We Safe? Take A Look…
Travel isn’t about staying in your comfort zone, sometimes you just have to seize the moment to embrace a new experience. It’s not always about safety belts, health and safety and life jackets. Here’s just a few of those occasions… We spent a whole day like this, sat on a blanket on a roof rack, clinging on to the struts for dear life as Khaled took us to various viewpoints in the desert. All the other similar rides were in the back of a pick up, but not Khaled, he just stuck us on his roof rack and sped across the sand, much to everyone’s amusement. If you’re out in…
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Photographic Memories #8
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #8: Desert Life Desert life goes on with the Bedouin minding his camels in the midday sun, the battered truck displaying all the telltale signs of the demands of the unforgiving environment. Some perspective is given to this photograph by the pick up truck in the far distance, dwarfed by its surroundings yet still some way from the mountains beyond. Here, we are out in…
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Amman: Last Day In Jordan
Last day in Amman after an amazing trip to Jordan
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Amman, City of Hills and City of Change
A full days tour of Amman City
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Back to Amman: The Dead Sea Highway
A journey from the desert of Wadi Rum to Amman via the Dead Sea Highway and the lowest place on Earth
