A few more photos of Petra From 26 April
Bedouin woman at High Place of Sacrifice
Geni with a stray cat on 800 step climb to High Place of Sacrifice
Bedouin with his donkey near the Treasury
View across from above the Monastery
27 April
Our last day in Jordan began with a drive further south to a place called Wadi Rum. Wadi means valley, and Rum is just a name, not significant as far as we were told.
We arrived at the entrance to be met with our Bedouin driver, Moses, a pleasant, quiet sort of guy. This area is under Bedouin control, so you can't just come in and start touring around yourself.
We were in the back of a battered old ute with bench seats on either side, and, fortunately for me, a cover over the roof.
We drove off into the desert, with massive rock hills and sand dunes all around us. The hills were reminiscent of the Petra rock, with patterns and colours throughout. We stopped and climbed a sand dune, which wasn't easy - Pete echoed my thoughts exactly as he called out " I feel like Percy Cerutti" a nice view from the top and lots of sand in our shoes, we headed back to our limousine.
Our next stop was the camel stop - camels lying around all over the place, actually sitting mostly, with a couple lying down giving the impression of death. Geni and Elly decided that they would like to do a camel ride! Pete and I rolled our eyes, but said nothing. Off they went on their trusty steeds, as we drove to our next stop to wait for them. The camel ride lasted for about 15 minutes, and as Pete said, you could hire a car for a day in Australia for that money.
We stopped at a large Bedouin tent, made of goat hair, very professionally, where we were given a cup of herb tea. Of course they have lots of knick knacks there to sell. The guy tried to tell Pete that he looked like a Bedouin with his moustache, and tried to put a red and white towel on his head - once they do that to you it's hard to refuse to buy it. Pete was quite positive in his response - no way!
The scenery was magnificent, with these enormous towering rock mountains, and sand dunes filling the gaps between. Lawrence of Arabia was in this area, and there is reference to the Seven Pillars, which we saw on our way, a large multi faceted rock with vertical pillar like protrusions down the side.
During the drive Elly asked me where the iPad was, so I told her it was in her camera bag, where I had put it that morning. She said that it wasn't there. Panic! We stopped the car and got out and searched the car and the bags - no iPad. I distinctly remembered putting it in her camera bag that morning, even which slot I put it in.
Murad rang the hotel and asked them to look in our room, although I could see no way it could be there, because of the above, and we had checked the room before we left.
We were amazed when they rang and said they had found it. What a relief, I had over a weeks blog just waiting for some photos for me to post it. However, I still couldn't understand why it was in our room.
The tour company said they had a driver who was coming from Petra to Amman and he would bring it. What a relief. ( we thought).
Back in our normal transport, we turned north to head towards Amman. As we got closer, we diverted Madaba, to visit the Church of St George. This was originally scrappy unused land full of rubble, when the Greek Orthodox people moved into the area, and asked for land to be made available for them to build a church. They were allocated this land, and started to clear it. During the clearing process, they came upon a large mosaic which depicted, minus a few areas, the entire land stretching from what is now northern Israel, across to the Mediterranean and, in the other direction, Jordan.
This was a major discovery, so the church was actually constructed to fit around the mosaic, and that mosaic is produced as a copy by current mosaic manufacturers.
Further on we actually called in to a mosaic manufacturing business where they made some very impressive stuff, from bowls to chairs, tables, almost anything, with amazing quality
On to Mount Nebo, where Moses was supposedly shown the Promised Land. Unfortunately we didn't rank so highly with God as Moses, because we could only just see the northern tip of the Dead Sea, because of the haze.
Murad and Achmed gave us a tour around the outskirts and through the city of Amman, before we went to the hotel, mainly the nice areas, where all the embassies are. Murad insisted that Elly not take any photos, or they might get into serious trouble with a capital T. This is never a good thing to tell Elly.
After checking in to the hotel, Elly and I had to get organised because we had a 1:00 am pick up to go to the airport for our flight through to Chiang Mai, so we were sweating on the driver, who was supposed to deliver the iPad before 7:00 pm. He finally arrived after 9:00 so I dashed down to the lobby, with some reward money for him. Imagine my surprise when he handed me a Kindle, not an iPad! Geni had left her Kindle in her room, and hadn't realised it, and they had found nothing in our room. The iPad was gone.
We backtracked our movements, and it had been in the camera bag until it was left with all our other luggage on the hotel trolley, while Elly went to the toilet. That is the only time it was out of our sight the whole morning until we found it had gone. Someone had pinched it!
28 April
We spent this day, from a pick up at 1:00am, flying from Amman to Dubai, Bangkok and Chiang Mai in Thailand. We were still upset about the iPad, particularly losing all the seven or eight days of the blog.
A response Elly gives when someone says money doesn't buy happiness is "It is better to cry in the back of a limo than to cry in the back of a bus", and as we had used up most of our remaining frequent flyer points to pay for business class, I said as we settled into our pods on the A380 from Dubai to Bangkok, "I guess we are crying in the back of a limo".
Crying in the back of a limo
29 April
We had settled nicely into the hotel Shangri La, where we had originally booked a standard room, but when we checked in, they offered us a package which included a room upgrade, breakfast, and a two hour Happy Hour every evening - how could we refuse?
Our first and main mission was to find an Apple Store to replace our stolen iPad. We did find it at a shopping mall near the airport, although it wasn't an Apple Store like those we know at home, and the Genius Bar (for those who know the Apple Store system) was certainly not full of genii.
However, we managed to bite the bullet and buy ourselves a new iPad, and told ourselves that the old one was showing signs of dementia, and really needed to be replaced anyway. Now the task remained of recollecting all the events from the previous week.
In the evening we went along to Happy Hour, of course, and found wine and food and a nice view, so we proceeded to eat and drink so much we didn't need any dinner!
30 April
Today we had decided to go on a Zip Line adventure called Flight of the Gibbon. This was at Elly's instigation- of course- why wouldn't someone who is scared of heights ( yes I know she is a pilot ) book in for something which involves being hooked up to a wire suspended across the top of a jungle, and being launched at high speed towards a tree platform 800 metres away?
In fact we did this about 10 times over the course of a couple of hours - it was great fun, with people whizzing over the top of us shrieking, as we crossed paths with other zippers.
It is called the Flight of the Gibbon because there are Gibbons in the trees at one spot, very low in number because of poaching, but we spotted a couple, although Elly only had her little camera, so no close up safari type photos.
We had a couple of guys looking after our group of six, and they had a great sense of humour, giving us a lot of cheek. However, we were really impressed with their scrupulous safety procedures. No one, at any time was disconnected from a safety line, if you had to be released, they would hook a second line on before disconnecting the other line. They even did this with themselves, but it was done so professionally you almost didn't notice.
Three of our group, two brothers and a girl were Los Angeles police officers, and the other girl's work was looking after her father's property portfolio in the U.S. "protecting your inheritance?" I asked. "Absolutely," she said. Nice work if you can get it.
We took a Tuk Tuk (sorry) out to dinner that night to a lovely restaurant called The Riverside, which, strangely, was on the river. Beautiful balmy weather and good food.
1 May
Up at 03:00am to catch our flight to Hong Kong. It was great to be back in the place we love so much, after spending 9 years there. Our dear friends Kim and Kai had kindly offered for us to stay with them, but they had visitors already for the night, so we checked in to a nearby hotel for a night.
Our son, Michael was in town touring with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, so we had timed our arrival to meet up with him, and attend the concert on the 3rd. As it happened, our other son, Daniel, who had been attending a medical convention in London, was here with his girlfriend, Cecci.
Michael was showing some of his orchestra mates the sights of Hong Kong, so we met Dan & Cecci for happy hour, before we all met for dinner. We found ( the boys found ) a beautiful, atmospheric, very trendy restaurant Mott 32, just the typical Hong Kong place you find when you want to spoil yourself, and had a fabulous night together. It was very special, and our last chance because Dan and Cecci had to head back to Melbourne to work. Just a pity we didn't have daughters Claire and Eleanor with us, that would have been something, because they love Hong Kong too.
2 May
We did manage to squeeze in another meeting with Dan and Cecci this morning, with a Yum Cha at Hong Kong City Hall. This is an event we remembered well from our time in Hong Kong, and we managed to coordinate to have Kim and daughter Mai, who has known our boys since school days, also our friends Cawsi and Diana, as well as Donna Blake, here from the U.K. with son Oliver, who is a dear friend of Dan's since school days in Hong Kong, and his fiancé Maya. How we managed to be in Hong Kong at the same time I have no idea. Michael was missing because of rehearsals. We had a great, noisy Yum Cha, good fun.
Hong Kong has changed a lot over the last several years, 16 years since we left. Property prices have doubled, then doubled, then doubled again, and the rental for a normal sort of apartment is around A$20,000 per month! However, it is a city which is vibrant and full of life, with new buildings going up everywhere, we love it!
Next on the agenda (more food) was a ferry ride to Lamma Island with Kim and Kai and Mai to one of the many Chinese restaurants on the waterfront there. Michael brought along half a dozen of the orchestra members to join us. Having Kai as our interpreter made life easy, so we left the ordering to him. Elly and I had met some of the orchestra previously, in Norway and in Melbourne. They are a great bunch of people, an eclectic mix from all over the world, including various European countries, Israel, Iceland, Australia and the U.K. They welcomed us into their company, and we thoroughly enjoyed the night with them.
3 May
After a very late night, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, (now staying at Kim and Kai's place) to make our way to Diana and Cawsi's apartment for a late brunch. We could get used to this lifestyle again, we have done it before.
A bit of a rest during the afternoon prepared us for the Mahler Chamber Orchestra concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, a Beethoven program including two Piano Concertos. Six of us attended, with good seats and a good view of Michael. Cawsi, ever the comedian, brought along a bottle of wine ( 2 in fact) for us to have during interval. Better than that dross they sell there, he advised.
A great concert, thoroughly enjoyed by all, and then Elly and I met up with the orchestra at a cute, obscure bar one of them had discovered, and partied on till late o'clock, and were advised by Michael that, apparently, the orchestra says we are in the running for the world's coolest parents! How about that? Finally we said a fond farewell to them all, and to Michael. They continue on their tour to Taipei, Korea and Japan, before heading back to Europe.
Back home at 3:00am.
4 May
Elly and Kim took crazy dog Marcel for a walk around the Peak in the morning where you have the best views of Hong Kong.
Went for a drive with Kim down along the eastern side of Hong Kong Island to Stanley, where we lived for the first four years of our time in Hong Kong. We drove first to Shek O, which is on the South East corner of the Island, and which we remember as a fairly untidy beach area, with broken concrete paths, but, a place, nevertheless that we did go occasionally with the kids. It has been transformed into a lovely clean beach, and we had lunch at a new restaurant right on the beach.
Shek O beach
On to Stanley, which still has the market, and a waterfront bar or two, but now has a shopping mall, which we have seen before, but wasn't there in our time in Hong Kong. Elly and Kim went to do some shopping while I put my feet up with a cup of coffee, and tried to do some catchup on the blog.
On the drive back, I felt it difficult, at times, to get my bearings in what used to be very familiar territory, because of the immense building that has changed the landscape, and is still continuing. This place is a one-off in the world, and is simply remarkable.
In the evening we had an invitation to dinner from an old friend, Alistair Hayman, on the roof of his apartment. It was a balmy evening, and it brought back a lot of memories of life in Hong Kong, on the roof with the towering apartment blocks all around, lit up, and the clouds overhead reflecting the city lights, we both just soaked it all up and loved it.
It's only red wine!
May 5
Late start for our last day. Kim and Elly go out to bank and lunch and MTR which now extends to Kennedy Town in the west. That evening we had dinner with the same friends at a new hawker style restaurant in western Central which was amazingly BYO grog. Unheard of in HK in our days.
Off to the airport for the final leg home.
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