Through the Middle East

Tunisia: green - revised route; Libya, Jordan, Syria, Turkey: purple - revised route

After visiting the doctor and taking my medicines we decide to visit Willingen in Sauerland to go skiing. During the drive we think we can camp again but the closer we get the colder it is and snow is all around us. Good for skiing, not for camping! We find decent accommodation next to the ski area and the next morning I go for my lessons. Blue sky, no wind, good teacher and 2 fellow Dutchmen with the same experience as I: 1 hour on an artificial ski slope. My outfit is not very professional but even too hot with this weather! I enjoy it very much and have a great day. Hans tries 2 days later but has real beginners in his group. The first one gives up within 10 minutes! Maybe he will try cross country skiing one day…

We are welcome to see our friends in Holzminden. Ursula spent a week with us in the Galapagos 12 years ago. A lot changed since then: now we are all married with children. Her daughter and son are bilingual and have a lot of toys that Bart and Rik like to play with. We can even have dinner with the adults without having to pay attention to the kids! Our boys are put in bed within 15 minutes, but it takes them about 1 hour. That does not leave you with much time for yourself especially as the German schools already start 7.50 am so you have to get up early too. We enjoy the forest next door although it is cold, drinking hot chocolate and spending time with our friends. But we also feel it is time to go home, see our family, friends, pictures and slides. Instead of flying to Africa for a game drive we decide to visit the zoo of Emmen in Holland. In wintertime we are allowed to see the animals very close, as a lot of them stay inside because of the cold weather. Rik nearly manages to creep through the fence of the hippos while they are eating! A giraffe licks Bart’s fingers. We have to watch Rik as zebra’s seem to bite when you stick your finger through the fence as he likes to do. The 2 Siberian tigers do not mind the cold and the 3 Kodiak bears did not even bother to go into hibernation! The rhino’s like to fight and the monkeys sit closely together because of the cold. We enjoy ourselves very much in our first hours back in Holland.

We spend the night in Haaksbergen where Hans’sister lives. Usually we eat French fries when we get back home from abroad but the snack bar is closed. The take away Chinese restaurant offers an excellent alternative – we cannot finish all the food we get. The next day we pick up Tosca, the niece of Bart and Rik. She can hardly believe her eyes as she did not know we were around. She is astonished Rik speaks. That shows that 18 weeks is a long time to travel with such small boys.

Around lunchtime Hans sister returns from Cuba with a jetlag but we still enjoy to see each other again before driving the final kilometers home. The traffic is busy and we have to get used to fact Holland is so crowded with cars. After 20.713 kilometers we stop the VW in front of our house – safely home after a great trip. Rik says: "Are we there?" "Yes Rik, we are there."

Time to meet everybody is great. Getting organized with agenda’s, appointments, read and sort large piles of mail is a different thing. Bart goes to school for the first time, a new milestone. The VW needs some attention in the garage. They find some sand in the steering parts: no wonder! Hans starts his new job, gets a new laptop with DVD and secretly inquires about the prices to fly to Easter Island this summer. The travel virus has not yet left us and we hope to continue exploring our planet one day.

Dear readers,

Last night, Wednesday 25 January, we reached Pijnacker again. Soon I will publish the latest details since Niedernberg, Germany. Thanks for reading.

Hans and I always had a desire to do this trip. Hans wanted to go on a motorcycle but I was not sure about that. It never crossed our minds that we would go one day in a VW bus with 2 sons in the back. Although not many people travel with such small kids for such a long time in these countries, we decided to go and try. We are fortunate to be experiences travelers but traveling with our own transport and 2 kids was new to us. In 2004 we tried it in the summer holiday, but soon realized that every age of the kids have new challenges. Originally we planned to leave in February 2005 but had to postpone it to September. When we saw a toddler crawling in the dust on the Douz’ campsite in Tunisia we were very happy Rik could already walk and he was not walking yet in February last year! Even though Rik often went for a walk on his own and we had to go after him…
I thought they would often find local kids to play with, but most kids we saw already went to school and smaller children were often inside the houses or courtyards beyond our reach. If they met any language was usually not a point, but especially Bart wanted me to ask them to play – impossible for me in Arabic of course. Although we did not bring a lot of toys, in the countries we visited it was often much more than the kids possessed, if they already had any toys at all to play with. Our kids had difficulties to share their toys but were very quick to play with toys from other kids. And some people we met had up to 14 kids while we already feel it consumes a lot of time to manage only 2!
In Istanbul we already reached Europe, but crossing the border with Greece means we are even back in the European Community and a Euro country. The weather is not great, all campsites are closed and we continue via Thessaloniki towards Macedonia. We spend the night on the parking of a hotel and I enjoy an ice coffee (frappe) while typing. The border crossing with Macedonia is pretty easy and soon we see more snow. The main road is clean so we do not worry too much about it. About 25 years ago Hans was already here visiting Byzantine churches but this time we only throw snowballs and enter Albania. We have to pay 20 euro for a visa, but also 3 euro for a basin of disinfecting water. Hans remembers this from his previous trip through former Yugoslavia but I think it is ridiculous to pay for this dirty water bath. The comment from Bart: "At home I already knew you would not want to pay these ridiculous amounts". That gave us a good laugh.
The first part of our trip through Albania is windy. We are surprised to see a lot of Mercedes cars that drive around. We were still thinking of horses and carriages but people spend money over here too. A lot of new bars and restaurants right next to the road provide us with a parking place to sleep. All the staff leaves around 6 pm and only the guard remains with us behind the locked gates. We are surprised the restaurant is not open in the evening but feel very safe of course.
The next morning the road turns out to be completely different: the worst of the whole trip! Huge potholes slow us down to an average speed of 40 km/hr. The road leads us straight through the town centers, with no road signs at all. So we have to ask frequently but hardly anyone speaks English. Nevertheless they usually explain very friendly where we have to go. Still I was really looking forward to reach the border with Servia-Montenegro. To our surprise we had to pay road taxes of 4 euro per day to the Albanian officials. Maybe they actually use it to upgrade the pavement one day. In Servia
we find a shortcut on the map, but it turns out to be a major challenge. The higher the small road takes us the colder it gets and soon snow borders the road. It does not last long before snow is still on the road and after passing a last village our world is completely white. No space to turn around and no snow chains to use. With a faster heartbeat we slowly continue in first gear. Fortunately the road does not get too steep and after finally reaching the top we see the green fields far under us. It takes another 20 km to reach the lakeshore and here we face rain. I am sure the lake is beautiful when the sun shines, but we arrive in the wrong season. We park in the center of Igalo, where Hans’ mother went last year for a holiday. While she enjoyed massages, sauna etc we enjoy a good meal in our car before going to sleep.
The next morning we enter Croatia and see the beautifully restored city of Dubrovnik. In the Yugoslavian war it was heavily attacked. It is hard to believe that it was only 15 years ago. While driving we try to see remains of the war but are never sure if the houses were abandoned before or during the war. And maybe only my imagination creates repaired bullet holes in the walls of houses.
We follow the beautiful coastal route even though it is fairly slow, but from Split we take the highway and cover nearly as many kilometers in one hour as before in nearly 3. Just before entering the mountains we find a place, have a goulash dish in a restaurant and keep the roof closed while sleeping. Too cold, although Bart and Rik still enjoy playing on the slide for a while.
The next day brings a lot of snow until we reach the coast again, but even close to the sea in Slovenia we see snow next to the road. We never realized Slovenia is also a part of the European Union so we even learn something while driving home. Many Italians go for winter sport here as well as in Croatia, as it seems to be much cheaper than in Italy. We want to go to Venice and leave the snow behind. Mario and Rosetta welcome us in their home and please us with real Italian food at Italian times. So the boys eat at 6 pm and we eat when they already sleep in our bus. Of course we want to visit the city of Venice and go by bus and boat to the St Marco square. Many other tourists are around and we are happy not to visit in summer time. Beside the restaurants there are also local bakeries, grocery stores etc for the local people living here. The level of the water is low but you can see by the level of the plants that it can be higher than some doors! The highlight for the boys however is Teddy, the dog, and to walk the dog is a great experience they enjoy very much. "Come Teddy" says Rik and even though the temperatures are low Bart wants to walk Teddy 4 times the next day.
From Venice we want to see our friends in Geneva, but Mario says it is too far to drive in one day and arranges another Servas visit north of Milan. We stay with a family and the house contains a lot of toys. Bart and Rik hardly know which item to play with first. Of course we eat more pasta and put the boys to bed. Not in the bus anymore, that is finished with the freezing temperatures. Rik sleeps with a large truck next to his bed and Bart chooses 2 Disney figures for one night. The next morning they hardly take time to have breakfast and want to play again. We find some time to talk about all kind of things and enjoy being part of the Servas organization again.
In Geneva we meet our friends Rose-Marie and Jean-Marie again after 5 and 13 years. We met them for the first time in Zimbabwe in 1991 and share good memories. We have a splendid time together talking about travels, jobs and all kinds of other subjects. They prepare a Swiss Raclette (cheese) dinner; we go swimming, drive up the mountain and finally buy some winter jackets for the boys. From Geneva we drive north to visit Cornelia and Johannes we met in Tozeur last September. They also give us a warm welcome and we practise our German once more. In Niedernberg, Germany, we surprise our friend Roland by our arrival. We could not reach him to say we would arrive Sunday afternoon but he welcomes us anyway. We met him in Chang Mai, Thailand in 1993 and kept in touch. Roland and Conny have a daughter Mara who is nearly 2 months older than Rik and the boys find another Eldorado to play. We are happy to stay especially as my intestines are not 100%. Problems with the European drinking water?? Anyway the boys play happily, we type the stories and take a bath while Roland and Conny work. We are still not sure how to spend the last 3 weeks of our leave but until now we do not regret going on this trip the way we did.

By reaching Turkey the journey we prepared in advance stops. We only focused on Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Turkey is in our guidebook and we know we want to visit the Nemrut Dagi and Cappadocia but are unsure of the weather conditions. During most of our journey we were looking for shade when we stopped the car. It is strange when you have to search for the sun to warm up.
In many places we met other travelers that were busy with their own journey. We had many nice, interesting conversations with them. Especially in countries where you can not have a large conversation with the local people because of the language barrier. Or the fact that you hardly meet women because men do all the business. Therefore we are member of Servas to be able to meet local people and spend time with them. In Egypt we did not have time to visit them and in Jordan we did not try. All the other countries do not have any hosts (yet) but Turkey does. So every leg of our journey is different: Tunisia with its Roman ruins, Libya with its extended desert, Egypt with its beautiful temples, Jordan with Petra, Syria with the beautiful markets and now Turkey with the hospitable people.

We have to wait at the border of Turkey because they have lunch first. Good idea, so we have lunch in between the two borders next to the mine fields…
It turns out we need visa for Turkey nowadays, we assume because of the problems Turkey faces with trying to enter the European community. For 40 euro (instead of $ 60) we can enter with the whole family, the carnet is stamped and we try to get money in the next town. But after the rain of Syria we now have to deal with snow!!! A few days ago we were still in the desert and now snow. It is a little bit too much to handle for us. Instead of continuing to Nemrut Dagi we decide to turn west to the coast, out of the snow and into temperatures above zero. Once we reach the highway we can speed to better temperatures and have a Turkish dinner in a restaurant before going to bed. There is even a Christmas tree, lights and the boys are excited about it. Our journey the day before Christmas does not end in a stable with a oxen and a donkey but in our own campervan.
The next morning the sun shines and we head for Cappadocia. By the time we have to climb a pass of 1650 m the sun is gone, the mist all around and the temperatures are dropping below zero once more. Within no time there is snow all around us: a white Christmas! That is rare in Holland, but not over here. We meet 2 Dutch guys cycling to Nepal, they wave us to stop and we have a chat on the road. Unfortunately our van is too small to invite them to come in but at least we can offer them some bananas to have more energy to climb the pass that is awaiting them. After that meeting we feel much better in the snow with our luxury van, comfortable and warm. Nevertheless we decide to stay in a pension in Cappadocia and find a room in a cave of Ufuk pension in Göreme. The wood stove is on fire, we have tea and enjoy the fairy rock formations covered with snow. The next day after the splendid Turkish breakfast we go hiking in the snow with Bart and Rik. In their rain boots they are not very well protected against the cold but the sun shines and there is no wind. It is beautiful to hike here and we visit the open air museum with several cave houses and churches with frescoes. Unfortunately the boys decide to start mourning and crying here and even the offered chocolate sweets from the South Koreans cannot stop them from doing so.
Our second day we walk to the chimneys behind the pension. While Hans and Rik hike to the hills to have a better view I stay behind with Bart on a sunny spot and tell stories. It is another beautiful sunny day and we start the car to drive around to see more chimneys. The drinking water is frozen solid but the van starts and the main roads are free of snow. Our van does not like snow on the road, it could not climb even a small hill. Of course we do not carry snow chains. We were prepared for warm temperatures, snorkeling and even rain, but not for this.
In the pension Hans contacts a Servas host in Ankara and that is our next goal. Without problems we drive to his home. In Ankara we see a Toys R us and stop to shop for Rik’s 2 birthday. We expect good quality toys but are disappointed to find a relatively small collection of B quality stuff. Bart and I manage to buy a large car, 2 small ones and a bag of plastic blocks. It is wrapped up in Christmas paper, although I try to explain that they are birthday presents. Not easy when people only speak Turkish!
Our Servas host Kemal arrives from work after Hans makes a telephone call and the boys do not mind to leave the bus for a bed in his apartment on the 7th floor. We have a glass of wine and good conversation about a lot of subjects and sleep well on a comfortable bed bank after midnight. The next day we do laundry and I really enjoy the clean and nice smelling clothes. Time to go home? We spend the rest of the day reading stories, painting, watching a DVD for the first time in our lives, making pancakes for dinner and only go out to visit a fast internet café to update the Dutch website. Kemal arrives late but we still have a nice time trying ayran (a Turkish salty yogurt drink), an undrinkable fermented carrot drink and several different olives.
Finally the birthday of Rik has come on the 30th of December and Bart could hardly wait for the presents to be opened. When Hans gives Rik a present he says “present no” in Dutch. Only when Hans opens it and Rik sees the car he is all of a sudden very interested! The cars are a success and the blocks can also make cars so Rik is a very happy boy with a large smile on his face. Too bad for him that we are driving nearly all day to Istanbul to meet Oylum, our next Servas host. To compensate this we go to MacDonalds on Taksim Square for dinner and Rik loves French fries. The square is full of lights for the Year end party and all of us have a good feeling although it was not easy to drive by car in Istanbul to this center. When Oylum arrives I drive through the rain and still crowded streets to her living quarters not far from the Bosporus river. The street she lives in is really steep but I manage to park the car, we carry the boys to the 3rd floor and put them to bed again as it is already 11 pm. We have a beer and a good conversation with her and her cousin before going to bed at 2 pm.
The next morning we go out for breakfast and take a taxi to a restaurant besides the Bosporus river. Oylum treats herself every weekend on such a breakfast and we are happy to join her. The boats go by, the sun shines and after the delicious breakfast with eggs, cheese, lots of honey and tea we stroll along the river. Although we could only stay 1 night she offers us her home for another night although she will not be there. We happily accept this and spend the last day of 2005 cooking a meal and playing a game of Colonists while watching the Turkish top 100 on tv. We do not wait for the New Year but try to make up for the last 3 nights we went to bed far too late. Only vaguely do we hear the fire works at midnight, but happy new year.
New Year’s day turns out to be a perfect moment to drive to the old town of Istanbul, along the Bosporus we find our way to the Aya Sofia and the famous Blue Mosque. The sun is shining and we stroll around. The Aya Sofia looks pretty ugly from the outside, but when we stand next to the Blue Mosque and look back it suddenly looks a lot better. The Blue Mosque with its 6 minarets looks especially nice on the inside. Bart, Rik and I try to find out how many different colours are used in the tiles and paintings on the ceiling. Rik notices how high the ceiling is and the lamps that have very long cables. In the meantime Hans tries to take pictures. Every time during this journey he says he does not want to take many more but every time we see new interesting things that need to be on the picture! From Istanbul we drive towards Greece. It is a strange idea to have to leave the Lonely Planet of the Middle East behind us pretty soon while our journey is not yet finished. We spend the last Turkish night next to a Burger King and Migros supermarket with a playing ground for the kids. Turkey has many nice and safe playing grounds and Bart and Rik enjoy them very much. So we try to visit them during lunchtime if possible. In the supermarket we spend the last Turkish lira. Not a problem as we find the prices for food pretty high, many items are even more expensive than at home. Maybe we just outgrew the western standard of living after nearly 15 weeks.

When I write this we are in Turkey, the last country during our trip through the Middle East that knows the Islam as the major religion. To be honest I am looking forward to sleep without waking up around 5 in the morning due to the call for praying. On the other hand most people we met on the road, in shops, camps and elsewhere were very friendly and helpful even if we had no language in common. Often they just explained us in Arabic or found someone to translate. The boys never received so many sweets before this trip and even if they misbehave in our eyes the people do not seem to mind, sometimes they even warn us not to be too hard because they are still small children!
In Tunisia and Libya we saw how life is during the Ramadan when people are not allowed to eat, drink and smoke during the day. It affects them seriously as they love to drink tea and smoke water pipes or cigarettes. Of course we notice only the men doing this. Women that smoke in public are rare to see.
In Damascus we could enter the Umayyad Mosque and I was surprised to see men and women in one prayer room, usually they are separated. But still every woman had to cover her hair. In Madaba, Jordan, we parked next to a Christian school when I realized that all the women did not wear veils or anything to cover their hair.
On the other hand we heard stories of Moslems secretly munching food in the back of the car during the Ramadan, men getting drunk in airplanes heading out of their country etc. The social pressure to live according to the rules seems high but also creates a society with hardly any petty crime. Very safe for the traveler, especially compared to the Roman Catholic Central and South America.

Leaving Jordan means that our photo and fingerprint is stored in a computer system and a exit tax of JD 15 per person. In Syria the weekly diesel tax awaits us and we decide to have only one week instead of the 2 weeks planned. Insurance, Carnet de Passage, entry stamps in our passports (we already arranged the visa in Holland) and we can continue to Bosra. This town has a black basalt fortress that contains a theatre, a nice place to have lunch. But to our surprise the town also knows a basalt area with streets, houses, pillars, temples etc where people still live on the edge, walk and cycle to work, home or school. The boys prefer to have a close look at Scoop and I have to explain the 4 flat tyres…
In Damascus we have a hard time finding the New Kaboun Campsite, but in the end we manage. Unfortunately no shoarma place in the neighbourhood and I refuse to get back in the car! So Hans prepares food. We feel the temperature getting lower and lower but are not yet prepared to start the heater. The overlanders here are still camping in tents and that is not for the fainthearted anymore. They all come from Turkey heading south and are all looking forward to higher temperatures. We fear what awaits us. But we have a great time in the Damascus souq buying winter shoes for Rik, eating chocolate cakes and more shoarma and visiting the large mosque. In the evening we are invited to join 2 Dutch travelers in a large coach and have a very good time chatting the hours away.
Because Palmyra is in the desert we head for the warmth and some more ruins of temples, streets with columns and theatres. To camp and have dinner watching the site from the Zenobia Hotel is a very good experience. The sun does a good job and we enjoy exploring the old stones before heading to the crusader castle of Crac de Chevalliers. This also means we leave the higher temperatures behind. By the time we reach the hills it is raining and the area is green. That is a long time ago. The bus needs to work hard to get up to the castle, the roads are windy and pretty steep but we get there. To have a break from all the time spent in the bus we have dinner in The Round Table restaurant and enjoy the various dishes and kebab, not to mention the French fries! The heater is on and it is very necessary too.
The next morning after all the rains the sun joins us on our tour through the castle, the boys ran happily through the enormous castle and the views are great. How lucky can one be? We try our luck even more by choosing a route to Hama following small local roads through various villages. Here signs are not abundant and Hans needs to ask every time the road splits. Time consuming but we reach the famous water wheels of Hama at lunchtime, just as planned. The wheels carry the water up to some canals and make a noise like a moped in full speed. Nice to see if you do not have to sleep next to them. From Hama we continue north towards Aleppo and have even more difficulties finding the Kaddour campsite than we faced in Damascus. It turns out that the campsite is about 25 km out of town…. Not very convenient, but by the time we get there the sun went down and we are tired of driving even though we have to pay too much money. I decide we stay 1 night and park in the city center the next day to spend 1 more night. This is really convenient, opposite the museum, close to shops, the souqs and the citadel of Aleppo. But this is Friday and for the first time we find many shops are closed for business today. In the previous countries we visited we never really noticed the difference between one day or the other. Even in the Christian quarter of Aleppo most of the shops are closed and the largest souq is pretty dark and not very lively today. Too bad, but the next morning it was raining and we did not give it a second try.
But I succeed in buying 2 jerry cans to carry extra diesel into Turkey as the prices are steep (euro 1,25 per liter) especially compared to the prices in Syria (euro 0,12). We fill them the next morning in the rain and drive north to the border. Within no time Hans says we have a problem: the diesel is leaking into the car and although we have placed the jerry cans in extra plastic bags we fear the whole car is soon one pool of diesel. In the end we empty them for 25% and that works out better, fill up the tank for our last Syrian pounds shortly before we leave the country and leave Syria. It was a short but pleasant visit.

From Aleppo in Syria we wish everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will be i nTurkey for X-mas and hope there will not be too much snow to stop us from travelling. First Nemrut Dagi then on to Cappadocia. We will see what the next few weeks will bring.

During the last 14.000 km we saw many different houses. From really nice ones to downright dump holes. From houses in green garden to houses built on top of each other. Many houses look as if they are not even finished yet: Iron pins stick up from the roof and when enough money comes in or more space is needed another floor can be added. Also a lot of them still need to be painted because you see the rough stones and concrete. Most of them never seem to get finished. This means that most towns, especially in Libya, Egypt and even more in Jordan look quite uninspiring. When the wind blows the dust and sand through the streets its gets even worse.
In the Sinai of Egypt and in Jordan we see a lot of Bedouin tents pitched somewhere in the desert. Some tents are made from woven wool, but others from old brown bags sewn together. Somehow all the way it looks like houses are never really built according to a city plan, but just somewhere on the available lot the owner bought. Compared to Holland it is so organized over there…

Our last evening in Dahab we go to a restaurant near the beach for dinner. The men enjoy a pizza and I order fish. Maybe not a good choice because the next day I am ill. Not very well timed as we have to catch the ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba in Jordan. Hans does most of the job: packing, looking after the boys, driving, collecting stamps in the passports and the carnet de passage, changing more money for exit taxes and spending the last Egyptian pounds on food. By the time we can board I am feeling better and drive the van backwards on board in between large trucks. We celebrate Saint Nicolas on the boat, singing songs, reading poems and opening gifts with sweets (later we find more gifts – books, in another bag). As they clean the carpets with kerosene the air is hard to breathe inside, but outside it is too cold and windy. Despite Saint Nicolas it is a difficult crossing of about 3 hours. We are happy to enter Jordan where Hans collects more stamps in passports and carnet, changes euro for Jordanian dinars and buys insurance for the car (one month). In the dark it is nearly impossible to find our way in between the trucks parked around the port. Thanks to a helpful Jordanian we find the road towards Saudi Arabia and thanks to a German mobile home a (no charge) place to spend the night (with electricity). The next morning we wake up to see the beautiful blue sea and a beach. Not bad. We take it easy and go to the aquarium in Aqaba where the boys finally can see some of the fish we already saw when snorkeling and find a MacDonalds for a nice ice cream and Bart is eating his first cheeseburger. It feels like having a holiday. Although the wind is severe I go snorkeling but am disappointed: most of the coral is dead and only a few fish are swimming around. Nothing much compared to Dahab although this is the Marine park of Aqaba famous for diving and snorkeling. The next morning I try another spot, see my first morene but can still not rave about it and Hans does not even try. We continue to Wadi Rum to enjoy the beautiful rock formations in the desert. We stay at the Moon Valley Camp and have tea in the Bedouin tent while the boys enjoy playing with their toys in the miniature Bedouin tent. In the late afternoon we climb a hill together to watch the sunset and to our surprise they prepared a dinner of chicken, rice, potatoes, cauliflower and yogurt we have under the stars. After the dinner we make music together on drums and other instruments, clapping hands, singing and the boys dance. What a wonderful evening. When the generator is started the whole wall is lit with coloured lamps, a fairy tale.
The next day we climb the hill again for sunset after decorating the bus with Christmas items as bells and trees cut out of carton boxes.
In Wadi Rum we change our bus for a 4WD again and set off to see bridges of stone, rock carvings, sand dunes and the ruins of TE Lawrence house. We drive through the soft sand enjoying the fact that we do not have to find our way and can simply enjoy what we see. It is pretty busy in some places and we are happy to return to our silent camp. Only to find it is weekend, so other guests had arrived, new loudspeakers were bought and used and a smoky campfire was lit. This is not like our first night in the camp, but nice to compare the difference.
From Rum we drive to Petra and camp at the parking. Petra is a site high on our list of Things to see. In the past whole buildings were carved out of the rocks, mainly as tombs and you enter through a narrow canyon. This is a great gift for my 41st birthday and I enjoy it very much. We walk all the way, carrying one or two children most of the time. But as the low budget travelers we once were we still do not hire a horse, donkey or camel. We hike together along the various tombs, the theatre, the market street until we reach the museum of Petra. I stay behind with Bart and Rik while Hans hikes up 800 stairs to the so called Monastery. On our way back we meet an American family traveling already for 15 months with their 3 children, unfortunately we do not have enough time to exchange experiences. But the fact that their children had stones thrown to them and people spitting because they were American was quite shocking to me.

After Petra we feel we are ready in Jordan but still drive north. We are surprised to find the King’s way so narrow and winding up and down the hills. We do not like all the towns we have to drive through although it is always easy when you need to do some shopping. We have our first shoarma for lunch and find the prices indeed much lower than in Petra where they adjusted the prices for the tourists. That night we stay with a Bedouin family living in 2 tents. Only the older children who go to school the next morning wear shoes. This is something Rik noticed as he says “shoes no” in Dutch. They offer us tea and are very curious to see how we live in our “tent”. The next morning we stay a while so the children can play together which they do most of the time. Of course our boys like their “toys”: old tyres to run with and an empty container to drag around. Their children like the plastic animals and small cars we have. But Rik is also playing with the animals that are walking around, chickens and his favorite: a small goat.
When I get tired of all the dust and the heat we continue to visit the mosaic floors in Madaba and swim in the Dead Sea. To swim in that awful tasting salt water is not easy, I notice my legs stay above the water when I try breath stroke! Floating is easier and I can even have Rik on top of me and still keep floating. This is a nice experience. Unfortunately Rik gets some of the water in his mouth and starts to cry so loud we have to leave the sea. Maybe he is also crying because the salt is getting into his damaged skin on his hands and feet. Who knows?
We have no desire to visit Amman (smog and too big) so we drive to the east towards Iraq to see the desert castles along the way. In a vast and empty area huge stone structures were built to accommodate guests that traveled the desert in the past or came hunting. Nowadays there is nothing left to hunt, but in the past deer and oryx were roaming the plains. In the Shaumari reserve they try to raise the Arabian oryx and of course we go there to have a look. We are lucky because they come to eat when we arrive. Beautiful white animals with 2 large horns nearly completely lost forever and family of the oryx we saw in Botswana a few years ago.
The Azraq wetland reserve dried out completely in 1991 thus depriving thousands of migrating birds from their feeding grounds. But the government has secured part of the wetlands water supply and it is wonderful to see water, reed, water birds like cormorants and ducks in the middle of the desert. There is a short hiking trail and a hut to watch the birds, but we are not in the right season.
Back in Jerash we have rain all night. The first rain this season in Jordan is good for the country but not for us. It is quite small in the van with 2 actively climbing children around you and we are happy to have tea with the tourist police every once in a while and getting to know more about the country and the Arab world. When the sun returns Rik and I hike through the old Roman streets among many columns, old temples for Zeus and Artemis and do our utmost to make slides to prove this site is quite big compared to other Roman cities we visited before during our trip through the Middle East. After 14 nice days it is time to leave Jordan and head further north to Syria.

From Luxor we have to drive in a group, called convoy, to Aswan. We can choose the starting time: 7, 11 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon. Not a difficult choice, so we head south at 11 with some other buses that drive fast through town. After a near accident we decide to drive a lot slower and this means we loose the rest of the group, but not our lives! The road follows the Nile Valley, the small green stretch with trees, bushes and crops growing and plenty of villages and towns. In our gray van people do not regard us as part of the convoy and cross roads in front of us, stay in the middle of the road preventing us to take over etc. This is not what the tourist police behind us like so they regularly blow the horn, drive sometimes in the front, sometimes behind us and it is working on my nerves. Combined with the heat, the long driving time of over 3 hours and the lack of lunch I do not feel very happy when we are not allowed to camp in Aswan (later we hear about a new place near the bridge) and have to find a hotel. The map in the Middle East Lonely Planet lacks explanation of the various numbers and it is difficult to find our way. Finally we find a room in Ramses Hotel not far from the boulevard where many Dutch groups also stay. Rik finds it very strange to hear so many people speak a familiar language all of a sudden!
The next day we continue south with another convoy. Not with the tour groups at 3.30 am but conveniently at 11. Before the airport we take the wrong way and the convoy goes ahead… No blowing horns today. No problems at the road blocks if we get there by ourselves and in Abu Simbel we stay in front of the Abu Simbel Tourist Village where grandma has a pink room. Otherwise we would have stayed at the parking of the temples but now we upgrade a little and enjoy it. In the evening a magnificent sound and light show is performed. The temples are used as enormous screens with displays of the removal in the sixties to avoid the temples being under water after the Nasser Lake was created. Ramses II decided to have the temples built thousands of years ago and was quite happy to depict himself 4 times in bigger than life statues. Because it gets dark at 5.30 the show starts already at 7 and we can enjoy it with the whole family. Rik sits next to me looking with his eyes wide open, Bart says the music is too loud. Well it is all around us, but that makes it even more impressive.
The next day the temples do not disappoint us, after the groups return to Aswan around 9, we stroll around taking pictures outside and looking at all the scenes inside. The boys enjoy the boats, owls and other animals they watch on the inner walls.
Somehow we both got the feeling that from now on we are on our way home. Abu Simbel is the most southern point on our trip, but we are not yet half way in time!!!

The next day we drive back in the very large convoy with all the tourist busses to Aswan. Nearly everyone drives faster and overtakes us but we enjoy the desert scenery and the trucks loaded with camels for the market. We take the same room in the Ramses Hotel, where the price all of a sudden is 130 Egyptian pound and two nights ago 85! Sorry, but I do not accept that. Mentioning the manager drops the price eventually to the original 85… Time to find a felluca boat to sail on the Nile. Hans negotiates a round trip around Elephant island down from 270 to 55 and we all embark. There is a nice breeze and we sail between many green islands, see night herons, king fishers among others. Upstream the wind blows us south, downstream we go from left to right against the wind and it takes too long for the boys. Rik throws a plastic fish in the river that will reach Cairo one day and cries his heart out.
Time for a farewell dinner in the Aswan Moon restaurant with shish kebab and Om Ali as dessert along the river Nile. The next morning grandma leaves us by taxi and airplane to return to Holland. Strange to continue for the rest of our trip with the 4 of us. But first we join another convoy to Luxor. This time we join the groups to see the temples at Kom Ombo and Edfu. Hans sees the first one with the crocodiles, I take my time at the Horus temple. Now we are also “templed out” as many overland group travelers say. Time for an ice cream at McDonalds and relax at Rezeiky Camp. We meet 2 German travelers with their Man truck and spend quite some time together. They even extend their stay. Our last Luxor day is spent in the Kings Valley to see 3 tombs of Tutmosis III, Ramses III and Ramses I. The outside is nearly invisible, but the interior of Ramses III ‘tomb is very richly decorated with paintings and carvings. To imagine this tomb filled with all the treasures the Egyptians made for their after life journey. Still in 1995 tombs of sons of Ramses II were found with treasures. But most were emptied somewhere in the past. Not necessary to say that the whole valley is filled with tour groups and their smelly diesel busses that keep the engine running all the time. It would reduce the smog considerably if engines were turned off.

Getting ready for our last convoy in Egypt, all laundry done, water tanks filled, McDonalds and the market visited again for fruit and vegetables. Departure time at 8 and this time all the side roads are blocked and the speed is normal. Bye bye river Nile off we go to the swimming and snorkeling area of the Red Sea. Halfway the convoy stops at a road house but we continue and prefer to stop in Port Safaga. Unfortunately we miss the Sun Beach hotel (near the Holiday Inn on the way to Hurghada) where we can camp and try various other places first. The temperature rises in more than one way but in the end everything calms down in the beautiful blue sea with abundant fish and a coral reef right in front of us. After Rik and I find a kids’ playing area we decide to stay another day to relax. Hans and I enjoy taking turns snorkeling and spotting beautifully colored fish, Rik and Bart happily play nearly all day in the area. Hard to leave such a heaven, but we do. We pass Hurghada where all groups go and continue north to Suez. The ferry between Hurghada and Sharm El Sheik is too expensive according to our information so we rather drive. Now we can say we drove in the tunnel under the Suez Canal and saw some of the oil activities in the Middle East. On our way to Dahab, the backpackers hangout with diving and snorkeling possibilities Hans climbs the Moses Mountain in the night to see the sunrise. He passes many groups in the dark and gets on the top after 2 hours of climbing. He rates the walk with 8 to 9 on a scale of 10, but the sunrise only a 4. Home for breakfast long before the rest of the groups return. During the night the whole parking filled up with buses, the boys cannot believe their eyes. After a quick glance in St Catherine’s monastery with too many other visitors we head for Nuweiba to buy a ticket for the ferry to Jordan on December 5. That leaves 4 nights in Dahab to relax, swim, snorkel and walk the boulevard. The place is filled with restaurants with tourist prices, souvenir shops and dive clubs but we still find a fruit and vegetable shop to buy our own food to cook. We stay at the Crazy Camel Camp under some palm trees and are surely one of the few that camp and do not stay in a hut or room. There are many places to dive and snorkel and Hans and I take turns twice a day in the various spots. The Lighthouse and Eel Garden are popular and within walking distance. But right in front of our camp the reef of Machraba starts and is also stunningly beautiful, with a frightening drop of several meters. Every snorkeling safari we still see new fishes and we show them to Bart in a book as he is very interested but does not dare to go himself. Looking at the waves I understand, but when the sea is nearly flat it would be nice if he tried to have a look at least once.
Thus we spend the last days in Egypt before going even more to the east: Jordan.