(Turkey-Egypt-Jordan) Jordan on the cheap....

Arriving in Istanbul we soon realized that we had preferred the "no tourists in sight" feeling of central Asia rather than the tour bus packed city of Istanbul. It was a bit tiring with people and more people everywhere you turned, all following a designated guide with a flag/umbrella to make sure his herd of lost tourists didn't stray from the path. We also had a mission to complete. We had to make a decision on where to go from Turkey. Our initial plan was to travel by land through Syria and then onto Jordan. Since we had deemed the situation in Syria to be too unstable we chose to be "safe than sorry" and abandon this plan. Plan B was either to go by boat to Cyprus, Greece or Egypt. In Turkey it became apparent that either one of these options were neither economical or time efficient. We reluctantly had to go with plan C which was to fly to Egypt and from there go across to Jordan.

Why then "unfortunately" you may ask? Egypt shouldn't be a half-bad substitute for Syria. Well, it was unfortunately for us since we had been there 4 years ago and swore never to return (so much for saying never:)). Back then we were hassled to insanity and pretty much considered it 'asshole central'. Of course this was only based on the people that we met and these were people that worked in the tourist industry. Both Dan and I are almost convinced that the every day Egyptian is nice and friendly. Back in Egypt we were at first taken back by the friendly staff at the airport and we got our hopes up that maybe things had changed. Oh no, once outside the airport our previous impression was validated. We were immediately approached by unreasonable taxi drivers asking for ridiculous fares and who got angry with us when we declined?!? We then finally agreed on a price with one guy who almost bit my head off when I tried to put the seatbelt on?!? Apparently seat belts are not necessary now once Mubarak is gone?? Not sure what that has to do with me trying to be safe (I've seen driving in Egypt in the past) but at that point I didn't want to agitate our somewhat crazy driver.  We quickly made our way to Dahab which luckily was a bit less intense and spent a few days there to soak up some sun and eat banana pancake.

We left Egypt by ferry to go to Jordan (of course we were ripped off one final time at the ticket office, but difficult to argue if you can't read arabic) and were lucky to end up with a bunch of other travellers on the boat. These were people that we would end up meeting throughout our stay here in Jordan. But as with everything else there are different kinds of people and some you get along with better than others. We didn't know it yet, but as faith would have it we ended up with the cheapest guy on the planet....There's cheap and there's CHEAP!! Man, this dude (I will call him Ranger Bob) really had an issue with costs!!!

It started off pretty normal. As we arrived late in Jordan we shared a taxi and also a room with Bob . That was all OK, although we did think he had slightly odd ideas. He wanted to ask the receptionist if they had 'trees' in the desert?! It was 'cause he wanted to make a campfire to cook his food. He got pretty livid since the poor guy in the reception failed to understand (according to Bob) his perfectly normal question! Anyway, that was still OK and we thought that maybe he was just a bit odd. The next day we all continued to Wadi Rum (Bob still didn't know if there were any trees there, but brought his canned peas anyway). We got a great deal to spend the night with the Bedouins. By now we were growing a bit tired of his constant ranting about how expensive everything is and how much better it was in Israel bla bla bla! It was like a broken record and if he had any sense he wouldn't walk around talking about Israel like that, when it is obviously a very sensitive subject here in the middle east and one should better keep their mouth shut! To add to his inability of understanding and exercising tact, he gave me a scolding when we were about to pay since I had mentioned the price and he wanted to try and get it cheaper (this he said in English, loudly in front of the more than friendly and well-respected AND English-speaking Bedouin which had housed us)! We were utterly embarrassed! By then Dan said that we had to ditch him 'cause he didn't want to be associated with him. However, once again we were heading to the same place. This time to Petra! All Bob could think about was if it was possible to sneak in without paying. Groan!! Dan and I opted to stay in a double room rather than in a dorm just so that we could get away! Finally some peace and quiet...we thought. To our dismay we ran into Bob again at the Petra site (he had paid in the end) and as soon as he saw us he started to complain about the price of water (US$1.40/1.5 liters). He had therefore walked around in the sun for hours without water. Even though it meant extra weight, Dan and I had carried our bottles with water for hours for our supply for the day. Without asking Bob took one of the bottles and drank some (and then asked if it was OK) AND then complained that the water was warm! WTF (= va fan/va i helvete in Swedish). If there was an award for the cheapest prick in the world, he would win without any competition. AND I believe we have proven that not all assholes are from Egypt :)

(Kyrgyzstan-Bishkek-Kochkor) On the road....

After our horse riding adventure, we made one more stop in Kazakhstan, the lovely city of Aralsk. This used to be a peaceful fishing village, but now has the dubious distinction of being one of the world's worst environmental disasters, which was also reflected in the mood of the locals. Dan and I both enjoy interacting with the locals, but didn't expect much of that happening in Aralsk due to the "unfriendly vibe" we received upon our initial assessment of the town. However, towards lunchtime when the locals had had the chance to down a few vodkas (it was a national holiday) people warmed up and Dan, as always, made a new friend! His best friend for the day was a chance encounter with a drunk, "sumo-wrestler-like" military man called Borat (not kidding) who took an instant liking to Dan and gave him a crushing hug lifting him off his feet re-adjusting his spine in the process!

Kazakhstan had been great, but it was time for us to make good use of our Kyrgyz visas.We said a tearful goodbye to our travel companion of three weeks (Thomas the French guy) and proceeded across the border to Bishkek.We were happy to realize that people in Kyrgyzstan was just as lovely and friendly as in Kazakhstan despite the obviously denser population of tourists in Bishkek...we saw at least seven....

We really loved Kyrgyzstan which was well set up for tourists who wished to stay with families and take part of the culture. The only downside was their bad driving. This was more than obvious when we travelled in a shared van and went past a bad car accident. The car was upside down (or "upside duck" as my sister would say:)) and completely mangled. Everyone in our van went "Oh" and "Ah" seeing the destruction. Next to the car was a man on the ground. I was not sure if he was still alive, but what surprised us the most was that the driver of our van didn't even stop to check or to offer help?!?! Maybe that's the custom here that if it looks like a lost cause then you move on. I made a mental note that it may be a good idea to wear a seatbelt in this country whenever possible. This would prove to definitely be a good idea later on as we were yet again in a shared van going back to Bishkek. Some of the worst driving we've seen in the past was in Egypt and India, but this may well be the most nerve wracking ever. The driver of our particular van was nonchalantly changing lanes back and forth, but for some reason he preferred to drive on the wrong side! Sure there wasn't that much traffic, but to take on fairly windy roads and blind corners  at 130km/hr, still driving on the wrong side, would probably make even Schumacher a bit sweaty!. To make matters worse the driver insisted on turning his head and talking to the man sitting behind him!!! Argh!!!! If our Russian had been any better we would've told him to keep his bloody eyes on the freakin' road!!!  Instead I frantically fumbled to put my seatbelt on while having flashbacks from the "car accident man" .  I hadn't done it before cause no one else had and I didn't want to be "uncool", but screw that, I was rather alive than "cool". Poor Dan didn't have a seatbelt available to put on and I  was desperately holding on to him  just in case we were going off the road....(like that would've helped!) Needless to say it was an unpleasant 2 hrs ride back to Bishkek, but we made it safe and sound even though it took a good while before my heart rate went back to normal.....maybe I'm getting too old for this....