Pretty quiet day today.
Breakfast was no more inspiring than yesterday. Checked out and was not sorry to see the back of that hotel.
View west from Petra Panorama Hotel
View west from Petra Panorama Hotel
Petra Panorama Hotel
Photo by Dad
Dad and our driver outside our coach
Photo by Mum
Our guide outside the coach
Photo by Mum
We stopped briefly at the rest stop we stopped at on the way down. Then continued onto Karak Castle, built by the Crusaders.
I wasn't in the best of moods (lack of sleep and annoyance with hotel and hitting my head on the bus didn't help), so didn't take many photos.
Karak Castle
Karak Castle
Karak Castle
Tunnel in Karak Castle
Karak Castle
Inside Karak Castle
Karak Castle
Photo by Dad
Karak Castle
Photo by Dad
Arch at Karak Castle
Photo by Dad
View from Karak Castle
Arch at Karak Castle
Photo by Dad
View from Karak Castle
Karak Castle
Inside Karak Castle
Inside Karak Castle
Tunnel in Karak Castle
Walls of Karak Castle
Had lunch in a little restaurant in Karak, I think that belonged to a relative of our tour guide.
Our guide said he hated coming to Karak because of the traffic, and we could see why. We had to walk a couple of hundred metres up the hill because someone had just parked in the road so there wasn't enough room for the bus to get past. Then after lunch we had to get around this tiny corner with cars parked all around it. It took a miracle and some pretty skillful driving for the driver to get us out of that one! On the way down the hill we were going slow enough through all the traffic to actually watch the people going about their business, and looking at all the stores. It was actually pretty cool.
Then continued to Amman airport.
First step is security getting into the airport itself - everything is xrayed, metal detector and brief frisk search.
Getting through immigration was relatively painless, and then had two hours to kill. We were in a spot that was close enough to the Royal Jordanian lounge to pick up their wifi, so sat and read news feeds on my phone.
They didn't open the gate itself until just before boarding, when it was security again to get to the gate.
Had a little Embraer 195 jet that was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full. And it conveniently has a small hook on the seat in front for hanging GPSes :)
Dad and Mum on the plane
Had a grumpy flight attendant who made us all put our backpacks in the overhead lockers, which is a first for me - every other flight I've ever taken I've been able to keep it under my seat.
It was pretty hazy and cloudy and the aeroplane windows were filthy so didn't see much, but did fly into Cairo from the south east, then looped around to fly across the city and land. We saw several pyramids and our hotel so that was pretty cool.
Queen Alia International Airport
Photo by Dad
The Dead Sea from the plane
Photo by Dad
Wingtip of the plane
The Nile River south of Cairo
Photo by Dad
You can just make out the pyramids over on the right
Cairo
Cairo International Airport
Getting through immigration at Cairo was also relatively painless. Withdrew some money and paid 95EGP for a Visa (cash only, not credit card - lame).
Then the tour bus to our hotel which took at least an hour.
Cairo Railway Station
This hotel is pretty damned fancy, but at least lives up to its price tag (which incidentally I have no idea what that is). This is the nicest of the "fancy" hotels we've stayed in. Haven't figured out how much the internet is here, it wouldn't connect me properly.
Fountains at the Marriott Hotel
View from my hotel room
I am *exhausted*. Didn't get to bed til after 11pm, then woke up at 5am. But this afternoon I came down with the cold that's been going around the group (Dad's had it pretty bad the last couple of days). There's a 5am wakeup call to go to Alexandria tomorrow. I debated skipping it, but at least there'll be five hours on the bus to snooze.
Distance covered on the GPS: 1013 km
Steps walked: 13690, but I'm taking off 5500 due to bumpy roads screwing up the count
Photos on the Canon: 107
Photos on the Sony: 173
Videos: 1
JD Spent: 0.9
EGP Spent: 97.5
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