3 The Arrival - Aqaba!

Well the exit out of Egypt was a joke which I did expect. At the ticket office I met a Japanese women, an Australian guy, and a very comical, super cool guy from Los Angels, we all decided to hook up for the trip to Jordan.

The American guy and I got a long great with lots of laughs. I must say, just your genuine all American humor. We had to wait at the port in Egypt from 12 noon to 6pm, until the boat left. It turned out to be a long day, although we all had good company. The boat was kind of like a plane, because of the seating arrangement. The Egypt way of doing things is a joke, plus they lie. Many travelers have commented about the lies that the Egyptians cause with their tongue.

We got to Jordan around eight at night without us knowing that Jordan is one hour ahead of Egypt, so it was really around nine at night. Anyway, we found a hotel, although the American guy needed to be up in Amman for a fight the next morning at eight, he left Aqaba around one in the morning.

We all went to get something to eat, there were a few things we noticed right away that was different then Egypt. First, there is no trash, Aqaba is very clean. Then we walked across the street and low and behold the cars stopped for the pedestrians, we were amazed. While we were eating dinner after about an hour we noticed that it was quite, without any horns honking, and honking, and honking. What a complete difference than Egypt. The three travelers could not believe I was in Egypt for five months, most people say the same thing. Although, for myself it didn't seem all that long, sure some parts of Egypt was a challenge, I thought I was going to go nuts. Nevertheless, I feel lots of inner strength from the experience.

Change of currency - for one dollar you get .70 JD, although things are still kind of inexpensive, it is much more expensive they Egypt. I have not decided to get my visa extended or not. Arriving in Aqaba the visa was free, though. They system here seems so much more solid then Egypt, a totally different energy here in Jordan. I can tell already people are not living with deep want as in Egypt. What a difference I must say.

I am planning on staying for five more nights here in Aqaba then head to the Wadi Rum and Petra. I will post some updates and pictures soon. It is really heating up and were only going into the month of May.