Great Adventures of a Green Goddess

Submerging myself in Siem Reap

I caught the boat from Battambang to Siem Reap and we had to go out of town to get on the boat. Usually the problem is not enough water, ours was too much.

The boat was smaller than I expected and the trip was long but a nice way to see the floating villages along the way.

We sat in two lines inside the boat under a canopy, locals at the back and tourists at the front. I guess the locals knew what to expect as the water would splash me and the trees would swipe in at us.

 

We stopped once where we could buy food and use the loo. Peeking into a container we saw creatures I think were little baby crocodiles. Watch your fingers!

The locals would often get off the boat by having a small craft come up beside the boat and then paddle off after the transfer. After travelling the river for a few hours we crossed a large lake and then arrived at the dock.

 

Arriving the boat stopped and the annoying tuk tuk drivers jumped on. I was informed that I had to remember that this driver had seen me first. Apparently since he had talked to me first I was obligated to go with him. Screw that I do not reward being harassed!

A group of us joined forces to organise getting into town. Hired a couple of tuk tuks for the six of us. The drivers wanted more because the roads were flooded.

Turns out the roads were so flooded that the guys had to walk the deepest parts. Lucky me got to stay in the tuk tuk.

 

In Siem Reap we were dropped off outside the flooded old market area.

I was stubborn and refused to pay a dollar for another tuk tuk, instead I pulled off my sneakers, zipped off my pant legs and waded into the thigh high water.

The river had overflowed its banks and many locals were out playing in it.

I stayed at a hostel and I ended up being the only guest one night.

 

I had been planning to spend some time exploring Angkor Wat. There are one day, three day and seven day passes and they are expensive. I’d originally thought I would get a three day pass and do an in depth investigation of the archaeological area.

 But everyone I talked to said just do one day and then you will be all templed out. So I followed their advice and it was spot on.

 

I rented a tuk tuk for the day and the driver took me to the main sites. I saw five temples and in order they were:

 

1. Angkor Wat is the most famous temple (hey the whole area is known by this name). The one from all the photos. I climbed up some scarily steep stairs to the upper level. Going back down I had one had on the handrail and another on the step behind me. Then watched as another tourist practically skipped her way down.

       2. The next (I don’t recall the name) had a path of planks to crossing the water to enter and lion statutes guarded the front of the ruins. Beside them was a small green lake.

      3. Vines and trees grew on Ta Prohm a temple most famous for starring in Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. The combination of old stone and wood is very photogenic. It is like you are discovering the temples are they were found with the jungle claiming them.

        4. Ta Keo had a whole bunch of steps so I called it quits early.

       5. The last site Bayon has all the faces. It wasn’t as clearly signposted and I got lost finding my way to the top. Found my way by following some monks.  After a few photos I was done with the temples.

 

It really is a wonder of the world and if you were wondering the archaeological park actually had decent toilets (but when paying us$20 per day they should be). 

The touts were very persistent, especially the children who swarmed me selling books, jewellery and other trinkets. They would follow me like I was the pied piper, so watch out for that but it really was a great day out.

 

On the way back we stopped at the killing fields, I thought it would be an actual field but it was the courtyard of a temple with a display of very neatly stacked skeletons in a glass sided case.

 

 

Back in Siem Reap the main area had a vegetarian restaurant that was quite gourmet. Its name was Chamkar and its prices were high for Cambodia.  I treated myself and it was pretty good.

In the same area of the city the fish pedicure place had a sign advising that they had no piranhas which was surely a relief considering that if got loose the flood ravaged town was their oyster.

 

I waded out to a vegetarian place named Vitking House. It was quite far out or seemed so when I had to negotiate the flood waters. The place was in a nice setting and inside it had a cute little picket fenced planter box.

I gorged myself on tofu and mock fish.

On the way back some asshole thought it was funny to kick water at me as I walked past. I think he was an Aussie asshat. The bogan type. Who let the dickheads out?

 

I had gotten used to water water everywhere but as I was preparing to leave the town, the water finally receded.

Lazy cow syndrome

So this viral video is getting the hits lately.

 

It is the story of Doreen a “benefit scrounger”

I usually have a sense of humour but something about this triggers something in me.

Guess it comes from my life experience as after my parents split my sisters and I were raised by a mother on benefits.

 

Now I realise that this is a mockumentary and it is from Britain, while when I was living in poverty it was on the other side of the world. But still I just think that this reinforces myths about what life is like.

For example the whole thing about the government paying for houses, cars and sky TV, yeah right.

We were so poor that we didn’t even have a phone.

This literally could have killed me.

 

I don’t mean being a teen and unable to organise a social life.

When I was sixteen, I was home alone and had an accident. I fell and cut my leg on some glass.

With no phone I just waited until everyone came home and my mother used the neighbour’s phone. Fifteen stitches and I was fine.

But what if my injury was more serious? I know often people do the “what if” and it’s something that would never happen. But I don’t think it is that wild to imagine that the glass could have cut an artery. Then unable to summon help I would have died that day.

 

While the video says that Doreen just doesn’t want to work. I suspect that the reality of the situation for real women struggling as single mothers is that even if they do want to work did the likelihood of getting a job is slim. Critics seem to think that there are jobs out there for everyone but the reality is that there is not. Especially with that little thing called a recession going on.

Plus there is the issue of childcare which if available is often so expensive that it would cost more that she would earn.

 

This video just perpetuates the negative image of beneficiaries and creates a public hatred towards these people based on jealousy of perceived advantages that in reality they do not receive.

But why let little things like the truth get in the way of a good story?

Hell isn’t it more fun to imagine these women as slutty druggy lazy chavs who spend the rest of their spare time swimming thru piles of government provided cash like Scrooge McDuck.

 

My feelings after watching the video also reminded me of a posting I recently saw on Facebook:

OK..SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT ... If you cross the North Korean border illegally, you get 12 yrs. hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. Two Americans just got eight years… for crossing the Iranian border. If you cross the Australian Border illegally you get a job, a drivers license, food stamps, a place to live, health care, housing & child benefits, education, & a tax free business for 7 yrs ...No wonder we are a country in debt... RE-POST if you agree

 

I pointed out that it looked like it was written for Americans and then just changed to Australia and it wasn’t even true in the USA.

 

But thinking about it more and really considering the issue I then have to ask, what is this posting saying? That countries should try to emulate the evil and be like those with brutal barbaric regimes?

That treating people poorly is the way to go?

Call me a bleeding heart liberal but I would honestly rather have my tax dollars going to helping desperate people than to start shooting them if they dare to cross my country’s borders.

 

To sum it up I’m just annoyed at things like these viral videos and posts creating more hatred for people in the lowest socioeconomic groups. These are not people living in luxury, they are people for whom every day is a struggle.

But why let facts get in the way of opinions? As it seems to me that the real syndrome is the problem of people choosing to believe things that help them to hate others.

 

Perhaps it should be called ‘I resent others I perceive to be getting an easy ride even if they aren’t syndrome’. Or ‘I’m too lazy to actually really think about an issue properly syndrome’.

It saddens me that the world seems to be awash in the output of a plague of diseased minds attempting to convince others (and I would say succeeding) to cast scorn upon those less fortunate than themselves.

Just a lil bit country

I must admit to wondering what kind of place I’d ended up in the day I went to the local Farmer's Market and saw not one but two separate people playing the accordion (no other instruments were seen being played). Had I randomly and accidentally entered The Polka Zone???

 

Although admittedly this was a one off and mostly my experience despite being in the northern Midwestern state of Wisconsin was of country music. I had always thought of this as more of a southern states thing. As the south is Dixie because it is below the Mason Dixon line (that bit that separates us from the bible belt) and I like The Dixie Chicks.

Rosie had her car radio set to play country music. So every time we were cruising around it was to songs by Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and the like.

I ended up downloading some of their music and now every time I listen to it I am reminded of hanging out in America with Rosie.

I have great memories, like the time when diving around we’d often passed the same barn. I told Rosie we should give it a name and she came up with the perfect name: Barney!

 

She also liked blue collar comedians like Bill Engvall and the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. My favourite character was José the Jalapeno on a Stick but Achmed the Dead Terrorist is pretty funny too.

What I do know is that I like it when Rosie gets drunk (she likes to get drunk and cook days) with her favourite alcohol named Captain which she says tastes like cake. She will talk southern and make me happy by quoting trash talkin turleen. 

 

 

 

But my real country experience was when we went up nort as they call it. I wondered if it was like down south but without the banjos...

I must admit that I’ve never seen Deliverance and I probably should have to complete my education in the way of the American wilderness dweller.

 

Before we left for some northern exposure I took the dog for a walk. She dragged me around the house and jumped in the car. She did not want to be left behind! She didn’t have to worry, she was coming with us.

 

I really liked this husky, as I would call her a hairball with a bark. Seriously when brushing her we would stop when she got sick of it, not when she ran out of hair. She would sing along to squeaky deaky and when she got it in to her head that I was taking her out she would follow me around until I walked her.

There was a crime when in a doggy ducknapping she came into my room and took Devil Duckie but we rescued my travel mascot before any harm was done.

 

The wolf (she looks like a wolf but she’s really a dork) had a fish toy and she would shake it so much it fell apart.

I sewed it up for her one day and she carefully watched me performing the operation wanting her fishy back.

My other crafting in the country was making an iPod cover for Rosie. I love the eco felt and the craft stores in America have a fine selection.

Rosie requested a super Mario cover as she has a Nintendo NES she likes to play.

We went with a controller on one side and a fire flower on the other.

 

 

Anyway back to the backwoods.

We set off me, Rosie, her 9yr old niece (let’s call her Daisy) and the dog.

We passed Port Washington and I was all hey that’s the place from Step by Step, because I am cool enough to remember lame 90’s sitcoms.

For lunch we stopped in Green Bay, I didn’t see much of it but I know that the football team is called the Packers and they wanted to bus kids from there to Rome Wisconsin in an episode of Picket Fences which was a good 90’s American show. I love how America is full of places from the TV shows of my youth.

 

Our final destination was a place called Sturgeon Bay in the weirdly named Door County. It is the bit of Wisconsin that sticks out into the lake so maybe it should be Thumb County? Although I think Michigan has claimed looking like a mitten status. Seriously, I didn’t make this up!

 

Rosie’s family’s shack is apparently worth 5 thousand dollars and the lake front land half a million!

After settling in we went for a walk along the pier which is concrete and by a lighthouse and canal.

We looked at the lake. It was rather cold that day and there were big waves. The lake is huge! I couldn’t see the other side. I guess they don’t call it a great lake for nothing.

 

With the weather cold and it getting dark we went back to the cabin and got a fire going.

We played games Monopoly, Game of Life, Skip Do and Clue then watched a DVD (Despicable Me).

For dinner I ate veggie burgers. Rosie and Daisy ate meaty stuff and then made the American camping classic known as s’mores. Daisy managed to burn her finger on the melted marshmallow that is put with chocolate between a couple of crackers.

 

When it was beddy byes time, I slept on a pull out sofa bed beside the fire.

During the night it got very hot from the fire so I opened the door to let in some cool air. Then the fire went out and I had to get up to close the door as the temperature inside dropped during the early hours.

 

We were only spending a single night so after breakfast we cleaned up the place and headed back.

We stopped for lunch in a place called Sheboygan. It’s just fun to say! Oh and it apparently has a spaceport, strange but true fact I looked up online just now.

 

I didn’t manage to make it to The American Club in Kohler which is somewhere nearby. Yes Kohler as in the bathroom fixtures. That’s where the factory is and the hotel which is listed in 1000 Places to See Before You Die and apparently has really nice bathrooms.

Shame we didn’t have the masses of cash needed to stay there.

 

And that concludes my account of my short venture into the backwoods of Wisconsin. It was a pleasant experience and I have not and don’t expect to suffer any future nightmares from it (I read the Deliverance wiki...)

 

Lastly I just want to add that my only other country thing was done safely back at Rosie’s house and was online.

It was hunting which is a very redneck thing to do, but being a vegan I found the perfect game Tofu Hunter.

I love killing wild tofu with high powered weapons, especially the trophy bucks!

Beach or bust

Patsy, Laina and I left the cooler mountainous part of the Philippines on a night bus painted pink.

I claimed the back seats and a guy sitting nearby even gave me the cushion from an unused seat to use as a pillow.

It was great until I woke up on the floor.

I guess I slipped off when we stopped suddenly vs. bounced off on rough roads as I wasn’t sore.

Still it was a long night.

 

We arrived in Manila in the early morning. Patsy was going to stay there before catching a flight to Malaysia.

Laina and I had plans to find a beach. We were in search of a tropical island paradise where we could just relax and swim in sea.

Yes it was island time and the Philippines has more than 7000 to choose from.

We made a quick pick after consulting the guidebook and off we went.

 

First we had to find a bus and Manila doesn’t have a central bus station. Instead the buses leave from different spots around the city. It’s quite annoying that we had to go find another bus terminal instead of just arriving and leaving from the same place.

But we found a station with buses heading to Lucena. The bus we caught had free wifi but my laptop’s battery is lame so we didn’t get to play with it for long. But it was a good thing for preventing my motion sickness issues.

 

From the Lucena City bus station we got a jeepney to the port to catch a ferry.

We only walked thru the ferry terminal to get to the ship but we still had to pay a ferry terminal fee. Which seems like rather a rip off but the Philippines is so cheap that you can’t really get upset about these things.

The boat had rows of bench seats like couches so we claimed one and the crossing that took a couple of hours wasn’t too bad. The seas weren’t too rough and I napped leaning on my pack. The ship did have a TV playing movies. It seemed that whenever there was a movie playing on ferries or buses it was Salt. Somehow I managed to miss seeing the whole thing every time.

 

Our ferry’s destination was Balanacan Port in Mogpog on Marinduque Island.

The port welcomed us with statues of an execution. The display is actually of the end of the Moriones Festival.

 

We stayed at two different places. The first was closer to the port and it was nice that we could eat rice and veggies while sitting on the terrace and that the hotel had direct access to the beach. But it was not perfect as the beach was a rather stony.

We went for a walk down the road to see what we could find but all we found was a sari sari store. This is a window in someone’s house from which they sell convenience store items. They don’t even tend to have a very good selection.

So we returned for a lovely night swim in the warm sea.

 

To get to the second place we stayed we got a van ride into the next town and then took a jeepney to Buena Vista. In the town the vegan food options were lame. Laina got food at a restaurant and I ended up buying canned food from a store across the road and then attempting to open it with my can opener. The cook saw me struggling and took my little cans of beans and mushrooms and opened them for me.

 

We were hoping that there would be a jeepney for the next leg of the journey but it was not to be. So after a good bit of bargaining, we got a tricycle.

We hit a dog on the way. I was totally freaked out about the poor dog as I am sure it went right under the sidecar I was in. But Laina said she saw it get up and run away. I can’t help thinking that perhaps she just said that to make me feel better.

 

Our second spot to stay at was a place near White Beach.

In our room we had a new friend. He was a big black spider that Laina named James.

I told her how when I was a kid I would always name praying mantis’s Freddie. Oh the many Freddie’s that were my friend.

I was just happy that James was a good friend and stayed by the window, not trying to sit on my face or any other creepy crawly tricks. Yes there were thankfully no (bestiality) benefits to this friendship.

 

This beach was better than the last with smoother sand and merpeople.  Yep there were even some mermaids and mermen lying around the place.

We walked down the beach and found a place with a restaurant. The owners were nice and they had two cats, one was called Pussy so of course the other was named Balls.

 

Laina had a birthday so we celebrated by going to White Beach at night for some videoke as they call karaoke here.

There was a group of Filipino guys there and we ended up having a good time.

Each song cost 5 pesos but they had a key and would just open up the machine and get out some change when we ran out!

 

We went out on the beach, sat on some chairs and watched the shooting stars.

The group of us and the local guys then decided to move to one of the covered seating areas the beach had.

Laina, being taller than the average Filipino managed to whack her head on the edge of this beach shelter.

She later said it looked like I had beat her up and I got to pull out my trusty old Once Were Warriors lines and tell her that she was too lippy woman.

 

On the beach sitting in this shelter I looked out over the beach scene and spotted a coconut tree. This gave me ideas and thus I said that we should try and pick one.

The two of the guys actually went and climbed a tree, cut lose a coconut and let it fall to the ground. They then picked up the fruit and walked away.

When they returned with it they had cut them open and we could drink the juice.

Everyone shared it but me as I don’t even like coconut juice.

 

Most of the time was spent being lazy at the beach we were staying at. While the place was gorgeous it could not be classed as a perfect paradise as one time while swimming in the sea I felt something stinging my breast.

Yes my balmy beach memories were tainted by mysteriously sore mammaries.

 

The strange thing is that the same thing happened to Laina, she was also racked with pain and it was only our hooters made us want to holler each time.

No idea what caused this, who would want to cripple our nipples? And why did it only go for the boobage?

Whatever it was hurt for awhile despite the immediate cold shower I took. I could have stayed in there until my knockers were numb but thankfully it eventually stopped.

Perhaps it was supposed to be a sign that we should have just kept our titties in the cites.

Roaming in Rome

It was time for me to move on to Italy’s capital city.

Before leaving Florence in the early afternoon I mostly wandered the market in the rain and ate gelato (of course!). I was going to visit the inside of the cathedral but the line was too long and my Christianity still nonexistent.

 

So I caught a regional train as is my cheap custom.

I even took a photo to show what it like is to ride the rough low class rails to Rome. Yes this is really classy transport right here.

 

On the four hour train ride I mostly listened to podcasts. But I took some time out to upset an Aussie.

He was a church worker from Rome and was most offended when I referred to the pontiff as Pope BeneDickhead.

Yeah well tell your boss to stop the kiddie fuckers, discrimination against women and gays, blatant disregard for the problems of overpopulation etc and then we will see about a new name...

 

The hostel in Rome was in a handy location right near the Termini train station and my now ex boss Courgette met me there late that night.

Yep I must be the most favourite employee ever, how many other people travel for leisure with their bosses?

The funniest moment in the hostel was when there was a guy in the girls’ dorm. They came and explained this to him and while I don’t understand Italian his face was priceless.

 

Our first full day in Rome started as a bit of a wash. It absolutely poured with rain and most sights were closed.

We went for a walk from Via Flaminia (which totally makes me think of flamingos) and let Devil Duckie swim in a fountain (Fontana dell' Obelisco) in Piazza del Popolo. Of course with it bucketing down he could have just swum in the puddles that were the streets.

 

But eventually when the weather cleared and we saw the Spanish Steps, I got that ‘Yay we are in Rome’ feeling.

A little sunshine, a beautiful sight and I was full of travellers delight.

We did the Spanish Steps the smart way and took the lift up and walked down.

A stall opposite the steps was selling nuts. I am not sure what type they were (maybe chestnuts?). But under the umbrella there was a nice display of the nuts in their spiny casings. We didn’t buy any and saved our hunger for more the important food to come.

 

Our day ended doing what became our favourite roman thing:

Eating soy gelato by Trevi Fountain.

I did the tourist thing and threw some money (the smallest euro coin coz I am cheap) into the fountain behind me. This means that I shall now return to Rome.

Hopefully I shall return soon to the same spot with some soy gelato in my hand...

 

During the following days in Rome we saw a selection of its finest attractions.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and you certainly can’t see it all in a day. Or not even if we’d had a whole week.

It is called The Eternal City and that is how long it might take.

My Italian friend was oh so Italian when he said “to live Italia one life it isn’t enough!”

 

The National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II is the home of a huge equestrian statue (Which we argued didn’t look that big).

The monument is referred to as the wedding cake and the typewriter and it was built to honour the first king of a unified Italy (the big horsy is being ridden by the king) and destroyed in the movie The Core.

 

Actually the movies lied to me.

As a foreign girl in Rome I was fully expecting to be swept off my feet and whisked around Rome on the back of a Vespa, with my arms wrapped around a hot Italian man. Clinging to his very cute body and laughing as we zipped past famous Italian sites (with happy background music).

This did not happen at all.

What was I supposed to do? Steal the girly pink Vespa I saw one night and take care of it myself?

 

The Pantheon, a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome is really old looking. Funnily enough since Rome is old and this building was built almost two thousand years ago.

When I was there it had scaffolding covering one side so I guess it needed a bit of work after all this time.

Inside it has a huge domed ceiling with hole in it. I wasn’t able to go inside, just looked in from the doorway along with the rest of the crowd.

 

Went to the Colosseum with a Roma Pass to skip the queue, this worked really well.

I had downloaded a Rick Steves podcast to hear about the history.

Yes this is where the Christians were dealt to and the lions were well fed.

We wanted to go on the floor over the centre but we couldn’t figure out how to get there. I think you must have to pay for a special tour.

Ah well we did get to experience the vomitorium which isn’t as gross as it sounds. It is just named because the passageways meant that crowd could quickly discharge, yeah like the flow of vomit.

 

From the Colosseum there is a great view of the Temple of Venus and Rome.

Beyond that is The Roman Forum, ruins of ancient government buildings.

Oh yes need more ruins? We got em in Rome!

This area is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments that we checked out with a Rick Steves walk. Well until Courgette who is not yet a Rickophile like me got bored and I realised I was ready to move on too.

 

There are also Museums a plenty in Rome.

We went to The National Museum of Rome, but it turned out to be the wrong museum. We were at the Baths of Diocletian site.

The right one (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme) was across the road.

But they all used our Roma Pass so that was good. One must try and get their money’s worth from these city passes.

 

Luckily this pass was also valid on public transport

I would just like to take a moment here to mention the metro system. While it does have its favourable attributes including the amusing diagrams on the doors.

It also has what has to be the worst ever connection between lines. Lots of walking around it what seems like circles underground.

 

Anyway we must have got value for money with the Roma Pass when we travelled around the city in search of food.

As I am vegan and Courgette is a vegetarian and used to be vegan (I’ll get her back one day…), we looked for great Italian veggie food.

I mean apart from the soy gelato (I don’t know if you could live on that alone but I would be willing to try).

 

One night I got courgette lost trying to find veggie restaurants.

I know that it is bad to get your (ex) boss lost but this is pretty standard for me when I travel (I have been lost in far more dodgy cities than Rome).

After not finding the places (one was closed and the other didn’t seem to exist) we ended up just getting pizza. I am responsible for getting Courgette to realise the supreme tastiness of marinara pizza.

 

Shockingly the next night she didn’t want to go look for a vegan place with me.

She seemed concerned about getting lost at night in an unfamiliar city in an area that was literally off the map...

I am not so easily put off, so off I went to roam alone in Rome.

 

And by that I mean I got lost alone in Rome.

I did eventually found the place (Rewild Vegan Club) and it was awesome. The menu was in Italian but I could have just gone eeny meany miney mo and picked something randomly and I would have been able to eat it as was all vegan.

But they were very nice and translated for me.

Not only did I get good food but they let me use their wifi and printer too!

 

On my return to the hostel I found courgette at the bar (the lush!) and pointed out that I wasn’t dead.

She liked the seitan and zucchini burger I brought back with me.

Hopefully next time she will be braver in her own roaming, whether in Rome or at home.

Dilly-dallying at the Dead Sea and a deadbeat dame

I enjoyed the time I spent hanging out with Mordy at the Dead Sea. It was very hot there, but I had access to all the free cold drinks and ice blocks I wanted and the shipping crate converted into a room we stayed in had air conditioning so I was quite satisfied with the arrangement. Mordy had some flights and I had some naps.

It was nice and relaxing, me and Mordy got on really well. We were even really geeky together and would run outside on the nights when the Israeli air force was flying low over the area to try and watch them zoom past.

 

Both of us went up to Masada which is Hebrew for fortress and is a rocky plateau with ruins on top. This is the site of a Jewish mass suicide. The Romans had them trapped, and were about to breach their defences with a big ramp they had built.  

So it wasn't quite like a cult kool aid drinking, the rebel Jews chose death over being forced into slavery. The men killed their wives and children and then each other. This is celebrated and there was even a movie made about it.

I watched a short film about the suicides at the entrance before going up to the top.

The top is only about 50m above sea level since the ground is so low in the area of the Dead Sea but it’s quite a trek up there (400m high). There is a trail up to it, the snake path and I actually saw someone climbing it, so hot and dry with the scorching sun beating down I don’t know how they managed it. But we did the smart thing and took the cable car. Yay for the modern technology that will carry my lazy ass up a mountainside with no effort on my part.

It was really very hot and Mordy made sure I drank lots of water and would get me to rinse my face with the big bottle he carried, which of course had become warm water.

I have mentioned previously that I like models, Masada likes making models for tourists to take photos of so I was well pleased.

There is a nice model of the terraces up the top. This is Herod's Palace and has three terraces.

I liked being able to stand at the top of the edge with the terraces and see birds circling around. It was a different perspective, being above the birds as they flew past.

The site had a water system and there was a model with a cup so you could pour the water and see how it worked. It’s a drainage arrangement to carry rainwater to a group of cisterns where it was stored.

There was also a model of what the bathhouse would have looked like (you can walk around the ruins of it).

Back down at the entrance is a museum which had a cool audio guide system, but then it was getting late and we had to rush through it a bit.

Mordy gave me driving lessons in his little automatic rental car, I did drive on the road a couple of times (a bit scary but not so bad as they were empty at the time) but mostly we would drive along the runway and he would make me follow around the lines at the end.

So I have driven on the lowest runway in the world.

I have also flown from it.

We went on a little sightseeing flight around Masada. It was pretty cool. Flying from the Dead Sea it is funny to see the altimeter since we begin below sea level. The good thing is that I don’t get motion sickness when I am the one flying the plane.

My take off was ok and then we flew over and around Masada and then low along some water (Mordy took control so I could take photos). Unsurprisingly my landing was pretty sucky I thought but Mordy was nice enough to say it was ok.

 

I went for a swim in the Dead Sea at En Gedi. It’s a bit rocky so I think that the beach is nicer on the Jordan side. From my swim on the Jordan side I knew that it could hurt like a bitch if they salt water got into ones lady bits. But I figured out that it wasn't so bad if I used my diva cup in defence.

My attempt to get Mordy to take the classic tourist photo of me lying on my back in the Dead Sea floating while reading a newspaper wasn't too successful as it was getting too dark and so the photos didn’t come out too well. Plus it was me in my togs so not so pretty anyway and you should be glad I am sparing you from the horror!

But I had fun in my big warm salty bath and the plus side of it getting dark was no one saw me when I stripped off to use the outside fresh water showers, now that is a really disturbing image I am glad was not photographed!

There was a random moment at a kiosk there.  The guy working there was talking about zombies and I being me, just had to go along with it, yes this Included singing the cranberries song…

 

One day there I chatted to Sammy from the Jaffa hostel who was now in Jerusalem and she wanted to come hang out with us at the Dead Sea. So we went to Jerusalem to pick her up, but it turned into a completely ridiculous situation.

After consulting Google maps, all of us agreed on a meeting place. This went wrong when we got there we found that the place was locked and we couldn't find Sammy anywhere!

She had a mobile phone but it was with an American sim card so we could only leave a message which we did. And we drove around finding free wifi so I could send her an email.

We even tried to find where she was staying and ask random strangers if they knew her. Yeah she turned me into a creepy stalker, but was feeling really bad about not being able to find her.

Eventually me and Mordy gave up and headed back to the Dead Sea, stopping so I could take a couple of night photos.

I thought that Sammy would eventually reply to the emails I sent her. Sadly she never did. This makes me just completely over making any effort to be friends with her. What a deadbeat loser she turned out to be. But I guess when it comes to making new friends they can’t all be winners.

 

Cross in Jordan

We departed Dahab in a van, then had to wait in the middle of nowhere for a taxi to go back and get the passport of another passenger who had left it at her hotel (she was embarrassed but we just said it happens to the best of us). It was fine and we were on time to catch the fast ferry named Princess for the crossing from Nuweiba Egypt to Aqaba Jordan. Well it was not that fast since it was running late. We had to sit in a hot crowded terminal with the grossest toilets ever for a few hours. As expected in that part of the world really.

While waiting in the Jordanian terminal on the other side of the Red Sea we met a Canadian activist gal who goes to The Gaza Strip to walk with the Palestinians. She said she got treated like a queen on the boat as the captain was a Palestinian.

On hearing about what she does as an activist I was like ‘That doesn’t sound very safe’ and she was like ‘Yeah it’s not, a friend got shot a few months ago’. And I was like ‘Wow so apart from being shot what are the perks of the job?’ She said that you get a lot of free food.

Most of the delay here was because her friend had a passport from a country that no longer exists. Something eastern European that they eventually decided was ok. We all got free visa's on arrival but they are written in Arabic so I wasn't sure how long we were allowed to stay (2 weeks apparently).

We went directly to Wadi Musa and a dorm at the Valentine Inn which Lonely Planet didn’t recommend for women but the guys wanted to go there and I just went along with it thinking it wouldn’t be that bad if I had the guys with me.

So the next day we all piled into the back of a pick up truck which was the hostel’s free ride to Petra.

The rose red city of Petra is fabulous! It is awesome to walk down the siq and first catch sight of The Treasury through the gap in the rock walls ahead. The Treasury is the building that Indiana Jones goes into at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In the movie it is a temple where the Holy Grail is behind many booby traps. In reality you can’t go inside as there is nothing there (no actual treasure in the treasury).

Walking further into the ancient city there are many more carved red rocks. Petra is a must visit and very deserving of its spot on the list of new wonders of the world.

I actually had fun scampering around on the rocks and getting close to the caves and ruins.

We had a nice (but expensive) buffet lunch and then we went up to The Monastery which is the largest carved monument in Petra. It is over 800 steps to get up there and many people offer donkey rides up. I feel for those poor overworked beasts of burden. Their cruel treatment has even made the news here.The guys went ahead and I met them up the top.

Going down they also took off ahead of me but I never caught up to them. I thought they would be just around the next corner, but they never were.

So I figured I would just get the hostel’s next ride back and meet them there.

But the ride never showed up. Another guy got tired of waiting and decided to walk but I was too tired. I ended up getting a taxi back.

When I got back I told the staff how unhappy I was that I was stuck out there and asked them to refund me the price of the taxi. They refused and then the owner yelled at me! How rude is that! They didn't care at all about how I felt being a single woman abandoned and stranded alone in a strange country.

They claimed that they had been there at the proper time and I began to doubt myself and think maybe I just missed them. But then I read this review online where they did the same thing!

So anyway I went to my dorm room very upset and totally pissed off. On the way the guys were like what’s wrong with you so I told them how angry I felt about them deserting me in no uncertain terms!

The next morning the guys left to go back to Petra without a word to me. I also discovered that The Gherkin had left my torch which he had borrowed on my bed. I took this to be a sign that they didn't want to travel with me anymore.

I knew I couldn't to stay at the unlovable Valentine any longer. Thus I left and went to an internet cafe where I was all OMG I am alone in the Middle East to my online friends.

I also looked up places to stay online and set off ending up at the Al Anbat II. They quoted more than I wanted to pay for a room but then offered me the roof.

I was sceptical about this whole idea wondering what condition the roof was in, but I said I would have a look and it was so much better than I imagined. By roof they just meant room at the top of the building. It was big and open but with walls, a roof, bathroom facilities and windows with a nice view.

They put down a mattress for me and I had my own penthouse!

The only down side was that the hotel didn’t have a lift and there were many stairs. After making myself at home, I went out to find some food having not eaten since lunch the previous day and as I walked out of the shop I saw the guys.

So we talked and figured we didn’t want to vote anyone off and would carry on with trying to survive our alliance all while continuing to follow the Brazilian’s amazing plans on racing around the Middle East.