The Yum Yum Factor

I am going to be really honest about something here. When Shack first called me to tell me that he agreed to work on a movie on location, I was thrilled because when he takes an away job, it means that we get to go and visit unless, of course, it's a February shoot in New Liskeard Ontario. Then we kiss him goodbye, tell him to bundle up, that we will miss him and anxiously await his return. Where would it be this time? Brazil? Prague? Thailand? He said "I am not sure if it's good news or bad news. It's in Jordan" You mean Jordan, right next to Israel and Syria Jordan or is there another Jordan that is right beside the Italian Alps that I am unaware of? He said "No, Jordan right next to Israel and south of Syria Jordan" We stopped on the road into Petra and this is officially the highest we had ever been when NOT in an airplane At first I reacted much like most people I know reacted when I told them where he would be spending the month...

I arranged for a trip to visit Pharaoh Island, located a couple hundred meters from the coast of Egypt, in the Red Sea. For this trip, you have to book at least 24 hrs ahead because the tour company takes your passport to  the Egyptian Consulate to get you cleared to visit, so keep that in mind. I don't think anyone is totally comfortable with the idea of handing over their passport for a day or so, but it was fine and we got it back about a day and a half later. I am glad that I didn't have much time to mull it over because I am not sure I would have actually just handed them over to the cute Jordanian desk clerk at the Hilton if I hadn't been kind of caught off guard. 

You  can't come all this way to Jordan and not go into the Wadi Rum. Wadi means valley in Arabic so It's the Rum Valley but it is nothing like any valley I have ever experienced before. We all watched Lawrence if Arabia before Shack left to come to Jordan to get everyone excited about this trip and now, as our two week visit draws to a close, we finally spent an afternoon in the desert. 

We are in Aqaba, the South Beach of Jordan. Aqaba shares the northern tip of the Red Sea with Eilat, Israel both enjoying the hot, arid climate, beautiful beaches, hummus and sea breezes.

Today we set the alarm for 8 am so we could get an early start. I was really excited about seeing our driver from yesterday again so he could squire us around but, unfortunately, there was a different guy waiting for us this morning. Mohammed was a very nice, young man but he didn't speak a word of English so I have no clue what we were seeing on the drive to Jerash, about 45 minutes north of Amman. I am not sure if it because we are Canadian, but he was also cranking the Celine Dion and I was really not ready for my heart to go on.  I am never ready for that.