Pieces of Me: Jordan

Showing posts with label Jordan. Show all posts

Jul 5, 2011

Wadi Rum, Jordan

the camp site

I had a chance to visit a real desert during a trip to Jordan a while back and coincidentally, this desert is declared as one of the UNESCO World Heritage recently. We didnt have the chance to stay in a campsite at this desert but even a day trip visit is well worth. I even had the chance to photograph the amazing sunset in Wadi Rum at one of the 'bridge'.

Wadi Rum is famous for the filming location of Lawrence of Arabia as well as Transformers: Revenge of Fallen. Although the desert is currently one of the popular tourist attractions in Jordan, the place is still inhibited by some of the Bedouin tribes. Many of the tourists will take the chance to stay a night in the desert while enjoying the starry night.

inside the camp (left) and on top of the rock (right)

there is different colours of the sand in Wadi Rum

the bridge where I watched the sunset

the sunset

it's amazing just to look at the stars at night

the moon is finally out

mushroom head

Jan 15, 2011

Dead Sea, Jordan

Also known as Killer Sea and the lowest point on earth. And for those who do not know how to swim, fret not as you will practically float. We had a chance to swim and mud bathing at the Dead Sea while enroute to Amman.

Notice those white stuff

They are salt formed from the sea

Dead sea mud

Jan 7, 2011

The Rose Red City

It's a wonderful sight to see Petra peeking out from the Siq

Finally, after 1 km of walk

The majestic view of Petra

The Rose Red City or Petra debuted in the Hollywood in 1989 in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade movie. Petra used to be the capital of the Nabataens and now has joined the ranks of Taj Mahal and Great Wall as one of the new seven wonders of the world. It was no wonder that this architecture was concurred with the prestigous rank as it was a wonder that how such city could be carved to the walls of the stones. Petra is especially stunning during the sunset and it is no wonder that Dean Burgon penned her majestic beauty in his poem entitled Petra.

" It seems no work of Man's creative hand,
by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;

But from the rock as if by magic grown,

eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,

where erst Athena held her rites divine;

Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,

that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,

that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,

a rose-red city half as old as time."

the beginning of the 1 km narrow gorge, the Siq

Some of the sights along Siq

a horse cart passing by the Siq

The whole experience into Petra is made especially made memorable with the Siq. Detail map of Petra can be found here.

We hike 900 steps all the way up to no. 24, Ad-Deir Monastery

Petra is part of the 12 day tour that we followed from Egypt to Jordan. We stay overnight in one of the hotel in Wadi Musa and had the whole day to explore the rose red city. It was summer in Jordan when we was there and extremely hot and humid. The whole Siq was an amazing journey and it was surreal to finally seeing Petra peeking out at us at the end of the Siq. Although one could take a horse cart along the way, I highly recommended to walk. Our tour guide left us to explore the rest of the site at noon and we decided to hike up the 900 steps to The Monastery, another site where Transformers: the Revenge of the Fallen was filmed. Since my friend being such a smart alec and decided not to bring any water during the whole visit inside Petra and let me carried my 1.5 litre of water and lugging my big ass camera, I decided not to share my water with him..Hah! Yea, I am evil when I wanted to.

upclose of Treasury of Petra

colourful sand bottles made from real sand colours of Jordan

The Royal Tombs

Temple of the Winged Lions

the beginning of the 900 steps hike up the Monastery

Monastery as seen from inside a restaurant

After the more than an hour hike up and had some fun with some perspective shots, we decided to hike back down and left Petra around late afternoon as we were tired, thirsty, hungry but contented with what we experienced. We spend a few minutes sitting at the bench in front of Petra. I was totally overwhelmed by the colours of Petra turning into reddish. I absolutely *heart* Petra !

Dec 6, 2010

Playing with Perspective

Photography is not only taking a stunning landscape shot nor a good potrait. It is also about perspective and how one see things through the lens. I love how perspective can make a picture interesting. Some of the 'optical illusion' photos that I managed to shoot during my travel.

Petra is so small
Personally, I love this photo the most as it really make one feel that Petra is indeed no taller than me

Touching the tip of the Giza Pyramid

Leaning tower of Pisa. It's a must pose with the tower

At Wan Chai, Hong Kong

May 11, 2010

My top 25 travel destinations around the world

My version of top 25 destinations around the world would be such:

1. Rome, Italy
It's my first European city I ever visited and like people always say..first love is the deepest
I love the fact that Coliseum is smacked right at the middle of the city and true her name 'The Eternal City', Rome does make one feels like you are in the middle of some middle age /roman war. Plus..drinking water aplenty everywhere..chilling to the bone during the hot Italian summer

2. Edinburgh, Scotland
I love Scotland as a whole plus where can you find men in skirts :)
The place where I spend my entire year. I can walk and walk and still find the whole walking experience enjoyable..It's the place where one can find castles, lakes, mountains (the famous Arthur seat), four season in a day, old and new town separated by a railway station plus it's the gateway to the Scottish highlands..plainly speaking, I just love Edinburgh !!

3. Machu Picchu, Peru
My inital plan is to actually go to Mexico before flying back to Malaysia but since the H1N1, change the whole plan and end up in Peru. No regrets. The first sight of Machu Picchu can blew anyone away.. words cant even describe what the feelings. Plus it's always been a dream for me to see her upclose after seeing some documentary on tv. Peru is a country full of culture, desserts, Andes mountain, alpaca meat, guinea pig meat (it taste like roast pig though), colourful people...

4. Lake Titicaca, Peru
I got a winning picture from here.. simply love the idea of man made floating islands

5. Oia, Greece
The most famous town in Santorini and probably around the world for her amazing sunsets. The white washed little houses against the blue sky backdrop is simply too romantic to write in words. Would definately come back here for honeymoon (if I ever get married that is)

6. Petra, Jordan
The rose red city, Indiana Jones filming location plus Transformer filming location. I am overwhelmed by this place. Can just sit and stare and stare

7. New York, US
Broadway, Statue of Liberty, amazing night views, the busiest city in the world. Even a song was name after this city

8. Hong Kong
Food food food. I love Hong Kong for the delicious Dim Sum, Wan Tan Mee, Tau Foo Fa, Curry fishball, basically any Canto food is good here. Plus tonnes of shopping.

9. Istanbul, Turkey
Masjid Biru aka the Blue Mosque, blend of eastern and western culture plus delicious Turkish Delight and Turkish apple tea (speaking of that I still have that packet of tea inside my fridge)
Kebabs you cant get in other places and liberal Muslim country..what can I say more

10. Abu Simbel, Egypt
One of the magnificient and in my opinion a better than the overrated Pyramids of Giza. In Cairo, the pyramids is in the middle of taman perumahan but to get to Abu Simbel, one needs to wake up in the wee hours of morning and drive with the military convoy for 4 hours to get there..plus it's one of the better remains of the great Ramses and his wife Nefertari. Abu Simbel was shifted to the current place here when the Aswan dam was built. Remarkably, the whole place was restructured perfectly.

11. Fussen, Germany
Real life Disney's castle..it's a dream come true

12. Barcelona, Spain
Gaudi works, Sagrada Familia.. one cant hate Barca

13. Florence, Italy
I love this place for the fact that it's laidback, Triumph of Skies is filmed here, and it's full of Renaissance.. has one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, Ponte Vecchio. Who can ignore the delicious Italian pasta and the chilling gelato

14. Transylvania, Romania
The famous Dracula city. Vampires legend orginate from here. One of the mysterious and in my opinion the best, coolest Eastern Europe city. Where can you find singing and dancing in the bus and communicating using hand gestures practically all the time..

15. Venice, Italy
La Serenissma..the city of water. It's a totally different city here, basically floating on the sea. canals everywhere and dont even bother to read the map, there are too many small roads which is not even in the map.. Lost yourself among the tiny and winding roads and you bound to find some treasures along the way. A word of advice though, Venice can get pretty smelly during the peak summer months

Ok..I admit I kind of give up after writting at 15..just darn lazy to continue to 25...if plus with my previous top ten lists of places to go..I got myself this top 25 destinations..muahahaha

Apr 10, 2010

Night Views

New York city (credits to WKY)-no tripod usage

Taking a night shot is not an easy task when you dont have the luxury of carrying your tripod around. In fact with a tripod, the shot makes such a great difference. Under the circumstances without a proper tripod, I have to rely on tong sampah. Most of the shots are taken by my bro using his old Canon camera and the rest were with my EOS. My fav :New York city and Coliseum