A week in the Land of the Black Irises

As some of you already know, I have decided to spend my Eid Vacation in Jordan. What was different about it this time is that I did my best to untangle myself from the webs of my relatives. I definitely left many negative vibes behind me yet I don't regret it

The best thing about this whole trip is meeting 2 bloggers for the first time. They restored my faith in meeting online people and actually having fun with them. Thankfully, Qabbani and faithnmystery did not fall under the stereotyped category that some may perceive against bloggers being boring, socially awkward and their online character is different than their counterpart cyber alias. The first time I got to meet the 2 of them was on Friday where we went to go pick up KJ, a blogger and a close friend who I know for over 10 years, from the airport. Although I rarely read to their blogs, I felt that the guys were talking to each other like they've known each other for years. You should have seen the look on my face when I enquired about how long have they been seeing each other and they were like: "this is the first time we meet"

Qabbani – sometimes I used to wonder how ppl in the past lived without TV and internet, but now I understand how possible it can be if you have a person like Qabbani. With 3 or 4 hours of sleep per day and a vast knowledge in most of the topics out there, Qabbani is more of a machine rather than a human being. Just press any of his buttons and you will get an infinite supply of information regardless of the topic.. He'd narrate for you the history of each store in downtown Amman or he could recite to you jokes for 3 hours during the journey from wadi rum back to Amman.

Qabbani is very resourceful. We have enjoyed this one week because of the spontaneity of our decisions. We never knew what the day was hiding for us. One minute, we are eating kenafet Habiba, and an hour later, we are on the way to the dead Sea to watch the sunset.

As for Maher, we only saw him for few hours. And I personally wished I spent more time with him. You can't help but burst into laughter when you see him. He is a hybrid of a typical American white boy accompanied by the Arab hyperness added with a flavor of Jordanian accent and attitude. Who else other than Maher who would keep smelling the butt of a camel doll..Oh well, what matters to me the most is that we managed to know the real real reason behind him joining the soft ball team. :P

KJ-well…I always experience and discover new things about this guy each time I meet him. Let's just say that in this week, he caused enough trouble between Qabbani and his fiancé who is starting to get jealous of him. One thing for sure, I am not telling him when I will get engaged.

Friday:

Iftar @ Ponte Café in Abdoun – KJ got sick and we spent the next 3 hours baby sitting him til he puked out all the food he ate. What a waste

Walk in downtown and tea & coffee at GOUZA café

Saturday:

Al-Qal3a Castle

Roman Theater


KJ attempting Meditation

Iftar @ Quds Resturant - I went for their mansaf and the chicken KJ went for the chicken Kabsa

Balat Al-Rasheed Café – a café that's open since 1926. *rolls eyes*. We were their first customers for the day and let's just say that praying the maghrib there was such a memorable experience

Sunday:

Al-Hussein Gardens -

Walking through city Mall and Mecca Mall

Iftar @ Aunt's house

Qabbani & KJ's date – I went to watch the Acmilan vs Intermilan game at my cousin's house

captured one second before the.....nevermind


Bella Café in 5th Circle

Monday:

At my house in the morning

Sweifeyeh and specifically Barakeh Mall

Msakhan at my house

A coffee shop that I forgot around University campus area

Wakalat Street

Milkshake at Gusto with Maher

Tuesday:

Morning tour in Rainbow street and downtown

Kenafeh at Habiba

Sunset on Dead Sea

Horrible Shawerma Reem for dinner @ my house – why no body told us that they don't have chicken shawerma..for a meat shawerma, it was relatively ok but the meat was too dry.

The Class on 7th circle

Wednesday:

Lunch @ tete's house

Tour in Webdeh and @ Chocoholic Café

Wild Jordan

Thursday:

Petra – we had to wake up at 4 a.m. We went through Seeq to the Khazneh and then we climbed for 1 hour till we reached the monastery. One of the most tiresome trips ever. This is the 2nd time I go to Petra and each time I go there, I hate it more and more

Wadi Rum – Al Zerb for dinner. If we ignore the noisy Jordanian music emanated from the camp next to us, I would say that the best thing about the whole journey was the time we went hiking at around 11:30 a.m. to watch the stars. We left as a big group of at least 30 people. Each one of us took a separate corner. Personally, I was annoyed by the ones who kept blinding me with the flash of their cameras. I positioned myself among 2 foreigners: an Indian guy and a Czech girl and started counting the number of shooting stars and discussing the wishes of each one of us. I recall KJ disappearing into the shadows and hearing 5 minutes later the groans of wolves and coyotes. Luckily, he came back in one piece

Friday:

Marks our return to Amman and the end of our vacation. I discovered that my flight was earlier by 3 hours than expected. As my uncle was dropping me to the airport, I see 2 limo cars dropping Ragheb Alama to the airport.

42 comments:

Waed S. said...

With all the status updates Kinan & Qabbani had on their FBs during ur trip I feel like I've read this post so many times lol

@ shawerma al reem I hated my dad for not telling me it was meat ! I was eating and I could feel sth was wrong but I never thought he would do such a thing to me !

Anonymous said...

quite eventful vacation haha, I;ve been living in Jordan for a year and I haven't been to petra yet!!

Anonymous said...

I liked the way you organized this post. The photos are great.. Your indifference as KJ meditates is hilarious. I'm glad you enjoyed your time :)

KJ said...

u should have run over ragheb 3alameh!

LOL @ meditation ya 7aywanat if i was trying to calm my senses and ento a3deen metl el nawar 3am betsawro feeni klab

Qabbani said...

it was nice and gr8 to meet u Hmaza :)

Enjoy ur day

Hamza said...

lost within- those facebook freaks and this shawerma was hideous

suha - you better be prepared with at least 4 bottles of water when you wanna go there. Welcome to my blog

batoul - yea I was letting him enjoy his moments. LOL.

KJ - KOL had wi moo 3ajbak the calming of senses by us. tsk tsk tsk

Qabbani -likewise man. :)

Anonymous said...

u didnt like shawerma Reem?!?!?! I am glad you didn't try falafel el quds bcoz not liking that is unforgivable :) best falafel sandwitches EVER!

and petra was tiring?!?! i have been to petra 5 times and like it even more every time.... it's just breathtaking!

7amdilla 3ala il salameh !

asoom said...

I think you guys saw and did more in Jordan in a week than I did in my 2 months there. That's why it's good to go with friends instead of family.

Shawarma reem was my favorite place to get shawarma. I used to get 2 and 3 and eat them by myself, it was so horrible.

Nice post!

Anonymous said...

Its always enjoyable to travel with close friends. I enjoy it much more than travelling with family *yawn*

Anonymous said...

...
7elo ennkum enbasatoo b hay el trip :) ...
w kteer 7elo 6areee2tak b ketabet el post keef 7akeet 3n kol wa7ad , el pictures kteer 7elweeen ,,,,
,,

Anonymous said...

AWW, so you guys are supposed to be straight?
GOOD COVER!!!!!

I can see that kinan was enjoying the threesome!

Hamza said...

deena - I just don't like meat shawerma, and its the first one i find that doesn't make chicken shawerma. As for petra, its just we walked it all and we didn't ride on donkeys or anything and considering that we have no fitness at all, so of course it gotta be tiring.

asoom - really? you loved it. Well maybe coz I picked it from the one on Mojama3 jaber and not the main one

starwish -definitely. With family, you'll be tied up with relatives etc

vagauruez - thanks. :D

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