Aqaba as a local

[onlymark]

A thought I had is that what would it be like to go on beach holiday, just for a few days, as a Jordanian? Where would you stay and what would you do?
Eating is not a problem as most places serve about the same kind of things, chicken, fish, rice and salads.
But if you weren’t a tourist staying in a good class hotel with a private beach, but you were a normal working Jordanian having a break down at the coast?
The coast would have to be down at Aqaba. The only other ‘coast’ is at the Dead Sea where there is absolutely no budget accommodation (cheapest usually the Holiday Inn at about 85 Euro per room per night). Besides the fact that it’s pretty damn close to Amman anyway, so for the normal Ammananian(?) it’s a quick day trip.

So, I booked a couple of rooms using the Arabic surname of my wife at a relatively cheap hotel near the sea but to the south of Aqaba. I used her surname just as a thing so they expected a normal Arabic family and there was no possible different initial treatment for having a western surname. The rooms, including breakfast, were about 30 Euro a night. This would be the average cost for a skilled working man to pay, more or less. A cheaper option I’ll get to.

Aqaba is the small place right at the southernmost point. It closely bordered by Israel to the west and Saudi Arabia to the south. Both borders are just outside the city.




In the town itself are a number of midrange hotels, both for tourists and businessmen alike. There are also a couple of high class ones. There are also a couple of what could be called ‘beaches’ in town, but the better ones are to the south. The high class hotels to the south all have their own private beach, these would be obviously outside the range of a normal Jordanian.




For a westerner on a budget there is a group of half a dozen hotels, all (I think) with a pool, but they are set back from the beaches entailing a crossing of a dual carriageway. The beach you would use would then be one of the public beaches open to anyone. It is one of these that I booked as there are no alternatives for westerners or locals out of town, it would either be high end or, for us, budget.

Upon my arrival at a busy weekend the receptionist (actually a guy at a desk in the restaurant) looked at my booking and told me they were full.
I waited.
He then said that two rooms would be free the next night.
I waited.
He then said they had one room free for tonight, would we share (my two 12 year old daughters and I).
I said one word – no.
Like a magician he suddenly produced a second room key and with a bit of a sigh, signed us in.
Quite what would have happened had I not been a westerner, I’m not sure. Probably the same but with a not so quick capitulation.

Anyway, I took the key and went to my room.
From the outside, not bad –




However, it was an end room and just at the side of it –




Maybe a guard sleeping there?

But I realised he wouldn’t be much use due to the vodka –




I turned and looked at the view. Nice water tank –




Off to the left side was a bit better –




I went inside, dropped my bag at the side of the bed and coupled up my laptop to charge up.
I noticed the bed had not been changed –




But it was bright and airy, so not too bad.
Into the bathroom. Again, they’ve made an effort. It all looked quite new –




However, there was no water pressure, the shower was just a dribble. Turning to the sink and toilet –




Note three things,
1) The waste basket still had the previous occupiers shitty toilet roll in it (common practice if you’re not aware to not put the paper down the toilet. The pipes are’nt built for it)
2) If you look at the side of the bowl you can see a detached pipe. This is the water pipe to fill the cistern. It was never connected whilst I stayed there despite my complaints.
3) The contents of the bowl itself.




At least there was no solid matter.
Looking then at the closed door I realised I better be prepared for a little dust and sand ingress judging by the poor fit –





Opposite is one of the beaches.




On this beach the next lower standard of accommodation was apparent. You were allowed to camp there using your own tent or a pre-erected one.




These are the pre-erected ones from both sides, away from the sea and facing the sea. You can see they are just off the car park –






I hazarded a look inside one, just to see the standard.
They are not left in the tidiest state with unidentified fluids and litter strewn around –




I looked in a second one to be sure –




Sorry, but not to my liking.

Anyway, I imagined coming here with my family, putting up my own tents then and hitting the beach. Yeah!

Not exactly sandy, but hey, not too bad –




Looking the other way –




But then I looked down. This was a random part of the beach bear in mind.
So, I get the impression Jordanians are great smokers –




I moved over a way and it was the same –




All the shore had litter –




I then spotted the rubbish collector. The guy in green mid distance.
There was only him and no matter that there were a number of bins around, his modus operandi was to walk, pick up two or three bits of rubbish, walk back to the bin and deposit them then do it all again.
He was fighting a losing battle –




So I headed into town, 10km or so, picked two random bits of coast at the side of the road to see what the litter was like there. These weren’t beaches, they were where the sea comes right up to the road banking –






The reason I headed into town was for the third and lowest level of accommodation, simply putting your tent in a free space hoping you won’t get moved on by the police or trampled by the crowds.
At first, from the main road it didn’t look too bad –






There is a bit of a castle hidden away –








A bloody great flag pole with no flag –






And a visitors centre and small museum –






And then you come to the main town beaches with the put your tent where you can areas –










You may think that the tents would just be for the day and taken down as night fell and the owners went off. But no, they are there all night and are slept in, or at least whatever sleep can be had.
Anyway, more glimpses of the town beaches to finish off –












So, as unPC as it may be, I’m glad I can afford to not go on holiday as a local.

[bjd]

Well, I never wanted to go to Jordan anyway. Those poor women in their black polyester robes! They must suffer in the heat.

I'm always surprised at places that are so dirty -- you really get the impression that the locals don't notice the garbage. Although, to be fair, there are probably not many garbage cans around either. This goes not just for Jordan, but for many other places.

So, did you have a nice holiday?

[Deleted]

When I went to Aqaba more than 30 years ago, I found it surprisingly clean, but I was in a big concrete hotel next to the Holiday Inn, totally acceptable, as was the beach. I have to confess that my friend Marie and I got rather drunk one night and went skinny dipping in the Red Sea around 2am.

It was an extraordinary experience that I will never forget, because it was the first week of the Iraq-Iran war (the Western countries were supporting Saddam Hussein), and the port of Aqaba had about 150 cargo ships floating offshore, since it was being used by Iraq for all shipments, since it could not safely use its own ports on the Persian Gulf.

The hotel had about 150 rooms and I think that just 3 of them were occupied, because it was expected that Iran would be bombing Aqaba at any moment. We laughed in the face of death and enjoyed ourselves enormously. I guess we must have been younger back then.

[onlymark]

bjd, I'm still away until tomorrow (Monday).
Wearing black - apparently it is counter-intuitive and actually keeps you cooler. So they say.
There actually are a lot more rubbish bins around than you think. I have mentioned in previous posts that it seems strange that littering is a common pastime and thought little of - and I can't understand why.

k2, Aqaba seems dirtier than when I first went around 1995. The last time previous to living and now visiting again three more times, was about 1998. The following photo was at a beach next door to the one I have been staying at the back of from my old files and showing the meeting of an overland trip run by a colleague coming out of Egypt and my trip entering the next day. Two of us managing to cross over and have an evening together was a rare occurance -

[Deleted]

Some day I will dig up my slides of Aqaba and scan them.... if I can ever find them.

[auntieannie]

Mark, I wondered: Once the receptionist saw you were foreign, did he expect you to pay more for your rooms?

[onlymark]

I'll get back to you on that one Annie. I don't check out till the morning. We'll see if they charge me different to what I have on the booking sheet.
If it was Egypt then I'd expect a bit of a discussion, in Jordan it's not usually the same.

[cristina]

Is that a cotton candy vendor next to the man on the camel?

[onlymark]

Yes, it is.

[bjd]

Wearing black - apparently it is counter-intuitive and actually keeps you cooler. So they say.

I'm sure that's what the men wearing short-sleeved light-coloured shirts say.

When I crossed to Lamu on a little ferry, women in black polyester were right beside me and I could feel the heat coming off them, and feel how unpleasant that material felt against me in such hot temperatures.

[onlymark]

Annie, checked out and back in Amman. Cost was as booked, so no problem there.

bjd, this is from the internet, so it must be true -
digg.com/newsbar/topnews/the_physics_that_explain_why_you_should_wear_black_this_summer

[bjd]

Oh sure -- thin breathable material and wind. No mention of head to toe polyester.

I hope you had a nice holiday anyway, since I assume you were allowed to wear a bathing suit.

[mossie]

I had occasion to visit Aqaba in 1952. Here is a view across the airfield, which was nearer the sea than the present airport as we were able to be swimming within a few minutes.



Here is the RAF station. The first fuselage is Air Traffic Control and station headquarters, the one behind is the mess.

[onlymark]

My father flew Dakotas - which looks somewhat like the left hand one of the two fuselages.
Am I way out?
The right hand one and the first photo are Valettas?

Can you remember how far out of Aqaba this was? I presume to the south.

Fascinating.

[mich64]

That is fascinating Mossie... It must have been impossible to keep any food or beverages cool in the Mess. My father-in-law was stationed in Morocco in the 1950's and this really brought to my mind what it might have been like for him there. There too, their base was quite close to the ocean, but not as close as this was.

Interesting vacation Mark. What did the girls think about it? Did they enjoy themselves. Did they swim in the ocean? (would it be the ocean? sea?)

I was taught, black attracts, white refracts. I try to never wear black in summer, for me, it absorbs the heat.

Cheers

[Deleted]

I only flew in and out of the modern Aqaba airport once. Naturally it is not a hotbed of activity even now. Royal Jordanian used to have a daily flight from Amman with a 737, but I see that now it has about 10 flights a week using smaller Embraer aircraft. However, it seems to have a few international flights now to Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Beirut.

[onlymark]

mich, the girls didn't enjoy it as much as normal but felt it was good to get away for a few days anyway. I had a dip in the pool at the hotel but it was quite small and cold. The girls are at an age where they are becoming quite aware of men/boys and felt too uncomfortable to get into their swimming costumes either for the pool or the beach - both being too busy with locals for them.

[mich64]

Quite normal for young ladies indeed. It is good to get away for even a few days and see new places, they are fortunate girls.

Cheers

[onlymark]

They've both just said to me that it is boring at home and having to do homework and revise for tests this weekend and asked if we go away somewhere.

Tough luck, I've told them.

[Deleted]

Frankly, I am still admiring the photo of the ill fitting door, which is total confirmation of my own experience of the (non) desire of "accuracy" in that part of the world.

I really hope that it will change one day.

[auntieannie]

Mark, is there a lot of pressure on the local population for them to go have a holiday by the sea? If that makes sense?

[onlymark]

I actually have no idea Annie.
I would imagine there is little difference between here or somewhere like the UK. Apart from the fact that most Jordanians wouldn't go to a different country for a holiday, most wouldn't feel any pressure to go anywhere specifically, unless it was on a pilgrimage. The coast is as good as anywhere.

[mossie]

OnlyMark and mich64, sorry for not replying sooner, I have been away for a little break.
OnlyMark your aircraft recognition is spot on. ISTR that the airfield was north of the village close to the Israeli border, but time clouds the memory.
What I do remember is swimming in the Gulf of Aqaba and treading on some sort of stony spined fish. I spent several sessions with a needle winkling bits of coral? like material out of the sole of my foot, and for several years afterwards would get blisters there.
If you really want to know why I was there I wrote a rather tedious piece for a website a few years ago here
www.britains-smallwars.com/Canal/fighternav.html

[onlymark]

Thanks for that mossie.
It could well be that the old airfield was to the north(ish) but there isn't a lot of room between Aqaba, even then, and the border, but it is possible certainly. The 'new' airport is a little to the north and obviously not on the coast but unfortunately the airport for Eilat is also just a couple of km from the border on the other side. This apparently has resulted in times past that pilots, for whatever reason, have confused the two and landed, or at least attempted to, at the wrong one.
I'll have a read of your link.

[onlymark]

Forgot to add mossie that what you stepped on was probably a sea urchin. There are lots around there.

[lola]

Great reporting. Mark.

Your daughters are such good sports. Was their bathroom any better? Did they get fresh sheeets?

What would an average working man there make a day? Say, oh a baker or garage mechanic? Does having an Amman address make you "Jordanian" for the purposes of cheaper tents?

Did the desk clerk expect a bribe?

Kerouac, I love story about you and Marie.

[onlymark]

lola, their bathroom was no better, they did have clean sheets initially.
The average man would get around 400 Euro a month I think. I would get the cheaper tents because I have a residence visa. This entitles me to pay the same price at places of interest as well as the locals.
I don't think the desk clerk wanted a bribe, he was just trying to overcome the fact that they'd over booked. Bribes are no where near as common place here than previously in Egypt.