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Friday, May. 19, 2006 - 11:33 a.m. Book of the Trip
The month long trip to Jordan is at an
end. It wasn't a go 24:7 kind of trip as Tarik still had to work while I
was there, and I was at the apartment all day with the kiddo for a good chunk of
the time. But, when he did have his two week break, it was occupied by a
last minute booked week long cruise on the Mediterranean!!! We left from
Beirut, and stopped in the following ports: Antalya, Turkey, Rhodes,
Athens, Mykonos, Marmaris, Turkey, then back to Beirut. The ship was
a smaller cruise ship called the Orient Queen, out of Lebanon, with Panamanian
registry. The crew and staff were fantastic, the service was great, and
everyone was incredibly nice and friendly. Travis became the cruise
celebrity with half the crew and staff knowing his name by the end of the week,
and people going out of their way to cater to him. He even scored us a
dinner invite with the captain, who, Nina was very glad to learn, is
German! When we left Beirut we had about 100
passengers. At our first stop, in Antalya, Turkey we picked up 300
Turks. They got on board while we were out on our excursion. Little
did we know what we would encounter when we returned to the ship. At
dinner that night, needless to say the dining room was quite full as we
quadrupled our passenger load. And I began to notice that all of these new
passengers were wearing these buttons on their lapels. Of course they were
in Turkish, so I couldn't read them. They next morning we decided to do
the buffet lunch and by the time we got there, the Turks had eaten
everything. Um, OK, so we went back to the dining room for lunch.
There were many Turks in there as well and I noticed something else about
them; many of them had these drink containers with measurements on the
sides, canisters of powder, and boxes of pills. THEY WERE ALL ON AN
HERBALIFE REWARD CRUISE!!! All of these people walking around wearing
these buttons on their person each and every day touting the virtues of
Herbalife in Turkish. They would descend en masse each and every morning
and afternoon on the buffets and scoop up all the fresh fruit (I was vying for
bananas for the kiddo) and HEAP their plates with more food than I could eat in
a day. Then in the evenings, they would gather in the show lounge for testimonials.
There was cheering and chanting. I swear to GOD I thought the comet hiding
the space ship was going to decent on the boat at any minute and whisk them all
away. And while they were consuming their powdered drinks and handfuls of
pills, touting a healthy lifestyle and weight loss, they all smoked like
chimneys. I thought this was hilarious. They were on board for 5
days. At the end of the cruise, I was speaking with one of the crew who
told me that they were glad the group was gone. Turkey is beautiful. I was very
pleasantly surprised. What a sight to wake up first thing in this morning,
look out your window and see the mountainous shore looming in front of
you. Breathtaking is wholly apropos to describe it. But the
highlight of the trip was most definitely our stop in Athens, and our trek to
the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. They are doing an extensive
restoration right now, correcting problems from a previous restoration done in
the 19th century. There was scaffolding everywhere, but still worth it
nonetheless. There is also a small museum up there which houses sculptures
and pieces of the frieze discovered around the area and was absolutely fascinating
to see. Some of the statues still had paint on them, albeit faded, and its
things like this that I personally love to see. Now if the Greeks can only
get the rest of the Parthenon back from the Brits who have much of the frieze
housed at the British Museum, all would be cool. I remember standing in
the British Museum a couple of years ago making fun of the fact that we were
looking at Greek stuff stolen by the British. The rest of Tarik's time off was spent in
Beirut which has changed DRAMATICALLY since I was last there in 1999.
There is still much work and rebuilding to be done, but DAMN that place
rocks. I really is a wonderful eclectic city with just the right mix of
Middle Eastern Oriental flair, coupled with old world European charm. I
understand better why it was once called "The Paris of the Middle
East." The old 19th century building are just full of charm, and, an
antique beauty that even the scourge of 15 years of civil war could not
tarnish. If we ever had to move to another country, I would want it to be
Lebanon. I have kind of taken it upon my self to be an unofficial tourism
promoter for the country. Americans would be very pleasantly surprised at
the place. Back in Jordan, we visited the Dead Sea
for the weekend. One word of advice, do NOT get into the Dead Sea after
shaving, especially your bikini area. In the immortal words of a
demonically possessed Regan MacNeil, "It buuuuurns!" Travis
unfortunately developed an excruciatingly painful diaper rash that required a
visit to the doctor. Office visit and prescription "nappy rash"
cream totaled $15. Wow. On our way out of the building, we were
walking down some stairs, them around a corner when we literally bumped into a
tight knit group of men, some of whom were uniformed officers, who were hurriedly
making their way. I said excuse me, and all was well. Turns out, it
was Mahmoud Abbas, the
former Prime Minister of Palestine, and its current president. So there
was my brush with greatness, or rather, the famous (or infamous, whichever you
prefer). I
was sad to leave the hubby and come home, but, I have much to be done
here. He may be home in a couple of months as his office, for whatever
reason, is being shut down. Its political, and not because the office was
performing poorly, ineffectively, or inefficiently. In fact, quite the
opposite is the case and is one of the best managed offices in the region.
I know hubby is disappointed, but, he is ready to come home. And he needs
to be home. I want him home. I miss him. Song
Virus du Jour: "Freedom" - George Michael Useless
Trivia du Jour: Dead Sea water feels oily to the touch. Its just
downright weird. |
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- - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008
More updates on another blog home. - Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2008 Where are my zzzzzz's? - Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007 Halloween '07 - Friday, Nov. 02, 2007 Hallween is All Good! - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 |
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