Asia
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Roman Ruins in Jordan | Ancient Jerash
More Details: Roman Ruins in Jordan | Ancient JerashYes, Jordan is more than Petra. And, if you have read some of my other posts on what I saw in Jordan, you are aware of that. But when it comes to historical sites of significance, it is worth noting there are important and well-preserved Roman ruins in Jordan, the Hashemite Kingdom. Jerash, in northwestern…
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Got History? Amman Does!
More Details: Got History? Amman Does!Coming to Amman for the first time, I was curious as to what the city would feel like. Surely, there would be some good restaurants (all cities have them!) and some nationally important buildings or monuments worth visiting (and photographing!). I have been to Cairo, close to Amman in many ways beyond distance, and Istanbul…
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Experiencing a Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp
More Details: Experiencing a Wadi Rum Bedouin CampI wrote earlier about exploring the Wadi Rum in Jordan and how much fun it was to ride around in the back of a pickup truck and admire the magnificence of the landscape of this unique spot in the Middle East, at a crossroads between Asia and Africa. What made that day even better was…
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Photo of the Week – Beijing on a Sunny Day?
More Details: Photo of the Week – Beijing on a Sunny Day?Beijing is well, and fairly, known for its pollution problem. This photo from 2002 probably is from a “good” day. I imagine the situation has gotten worse over the years. However, what really makes me wonder in this picture is the ratio of cars to bicycles. I wonder if there is that much space for…
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Jordan’s Wadi Rum: Not Just for Lawrence of Arabia
More Details: Jordan’s Wadi Rum: Not Just for Lawrence of ArabiaWell, I assume I did follow some of his/his camel’s footsteps in the Wadi Rum in my recent trip to Jordan. My visit to the Wadi Rum was an amazing experience as I had never had been in such a landscape before. In an earlier post, I shared how I found color everywhere I went…
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Photo Essay – Colors of Jordan
More Details: Photo Essay – Colors of JordanBefore my trip to Jordan, I had this mental image that Jordan was mostly a desert. I knew Jordan faced the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea and I recalled from my quick visit to Petra (on a day trip from Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt), that Petra would have some reddish color to it. But it’s…
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Going for Terracotta Soldiers – and Discovering a City
More Details: Going for Terracotta Soldiers – and Discovering a CityWhen friends and I decided to go to China for 10 days, it was a totally clean sheet of paper in terms of what we wanted to do. Beijing? Xi’an? Shanghai? Inner Mongolia? Lots of choices and not enough time (is there ever?). We knew we would be in Hong Kong pre- and post- China…
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Picture of the Week – Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
More Details: Picture of the Week – Hagia Sophia, IstanbulMany moons ago I finally got to see Constantinople, er Byzantium, er Istanbul. After so many years hearing about this place and its history, I finally was going to see face-to-face some of the places I had studied or heard about. At the top of my list: the Hagia Sophia. A monument of Christianity that transcended…