Beirut. Gotta love it. I arrived at 1:00 pm this afternoon and went straight to the hotel. A few minutes later, my phone rang and it was a friend telling me to stay inside until 6:00 pm and not leave the hotel because there's a major strike/protest going on downtown agaisnst government reforms/policy. Sure enough, I turn on the local news and thousands of people are protesting in downtown Beirut. This would explain the different route that the taxi driver took today. I can see I'm in for another trip of schedule adjustments. It's never dull.
It was sad to say good-bye to Amman. I was lucky this time to have a few free hours to see the sights. I didn't go into the Dead Sea, just looked at it from the hotel. The access is monitored and we weren't hotel guests or on an excursion. The drive is through 30 minutes of desert and then the Dead Sea appears. The area is green from the Jordan River and there are busloads of tourists that were on the road. I asked where the border line with Israel was and I told it wasn't marked. You would simply get shot if you tried to approach it from the desert or the sea. I was in the mood for lunch so I chose not to wander off.
It was sad to say good-bye to Amman. I was lucky this time to have a few free hours to see the sights. I didn't go into the Dead Sea, just looked at it from the hotel. The access is monitored and we weren't hotel guests or on an excursion. The drive is through 30 minutes of desert and then the Dead Sea appears. The area is green from the Jordan River and there are busloads of tourists that were on the road. I asked where the border line with Israel was and I told it wasn't marked. You would simply get shot if you tried to approach it from the desert or the sea. I was in the mood for lunch so I chose not to wander off.
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