Dubai, UAE

Dubai is a popular stop-over route for Australians travelling from our home-town of Melbourne to London and other European cities. We had never used it as a stopover (going instead via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) and were curious to see what the city had to offer. Shopping, beach resorts and a thriving expat community - drew us to buy a plane ticket.
Also our friend, Hassan had relocated there for work and we (along with another friend Jasmon) were keen to pay him a visit.
It was good to have a local as a guide to show us around and the February visit was a nice break of sunshine in an otherwise cold London winter.

Jerusalem, Israel and Bethlehem, Palestine

It is difficult to write a travel blog focusing on the history and culture of places we have visited, without also commenting on the political situation. This is not a political blog and every side has its own story to tell. However after this visit we felt more informed about the conflicts and tensions between Israel and Palestine - context that we could not have gained from watching the news on TV. The complexity of the issues - religion, land ownership, economic status, revenge for past grievances, and desire for peace made us wonder whether these differences could be put aside anytime in the near future.

Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea, Jordan

When we booked this tour, Mei felt slightly nervous about the Wadi Rum part of the itinerary that hinted at 'roughing-it-out' at a traditional Bedouin camp in the middle of the desert. To her relief, the reality was closer to 'glamping' in private concrete huts with an en-suite, electricity, mosquito net and running water. A hot shower was on site, however for one night we sucked it up and braved the cold water in the very mild desert night. And complementing the atmosphere were the popping sounds of machine gun fire - a traditional Bedouin way of celebrating a life event or perhaps welcoming us into camp.

Madaba and Petra, Jordan

The iconic image of Petra known to most visitors is the Al Khazneh ("The Treasury"), made famous as the temple housing the Holy Grail in the film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". However, for us the iconic site was the Ad Deir ("The Monastery") - pictured on the left; as the level of difficulty required to reach the site - 800 steps by donkey made it more satisfying once we got to the top. The remote location also kept away the bulk of the crowds.
The visit to Petra capped off two days travelling through southern Jordan from Madaba to the Crusader castle fortress of Kerak.

Amman and Jerash, Jordan

Daily, we are fed negative reports in news programs about conflicts in Middle Eastern countries that have arisen due to religious or political or social factors. These stories make tourists think twice about visiting and safety concerns also led us to cancel a booked tour to Egypt. But when the opportunity arose to visit Jordan/Israel/Palestine, we decided to proceed despite Government travel warnings. And we are glad that we did. Behind all the bad press, there are friendly local people relying on the tourism industry to survive and we (tourists) should be visiting these places and giving them a chance to tell their side of the story.

Istanbul, Turkey - Part 2

Our second last day in Istanbul started off with a minicab pickup for the Unique Istanbul tour, booked online with True Blue Tours.
As we had covered off all the main tourist sights in Istanbul independently as described in the previous blog post; we wanted a local guide to help us cover the less known attractions. Traffic is also hectic within the city centre - so in order to maximise the number of sites you can see over a short period of time; our recommendation is to book a tour. This post lists the sites we visited on Day 3 and 4 of this trip.

Istanbul, Turkey - Part 1

Of all the travels we have experienced over the past 2.5 years - Istanbul / Byzantium / Constantinople was the city that amazed us. On arrival at this UNESCO World Heritage Listed site, we were hit by constant waves of culture and history (it was founded in 660BC). Geographically, this city bridges the continents of Europe and Asia and has held its place over time as the capital of four empires - Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire and Ottoman Empire. The influence of each makes a visit to Istanbul and fascinating experience.

Marrakesh and Essaouira, Morocco

We made it to the African continent with our long weekend trip to Marrakesh. Our first impressions of the city were impacted by the culture shock of the Medina (Old Town) and we didn't have time to visit the modern areas of the city. However after a couple of days, we developed an affection for the people and the food so much that we would recommend Marrakesh as a travel destination for our friends. Flights are accessible from London and although it does help to speak some French, we found it easy to get around with just English and a smile.