Best chicken restaurant - Madaba, Jordan

This restaurant is located off the main-road / first roundabout as you drive into Madaba ... I think it was called Dream Restaurant, or Dream Chicken :-)

Delicious bolognaise-like stew ... and yummy saffron rice. All this food only cost us 10 JD, or RM40 ... one of the cheapest meals (I think it was!) during our entire Jordan adventure.

ps - The customer service at this humble eatery was second to none!

Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George - Madaba, Jordan

On our last day in Jordan, we spent the day at the sleepy town of Madaba. Located (GPS coordinates, Wikipedia): 31°43′3.54″N 35°47′39.12″E

Madaba, with its population of 60,000 people (Making it the 5th most populous town in the country of Jordan) is located about 30km south-west of Amman. Our first stop when we arrived here was the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George, easy to find on the GPS, and the entrance fee is 1 JD (Or roughly RM$5) per person. Well worth a visit!

The Madaba Map (also known as the Madaba Mosaic Map) is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. The Madaba Map is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem. It dates to the 6th century AD.

The Madaba Mosaic Map depicts Jerusalem with the Nea Church, which was dedicated on the 20th of November, 542 AD. Buildings erected in Jerusalem after 570 AD are absent from the depiction, thus limiting the date range of its creation to the period between 542 and 570 AD. The mosaic was made by unknown artists, probably for the Christian community of Madaba, which was the seat of a bishop at that time.

The Map of Madaba mosaic was discovered in 1896 and the findings were published a year later. This discovery drew the attention of scholars worldwide. It also positively influenced the inhabitants, who shared the contagious passion of F. Giuseppe Manfredi, to whom the rediscovery of most of the city's mosaics are owed. Madaba became known as the "City of Mosaics" in Jordan.

Little Petra - Jordan with a Nikon D80

Little Petra (Al Beidha) is only a ten minute drive from its much better-known neighbour, Petra.

Best of all, there are NO entrance fees or pesky guides and tourist shops at Little Petra :-)

The Painted Biclinium, No. 849 - This is actually a dining hall, with a fantastic painting covering the ceiling. These are dated to the 1st century AD! Its known to be one of the only surviving examples of Nabataean-era painting, consisting of vines, flowers, birds and cherubs.

The tombs are surprisingly well preserved, and some even have carved-out stone benches inside. Quite amazing.

I think these are known as "dining halls"!

Ferraris and Astons in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Check out this Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, spotted in Dubai ... Hard to believe its been in production since 2004. It will soon be replaced with the "FF"!

A Ferrari California in Abu Dhabi ... nice exhaust pipes!?

Aston Martin DB9 in "UAE-white" spotted on the back of a truck ... delivery, or breakdown!? Hmmm ... When the new Nissan Patrol isn't fancy enough, why don't you drive a Infiniti QX56!

But of all the cars I saw last month ... the rarest beast of them all has to be this VW Phaeton! In four years of production, only 25K were ever made.

Petra by Night - The Treasury

Entrance fee: 12 JD each, or 62 AED (Roughly RM$50).

Timings: 8.30pm - 10pm, Monday / Wednesday / Thursday only

Child-warning: The terrain is rocky, and very much NOT pram/buggy-friendly. If you have an infant travelling with you, do bring along your Ergo or similar baby-harness!

Anyway, here is what awaits at the entrance ... Its located not far from the nice-looking Movenpick hotel on Petra high-street :-)

1,800 candles lights up the pathway through the rocky road and it gets rather dramatic walking through the Siq ... and 30-40 minutes later, you will get to ... The Treasury (Khazneh). Yes, that's the moon hiding in the horizon on these shots!

Lucky I brought my tripod along, you will need a remote-shutter release as well which I forgot to bring along .. DOH! Here are my efforts with my Nikon D80, Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, and Manfrotto 190DB and 496RC2. Alas, I had to shoot in ISO-400, f/2.8 (Not ideal, should have been in f/9 - 11), and 30s exposure on timer-release (Probably could have done with a 5 - 7 minute exposure time on Bulb-mode!).

Anyway, these memories are etched in our minds, especially the haunting Bedouin flute music and warm tea which was served on the breezy cool night!

The 7 Wonders Restaurant, Petra - Jordan

We drove for miles and miles without seeing any civilisation, but eventually (having departed from Dead Sea and Madaba) arrived at Petra :-)

I liked the first dish which arrived, sort of a meatball stew with lots of tomato-gravy. I had this with bread, as they did not have rice on the night. Yummy!

We had a pizza with all the toppings, I think it was called the 7 Wonders Pizza, and a "devil" pizza with spices. These were really big thick-crusted pizzas.

What was most amazing was the price of this meal, 1 meatball dish and 2 pizzas, with a large bottle of local mineral water, cost 37 JD or 190 AED (Nearly RM$155). Eeeeep! Petra is expensive (Hotels, food and entrance fees too)

Lawrence's House at Wadi Rum, Jordan

Wow ... some brave souls :-)

This is Um Fruth, a 15m high rock bridge. Amazing!

Ooops .. our pick-up had a flat tyre!

My Nikkor 105mm VR Micro f/2.8 in action in the desert :-)

And we had tea!

It seems nobody is certain that this was Lawrence of Arabia's house, although there are stories that he both stayed and/or stored weapons here!

A parting shot of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom...

The UAE donated a herd of oryx's to Wadi Rum some years ago ... And time to say goodbye to an amazing time in the Jordanian desert.