There is a happy end
11.3.2005 | Maribor, Slovenia
I managed to get on the plane after all (the representative of Turkish Airlines was a very nice guy) and paid quite a normal price too. First I was shocked by the heavy morning snow in Istanbul and then by a bunch of Slovenians and Croatians, crowding round the Zagreb gate (it was quite silly of me to expect anybody else there). I just kept a low profile and listened.
Coming back home
10.3.2005 | Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
To understand the story I’m about to tell you and the graveness of the obstacles in my way properly you have to know that I was in a big hurry. It wasn't just me being capricious or tired of Jordan (on the contrary!). A very important international project depended on my coming back home immediately. Without me it would have turned into a disaster (not to mention my head would surely roll).
Long week
15.2.2005 | Amman, Aqaba, Jordan
In the past week many things have piled up. Besides extensive diving I had another go at Wadi Rum and tried to get to the Saudi side at least for a while. It’s absolutely impossible! Both the Jordanians and the Saudis are patrolling on both sides, the former have an army with searchlights (and other equipment, probably) in lookouts in the desert, and are patrolling the area on Hummers and Landcruisers. There's a wall made of sand right on the border, and immediately behind it, on the Saudi side, there's a great-looking asphalted road, with Saudi patrols going back and forth. I saw one of them from a Jordanian border guardhouse, where I was invited for lunch and tee, after I had daringly rushed up to the soldiers (apparently the Jordanians wouldn't even think of driving up to a military post, so the guys there are pretty lonely most of the time).
Wadi Rum - escorted by Martin's Unimog
4.2.2005 | Wadi Rum, Jordan
The red sand is sifting through the toes on my feet; I watch the black sky, sprinkled by stars, with the mountains in the middle of the desert, whose outlines are becoming more and more visible in the rising moon. The tent is just a couple of minutes away, the KTM is enjoying its well-deserved rest in front of it and just a stone's throw away from them there is the silhouette of Martin and Sandra's Unimog. The only sound I can hear is the throbbing of a vein in my head. The silence is so intense that the noise in my ears is piercing through my head. We're at 1,100 metres of altitude. I go to sleep, but the noise in my head is still there, along with the slow beating of the wind-rattle somewhere high in the rocks, while the wind is weaving its way through the cracks. Or is it all just the eco in my head?
I have a boyfriend
27.1.2005 | Aqaba, Jordan
Well, I finally know now how it feels for a girl to be stalked by a boy who won’t leave her alone, won't let her breathe, and is following her around, all out of pure love. I had 7 missed calls yesterday (because I was moody) and ten today (because I was under the water most of the time). Let’s say his name is Ahmad. He called ten minutes ago and said he was coming to Aqaba tomorrow!? I sent him an SMS, saying that I wouldn't be able to come to Wadi Rum tomorrow so he decided to pay me a visit. Tomorrow I also intend to spend most of the time in the water and alongside of it – by the way, the water is EXCELLENT! 23°C! – So I tried to tell him not to come. And he understood. But still he was a little sad.