Weekend in Aqaba

What a weekend, after our meetings on Thursday we made our way down to Aqaba which is about 320 km south of Amman. Aqaba is the up and coming region of Jordan because of its distinctive destination on the Red Sea which is the main sea port to connect all of the countries that surround Jordan specifically the rebuilding of Iraq and the super cash rich markets of part of Saudi Arabia. We arrived at Aqaba at about 8pm which was just perfect driving down the main strip with the windows down and enjoying the warm sea breeze. With the palm trees and amazing hotels that have been built it reminds me of Miami or South Padre with a Middle Easter flair. The hotel is beautiful which was just built 1.5 years ago right on the Red Sea.

It just happened that our local friend who is the country manager for one of the international car companies was in town for the weekend. He has recently bought an apartment here in Aqaba and was down watching over the painting and work that is being done there. Since he has several offices in Aqaba he knew just where to take us. Aqaba is a very interesting mix of both business and industrial along with the vacation destination for all of the people in the Middle East. Also Aqaba is entirely a free zone so there is no taxes at all, which is a nice change for us because the rest of Jordan has a 16% sales tax on everything you buy.

We had dinner at a restaurant right on the tourist strip that was soon to be shut off to cars to where only tourists would be able to walk down it. Basil ordered the traditional Arabic appetizers which is a complete meal in itself, and then we went up to the table where you choose which fish you want. Since they had all been caught that day it really didn’t make us a difference which type we ate. So he just ordered 4 different types. When they were finally all grilled and brought out and presented to us was amazing. Nicely grilled surrounded by potatoes and limes. The server even slices and served us all the 4 different fish types so we could avoid the bones.

Afterwards we made our way to the Moovenpick which had a great court yard to sit outside and enjoy the weather and watch all of the people walking around. Then shortly afterwords we made our way into their night club, which had a great band. Which was a Syrian group made up of a father, son and daughter who were really excellent.

The next morning I woke up looking out to the crystal clear ocean out from my huge terrace from my room. And we ended up heading out on the town to enjoy the great seafood for lunch. After dropping Amanda off I made my way to the Royal Dive Club which had been recommended to me which was about 20 miles outside of Aqaba down the coast. Where I passed about five mega development projects for hotels and housing that were under construction.

The dive club was a great mix of the Caribbean beach and Arabic style. With little black cabañas with lounge areas and hookahs. When I was talking to the Manager and we went to check about me going scuba diving they said that the last trip had already gone out but in about an hour he would love to take me out on a private dive trip. I enjoyed the view of looking out to Egypt on the other side of the sea, and the nice beach that it had been since Dubai that I had been able to enjoy. After getting on all of my gear we actually walked into the water and dived right off of the coast. It wasn’t a very deep dive but saw all kinds of different fish. I think my favorite one I saw was the huge lion fish that were everywhere I don’t think that I had seen any lion fish before.

After the dive, I got into the car and made my way down to the Saudi Arabia and Jordan border which was only a couple of minutes drive from the dive location. I was expecting to see some cool signs etc to take the photo next to but there wasn’t one at least in English.

Once back at the hotel enjoying the great interconenitial service and beach. Basil had arranged for us to take the schooner out for a sunset sail down to Saudi Arabia and Egypt during sunset. It was a lot of fun, then of course we did our tour of the hotel which really was amazing. With a great spa, numerous restaurants, and the Royal Suites on the top of the hotel. It had an amazing terrace that is the size of most houses and the bathroom even had a sauna and steam room.

We had dinner at the usual Arabic restaurant in the hotel with more food then 20 people could of eaten much less 5. And then went to one of the bars in the hotel that had karaoke going on. Which was interesting seeing all of the people do karaoke in Arabic.

This morning I got up and enjoyed the spa and beach before we made our way back on the three hour drive to Amman. We hope to spend the next week down here in Aqaba if we can schedule all of the meetings that we need to. All for now!!

Chad