Floating Alive on the Dead Sea

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Pfro

I have been fascinated by the Dead Sea for years. King David took refuge there, Herod the Great made it the first spa in the world, and Sodom and Gomorrah were said to have been located on its shores. Almost everyone passing through Jordan and Israel goes to “take the waters,” and I’ve always envied the pictures of people floating along, looking like they haven’t a care in the world. So when I traveled to Jordan two months ago, I made my final stop the most relaxing one. I checked into the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort & Spa and made a beeline for the Dead Sea.

According to locals, the Dead Sea — so named because with 34.2 percent salinity, nothing can live in it — is like the Gold Bond ointment of lakes. Its waters and mud can do almost anything: clear up your skin, cure rheumatism, help asthma, clear up psoriasis… the list goes on.

After a hectic eight days on the road, I just wanted to relax. But you can’t relax too much. Across the lake is Israel and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So close you could swim there. Although you wouldn’t want to.

“A few years ago, a couple came here to get married,” an employee at the Marriott told me. “Afterward, they were a little drunk, and it was at night, and they passed out and floated out to sea,” he said; the salinity of the Dead Sea makes it easy to float without effort. “They floated so far, by the time they woke up, they were in international waters, and Israeli army boats were speeding toward them. It ended up becoming an international incident.”

Paula Froelich floating in the saline sea.

Not wanting to cause an international incident, I stayed away from the bar and read the rules, which include: don’t drink the water; don’t get water in your eyes, mouth, or nose; and shower before entering. I would come to accidentally break two out of three. It’s not that I wanted to feel saltwater burning down my throat or blinding me. But I was covered in drying mud and itching, so I figured I would wash it off in the sea. I screamed, water got in my mouth, I swallowed, and then I had to be led out of the water to a shower by my producer, Nicola Linge. Thank God for Nicola.

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Wadi Rum: Walking Through Lawrence of Arabia’s Jordan

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Pfro

“No man can live his life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however faint, the imprint of the desert, the brand which marks the nomad; and he will have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can match.” –T.E. Lawrence

Traveling in Lawrence of Arabia’s Footsteps in Jordan

Photo: Silvia/Flickr

Tucked away in the southern desert of Jordan is Wadi Rum, a vast valley cut into the sandstone and granite cliffs near Aqaba. Also referred to as the Valley of the Moon, Wadi Rum has been inhabited since prehistoric times — and has cast its spell on travelers throughout the ages.

The British officer T.E. Lawrence, later known as Lawrence of Arabia, passed through the area several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917, and described Wadi Rum as “vast, echoing, and god-like” — and it is. Spanning 280 square miles, Wadi Rum is full of silent history. The rocks in the Khaz’ali Canyon are covered in petroglyphs in Thamudic, the most ancient Arabian script, from the fourth century B.C. The sand dunes are marred only by camel footprints (and the occasional SUV track). It is the only place on earth I have been that can shock you with its open, silent emptiness.

To truly experience Wadi Rum, spend the night in the privateCaptain’s Camp — a smaller version of the larger Captain’s Camp nearby — which will set you back $130 a night.

Photo: Captain’s Camp, Wadi Rum/Facebook

At night, the staff there prepares lamb and vegetables, slow-cooked for hours in a zarb — a traditional underground oven covered by sand — and then, around a fire, a musician sings under the stars. You can either sleep in a tent, or do what my crew and I did: simply pass out on the pillows surrounding the fire after stargazing for hours.

Spending the night with the bedouin of Wadi Rum is a magical experience. You are fully unplugged, there is no electricity or cell service, and there is no sound… other than what you yourself make. It makes you realize that in this noisy, frenetic world, the sound never heard is actual silence. It is as if Wadi Rum is Nature’s cathedral, outdoing any splendor man has created.

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Remember Candace? She’s Now Hitchhiking Her Way Across Jordan… She Rocks

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Pfro

As the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet Carl Sandburg once said, “Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me.” This is how I feel about travel. While I plan the trip, the best part is meeting people along the way — and sometimes, very rarely, running into someone you adore whom you never thought you’d see again.

WATCH: This Woman Cross-Dressed and Hitchhiked Her Way Across the Middle East

Candace and me, hanging in the Jordan Bar in Amman.

This was the case with Candace Lau. As you may remember, I went skiing in Afghanistan last year for the Afghan Ski Challenge and met Candace, an Australian woman who had set off to travel around the world for as long and as cheaply as possible. She is fearless, and cheap in the Middle East meant public transportation — so she cross-dressed her way across Pakistan and Afghanistan and parts of Iran. We met during her Afghanistan leg and have been Facebook friends ever since.

If you don’t remember Candace or her story (which was insane), watch this before you go any further; it adds context and will reintroduce my crazy pal:

When I left Candace in Afghanistan, I wasn’t sure if I would ever see her again — not just because she was a Western woman traveling alone as a man in one of the most conservative Islamic countries in the world, but because the fact of travel is: You meet people on the road who change your life, and due to time, distance, finances, and opportunity, most times you have to carry them in your heart, as seeing them in person again is unlikely.

So I was beyond shocked when I ran into Candace — randomly, I might add — in Jordan last month. She’d escaped Afghanistan (just barely — watch the video at the beginning of this piece to hear the story; it’s shocking that she’s still alive) and taken a bus into Iran before heading to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.

I was traveling through Jordan in a tricked-out tour bus like a Persian Liberace on the loose and had oodles of room, so I invited her onboard for the rest of the week that I was in the country.

This was my bus. Not kidding. There were four of us riding in it — with Candace, five. I felt like Cher.

You may be asking, “What the heck? What kind of budget do you have over there?” The answer is none. We did these past few Jordan shoots with the help of the Jordanian Tourism board, and my producer, Nicola, had told them, “It’s four of us and our equipment — please make sure we have access to something larger than a Land Rover.” They gave us the ultimate party bus. We were in heaven. And ready to take on more passengers — like Candace.

“Come on — you can take a decent shower, have awesome dinners, and we can hang!” I told her. “Besides, you said you always wanted to see Wadi Rum.” Candace, who’d been thinking of heading north instead of south, changed her plans and agreed.

And so we got a chance to really catch up.

“What was Iran like?” I asked.

“It was great — it had paved roads,” she said. “I was on a bus from Herat [Afghanistan], and it was so bumpy and awful I thought I was going to [vomit], and the second we crossed into Iran, it was paved roads and smooth sailing.”

Candace, me, and the “A Broad Abroad” crew arriving in Wadi Rum.

Hilariously, she also said that her mother (back in Australia) — who clearly had no access to the Internet or Facebook — had no idea what she’d been up to for the past couple of years.

“She thinks I’m in Austria working,” Candace said. “I didn’t want to worry her, so … but I will tell her everything when I go home at the end of this year.”

We also took Candace to Petra, on the way to Wadi Rum.

We got to Wadi Rum via Petra, and after two days, which included a hoedown in the desert, Bedouin style, and several camel treks, Candace left to herd goats with the family of a friend of a friend deeper in the desert for a week. It was surreal and magical running into a friend who had made such a big impression on me in such a short time — and it’s part of the beauty of life on the road, traveling.

Candace is now in India, still rocking and making her way (very slowly) back to Australia. We wish her luck!

WATCH: Women’s Rights, Freedom, and ISIS: Jordanian Street Artists Express Themselves

The (EMPTY) Seventh Wonder of the World You Need to See NOW

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Pfro

The problem with the Seven Wonders of the World is… they are usually packed with tourists. They are on almost everyone’s bucket list, they are insanely beautiful, and oftentimes, despite being inanimate objects, they have their own public relations and marketing teams. Which makes for huge crowds (think the Colosseum in Rome) and, if you’re like me, panic attacks.

Go Now: The New Seventh Wonder of the World — That’s Empty.

Normally, Petra would be packed with tourists. I basically had my own private tour of the place — something only people like Prince Charles or Cher get.

While most people think of Petra as being the Treasury — the huge, imposing facade that was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — it is so much more.

According to my friend Abdullah Al Wahsh, “Petra is 50 square kilometers. Even if you spent eight hours a day for three days straight, you still wouldn’t see it all.”

Established by the Nabataeans in 312 B.C., near the biblical Mount Hor in Wadi Araba, the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, it was the crux of an ancient trading route — and perfectly hidden.

You have to go through miles of paths like this to get into the city.

“Because it’s in a canyon — and you had to go through the canyon to get there, from far away, no one could see it. For a long time, people thought it was mythical,” Abdullah said. “They picked this site for protection — and access to water. The site has an intricate system of canals and irrigation.”

Related: How to Go Full Local in Jordan

Inside one of the homes, looking out at the mountains and at Andrew, my cameraman.

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I Love Me Some Bedouin Hospitality – And Their Goats

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Pfro

Hundreds of years ago, nomadic tribes roamed the Arabian and Syrian deserts. Living in tents and traveling on camels, they were the merchants of the desert — operating trade routes and bartering livestock. Over the years, they converted to Islam, and some settled down into villages, and nowadays most carry cellphones; but in one corner of the Dana Nature Reserve in the southern Jordanian desert, not much else has changed except the transportation.

Travel Back In Time With the Bedouin of Jordan

Little has changed for the Jordanian Bedouin in centuries.

Suleiman Hassasseen, 26, helps run the the Feynan Eco Lodge, a fully sustainable hotel in the Dana Reserve that uses solar power, solar heating, and composting to reduce its environmental impact. While he and his family cater to foreigners who come for the nearby 12,000-year-old archaeology sites or the nature hikes, Suleiman still lives much as his ancestors did at the turn of the last century.

Related: How to Go Full Local in Jordan

Hanging with Suleiman.

About a mile from the lodge is Suleiman’s (main) family tent, woven by his mother and composed of woolen blankets and plastic sheeting, and another smaller tent, which houses his father’s second wife. Surrounding the tents are pens for the goats and sheep, which Suleiman and his family herd into the nearby mountains daily, and two pickup trucks — the only concession to modernism.

“We move twice a year with the seasons,” Suleiman said. “In the summer we go to the shade of the mountains, and in the winter we move out of the wind.”

Related: Ladies’ Night in Amman, Jordan

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How to go Full Local in Jordan

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Pfro

It may be obvious, but the Middle East is very different from the rest of the world. Even in Jordan, which is considered a liberal country, visitors can make mistakes without knowing it (especially if they are left-handed; it’s the hand you use in the John).

Petra, Jordan (Thinkstock)

Yes, I know the so-called Islamic State is all over the news and people are scared of the region right now. But those in the know — and those who love history — are aware of several things: Jordan is committed to the fight against IS. Jordan has the second-best military in the region (besides Israel). There have been no attacks in Jordan due to its excellent security. And now is the time to go. Sites like Petra, normally packed with tourists, are empty and open for exploration. That, and the country is pretty much on sale — prices are down and you can enjoy a five-star trip at half the cost. As locals in the country like to say, “We can’t help it — we live in a rough neighborhood, but our block is fine.”

A local Jordanian — so friendly.

But, as I always say — know (the local customs) before you go. You will have a better time and make more friends — which, in a friendly country like Jordan, is easy to do. Trust.

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Tag Archives: jordan

Floating Alive on the Dead Sea

Wadi Rum: Walking Through Lawrence of Arabia’s Jordan

Remember Candace? She’s Now Hitchhiking Her Way Across Jordan… She Rocks

The (EMPTY) Seventh Wonder of the World You Need to See NOW

I Love Me Some Bedouin Hospitality – And Their Goats

How to go Full Local in Jordan