Wrapping up my deployment

As I am sure you have noticed, my posting has been very light to non-existent lately. As I roll into the last month of my deployment, there is much less "new" to post about. I've been working heavily on the plan for the Responsible Drawdown and that is almost complete. The job goes on (sometimes like groundhog day) and now I get to focus on shipping stuff home and getting ready to turn it all over to my replacement. I look forward to reconnecting with all of you when I get home.

A little about Aqaba, Jordan

Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport and is evenly split between a rapidly developing world class port and a resort town. It borders Eilat, Israel and is at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, an offshoot of the Red Sea. The town sits in valley between two arms of a mountain range as it reaches the sea, making it quite beautiful. From the Aqaba area, on a clear day, you can see Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

This area at the head of the Gulf has been settled since 4000 BC under the Edomites, Nabataeans (also built Petra), Greeks, Romans, the Islamic Caliphate (after Muhammad), the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Saladin, Mamluks, the Ottoman Empire, Lawrence of Arabia, and finally Jordan. Aqaba also sits astride one of the routes to the holy sites in Mecca.

Visible from everywhere in the area is the Aqaba flagpole, the second tallest free-standing flagpole in the world at nearly 450 feet tall. It flies the flag of Arab Revolt (Palestinian support), which looks like the Jordanian flag with the colors rearranged and minus the star. There is also amazing diving in the Gulf of Aqaba, but I didn't get to experience that. The water was nice though with a higher than normal salt content making me more buoyant than normal...pretty easy to swim. I can definitely vouch that there are some great hotels and despite the global economic downturn, Aqaba is undergoing significant development of some impressive new living and resort areas. With Petra and Wadi Rum nearby, it is a great place to visit.

Copyright...we don't need no stinkin' copyright!

So do you think the "Gifts Shop" is full of official merchandise? This picture shows further evidence that copyright and trademark are very much a Western world construction. Copyright/trademark acknowledgment is generally non-existent in the Middle Eastern and Asian (except Japan) countries that I've visited. I haven't been to Africa, but I assume it's similar. This gift shop is just outside Petra, which, as I mentioned in the previous post, was featured in an Indiana Jones movie. Notice the high quality graphics on the sign.

Visiting Petra

After a few weeks of procrastination (and late nights at work), it is time for some posts from my Jordan visit. This first post is about the highlight of the entire trip and it happened the first day. On our inbound travel day, we arrived in Aqaba, Jordan around 8:00 am. The downside is to get there that early, the travel process started in the very early morning. The bonus was that with no planned conference events that day, we had a golden opportunity to knock out a little sightseeing (after a quick stop at McDonald's).

A group of four of us hired a car and driver to take us out to see Petra. It took us about one-and-a-half hours to wind our way inland and up into the mountains. Petra is one of the World Heritage sites and some also place it as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It is an archaelogical site in southern Jordan renowned for its rock-cut architecture. The Nabateans constructed it as their capital city around 100 BCE and portions of it are amazingly preserved to this day. If you've seen "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", then you are familiar with part of Petra which played the role of the Templar Knights' tomb and final resting place of the Holy Grail.

Heading down into the valley to the site, you walk through a dark and narrow gorge called the Siq ("the shaft") that is naturally cut through the sandstone rocks. As you come to the end of the narrow gorge, Petra's most well-preserved ruin, Al Khazneh (popularly known as "the Treasury") peeks through the gap between the walls of the gorge. This is the amazing view familiar from "Indiana Jones" (first picture on left). It was incredible.

There are hundreds of caves/tombs/temples/buildings throughout the "city" of Petra as you wind down the gorge. Each of them has multiple chambers cut into the rock, some with additional tombs built inside and underneath the larger ones. All through the gorge are also the remains of stone-carved stairways cut into the beautifully colored, striped sandstone - paths to access the higher places. There is even a full amphitheater with multiple tiers of seating, tunnel entrances, and a stage.

We did a ton of climbing and exploring in four hours, but you could easily spend days here and not see everything. This site is easily one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, definitely worth a return visit. I have merely brushed the surface of all that is here, so please check out the web-link above to learn more.

Missed the President this time

This time, I missed seeing the President. We found out too late to make it over to the Palace without a weapon and before lockdown. You know you're out of time when CNN is broadcasting the visit right after you find out. I did, however, get to enjoy the intense security around the base since it was dinner time and finding an open road to get anywhere was difficult. We prevailed though and made it to dinner and back, just no Presidential sight-seeing tonight. Sounds like it was a good experience for those who made it though.

It's still McDonalds - even in Arabic

I have a few posts coming up from my short trip to Jordan. Until then, I do want to share two photos of a standard stop for American tourists. It is almost a rule that you need to visit at least one McDonalds and I didn't miss this opportunity. We stopped here for quick bite on the way out to visit Petra, Jordan. The Quarterpounder and fries was perfect after 4 months without McDonalds. To make it even more authentic, we ate in the car on the way.

Ba'ath Party Convention Center

The other big building on the Camp Slayer tour is the Ba'ath Party Convention Center. The construction design of this building is one of many that follows the Iraqi/Muslim convention that no sin can happen on water. It is only connect to the mainland by a bridge and is surrounded by water on all four sides. Essentially, it is a rectangle of large hallways big room complexes at each corner consisting of a pool area, theater, dining room, and conference room. It also has two docks right in the middle of the building.

This building was actually the location of the "first strike" of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in March 2003. The President had received intelligence that there was a large gathering of the Ba'ath Party/Iraqi Government in this building, specifically in the theater. A Navy Tomahawk missile launched from the USS Bunker Hill completely destroyed the theater and took out nearly 200 of the top government and military officials. We missed Saddam by 15 minutes. Some of you may have already heard this, but the movie that was in the theater's projector...Pretty Woman.

The first picture is the center "courtyard", showing the stilts supporting the building coming out of the lake. You will also see a JDAM bomb hole at the far end. The second picture is the pool, which as I understand it, was never filled...used primarily for torture and executions. Next is the dining room, which originally had the largest continuous chandelier around...now interrupted by another JDAM bomb hole. This last picture is an example of the ornate painted plaster ceilings that fill all of these buildings.