Kochi, India.We arrived in Kochi at 4:30 in the morning. We slept for about 6 hours then took a rickshaw ride around and saw The Dutch Palace, some temples, some old churches, and a spice factory. That was how we were introduced to Kochi and it was crazy! The driver did not care at all what side of the street he drove on, neither did anyone else and he drove super crazy fast! The next day we went on a boat tour of the backwaters. We stopped at a factory were they turn clamshells into calcium, had lunch served on a leaf, saw spices, and saw a coconut factory. The day following we had a train ride to Varkala.

Varkala, IndiaIn Varkala we stayed at a beach resort. We played in the waves and found weird snails that dig themselves under the sand if someone dug them out of the wet sand areas. All over the beach there were Swami’s making offerings and carrying pots of fire on their head. We stayed in the resort for 4 nights. On the last night we walked down to the cliffs (a place on the cliffs with a strip of shops and restaurants) and ate dinner. While crossing the beach back to our hotel hundreds of little crabs started crawling EVERYWHERE! We ran back to the hotel but not before one climbed on to my foot.

Delhi, IndiaOur plane to Delhi was 5 ½ hours long. At the start I ordered a chicken salad. Half way through the plane landed in Bombay but we had to stay on bored (next it went to Delhi). In Delhi I was sick so I didn’t get to go on the tour that day but it was of Old Delhi and New Delhi.

Dubai, Atlantis

Dubai Day 1

We landed in Dubai around 4:00 PM (in Dubai). While walking through the airport I saw many signs for Atlantis, The Palm. When waiting for the taxi to arrive my parents told us there was a surprise for us here and the hints were all around the airport. I clued in right away but my brother was looking for less obvious clues than signs I think. He saw a palm tree and said, “The tree is green and leafy. Hmm. Maybe we’re going to the forest or the jungle!” We saw the tallest building in the world, then the taxi arrived at our hotel it was Atlantis Hotel, The Palm. It’s called the palm because the island ( its man made) is shaped like a palm tree (kind of). It was the coolest, most awesome hotel I have ever been to. In the center it had a huge water fountain and smaller ones around it. The pool we went to was neat to, because the water looks sandy underneath and there are little island type things around.

 Dubai Day 2

We woke up the next day ate breakfast and headed for the Lost Chambers (Aquarium) It was fun, mostly because I normally get really bored in aquariums because they’re all the same but this one was really cool. I saw the biggest fish I ever have seen. The center had a neat water that looked like lava thing I can’t explain, but I’ll try to find a photo, and all the fish tanks looked like they had the ruins of Atlantis in them. Later we went to The Atlantis Water Park. The first thing we went on was the leap of faith. You plunge down an almost straight up and down slide, then through a shark tank, then out. Then we went in the rest of the slides and pools. I also had the best strawberry milkshake ever, Yum! After all that we flew to Kochi, India.

The tallest building in the world!

My Chris with a puppet we got on our flight

View from our hotel

Atlantis Hotel

Fish tank

Me sitting in The Lost Chambers Aquarium

JELLYFISH!

Red water steaming thing I couldn't explain

Aquarium

Ruins of Atlantis :) 

Fishy!

Chair at the aquarium

The Ziggurat, leap of faith

Fish tank tube ride

Ok I have to clear up that I’m going to do Jordan in days because we did so many things and went so many places so here it is…
………………………………………………………………
Jordan Day 2 (Because Day 1 was just us arriving).
My favourite stop yet! When the plane landed we rushed off. We went through immigration and retrieved our visas. After that we went to a sketchy hotel. It was not very clean, no milk for our cereal and bad breakfast. The next morning we went to Umm Qais. Umm Qais is located by the Syrian Israel Boarder, it had a really cool Roman theater made completely from basalt. Next we went to the Ajlun Castle. It was somewhat neat but some spots were closed off. After that we drove to Jerash (a really old used-to-be-Roman-City). It was very cool but sadly it was put in ruins by an earthquake around 740 AD. You could even see the marks on the road from the chariots that sped down it. In one main area of the city you could see where they sacrificed animals and slaves. We saw the butchers shop, church, stores and tons more. We even saw one stone pillar that spins. When we were leaving my parents bought some jewelry for me and my mom and a gift for one of my dad’s friends. Jerash was definitely my favourite stop that day! Other than the fact it meant I had to go back to our hotel.

Jordan Day 3
On Day 3 we had to wake-up early so we could drive to the Dead Sea. On the way we stopped at the Amman Citadel. At the Citadel we just walked around and read what all the rooms were before the earthquake. I am starting to hate that earthquake. Later we went to the Dead Sea gift shop. My brother was given an awesome little metal fish, my Dad bought an old scale and my Mom bought Dead Sea lotion and stuff. I didn’t buy anything because anything that caught my eye we couldn’t bring back to Canada.  At the actual Dead Sea Resort we stayed at we looked out the window and saw nobody was in any of the many pools so we went down to swim and found out why. IT WAS ICE COLD! Therefore, we went down to the beach and swam in the Dead Sea. It was super cool because you couldn’t sink! I know you probably think something like “of course you can sink its water!” Or, “I bet if I tried I could sink.” Nevertheless, no, you can’t, (I tried) it is so weird. The reason you can’t sink is because it’s 30-35% salt in the area we were swimming and in certain areas it can be 40% salt! That night we had the best dinner ever!

Jordan Day 4
Today we were still at the Dead Sea, and I was glad about it to. For half the day we just relaxed and had fun. We played in the Dead Sea, ate fries, and sat by the pool. Then we drove up to the top of Mt. Nebo which is were Moses looked over the holy land. The second half of our day we drove to Wadi Musa which is right by The Lost City of Petra*. That night we went for the walk of one thousand candles. You literally walked down a path of one thousand candles inside of paper bags full of sand to The Lost City of Petra. We listened to some Bedouin musicians and stories then went back to the hotel.

Jordan Day 5
The next day we went to Petra and a guide told us all about it. It was wrecked and covered by the earthquake I don’t like at all, and covered in sand. Later when it was being excavated, (our guide was an archeologist who helped excavate part of Petra) they found the remains of a woman who looked like she was holding her child to protect him or her from the earthquake although it apparently didn’t work. Soon after our guide left, my brother and I road donkeys up to the Monastery (My parents walked) and explored around there for a bit. On our way out we explored some empty caves and tombs.

* In case you don’t know what Petra is, it’s a city that was lost and named Petra (that’s the obvious part) because sand storms and earthquakes filled this beautiful red carved city till it was completely under ground and almost completely forgotten to most of the world. Later archeologist dug up the believed location of the city and found it. Still only 20% of the unbelievable and huge city has been excavated out of the sand. All their houses, shops, buildings and graves are carved in red sandstone.

Jordan Day 6
 And day 6 in Jordan finally begins. We started early morning by driving to Wadi Rum. In the Wadi Rum (it’s a desert by the way) we went on a fun jeep ride, other than the fact my brother complained the whole time, and rode on camels. I loved riding on the camels the best of it all! You had to really quite around them though because they are desert camels not camels from busy or loud places and if you’re too loud they spit on you. After the camels we stopped and rested, then drank some free tea that I didn’t like. Later that day we drove to Aqaba. Aqaba would be cool and fun on a nicer day but it was windy, the Red Sea was rough. On a calm day you can go snorkeling and see all the fish and creatures or scuba diving down to the wreck of The Cedar Pride.

Jordan Day 7
On day 7 we drove back to Amman. We were supposed to stay overnight in the dreadful hotel (I won’t say the name) but it was so bad we stayed in a different hotel. Our new hotel was awesome and breakfast and dinner were awesome!


Jordan Day 8 (kind of)
Today we left Jordan for Dubai. Our pictures in Jordan did not turn out to good because of the sandstorm from Saudi Arabia that seemed to follow us throughout Jordan.