Busy busy busy!!

Been a busy wee thing for the last week - so below are some catch up posts! I've also uploaded a few more photos from Jordan to Flickr as well - in case you aren't bored of them yet :-).

Running in the sun...

On Sunday I was up out again, this time to go in to town to watch the London Marathon. We went to Canary Wharf - around the 18 mile mark, and stood in the sun to clap and cheer the runners as they went past. We even managed to see and cheer our friend Sam from work, who did a cracking time of 3 hrs 36 mins! Sadly one runner died afterwards - the heat really must have been extreme for those running. It was hot enough just stood in it.

We finished the afternoon off by getting a boat back down the Thames to London Bridge to get home - another lovely day spent making the most of the glorious weather London has been having recently!

Walking in sunny East Sussex

On Saturday Julia and I headed off to East Sussex/Kent to go walking. We did a walk known as the Robertsbridge Circular (11.5 miles) and it was fantastic! It was a gorgeous day, the bluebells were out in the woods, we had a fantastic lunch at The White Horse Inn, the apple trees were just starting to blossom (we went through an orchard at one point), we saw the fantastic Bodiam Castle and got to have a delish National Trust icecream, plus had time for a pint at the end as we waited for our train back to London! One of the best walks we've done for a while - there are a few photos on Flickr, so check them out!

Bodiam Castle - way cool!

Bodiam Castle - way cool!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This really was a perfect castle to sit and admire in the sun!

Bluebell woods...

Bluebell woods...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

So pretty!!

Trendy birthday celebrations, Sevenoaks and a gig...

On Thursday I was off out to help Finbarr celebrate his birthday. We had pre-dinner drinks at The Foundry - achingly trendy Hoxton type pub. Julia and I felt very wrongly dressed in our 'just come from work clothes'!! Then we went for very nice Vietnamese dinner, followed by more drinks at a not so achingly trendy pub....

Fortunately I had taken Friday off to go and visit my friend Jannine and meet baby Miles for the first time, so I didn't have to drag my sorry carcass out of bed to get to work by 9! Method in my madness! I had a lovely afternoon playing with 2 year old Daisy and 3 month old Miles, then it was back in to town to meet Maya to go and see Bloc Party at Brixton Academy. Fortunately we were upstairs in the balcony which is seated so we got to sit for a good while until they came on! And as always they were great.

A real find!

Met up with some friends for a drink after work, and Nicola suggested the Prince of Wales in Kennington - fantastic wee pub! You just wouldn't think you were in London at all! Damn fine fish'n'chips too!

Alex surfing at Piha, Good Friday

Alex surfing at Piha, Good Friday
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I just loved this photo of Alex so I'm also blogging it!

OK - I admit it - I'm a bit sad...

But I found a link to LibraryThing on a friend's blog the other day and I just love it!! So I've started my own wee catalogue :-)... Still not that much on it as I've only added recent books I've read (although there are still some of these to come), and I'll keep populating it as I go along.

I think I truly must have been destined to be a Librarian - I couldn't wait to get home and start entering my books! Oh dear...

So as you may have noticed I've also added a link to my catalogue under my links to other peoples blogs. Love it! I'm having some issues with getting a link just to my catalogue that I've created so I'll keep working on it!

Let me entertain you...

Now that I've finally uploaded most of my photos I can catch up with other stuff that I've been doing since I got back. Which actually isn't all that much- except for going to see The Entertainer on Tuesday night.

Fantastic play - great cast as well with Robert Lindsay and Pam Ferris. Apparently Laurence Olivier saw a play Robert Lindsay was in a long time ago, and said to him then that he should do The Entertainer one day.

It was quite amazing to listen to the dialogue (the play was set around the time of the Suez Crisis), and think that they must have changed the lines to reflect current events - but they hadn't. Incredible to listen to what they were saying, and everything could be directly related to the situation in Iraq as well. Shows how for all things change, everything stays the same...

Phew!

Thats all of my photos up on Flickr now! A few more still to go up from some of the rest of the group but Flickr is currently throwing a hissy fit at the mo, and I feel like I've been uploading photos for hours so I might leave the rest until tomorrow!!

A few more added....

OK - I've finished Tuesday now... :-). Only 3 more days to go!! It is my plan to get them all up over the weekend - then just need to add the highlights from other people...

Tuesday - Indy again...3

Tuesday - Indy again...3
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Indiana Jones aspect of the Treasury! You can see why Petra is called the Rose Red City...

Tuesday - Me & Julia outside the Treasury

Tuesday - Me & Julia outside the Treasury
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Photos being added - slowly

I've started to add my photos to my Flickr account - check them out and also the couple below. Still loads to come yet tho!

In answer to Eryn's question re the holiday, I went with Explore to Jordan. An organised holiday with 16 people in the group. We did 2 nights camping in the Wadi Rum desert, 2 nights camping above Petra, and 3 nights in a hotel. Absolutely fantastic!!

Sunday - Desert views...with camels and blowing sand

Sunday - Desert views...with camels and blowing sand
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Monday - me and that Bedouin look again

Monday - me and that Bedouin look again
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tuesday - strolling on - with baby camel

Tuesday - strolling on - with baby camel
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Camels, sand, walking, Bedouin and history...

Got back from my week in Jordan on Saturday - and what an absolutely fantastic holiday it was. My first time to the Middle East and it made me realise how little I know about that part of the world - despite it being so crucial to world politics at the moment.

We had a fab guide, Hazem, who just loved his country and Wadi Rum (the desert we camped in), and it just made such a difference. He was fantastic - it just added so much to the whole holiday.

So read on for highlights of each day - photos to follow shortly on Flickr!

Friday - Moses, the Dead Sea and Romans

Friday started off with a visit to Mt Nebo - the mountain from which Moses saw the Holy Land - and is reportedly buried somewhere around it as well. I loved this spot - we were there early so it was relatively empty, and it just seemed to be both incredibly spiritual and incredibly historical. For me it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Then it was down to the Dead Sea for a float... so bizarre. Very strange to be able to go out of your depth in the water, and stand up, but not sink!! We weren't anywhere near where you can slap yourself with the mud, but I did go on to buy many Dead Sea products for my skin!!

Back into the bus and off to Jerash - good, but after having been to Agrigento, Pompeii and Rome, one Roman ruin begins to look a lot like the next... But not many have Bedouin bagpipe players - you'll have to wait for the photos for that one!!

Then it was back to the Toledo Hotel in Amman for our last night. We went to a traditional restaurant for our group meal - we had the traditional dish of lamb and yoghurt, which I couldn't eat much of. Partly cos I was full, partly cos it tasted a bit sicky. The yoghurt wasn't really to my taste...

Thursday - Day of much driving

Overwhelming memories of Thursday are driving... although to spice it up a bit we did drive down the scariest road I've ever been on to get to Wadi Ibn Hammad. We went for a walk along the river bed here - it was quite a stunning gorge, and a lot of it was spent walking in the water. It was a nice walk, but I'm not sure it warranted the really scary drive down the hill. Nor the drive back up - I got a bit worried when the bus started to slide backwards... I wanted to take a photo, but I honestly was too scared to do it...

Another long drive till lunch, (up and down an amazing valley) then on to Madaba to see the mosaic map at St George's Church. Sadly it was all a bit rushed as the church was closing early due to it being Good Friday the next day. So it was back to the Mariam Hotel for a G&T before dinner - the gin had to be bought in especially, but we did enjoy it! We sat by the empty pool for a pre-dinner drink - given Jordan's water shortage I can't imagine it is filled that often!

Wednesday - More Petra - and Turkish baths!

Tuesday was spent back down in Petra (apparently our group was the fastest one down from the camp - broke the record by 40mins...). So we walked an hour down to Petra to walk 900 steps up to The Monastery (which was well worth it!), then back down again...

In the evening we went for a Turkish Bath - my first one and it was fantastic. After 4 days of no showers we were all feeling VERY grubby, but that was soon fixed by the steam, the scrubbing, the massage and the shower. It was absolutely heaven!!

Tuesday - Camel riding & Petra

Crack of dawn start as we headed out of camp on our camels at 6.30am for a 2 hour ride back to the road! Strange sensation as the camel stood up - big lurch forward then a big one back, then another forward lurch - luckily there are handles on the front and back of the saddle to hold on to! My camel had a wee baby camel tied to it who spent most of the time pushing against my foot - obviously annoyed that I was on its Mother's back! Plus there was another younger one roaming around which wasn't tied to any of the other camels and I think it was a bit jealous!!

Had a tea stop (more for the camel walkers than us!) at the spot where Lawrence first met with Prince Abdullah, then another tea stop for the camel walkers - most notable for watching the baby camel drink water out of one of the camelbaks one of our group was using!

Then it was a wee while in the bus down to Petra - the Siq was incredible. I just loved it. It really is the Rose Red City. We didn't do too much exploring of the city - although Hazem did put some Nabatean make up on me! Not that I wanted it, but I was chosen as a volunteer! Then it was about 1.5 hours up the hill to our next camp site :-).

Tragedy at the camp site as we realised there was no beer! Much consternation amongst the group, especially as Hazem was busy telling us it was difficult to get beer in the town! Luckily some super organised walkers had bought a cask of wine so we got a wee glass of red to drink while we were watching the sun go down until our beer turned up! Much relief by all walkers!!

Monday - Walking in Wadi Rum

A day spent hiking in the desert - having fun spotting the camels and realising that Lawrence of Arabia was all around Jordan (no - I hadn't read up on the history of the place before going!). It was a great day walking - the scenery was just amazing - I just kept taking photos which you'll realise when I get my photos up on Flickr! Highlights were seeing the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and our fantastic lunch stop - under a cliff, listening to one of our group members playing the tin whistle. A bit surreal hearing Irish jig music in the middle of the desert!

Sunday - Amman to Wadi Rum

We flew in to Amman late on Saturday night - we spent almost an hour on the tarmac at Heathrow so it felt like a long flight (it's meant to be about 5 hours but it was around 6 all up I think). We were met by a representative from Explore at the airport who promptly took all our passports off of us and sent us to get out bags - funny how trusting you get! But we did get them all back with our visas. So by the time we got to the hotel and got into our rooms it was getting on for 1.30am and we had to be up bright and early the next day :-(.

Sunday we headed off in our wee bus down the Desert Highway to Wadi Rum. Lovely sunny day, seemed all well and good. Then we got out of the bus - wee bit windy! Makes you realise how the hajib etc comes from a practical necessity! We had a fun time as Hazem argued with our Bedouin camp staff who didn't want us to eat anywhere else, but we couldn't eat outside as the wind was flinging the sand around everywhere! Eventually a compromise was reached (luckily as it was about 3pm by now and we were all starving) and we found a sheltered place to eat a highly delish lunch of hummous, salad, potato and pita bread.

Then it was about 1.5 hours walking across the desert to the campground - realising everyone would all be in one tent was a bit of a suprise, but it was a beautiful spot. Dinner was pulled out of the ground (a bit like a hangi) and we ate around the campfire. Great start!