2 October
2022
2 October
2022
Warm welcome in Amman!
Mahmoud and I became great friends during my last trip to Amman. He took me around his country and guided me with a lot of history and geography lessons.
“You have to promise to come back and bring your family back next time!”, were his parting words when we bid good bye last time.
“I definitely will”, I had promised him.
“You will meet my family and have dinner with us”, he had graciously invited.
“Indeed!!”
After that we have kept up on Whatsapp and occasional phone calls.
He was the first person there at the airport waiting for us when we finally came out of the customs area.
He was clearly overjoyed to see us!
He pronounces my name the Arabic way – almost like “Rajab”. He explained to Sharmila the good times we had last time when we went around in our adventures.
“Rajab is not my friend. He is my brother,” he explained to her.
“My family has been talking about you for the last whole week. They have been waiting eagerly! You have to have dinner with us tomorrow.”
“We will do so!”, I assured him as we sped away in the dark from the airport for our over an hour ride to the Dead Sea.
Always very reassuring to get a great welcome in a foreign country!
1 October
2022
A quick break from vacation posts for some interstitial humor
1 October
2022
We are off to a flying start
30 September
2022
First trip after starting to empty nest
I had gone to Jordan for the first time in my life about four months back. I saw only a small portion of the country – but whatever I saw was incredibly beautiful. (You can read the whole journey here
Going back there with Sharmila this time. Hoping to see a lot more of the country. Right now, we have Dead Sea, Wadi Al-Mujib, Aqaba, Wadi Rum, Petra and Amman in our plans.
28 September
2022
Again, what does that level of precision get us?
Why thirteen thousand nine hundred AND TEN dollars? As long as it is the maximum fine (assuming it is an egregious violation), why not throw in another meagre ninety dollars (meagre relative to the absolute value) and call it fourteen thousand even???
I just don’t get the utility of this level of precision. I was half afraid there will be a “Local taxes extra” after this.
I can almost imagine, in a court of law, somebody getting indicted and counting all those $1000 bills and suddenly going “You got change?” đŸ™‚
25 September
2022
From the bartender’s corner – Jaan Martini
I picked this recipe up from the website of Jaan (maker of Paan liqueur). I changed it up to make a completely Indian ingredients drink. This has Gin (I used Jaisalmer Gin), Coconut Water (from India), Paan liqueur and lime juice.
The aroma of Paan is unforgettable.
As much as I liked it, I think this will go well with some anis based liqueur – like sambuca or licor beirao. Will try that next time.
25 September
2022
Picked up something very interesting from the liquor store today
25 September
2022
Ride to a new coffee place today
25 September
2022
Cold start to the morning
I am going to stop asking the baristas to make me a nice cup of cappuccino. This is the third time in two weeks that my way of talking got in the way and I landed up with an iced cappuccino.
Whoever has iced cappuccino?
To be fair, every time, they have quickly corrected the mistake and made some great cappuccino for me.
