A day at the Mövenpick Hotel, Dead Sea

For the past week we have had some friends from Abu Dhabi staying, so I have been busy showing them a little bit around. One of the things we planned was of course a day trip to the Dead Sea and this time we chose The Mövenpick Hotel and we really had a lovely day. Bibs and my friends' son had a great time in the pool, of course it was really hot and this time I felt the humidity as well, specially compared to Amman where the weather is so dry. I was impressed by the grounds of the Kempinski Hotel next door, but the grounds of the Mövenpick are as lovely and I preferred the ambiance of the hotel. The entrance fee is 20JD for the use of the pool and 20JD pre-paid for F&B. I guess they really want people to use the restaurants as well. I managed to negotiate so we only paid the entrance fee (we still had lunch though) - but I don't really like being "obliged" to pay for something I might not use. It only worked because it was a manager at the gate, otherwise we would probably have had to pay.

Views of the hotel

The pools are located beneath the hotel, so you have to walk a little bit to get there. As usual in Jordan we were missing some signs and had to ask our way - but then I start to believe that it is part of the Jordanian experience!

The first 2 pools are for everybody - by that I mean that kids are allowed... There is also an adult area, where kids are not. I think it is a good idea - well I liked it before I had Bibs, now I would like to have access because all the other kids are still making too much noise haha! but hey, that's the way it is. There is also a children's pool with most of it in the shadow, but it is small so quickly crowded.

This is the "adult only" part, located just before the access to the beach. I like the lounge part very much. I don't know if the restaurant part is only adults as well. As with the other neighbour the Marriott, there are stairs all the way to get down to the beach and the sea.

My friends thought that the dead sea experience was hilarious. We had lunch by the bar - the service was very good (for a pool bar area!), the food was just average - missing a bit of taste. The life guards at the pools were really nice as well - they came with toys for Bibs, which I thought was a lovely touch.

As usual I haven't seen the rooms, but I liked the hotel a lot and would give it a try.

Some more pictures of the grounds...

Lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel Amman

As I have said in my previous post about Ramadan, the only places you can have lunch is in hotels, and should you be looking for a glass of wine then you need to go to a 4 or 5 star one. So today, we decided to go for lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel, and chose their Asia restaurant. It serves Japanese, Thai and Malaysian dishes for a rather salty check, the food is good though!

Four Seasons Hotel

Asia is located on the 1st floor of the hotel with a nice view over Amman. The restaurant has a contemporary design and has an open kitchen, a feature we particularly enjoy. They have 3 chefs, 2 from Malaysia and 1 from Thailand. We had a lovely starter, their Thai fish cakes were particularly good. Then I had a Malaysian Nasi Goreng - fried rice, served with a fried egg, satay beef and pickled vegetables; Bobs had a green Thai curry. You should count approximately 15JD per dish (excl. taxes and service charge). The service was not as good as could be expected. (You will notice a sushi is missing! Bobs was too hungry to wait for me to take the picture...)

We then went to the pool. Bibs loves swimming and today was the first time with her daddy. They have an outdoor and indoor pool, the areas are really nice. A fee does apply, but I forgot to check how much it is. We were really impressed by the changing rooms, the areas were lovely, but it wasn't that - no, we loved the fact that there was hair gel, shaving cream available to use - shaving cream yes, even in the ladies, for those who could have forgotten to shave their armpits or legs... love it! Nice little touch.

Indoor pool

Outdoor pool

We had a lovely day, it is so nice to spend some time together. Bibs really loves having her daddy around.

Ramadan Kareem!

Today is the first day of the holy month of Ramadan and so I wish a very blessed month ahead.

The decision was announced yesterday during a ceremony that took place at the King Hussein Mosque. The start and the end of Ramadan are decided after the sight of the crescent moon, known as Hilal. According to the Jordan Times, the sighting did not take place in Jordan, but the decision has been based on Astronomical calculations, and it is the first time that astronomy decides when the Holy Month is to start, this is despite a local fatwa, a religious edict, which says that the crescent moon must be seen by at least one person, in order for Ramadan to start. The Holy Month lasts for 29 or 30 days until the next new moon. The sighting took place in Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Golf, though.

So what does it mean for us? well what have I discovered? I went to do grocery shopping this morning at Cozmo and it was business as usual - Safeways looked closed though - but then I don't really go in the morning so I don't know! Restaurants are closed during the day, only hotel restaurants are open as usual, you can get alcohol. I went to pick up Bobs at the hotel just before Iftar (the meal Muslims eat when they break fast after sunset) - and the roads were very deserted at that time. Some of my friends have told me to stay away from the roads a couple of hours before as drivers are tired, hungry and want to go as fast as possible to wherever they are heading. Tonight our street is very quiet, we usually have kids running around playing outside, couples on an evening walk... One more thing is that all business times are reduced, and that means that Bibs will see her Daddy more during this month. I am sure that I will discover more as time passes.

Happy Birthday Bibs!

Happy Birthday Bibs! Today my little girl is One. Where is the year gone? Of course much has happened in this year, but still I just cannot believe it! "Time disappears when you become mum", I was told and how true is that. It's funny, if I try to remember when we did this or that in the past year I will think about how many weeks or how many months Bibs was. Everything changes when you become a parent. But what a fabulous journey it is.

During the holidays she finally decided that it was time to learn to stand up by herself and now she does it all the time and giggles! We will have her birthday party on Monday and I am really looking forward to that. Today we have Bobs at home, will have cake, a glass of champagne and open some presents. One, my baby is one. Soon she will be toddlering around. Happy Birthday my little princess, you make your mummy and daddy proud and so happy.

Where did the water pressure go?

We are back in Amman! And the water pressure I had to leave it in Europe as well as the cold water. These 2 things are really nice, so all you guys in countries with water pressure/cold water, please enjoy it!

We had a fabulous holiday - like all holidays it went far too quick. The first week I had no Internet so no posts, the second week I had some Internet, but the thought of typing on an AZERTY keyboard stopped me from typing anything longer than a couple of lines on an email. Will be preparing my posts slowly, but I think it will get a bit more difficult for me to find time during the day for my blog as Bibs is now standing up, refusing to nap, ... ah she is 1 tomorrow. She has grown so much during the holidays, it's amazing. I cannot believe she'll be one, it's actually scary, scary how fast time flies.

I am very happy to be back in Amman. Yes it is hot, but there is no humidity so it's okay. I am not going to go out just at noon, but I did take Bibs for a walk yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought. But then I like the heat, the sun... It's funny before I left the fact of walking around where there are no pavements was really annoying me. As I walked yesterday, I realised that it's just part of being home now. Seriously I don't mind it that much anymore - it's funny what you get use to! Bibs is happy too. She found all her toys, her room and specially her Daddy! They have missed each other a lot, a lot.

On the downside I am still waiting for our luggage and Bibs' car seat, so for the moment we are home-bound! Not really happy about it as I needed to get some presents for my daughter for tomorrow, nothing much I can do about it though - good Daddy has already bought his fair share of pressies.

Away from Amman: A walk in Callas

I have already told you about the small village in the south of France where I grew up. So I am just going to share some pictures from this lovely place. When I was there this summer I didn’t really do anything else than stay at home, relaxing and enjoying looking at Bibs play in the shadow of the wisteria, turntables or the olive trees from my mum's garden. And of course go for walks with Bibs… Hope you like the pictures!

Away from Amman: A day at London Zoo

At least we had one day with really nice weather while we were in the UK! It happened to be the day we had decided to take Bibs to the zoo. We had a lovely day out and Bibs adored all the animals. London zoo is located in Regent's park, easily accessible by car or by public transport (with a little walk). We parked our car at the zoo car park which was £12.50 and bought the entrance tickets there: £18 +donation per adult - so not exactly a cheap day out... You can also buy your tickets online, not a bad idea if it's busy there can be quite a queue.

It was so nice to see a canal, big very green trees. The canal cuts the zoo in two.

In the center of the park you have this large plaza with restaurants, shops.

The zoo runs a program "keeper for a day" - it costs a small fortune, £270, but for those who love animals it a fab gift. You get to feed some animals (incl. the big cats!). Am sure it is an unbelievable experience.

There is a butterfly garden, where they fly around freely. Very beautiful.

That one is a double butterfly

And this one is enormous. So big it looked unreal!

There is also a monkey garden, where you can walk and the monkeys are in the trees and on the ropes around you! I would just add that they are a bit more afraid that some monkeys I met in Langkawi, Malaysia during our honeymoon.

@ London Zoo

In the mangrove, Langkawi, Malaysia

There is no elephant at the zoo in London, so these are Bibs' top 2 favorites: the Gorilla and the Giraffe!