Day 10 Jordan to Syria

Monday February 28th

We were up and off this morning early, in order to get to the Syrian border in the morning. We were picked up by three international taxis and driven to the border. It was about a two hour drive. I was anxious because this is the one visa I needed to get from home and couldn't because they only issue six month visas and I wouldn't arrive at the border until the seventh month.

When we arrived we checked out of Jordan no problem and then drove to the Syrian side. Jess had Kiran and I line up behind her because we didn't have visas. His was no problem, because Syria does not have a consulate in Ireland, so he was able to buy one here. When it was my turn the man was upset with me and told me I had to get it in Canada. Jess did most of the talking and at first the two men kept shaking their heads and saying I couldn't get one. But Jess kept after them and explained why I didn't get one in Canada and that I was part of this tour group. He couldn't seem to understand why I hadn't been home for seven months. At last he seemed to get it and he told me to go and sit down. So after waiting for another half hour, they sent me to the cashier to pay $56US for the visa and then come back to get the stamp. The irony is I paid less at the border than Krys did doing it the proper way in Canada, she paid $75 Canadian. Anyway, after an hour and a half, I was in. Thanks to Jess and the patience of my group.

So we got back in the taxis and they drove us the rest of the way to the outskirts of Damascus. There they parallel parked beside a row of local taxis and we had to get out in the street and switch to the local cabs. They drove us to the hotel in downtown Damascus, where we checked into our rooms and then met again in the lobby. Traffic in Damascus was really crazy. Much busier than in Jordan. We got stuck in a couple of jams.

Jess took us on an orientation walk. First she took us to Western Union where we could change our Jordanian money into Syrian. Then she took us to an ATM where we could withdraw some more. After that we went for a walk to the old city. This is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world. We walked through part of the souk area and arrived at the Umayyad Mosque. The women had to wear burqas and all of us had to remove our shoes and carry them. The mosque is huge and very beautiful. The marble floors were very cold on our feet. We spent an hour walking around and watching the people. Then we wandered around more parts of the old city and back through more of the souks. We stopped at one where Jess knew the owner. It was a candy shop and we were given samples of various things, including sugar coated almonds and bits of chocolate.

Next we went to a local coffee shop place where we sat and listened to a storyteller telling a story and acting it out in Arabic. He is apparently quite famous. There were lots of people smoking the shisha there and everyone was smoking cigarettes. It was interesting, but would have been better if we could understand him. There were also three canaries in three cages that seemed to enjoy singing along with him and trying to drown him out! Cemil, Kiran, Jackie and Connor got tired of that and headed back to the hotel.

The rest of us went to another restaurant that Jess knows. The place was beautiful and used to be a family mansion. We sat in the courtyard briefly until our table was ready and then we were ushered in. The food was terrific and the atmosphere was great. Lovely place with great service. After we ate they brought us free deserts, which were a large bowl of apples, bananas and oranges and a plate of baklava. Good time.

When we got back to the hotel, Jess took us to the local bottle shop where we bought a few beer and then took them to the hotel to drink in the lounge. That lasted about an hour and then everyone headed off to bed.

Day 9 Jerash

Sunday, February 27th.

I got up early this morning and went to a Greek Orthodox mass at St. George's Church with Sam, Krys, Tess and Graham. We went because Jess said it was a good thing to see and hear (great singing) and the church is built on the site of an ancient Byzentine church that had a mosaic floor that showed all the important sites of the Promised Land on it.

We stayed for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel for breakfast (with pancakes!). Then the five of us were picked up by a minibus that we'd hired to take us to Jerash, which has the ruins of an ancient Roman city here in Jordan. We walked around the ruins for 2 ½ hours. It was great, there are many buildings that are more or less intact, including two amphitheatres.

On the way there we saw a Harley Davidson showroom, but I've hardly seen any scooters here , let alone motorcycles. I sure miss mine, but it's February!

After that we were driven back to Madaba and our hotel. Then the five of us went back to the church to take photos (they won't let you during mass) and then back to the restaurant from last night to have another sandwich and lemon juice.

On returning to the hotel, I did some computer stuff and loaded up my photos the the trip from Cemil. Then we had our briefing meeting and we all went out to dinner. Jess took us to a really nice, more upscale restaurant. I had hummus with pine nuts, a hot stir fried type salad and the main dish was eggplant, yogurt, ground meat and a tomato sauce. It was quite good, but heavy.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and updating stuff.

The first photo is taken from the restaurant on the fifth floor of our hotel. It's a picture of Madaba, but could be any city in Jordan. This is how they look.

The third photo is of four Jordanians, who were playing Scottish music on bagpipes in an ancient Roman amphitheatre. Don't ask me why, but I was told it's some type of tradition. I think maybe it dates back to the First World War and some Scots being stationed here, but really not sure.

In the photo of the group at Jerash is (l to r): Stemati (Sam from Greece), Indiana Jones, Krys (from London Ontario) and Graham (from England whose wife took the photo).

Day 8 The Dead Sea

Saturday, February 26th.

Today was a busy day. We had a good breakfast at the guesthouse before packing up and boarding the minivan again. We drove for two and a half hours through beautiful, roughed, desert, mountainous, terrain before reaching Karak Castle. This one was harder to see from below, but was actually in better condition. It is another crusader castle. It is huge and the ruins still contain some rooms, tunnels and chambers. The kitchen, oven, barracks and church all still exist in some form.

It was really cold and windy up on top of that mountain. Actually the weather here in Jordan has been cooler than I expected, and we keep going up mountains and down into valleys, and the temperature changes a lot. Plus, being a desert it cools off a lot at night.

After that we stopped and picked up some shwarmas for lunch and then drove an hour or so, down from the mountain to the Dead Sea. We all put on our bathing suits and went for a dip in it. We were warned that it is not for swimming because the water is much saltier than any other sea. It's 30% salt and chemical and very hard on eyes, mouth and things like cuts or jewelry. This is because it is land locked (it is the lowest place on earth at 412m below sea level!) and only fed by the Jordan River. The water evaporates with the heat and leaves the high concentrations of salt. As a result, you float on the water! You can keep both hands and both legs out of the water, or if you roll over you can keep you head up and bend your legs so they are above the water too. Very weird sensation.

Then we drove back up from the valley to the top of Mount Nemo, which is about 900m above sea level. This is the place where Moses came to see the Promised Land and apparently where he died, or was buried. They have never found his actual burial site, but Muslims and Christians recognize it as the place of his memorial. Even John Paul II came here and acknowledged that. The last picture is of the view of the Promised Land and the sign that indicates the direction and distance to everything you can see in Jordan and Israel. Unfortunately you can't see very much from vista points in Jordan because when the wind is blowing there is a lot of sand and dust in the air. It's not mist or pollution, it's sand.

From there we drove to our hotel. We checked in and had a hour to relax before Jess gave us our briefing about tomorrow and then took us on a walking tour of Madaba and then to a restaurant for dinner. It was a cheap and easy dinner. Just basic sandwiches in long flat buns, but they were yummy and I had a glass of fresh lemonade and another of fresh orange juice, both squeezed by hand not machine. After dinner, those of us who had never tried it before, had a taste of smoking Jordan apple flavoured tobacco through the hookah pipes. There is a name for it but I forget, I think it's “sheesha” or something like that. We sat and talked for a while and then headed back to the hotel for the rest of the evening blogging and then beddiebyes.

Day 7 Shoubak Castle & Dana

Friday February 25^th.

Today we started off in our minibus and headed to a Crusader castle, called Shoubak, that was built in the 1100's during the first crusade. It is also called Castle Montreal, named by the French knights who built it. It was built atop a very defensible hill and survived an 18 month siege by the Arabs because it had a secret underground passage that lead to a source of water outside the castle walls. We walked around the ruins as our guide, Omar, told us a bit of the history. I asked why the Arabs didn't wipe out the crusaders as they were building the castle, because it was obviously not built quickly, but apparently the Arabs were not united and the tribes were fighting amongst themselves, which allowed the crusaders the window of opportunity. I would like to read more about the history of the times.

When we left we drove to Wadi Dana, which is one of the northern parts of the Great Rift Valley. We checked into the Dana Guesthouse, enjoyed a cup of sweet tea and then set out for another hike. The guesthouse is situated on an overlook that looks over the spectacular valley. It is built beside one of the oldest villages that is still standing in Jordan. It was built in the 1500's and abandoned in the 1900's.

We hiked for about an hour down into the valley. The road was gravel and very steep. We got nowhere near the floor of the valley but we hiked about three kilometres down. When we stopped and ate our felafel sandwiches, we could here a shepherd playing a pan flute. Then he came up and over the hill riding a donkey and leading a flock of sheep. We continued down a bit more to get a vantage point over a hill. Best line of the day belonged to Stemati (Sam) who said “If this was a group of Greeks, there is no way we'd do this because we are lazy!”

Then we began the long trek back up hill. I took my time, practising the pole pole pace of Kili in order to control the breathing, and keep going. Finally reached the guesthouse again. We had the rest of the day to relax, enjoy the lovely guesthouse and the view. Saw a griffon vulture soaring over the valley.

We had a lovely meal prepared for us that included lots of salads and spreads, as well as rice and chicken. We sat around and talked the evening away. I spent the evening talking to Graham about his profession, he is a pharmacist in a hospital. Then we talked about Monty Python and British humour.

Then off to our rooms, where I had another good chat with Cimel (Jemil).

Day 6 Petra Revisited

Wednesday February 24th.

Woke up at 8:00 this morning, had breakfast had then headed back to Petra with Kyrs, Jackie, Sam, Graham and Tess. We wandered down through the canyon and arrived at the “Treasury” with the sun on it. Beautiful sandstone colours. Then we walked down into the main part of the city. We went to a couple of the caves to see the sandstone colours and some mosaics.

Then we headed out for a hike that climbs up and over the mountain to a trail that leads to an overlook of the Treasury. Great hike and great view.

When got back down we went to the ruins of the temple. Then Jackie headed off to do the Monastry walk, Krys and Sam headed back to the hotel and Graham, Tess and I headed to the Sacrifice trail. Again we hiked up a rough staircase to the top of the mountain, where we had a lookout over the entire valley. We sat up there for a hour or so and had a cup of tea with the Bedouin woman in the photo. Then we walked back up through the canyon to the hotel. Second great day of hiking through the ruins of Petra.

After a briefing session about tomorrow, we all headed out for dinner at the Red Cave restaurant. Jess is really good about taking us to good, reasonable, local restaurants and explaining the menu to us. Tonight I had something called "Mansafe" which was rice, with boiled lamb covered in a liquid yogurt. Not bad. Came with meza salads and baklava. I also had two fresh lemon and mint drinks.

Back to the hotel for e-mail and blogging.

Day 5 Petra

Wednesday February 23rd.

It was fabulous laying outside, under the two heavy duvets and looking up at the star filled sky. It was definitely chilly, but I was quite warm. There was a gentle breeze that was cool on the face and head, so I wore a hat and snuggled down under. Slept great, but woke up at 3:00 because it was so light. The moon had come up. I had to pee, but didn't really want to get out of bed, but I braved and didn't need my head torch to see where I was going, and when I got back the duvest had kept the heat in nicely. Lay there and admired the moon for a half hour while listening to music. What a great night!

Woke up with the sun and the men fixing our basic breakfast, bedouin coffee and sweet tea. After that we were back in our jeeps for the 40 minute drive back to the entrance of Wadi Rum where we had left our minivan.

Our guide and driver drove us for a couple of hours to the town of Wadi Musa (Moses Valley) where we quickly checked into our hotel. Meanwhile our guide went and bought us two day passes to Petra and Jess went and bought us all falafel sandwiches.

We walked to the entrance the Petra archeological site, and after entering we began a slow descent into the site. We entered a narrow old dry river bed that runs downhill between two really high cliffs of the canyon. The Nabataeans, who were the civilization that built this city, had diverted the water away from this river bed so that they could build in its safety and in order to control the floods and their water supply.

Years after their civilization collapsed, a tribe of Bedouin's called the Bdoul, moved in. They lived in the site until UNESCO and the World Heritage Society moved them out and into a nearby village. Now they sell trickets, and try to get the tourists to take donkey or camel rides through the site. They dress like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

The path through the canyon is 1.2 kilometres long and ends where they built the “Treasury”, that's the first picture. They carved all there tombs out of the sandstone and dug them into the rock. They worked from the top down. After that we continued into the valley after the canyon and saw a lot more tombs and remains of buildings.

The ruins are entirely of important tombs and temples that are carved into the rock. The ordinary peoples houses have all be destroyed by earthquakes, fires and the thousands of years.

Jess led us on two hikes, both of which were challenging and involved lots of climbing. The first hike took us up over a hill, Jebel El Habis, which means the mountain of Habis. It took us by some beautiful sandstone colours and to a couple of great view points over the valley. The second hike was to another tomb they call the “monastry”. This one involved 800 hundred stairs and led to the beautiful tomb in picture number three. Just past that we came to the “end of the world” lookout where I am standing. That is a beautiful vista over Wadi Araba, (Arabia Valley.

From there we had to walk about six kilometres back down the stairs, through the site, and out the canyon, most of which was uphill. Great hike and great day.

When we got back, we all quickly showered, because no one could shower at the bedouin camp and we got dusty today. Then we regrouped and headed out for dinner. We actually had a drink tonight in the basically dry Muslim city.

Then I spent time blogging and e-mailing.

Day 4 Wadi Rum

Tuesday February 22^nd.

Today was fabulous. We got to sleep in a bit, as we weren't leaving until 11:00. I got up at 7:30, showered, had breakfast and then went for a two hour walk to the beach and around the area. I bought a bag of fresh mixed smoked nuts for snacks.

Then we boarded the minubus again for the one and a half hour drive to Wadi Rum, which means Moon Valley. This is described as a “desert of mountains”. When we arrived we were loaded into three jeeps and our tour of the desert began. We stopped at several different view points, a couple of bedouin tents for tea, and a vista to eat our picnic lunches.

We had four greats hikes. One up a dune, another through a narrow canyon, another up on top of a natural bridge and the fourth was up a rock hill behind our camp. All were great, somewhat challenging and it was great to get some exercise!

After the last hike, all of us went around the rock to view the sunset. Very lovely.

Our sleeping place for the night was a Sheik Zayeed's Sunset Camp which consisted of three bedouin tents at the base of one of the desert mountains. We had a great dinner prepared for us. They cooked chicken and potatoes underground. It was served with rice, and lentil soup. After dinner we sat around looking at photos and then we were entertained by a our bedouin hosts who performed a dance.

Then time for bed sleeping outside under the stars.

Day 3 Aqaba

Monday February 21^st.

Today we boarded our nice bus for the four hour drive to Aqaba. The bus is quite roomy and comfortable because we aren't full. We now have a Jordanian guide and driver too.

The drive was very pleasant as we drove south from Amman along the desert highway to Aqaba. Aqaba is the only port town in Jordan. It is located at the northern tip of the Red Sea. From the harbour you can see Israel and Egypt.

When we arrived we checked into our hotel and then immediately regrouped for an orientation walk. Jess showed us around the area of the hotel and told us what there was to do. At the end of the walk we wound up at a little restaurant where we had a quick lunch of various pastries. Then we all split up to go and do what we were interested in.

I teamed up with Krys, a woman from London, Ontario. We walked to the ruins of Mamluk Fort, which dates back to the 900's. It was heavily destroyed during the First World War. Then we walked down along the waterfront and waded in the Red Sea. We watched Jordanian families on the public beach. Here women are not allowed to wear swimwear. If you want to go for a swim you have to go to one of the private hotel beaches in the area where you won't upset cultural sensitivities by wearing swimsuits. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking the streets, checking out the shops and trying to find an ATM that would accept my card.

This is a nice little city. People are very friendly and greet you by saying “welcome”. It's a quaint sea side town that feels very safe. The city has been designated as a duty free city and the country is trying to encourage investment from foreign countries to make it a high class tourist town. There are lots of new hotels springing up.

Then back to the hotel for a briefing about the next day. After that we all went as a group to a restaurant that Jess knew. There we had a variety meze, which are salads or starters, like humus and babaganous (sp) and then some of us had a mixed grill too, of chicken and lamb. The best part was a beverage of lemon and mint. It was so good I had two!

I popped into an internet cafe on the way back and then spent the rest of the night relaxing in the room and talking to Celim.

Day 2 Desert Storm!

Sunday February 20th.

Well now I'm in a land where they drive on the right side of the road again, but now they read from back to front and right to left!

The weather in the morning was terrible. The temperature was about 10 and it was really windy! There was sand blowing in the wind.

We had a breakfast get together and then headed out for the first Intrepid adventure. Because of the reorganization of the trip (cutting out Egypt) we start with a free day in Amman. So, Jess who knows the area organized an excursion for into the desert to see two ancient castles, or forts. We set off in a taxi and a mini van.

The first one was called Qasr Al-Haraana, and was probably built in the 700's. It's a ruin now but interesting to walk around. There are two floors with an inner courtyard. The halls are maze like and full of little rooms and dead ends.

On the way to the second one, we stopped at the sign for Iraq and I took a photo of the three guides for this trip. Left to right, they are Jess, Celim (my roommate) and Megan.

The second castle was called Quseir Amra and it is a World Heritage Site, because of the fresco paintings inside depicting hunting scenes and bathing nudes. It too was built in the 700's. The paintings inside are old and hard to see, probably from being sandblasted over the years.

When we finished there we had a tea in a bedouin tent. It was very sweet and minty. We had some fun talking to the young man serving it.

When we were leaving the wind and sand had really picked up. As we drove on the highway back (about 70kms) we were blasted by the sandstorm. Visibility was almost nil and traffic stopped. We were behind a truck that stopped and we tried to go around it on the right, but found more cars stopped. We were stuck. Visibility out the windows at times was down to a couple of feet! The skies became really dark and dust was seeping into the car. At first it was a novelty and everyone enjoyed the new experience, but we were there an hour and a half. There were eight of us in the mini van, little water and no food. I had heard that sandstorms can go on for days! I started to think of things like water, washrooms, night time, getting on each others nerves.... As you are reading this, you are probably thinking over reaction, but I found it a pretty scary scenario. I kept it to myself, although I heard from others afterwards, they were thinking the same things.

When it started to clear a bit lots of cars started to move around us, horns beeping and using both lanes and both shoulders. We managed to get into a convoy and slowly move past a bunch of trunks and then gradually it cleared enough so we could see the road and traffic began to move again. All the while I was thinking why is there no traffic coming the other way? Well about ten kilometres down the road we found that police had blocked off the other lane, probably to avoid head on crashes!

We drove back to Amman, only to find that in the city it was pouring! Sandstorms and rainstorms! When we got back to the hotel about 4:00, most people wanted to head out to eat, but I stayed here and ate my leftover dinner from last night.

The rest of the afternoon and evening I hung out at the hotel e-mailing and blogging. Enough excitement for the day.

In addition to our three guides the group is:

Krys from London, Ontario
Kieran from Cork, Ireland
Jackie and her son Connor from Alice Springs, Australia
Stamati from Greece
and Graham and Tess from Sussex, England
and me.

Day 1 Dubai and Amman

Saturday February 19^th.

Went to the airport early and hung around there checking out the duty free shops and the like. Flight was with Emirates and left right on time. It was uneventful, but I wasn't able to sleep much, just nodded off a couple of times.

Arrived in Dubai by about 5am and had to wait a couple of hours for the connecting flight to Amman Jordan. The airport in Dubai is very new and modern, not unlike the new terminal in Toronto. Lots of fancy shops with all the new technology, cameras, computers and stuff, all of which I have seen very little of since being in Africa. Really reminded me of what Africa doesn't have. I bought a new 4g memory card for my camera, for about $16. In Africa they wanted about four times that, if you could find them.

The flight to Amman was also uneventful. I sat beside an older woman who I talked to a little bit. She was originally from New Zealand, but met a Canadian Palestinian in Jordan and married him. She has been living in Jordan for 25 years. I asked her about buses from the airport to the city (about 35kms) and whereabouts my hotel was. At the end of the flight she told me that my hotel was about five minutes from where she was going, but she apologized because she couldn't take me there. She is a nurse and her boss is the brother of the past King of Jordan. He lives in a palace and one of his drivers was coming to the airport to pick her up. She said she couldn't bring a 'strange' single man back with her, even if she was just being helpful, because culturally it's forbidden! I told her it must be very hard for a western woman to live by these rules and she said it's amazing what you get used to. It's just not worth the upset it would cause to do it.

I found three episodes of Two and a Half Men on the personal TV on the plane and had to work really hard to control my laughter sitting between two people. Man it was good to see it again.

Arrived in Amman by 10:30am (I think the time went back an hour) and had to get a visa. Every other country I have been to that demands a visa, requires American cash, they won't even take their own currency. So, I had purchased $500US in Nairobi to prepare for that. Well, you guessed it, Jordan wants their own currency, the dinar. There was an ATM there, but it was out of order, so I had to change $100 Us into dinars, and only got 68 of them. So, I'm sure I lost money in those exchanges.

Anyway, got the visa, found the bus and had a pleasant ride into Amman. Initial thoughts about Jordan, as I was on the bus. The country seems much more organized, more prosperous and there is a lot of construction of roads and buildings going on. And unlike Africa, they seem to know how to do it with proper scaffolding, and a good road beside the one they are building, not destroying and rebuilding the existing road. Anyway, very different from the last couple of months. And, oh, yeah, now I am in the land of mosques and wailing. They even had prayer rooms in the Dubai airport, where it was forbidden to “eat or sleep” in them.

When I arrived at the bus station I was met by a taxi driver who took me to my hotel. He was a very friendly man, who welcomed me to Jordan, asked about me and told me a few things about his country. He saw me dressed in safari shorts and shirt and asked me if I was cold. Most of the locals were wearing heavy coats even though it was sunny and warm, about twenty degrees. I told him I'm Canadian and what it is like back home now.

When I got to the hotel, which is quite nice and has wi-fi, I met my Intrepid tour guide, whose name is Jess, from New Zealand. I told her I don't have the visa for Syria, which you are supposed to get from your home country, but I couldn't because I've been travelling too long and it would have expired before I got here. She said it is probably about 50-50 whether they will let me in. It will be what it will be. If I can't get it, I will be flown to Turkey and will meet the group again when they arrive.

Jess introduced me to two trainee guides who will be coming with us, Cemil (pronounced Jemil, the 'c' is 'j'), from Adana Turkey (same city as Atilla) and Megan who is from Australia. Talked to them for a bit and then headed up to my room. I am sharing with Cemil. I had a three hour nap, and woke up groggy. I will catch up the sleep tonight, I hope.

We had a group meeting at 6:00. There are eight tourists and the three guides. I'm not sure of all the names and countries just yet, I'll figure that out tomorrow. One man hasn't arrived yet. I think he arrives at 2am. After our meeting about the itinerary, we all went out to dinner.

We took three taxis to a Lebanese restaurant and had a great meal. Our taxi driver got lost on the way there and had to stop and ask directions. Anyway, we are good to go. The group is together, we've bypassed Egypt and are ready for Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Let's go!

Last Thoughts on Africa

Friday February 18th. 

I'm about to leave Africa after 2 1/2 months. I've had an amazing time, seen lots of different things, met lots of people and had the opportunity to go on a number of excellent safari game drives. Here are some random thoughts and observations from my time here. It's more for me, and I'll probably add to it as things pop into my head. But here they are:

• the continent is not as daunting as I supposed, however, I would not want to be traveling the roads in my own vehicle, too many checkpoints and police checks
• the people are very friendly and are easy to talk to
• poverty is everywhere and very bad, but the people seem pretty happy
• I did not sense any kind of racism towards me as a white man
• the discrepancy between the abject poverty of the rural areas and the middle class people of the urban areas is staggering
• Coca Cola has to be the most ubiquitous soda in the world, not much Pepsi
• Africa does not have the same problem with dogs that South America has (South America has lots of dogs wandering all over the cities and in the country)
• agriculture is all by hand and mostly subsistence
• women do most of the work here
• women bend over at the hips to do washing or whatever
• thank somebody that Canada doesn't control traffic speed with speed bumps the way Africa does
• I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw of the continent, especially the nature, the culture was eye opening, and all the activities were great
• motorcycles are the main personal transport, lots of moto-taxis, Rwanda is the only country I saw that makes helmets compulsory
• from what I have seen, there is a lot of human pressure on the nature parks, villages, towns and Masai herdsmen are just outside each park
• public transport is by “matatu” or mini van
• the continent skipped telephone land lines and went straight to mobiles
• most people have cell phones, and air time is really cheap
• many places have no electricity for charging, as a result their are businesses that have sprung up charging money for charging batteries or mobiles
• Africa has so much to offer, so much to see, and I've just completed a sampler tour, I'd love to come back again sometime and see some more