Why is the DEAD SEA so SALTY? 🧂 | Jordan travel vlog EP 4 

Death Valley?

Hello there! The water did feel pretty slimy - Rishi definitely noticed it and didn't particularly like that part. But, the temperature was pleasant, around 70 degrees. The air temperature is what made it a bit chillier. The first day we went it the air temp was probably around 63 degrees. The second day was a bit warmer - low-to-mid 70s. Overall, we spent about 6 weeks in the Middle East between Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. Definitely an experience to see how different the cultures in these countries are from one another. It also busted a few preconceived notions wide open that I had about the Middle East in general.

@@kineticpassports wow! The longest I've been away from home has been 3 weeks. You shattered a few preconceived notions I had about the middle east just by watching your videos. It sounds like an all-around pleasant experience. Did you have any difficulties with the culture?

@@mikekienker5368 we didn’t find the culture hard to adapt to. Obviously there’s the language barrier, but there’s also a lot of English spoken as well. Wonderful thing is that if you learn a few words/phrases in Arabic you can use them in all these countries since Arabic is the predominant language of the Middle East. The other bigger adjustment was making sure to dress modestly. Each country had a different threshold for dressing modestly (Oman was more conservative vs Lebanon was more like USA). There are, of course, more cultural differences - but, those were probably the biggest ones that impacted our day-to-day.

@@kineticpassports that makes sense. BTW, you two are too cute with the mud. 'Kissy, kissy!' I can't stop laughing at that!

@@mikekienker5368 hahaha! Aww, thank you! I honestly forgot about that moment until I went back through the footage. It also made me laugh out loud. Sometimes you need to coerce your partner into loving on you 😂

Thanks for asking! And, my sincerest apologies for this very long response to this question... It's hard to say which one was better because they were very difference experiences. Egypt was definitely the harder country to travel through as an international tourist. We felt like we had to be more on guard about scams and getting ourselves into uncomfortable situations. We also faced a lot of hassling there. Even when we were minding our own business, we regularly got approached by people trying to sell us stuff or make some sort of a deal. That's not to say the people weren't nice - we met a lot of incredibly warm and welcoming people in Egypt. But, we were also overwhelmed by the frequency and persistence of people trying to sell us stuff. In contrast, very few people approached us in Jordan without invitation. There was a lot more trust in interactions there, and we didn't have to be as vigilant about getting scammed. The difference in that respect was palpable. But, Jordan and Egypt have very different economic situations, and we understand some of this difference is explained by that. In terms of history - coming from an American education system, I learned so much about ancient Egypt growing up. We literally spent multiple years learning about it. So, I found a lot of the sites we visited in Egypt to be more meaningful because I knew the history behind them. In Jordan, we were learning a lot of the history as we went - which was very interesting. But, there's nothing quite like finally seeing and experiencing a place that you read so many stories about as a kid. With regards to food... every Jordanian is going to come at me for this one, but I personally thought Egypt won that contest. Koshari alone put Egypt ahead. But, generally speaking, the variety of foods in Egypt, including the street foods, was unmatched. But, Jordan was unmatched on its varying and beautiful landscape. We thoroughly enjoyed the natural beauty of Jordan and were amazed at how many different types of terrain and climate we experienced in a relatively small country. Granted, I do think we saw less of Egypt than we saw of Jordan - but, that doesn't take away from how pretty Jordan is. I hope this comes close to answering your question!