Darkfoxx 54: Continuing On

[darkfoxx]

Thursday

Had a hotel day, since it was driving rain and/or wrapping the hotel in a cloud-ing outside.

Breakfast - which I meant to be light, but the manager and my server took as a personal affront and tried to force feed me a bunch of (admittedly freaking delicious) extra breakfast.

Hit the gym for a half-assed workout.

Came back to the room and planned things to do for the rest of the trip.

Skipped lunch and only got hungry about an hour before DH came home.

Room service club sandwiches because we weren’t able to wait 2 hours for dinner service.

A couple drinks and bar mix afterward so we felt like we did something.



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[Cheetah]

3 minutes ago, darkfoxx said:

but the manager and my server took as a personal affront

Silly Jordanians.  :-)

[darkfoxx]

Silly Jordanians.  :-)

I have a feeling I’d leave this country at 300 lbs. if the Jordanians have anything to say about it. This is a culture that wants to feed you - maybe bring you home, and have their momma feed you too.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuper my kind of people, but no bueno for trying to *not* eat like an asshole.

Having said that, either this trip or next I’m taking a cooking class I found online taught by a bunch of ladies.

And I found like 3 cookbooks diving into (widely) local cuisine I would have bought had I not remembered that I’m no longer collecting paper books.




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[darkfoxx]

Yesterday

It was supposed to be cold and windy all day, so it was not the day for a city walk.

Instead, we drove an hour to the Dead Sea, walked to the water, got hustled by a few elementary school students for whatever they could do for us and gain $ for to the tune of about $15 (dudes are suckers), and hit the Royal Automobile Museum on the way back.

Jordanian countryside

Dead Sea

Famous Dead Sea mud

Hustle camel

There were seriously so many amaze balls vehicles in this museum - courtesy of the previous King who was a car nut - but this one is the working rover from The Martian, which was filmed in Jordan at Wadi Rum


Breakfast was a croissant at Starbucks
Lunch was half a zaatar Manakesh (like an Arabic Pizza)
Dinner was hipster tacos - chicken shawarma, the most inside hugging beef that tasted like pot roast ever, & falafel so good I understand why my Arabic friends take most falafel attempts personally. And fries that tasted just like McDonalds.

Also had 1 cocktail after coming home + bar nuts
And I’m in love with the housekeeping dude for our floor - we’re doing the green ‘don’t worry about us for a few days’ thing, and he just can’t help himself. OCD bonus points x1000

A man after my own heart



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[darkfoxx]

Saturday

Breakfast was more reasonable but still extra: turkey bacon & egg croissant with a salad

Worked out, got coffee, leisurely took my time deciding what to do since it was still rainy.

Decided to brave an Uber to the local history museum and it did not disappoint. Current history, history of the area stretching back to Paleolithic Times, a whole floor on the science advancements made by Arabic peoples in history, and Dead Sea Scrolls. It was a reading heavy museum and I took a zillion pictures of signs with random facts.

Uber experience back blew, so I ended up hailing a cab that was also a farce - he spoke zero English, I speak zero Arabic - he kept trying to drop me near but not at my hotel, and then I needed change that he didn’t have ... we got it figured out in the end.

Stomach decided it was starving at 4:30 - DH wanted to do the sushi restaurant at 7 - good thing he bought combos. Had enough of those to calm the hungries (about half a pack).

Dinner was a matcha gin sour, sushi, crispy potato bites with peanut sauce and egg crispy things, confit duck leg, and this chocolate shell thing that was supposed to be filled with peanut butter but came out mostly frozen (so we had to chop it with spoons) and missing peanut butter. This was less magical than was sold by DH (he’d been to this restaurant before).

Did find out what the green stuff in his cocktail was - it’s a bourbon padnan leaf mixture. Padnan is like Southeast Asia’s answer to vanilla.

Came back and fell asleep sorta early.




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[darkfoxx]

Sunday

Repeat breakfast

Worked out

Galleries - saw the National Gallery of Jordan, then a 20-minute walk (through neighborhoods hat were probably actually fine but only looked a little dodgy) to another gallery in a restored home - then tea, and back.

Hit a convenience store for some breakfast provisions so I can stop eating a quadrillion Calories before the day starts.

Had snack chips I totally didn’t need because sabotage.

Hubby came home late and we grabbed room service again - a kind of beef kibbeh(?) burgees kebaby thing sandwich with tahini, a little halloumi and fries.




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[darkfoxx]

Wait. Did I not share these?

Look at this sly boy out to steal all your wimmins

Odin is at the trainer and doing well. Waiting to see if import rules are going to be relaxed before booking my flight to get him.


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[Cheetah]

Sounds like things are going well.  I loved the pictures of the countryside!  I hope the dog travel arrangements work out okay.

[darkfoxx]

Monday

Was a great day. Met up with a friend who lives here, spent the day in deep philosophical conversation, sampled some killer local cuisine, and explored the Roman Amphitheater ruins.




Breakfast was this pizza crust looking unleavened bread thing with hummus & mutabel

Lunch was hummus, a whipped hummus incorporating bread, falafel & foul (like middle eastern refried Beans)

Dinner was room service club sandwiches again because DH was beat

Tuesday

Repeat of breakfast.

Intended on exploring the Roman Citadel, but scattered rain was forecast and the Citadel is on the highest hill in town - so .. no.

Scrambled to find something inside that takes zero planning I haven’t yet done - hit a mall, which was poo.

Came back and had local cheesy poufs shaped like crocodiles and a saj bread (like a huge crepe) with no filling because the grocery had no premise hummus and everything else I wanted to spread on my bread was dairy.

Also watched the storms roll in + YouTube videos all afternoon.

DH came home bedraggled but when the hotel restaurants open for dinner (damn those 7pm open times), so we had dinner “out”. Had one slice of bread with lime basil butter & a quinoa/arugula/zucchini salad with shrimp & passionfruit ginger dressing.

Now settling in while DH passes out early.




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[Cheetah]

5 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

ruins

 

Very, very cool.

[GoodDoug]

6 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

had local cheesy poufs shaped like crocodiles

Hah! Here _you_ eat the _corcodiles_!

[darkfoxx]

Wednesday

Food was absolute poop, but we took a 3-hour road trip to Petra, hiked for 5 hours, and came back and ordered room service.

Breakfast was car snacks - curry chicken rice sticks from Malaysia, French cheese flavored potato twirlies and the only MF coffee I could find the second something opened. It tasted like diabetes and potential stomach pain.

Had a protein cookie right about here:



And some whole wheat Saj bread + a Diet Coke & a pistachio cookie after climbing all of this


Past 999999999 “taxi” drivers offering a 7-minute trip on a donkey, past bored donkeys waiting for passengers, for an hour,

Then I saw this:

And needed a damn seat + some snacks before doing it all in reverse. Reverse, of course, being what killed my tiny little arch bones.

Still didn’t hitch a ride.

We then needed to beat sunset, so drove straight home - leftover road snacks from breakfast & more saj

And a room service mezze plate instead of the mixed grill I also wanted - but wasn’t really hungry for either - it was still delicious, and I ate about half.

Then passed out. No waking up at 3 am freaking out about the dog running away again, or how to navigate an airport with a dog, or other random shit my brain has been throwing at me lately. Just sleep. Glorious sleep.




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[darkfoxx]

Thursday

Travel day, and we’re still inching toward progress on that front.

Breakfast

Couldn’t get the ?!&$# coffee machine in the room to understand that I NEEDED MY DAMN COFFEE until about 4 seconds before walking out the door, so no coffee until the other side of security.

Boo.

That’s usually a recipe for pouty disaster.

The lounge had nothing I really felt like eating, so I had my coffee - Black - a small croissant because the black seeds were interesting (I think they’re called nigella - I have some, and they’re not quite sesame - need more experimenting) + a little hummus

Plane food was lamb matchboos (biryani), which I thought was kind of bold, but not that bold really since I was flying the National airline and that’s the National dish ...

Also a whiskey diet because yolo

Ooh. And I think I’m going to make my friend a travel cocktail kit for his birthday - will let you know what happens there.

Landed and decided to go be productive instead of wallowing in an empty apartment.

Got bandaids, went on a futile hunt for travel sized toothpaste, got a pedicure, grabbed something healthy and stomach-friendly for dinner

Had a salmon teriyaki box from Graze + pita chips I super didn’t need but were nevertheless delicious

Also watched Mrs Wilson - a short series on actress Ruth Wilson’s grandparents - she plays her grandmother, and man was it a doozy.

Caught up on some YouTube.

Packed for my gf trip - May regret packing 3 days worth of shit into my bullet ruck, but I missed her.

Dyed my hair & mud masked while there is no one here to try and eat it off my face.





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[Cheetah]

Love the pics; what a beautiful place to be!

[darkfoxx]

Love the pics; what a beautiful place to be!

I know, right?! Makes the steep hour-King climb totally worth it.

And so cool seeing people from all over joining in - Bedouin toddlers selling pretty rocks, dudes out there hustlin, nannas plying their trade ... all in this amazing setting that has been here since B-freaking-C.



Super wish I would have stopped to buy handmade dolls from one of the nannas for my godkids - next trip, I suppose. DH and his coworker are keen to go back often.

Currently: breakfast on my way to a girls’ weekend, which tbh has me full of freaking anxiety.

The last girls weekend I went on was the beginning of the end for friend who dumped me.

And I suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper don’t want to bunk with the one in our group overly concerned with how much alcohol one can import into the country (it’s 2 liters). For 2 days. Like, we’re back Sunday evening. Chill TF out.

This is going to be an exercise in keeping my damn mouth shut, and being less judgmental.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Also: breakfast whiskey coffee is fantastic.

Happy International Women’s Day to my *insert more inclusive term than vagina owners/operators here*

Not sure what tf that means, but the dude at the checkin counter was super excited to wish me happy day, so there’s that. Do we get stickers?

Cookies?


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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Is it too late to back out of girls weekend?

[darkfoxx]

Girls’ weekend ended up being fantastic - didn’t have to room with either lush, had a great time with my roomie, drank too damn much but not to a sloppy amount, ate a bunch, sat in the sun, had a little tour of Muscat, and laughed so hard I about popped an 8-pack.

(Most) Foods but not accurate alcohol representation:





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[darkfoxx]

Yesterday

Travel day and I’m back home, snuggling the pup who gave the tiniest, cutest, most forlorn howl ever when her dad left for work this morning.

I think my Princess missed her parents.



This is how I’m spending my day instead of doing anything productive.




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[darkfoxx]

And this Morning’s weigh-in:


Woof


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[Cheetah]

Good challenge!  Keep up the great work!

[darkfoxx]

Tuesday

Breakfast pot luck in the park - had banana bread

Walked around the mall afterward, went grocery shopping.

Came home & walked Pupper.

Late lunch snack - peanut butter & coconut powder on rice cakes.

Dinner was my favorite chicken katsu curry.

Dessert was a fruit cup.




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[darkfoxx]

Wednesday

Standing breakfast date

DH elected to eat the sheet pan salmon I made for dinner

Don’t remember what else



Thursday

Went to the mall because I actually needed things - like a new eyebrow pencil, because the new cheapie one I bought ripped out 4 of my damn eyebrow hairs.

Got a glasses prescription- ordered glasses and sunglasses

Lunch was a vegan udon ramen bowl from Wagamama

Dinner was veggies with a little chicken stir fry



Friday

Made up with my Doha bestie - we weren’t actually fighting, just had convinced ourselves that the other didn’t like us anymore because we are similarly anxious and neurotic humans

Lunch was crispy beef quinoa rice salad thing

Back to the mat for a Yin session - and the instructor remembered me and was glad to see me back. I’m choosing not to be cynical here.

Damn DH was right in his nudging in both directions.




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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

you gonna post a new challenge or do I need to go looking for side-eye gifs?

[darkfoxx]

I’m coming - was nursing a hangover yesterday - just hippie-d out; will type out a challenge when I get home




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[darkfoxx]

Done!