Let me tell you one of my Jordan inspiring travel stories that I had the fortune to experience. I went to Jodan with three of my friends in June 2019. We visited all the popular destinations while being there. The trip was planned as a Road trip across Jordan. In the first five days, we covered the primary goals, and we reached the Gulf of Aqaba on the last leg of our journey.
Aqaba is a port city situated on the southern tip of Jordan. The gulf of Aqaba is the northernmost tip of the Red Sea. Aqaba has picturesque beaches, Coral rich waters, sumptuous seafood, and pleasant weather. Planning to visit the significant beaches on day one, we set out at midday. After a 20 minute drive from our stay, we reached South Beach. The beach was well stretched out. This beach had coarse sand. The water looked too blue and inviting. Among my friends, I was the only one who had some basic training in pool swimming. I decided to rent Snorkel gear and snorkel around to spot Corals for which this bay is famous.
One of my friends, named Varun, decided to join me, on the condition that he won’t go too far into the sea and that I have to assist him in the water to swim. We looked around the beach and approached this little refreshment shop to enquire about hiring snorkeling gear. A big man with a broad smile greeted us. We were in luck, as he promptly said he had snorkel gear for rent. We exchanged pleasantries, the guy’s name was Khalid. We rented two pairs of everything. Rent was reasonable; Khalid gave us clear instructions in his heavily accented English on how to use the gear. Both of us excitedly ran to the water to try snorkeling. We started floating in the shallow water of the beach. I was trying to use my floating skills, but since my friend Varun had no swimming skills was struggling to stay all the while afloat wiggling in the water. The sea bed was rocky, and the sun was intense. Both of us scratched our knees in the shallow sea bed; all we could see underwater were a few small fish darting away as we approached them.
We were struggling to keep holding hands while floating, Varun started cursing his lack of swimming skills. He said we should have booked a dive trip with a professional diver. Earlier in the day, we enquired about one such dive trip, but the fee of $100 per person discouraged us. Amidst this struggle, suddenly Khalid appeared out of nowhere and held Varun’s hand and offered to help us snorkel around. We said yes after a moment of hesitation. We held hands and Khalid confidently pulled us towards the deep waters, the moment we dipped our face into the water, a new world opened up, we could see Corel of all imaginable colors, fishes of all shapes and designs, sea horses, sea ferns and various sizes of sea moss. Khalid kept guiding us to cluster of Corel at different locations underwater while firmly pulling us with him doing the primary swimming. Varun and I just tagged along with him. He moved in the water with the confidence of having known the underwater map like the back of this hand. We could explore all the Corel spots of the South beach thanks to Khalid, and he guided us back to shore after a 40 minute of Corel tour.
As we reached the shore, our other friends met us and enquired where did we disappear. When we told them how Khalid showed us around, they suggested we pay Khalid’s fee for the Corel tour. Varun and I exchanged a glance, thinking we completely forgot to ask Khalid his price. We reached the shop to return our Snorkel gear and asked Khalid his fee for the Corel tour. He laughed and said it was complimentary. He refused to charge us anything saying in his broken English, “ You visit Jordan, you are my guest, you welcome.” After that, we tried to pay him a tip of $50, which he blatantly refused. We pleaded, but he kept saying firm No. We decided to order tea and refreshments from his shop, and he asked us to wait in the adjoining cafe. He served piping hot Jordanian tea with walnut cake. They were amazing. After this sumptuous refreshment, Khalid refused to charge us for the drink too. He sweetly introduced us to his young kids who were playing on the beach. He showed us his wife’s photo, told us stories of his Job and free diving passion. The only thing Khalid sweetly agreed to was to click a couple of pics with our group and exchange numbers. We left South Beach with immense gratefulness and awe for the Jordanian Hospitality bestowed on us that evening. I believe people like Khalid are Angels on Earth who exist to reinstates our wavering faith in Humanity and true Friendship. Khalid, we will always remember you.
Share with me your travel stories with friends in the comments section, I will love to read them all. Thanks. 🙂
