mistadobalina

I recently returned from a 3 week trip to the Middle East & India, and put together a trip report with lots of photos and videos to augment the report. The full report can be found here: http://www.justinandcrystal.com/MiddleEast2014/ (FYI, I also posted this trip report on the Africa & Middle East board as well, since it spans both forums)

Our first stop was Jordan, where we visited Amman, Jerash, the Bethany Baptismal Site, the Dead Sea, Petra, and Wadi Rum.

Next up was Egypt, where we visited Cairo, Abu Simbel, took a short Nile cruise from Aswan through Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Luxor, and then back to Memphis and Cairo again.

Then we had roughly 48 hours in Istanbul, where we tried to hit as many highlights as possible.

Lastly, we went a couple of spots in India, including Bandhavgarh National Park (where we were lucky enough to spot 6 tigers), Khajuraho, Orchha, Agra, Fatepuhr Sikri and Jaipur.

We had an excellent time, and are really glad we went. Most all of our friends thought we were nuts to go to the Middle East, but we never felt unsafe, and everyone we met was both very welcoming and very appreciative that we came to their country.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of this, I'd be happy to answer as best I can.

sartoric

Thanks for this, I've only read the India part, but after your comments at the very end, I now have to go back to read the Middle East part. It's somewhere I've never wanted to go, but fear another entry to "the list" may be coming up.

Your photos are great, and I get your frustration with some of the challenges India presents. So worthwhile though....

chris45ny

I LOVE your pictures. When we went to Egypt it was right after the fall of Mubarak and everyone thought we were nuts to go. But there were very few tourists. At Abu Simbel we had the entire temple site to ourselves. Alas I couldn't fit Jordan into our trip back in 2011 so your narrative and pictures are making me want to add Jordan to our upcoming European trip 2015.

So thanks for posting and I'm looking forward to reading more this weekend. BTW what kind of camera were you using? The shots you got are amazing!

mistadobalina

Most of the pictures were taken either with a Canon 60D (and a Tamron 18-270 lens) or a Sony RX100. I've been a point-and-shoot guy pretty much my entire life, but I got a DSLR a couple years back because I wanted a larger sensor. Since I have an 18-270 lens, I never change it. In Bandhavgarh, it would have been a futile exercise to change the lens anyway - way too much dust would have gotten in.

tapchi18plus

Then we had roughly 48 hours in Istanbul, where we tried to hit as many highlights as possible. http://www.tapchi18plus.com

AndreaCanada

Hello,

I am planning a trip to Bandhavgarh, possibly May 2016, and was wondering how you booked your safaris and guides and with who (a specific guide/hotel?)

I'm new to Fodors. I've been using TripAdvisor but am finding I need to look at different sources to plan this trip as it's not as easy to plan as other destinations.

I have more questions from my post on TripAdvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-...a_Pradesh.html

Thanks.

dgunbug

Gorgeous pics. Don't know how you managed to get that great picture entering the library at Petra without people in the way!

That sure was a lot of moving around in three weeks. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

mistadobalina

Dgunbug, where you come into the Library area is a pretty good distance from the front of the Library, and I think after the long walk a good portion of folks don't want to walk the extra little bit. Between that and it being relatively uncrowded generally, that's how we lucked out.