Aqaba and back

I've wanted to see Aqaba ever since watching Laurence of Arabia. It's nothing like the movie, no surprise there. It is kind of a strange city. Local life mixed in with tourist life. Many cities kind of have a separation between the proper city and where the hotels are located. I decide to find the hotel on my own from memory. I looked at the map a couple of days ago. The hotel name is My Hotel. I can see other hotels that are nearby, like the double tree inn. I actually walk about a block from the hotel, but end up quite far. I get a cab which takes me to the hotel. It is about nine. No rooms are available yet. I decide to go get my visa renewed. I ask taskperson at the desk where the police station is explaining that I need to renew my visa. People get concerned when you say you need to go to a police station without offering an explanation. I get the direction and proper wordiwording him. It's only a few blocks away. I get there but do not see any official buildings. I walk around a bit and ask. A guy points me towards a market. It does not look right, but I walk over there anyway. There is a booth with a couple of policemen sitting in it. I ask them. One does not know. The other says it's far away and I should take a cab. Now in the blogs and maps and according to the hotel, it's supposed to be right around here, so I am suspicious. So I explain that I was told that it was close by. He keeps saying just take a cab. I thank them and leave.
As I am walking back towards the post office, my point of reference, I see the guy who boughtme the coffee coming towards me. I ask him where I can extend my stay. He knows exactly where. We go to the next block up from where I was. It's accross the street from there. At the gait he explains that I need to extend my stay. The policeman says that has moved and I should take a cab.
The guys hails a cab, he knows the driver. He tells him where to take. Offers to go with me, but I assure him that I can manage.
The cab driver has the low down. I am from Morocco, living in the US, and staying in Feynan. So he starts practicing his English and asking how you say this or that in English. Noticing that I understand Arabic he switches to Arabic and says: "You know that Moroccans have knowledge about where the gold is and how to get it." I reply that yes that is what I have heard and that I did not know that until I came to Jordan. There is that Moroccan and gold connection again. He stops in front of the police station. He says the ride is on him. I insist that I pay, and finally he accepts.
I have my back pack on my back and suspect they will search it or put it through the metal detector. The policeman at the gate looks at my passport records something, asks me what I need and directs me to a building.
I find my way to the office where they extend stays. We speak in Arabic.
"So where are you staying?"
"In Feynan."
"No here in Aqaba"
"At MyHotel"
"Yes, it's your hotel, but which hotel"
"My hotel"
I start to think that this like "whose on first..." Skit.
So I say: "The name of the hotel is my Hotel" He turns to his partner who nods. But I don't think he is cconvinced. He thinks that I am just not understanding the question.
He asks me for a card with the hotel name on it. Then I remember that my phone still has the home page of the hotel on one of the tabs. I show him the home page which has a big sign in red MyHotel. He is satisfied.
I leave the station. I am feeling pretty tired having woken up at 4:30 and the cold is demanding its share of attention from my body. It is also getting hot. It was probably in the forties in Feynan. It is in the seventies in Aqabq and sunny. I drink some water and head in the direction of the hotel. I walk slowly to conserve energy. After about 10 minutes, I am debating if I should get a cab. I look up and the hotel is right there, but it is still early. I walk to the back of the hotel. There is burger king, Popeye, pizza hut. All the places you would like to eat at abroad. Past them I see a coffee shop, Gloria Jean Coffees. It looks like it has potential. The pastries do not look great, but they do have lattes.
I order a regular strong latte. I assume that translates to a double tall. The barrista makes a perfect leaf, quite impressive. The latte is pretty good. It's the first latte in Jordan. At around 11:30 I head back to the hotel. The room is ready.

The receptionist tells me that there is a sight seeing tour at 1:30 on a boat in the red sea. I tell him I will think about it. I try to rest, but can't sleep, so at around one I decide to check out the tour. It appears as if the tour was canceled. He calls other places. In the meantime I check out his brochure and it looks like these are snorkeling or diving boats. So I decline.
I find a nice Lebanese restaurant behind the hotel and have lunch, salad and chicken kabob. It is good. I feel much better. I go take a nap.
Later, I go out for a walk. On the north side of the hotel there are many restaurants, stores and shesha cafés. I am still tired, so I decide to try the hotel restaurant. I have fish. It is fillet of white fish with rice and vegetable curry. They do have grouper here, and this looks like grouper but I don't think it is grouper.
Dinner is OK. I decide to go to bed early. The bus does not leave till noon.
Next morning I get to the bus station a little after 11. There is no bus. Ia toldth driver might have gone shopping. At 11:50 the bus pulls in. As I am getting on the driver asks me where I am going. Tourists apparently don't ride this bus. I say Gregra, in the local accent. Gregra is the closest town to Feynan. He looks surprised but not convinced. So I say Feynan. Now he is convinced. I ask him if he can takeme to Feynan, about 3 miles from Gregra. He says no problem.
The bus drops people off at their door steps, so it takes a while to wind through Gregra. Finaly we are off to Feynan. The driver invites me to his house for dinner. This is the Islamic way. You should invite a traveller, and he has the right to stay for three days. I thank him and tell him people are waiting for me at the lodge. Fortunately he does not insist. I have seen invitation and declining the invitation process go on for a good fifteen minutes. I get off at the reception center and hire a local driver to take me to the lodge.