Blogs from South, Jordan, Middle East

It was, again, a very early start, as we needed to get to breakfast and be waiting at the hotel reception for a guide at 7.30 ready for our Petra tour. This time it wasn't Achmed, but a man called Khamal, who's obviously used to the British grasp of names and languages and was keen to stress that his name isn't Camel. We have been making some effort with Arabic, although those efforts have, so far, only stretched to "Salam" ("hello"), "Sabah El Khair" ("good morning") and "Shikran" ("thank you"). Khamal also introduced us to "Yalla Yalla", which means "get a move on". We were a bit dismayed to see all the coaches parked outside the Petra entrance. It's clearly going to be busy in there! Something that was also parked outside was the tourist police, ... read more

From the small town of Wadi Musa we travelled a short distance to Little Petra. It was an interesting introduction to the area. Here we found the old Nabataean structures which had been dug out of the sides of the canyon. These included a collection systems, steps and "shops" . He last section of the area involved a short but steep set of stairs which was an introductory test to the main Petra site. Next day up early to visit Petra. The first section, about 2.5 km long is through the Siq or narrow canyon. So interesting seeing the variety of carvings. Finally a glimpse of the Treasury! Astounding in size. Petra is much bigger than I imagined. Over the day, we walked about 16 km because we went up the 850 steps to the Monastery. ... read more

Today we visit Petra, a UNESCO World heritage site. Petra, like many other places on our tour required some preparation, so let’s start there. It is HOT in the Middle East in June, July, and August. In fact, the tourist season is winding down by June because it is HOT. September and October are great months to go. November and December as well as January and February are the wet season. In the high mountain areas it will snow! So the best time to go is late March through early June. Shoes. A word about shoes. You are not here to impress anyone if you are on tour so leave those dress shoes home. They add weight and are not at all necessary. Your best friend will be a good pair (I prefer 2) of walking ... read more

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! No turkey for us, but we are so thankful for all we have, including our wonderful family and friends. It seems like all roads lead to Petra, which is the biggest draw to Jordan. No matter that there are so many things to see and experience, it is always Petra. And today we get to find out why. I do feel that no matter what I write, it can't adequately describe the overall experience. There is just so much history and information, so anyone reading this will have to google to get the details. We had gotten advice from some fellow travelers while at the Dead Sea, that we should plan to leave the hotel by 7a to beat the tour busses. So, that is what we did. Our taxi driver was ... read more

Today is some serious driving, as it takes about 4.5 hours to get down to the south of Jordan to Wadi Rum, just north of the Red Sea. I was back on driving duty, and the Dead Sea Highway (1 lane each way so not a big one) was pretty good. We turned off to head over the mountains toward the Desert Highway and did some quite major up hills and switch backs on what we would consider a backroad. I wanted to stop by Karak Castle, which is on the way and was about 1.5 hours, so pretty easy. Unfortunately, I had put in Karak (not the castle) which took us in to the little town with lots of little alleys. Not bright on my part. We redid and still had to go through some ... read more