Blogs from South, Jordan, Middle East - page 5

Jordan springs to mind a laid back, desert with humble people living off the Dead sea, the lowest point on Earth (423 m, 1,388 feet below sea level). It is a region which has given rise to three religions which have spread extensively. I had four days to explore this wonderful place. Jordan is a country with so much aridity that a little greenery is welcomed with hope. Nomads of Edomite tribes named Nabateans (originally from Saudi Arabia) settled down near small springs in the arid deserts. Water meant everything. However, I found that the bleak desert also has its own beauty. The big eyes with long eyelashes of the graceful camels or the green fig trees sprouting in the crevices are delightful. I flew Royal Jordan Airways and enjoyed the spicy breads for breakfast. We ... read more

Wadi Rum This morning, we headed on a picturesque jeep safari exploring Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum also known as the valley of the moon is a beautiful desert wilderness in southern Jordan. The place is known for its dramatic sandstone mountains. The landscape of Wadi Rum is so unique that it was used to represent Mars in the movie "The Martian." It is also the place where Lawrence of Arabia as well as other movies including Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were filmed. In Wadi Rum, we got to meet some Bedouin people who gave us a traditional lunch with some Bedouin Tea (Yum!). We also climbed up a hill, which was super tiring and saw some unique carvings in the rock. Petra ... read more

Left Petra at 8am for our return trip to Amman but with a few stops along the way. First was Little Petra which is set in a small valley not far from Petra, but also built by the Nabateans. It is believed that it was like a suburb of Petra and housed traveling traders on the Silk Road. This was a very interesting site in itself and if situated anywhere else in the world would be a much bigger deal in itself Next stop was the Crusader Castle at Shobak, where Lana told us about it but just made it an option if anyone wanted to explore the castle itself, which entailed a 15 minute walk up a steep hill. Barry, Pierre, Mary, Paul, Brian and I elected to go and we had about 20 minutes ... read more

I managed to wake up at about 6:10, early enough to catch the sun coming up over the horizon and it was very peaceful and serene walking around the desert surrounding our camp site. Lovely brekky in the tent before heading off at 8:30 for our camel ride back to the Wadi Rum Visitor's Centre. Brian and I were not too keen on doing this. The last time I rode a camel was in Egypt in 1984 and I swore I would never do that again, but at least I managed to avoid it for 34 years. As it turned out, it was a very pleasant ride across the desert and I was surprised to learn later that we riding for 50 minutes. After a short comfort (and shopping) stop at the Visitor's Centre we were ... read more

Breakfast at 6:30am for an early 7:30am exit for the long drive to the south of Jordan. During the early part getting out of Jordan, our guide Lana pointed out a few things but once out of the city, most of the drive was through very flat arid land with the occasional quarry or cement company. We had two comfort stops amounting to about 40 minutes and got to Aqaba at 12:30pm. As we got closer to Aqaba, the landscape changed as big rocky outcrops started appearing and the land was not as flat. Aqaba is a very popular holiday destination on The Red Sea and it is quite different to downtown, where we stayed in Amman. Generally cleaner and the buildings are in much better condition and generally newer looking and not as confronting as ... read more