A Jolly To Jordan

So after some more exploring of Egypt (blog to follow!)(The Egyptian Trinity - Temples, Tombs and Touts) we made our way up to Nuweiba where we would get a ferry over to Aqaba in Jordan. Nuweiba seems to be the armpit of Egypt as far as we can tell. I'm told that the beaches away from the port are lovely but as we drove in from Taba all we could see for ages were unfinished resorts and muddy looking sand. It felt so depressing and abandoned. We now refer to Nuweiba as the Azkaban of Egypt, as it fills you with a soul destroying emptiness. Here follows Sam's remonstrations about Nuweiba!

We reached the port and attempted to find a room in one of the few hotels. We found one which was very expensive and had quite an odd smell to it. On further investigation we discovered the toilet to be covered in poo - I wonder how long that had been there! We had to get the staff to come in twice to clean it as they couldn't seem to see the problem and did a bit of a half hearted job the first time. I stood over them, hands on hips and pointed to each little bit that needed cleaning. Some people should not be allowed to run a hotel!

We decided to go out in search of food. We shouldn't have bothered! We found a place that called itself a cafe and restaurant and thought we would try it. It did seem that everyone was only there to smoke and not eating but with lack of choice we had to give it a go. After much pointing and nodding we managed to order some tea and food. The waiter repeated the order back to us so we were pretty confident that we understood each other. The tea came, half an hour later we were still waiting on the food. We decided to double check it was really coming. The waiter didn't seem to have a clue what we were on about! Very strange. We tried again and half hour later got something very different to what we had ordered. Half the food was missing and we were feeling more than a little defeated by then. An argument over the bill later and we were out of there. We headed back to our smelly room for a night of fly interrupted sleep and woke up very happy that we were leaving Azkaban!

The rest of our time in Nuweiba was equally as stressful with no signs to direct us anywhere to buy tickets for the ferry or to get in to the departure area. A more unorganised port I can not imagine! The ferry is notoriously late and our delay was relatively short at only 5 hours. We met a Hungarian couple who had been well and truly touted. They had been told they could go to Petra and back in 2 days and also had agreed to pay the guide 250 dollars to take them there, not including any transport costs or entrance fees! We all made it on to the boat eventually and settled in for the ride. We got to Aqaba and decided it was too late to go on to Petra so we got a room in the town.

Aqaba is the complete opposite of Nuweiba with decent hotels, loads of places to eat and a friendly atmosphere. We went for a wander, got a kebab and retired to our very clean comfy room for a hot shower and good nights sleep. Amazing! The next morning we hopped on a bus to Wadi Musa. The journey took 2 hours and took us through some landscape much the same as in Egypt with big rocks and yellow sand, only this seemed cleaner and prettier. Perhaps it was the bright blue sky overhead or just the relief of not being in Nuweiba but I was in a much happier mood.

We arrived at the town and went for an amble to find a room. We finally settled on one that seemed light and airy, the staff were friendly without being pushy but mostly I think it was the cute fluffy puppy that lived there that made our decision for us! On closer inspection we found the bathroom had probably never been cleaned and the TV and shower didn't work. Usually we would have left but the people were just so nice we couldn't bring ourselves to do it and in the end, despite the ramshackleness of the room, we ended up having quite a nice stay. We decided to go off to Petra that afternoon to make to most of the gorgeous weather.

What can I say, Petra is incredible. We had come to Jordan without a guidebook or any information and didn't really know what to expect. We strolled down through the town, bought our tickets and were in. We walked past the numerous horse and carriages in to the site and were amazed by it. The rock is beautiful, red and colourful and with the sun shining on it it looked almost magical. In the past water has carved a path through the rock and you can see where it has smoothed it out and sculpted it.

We spent hours walking and around each corner we saw something that was more impressive than the last. The ruins are very spread out and you certainly get your exercise if you decide to walk. The location along the valley is stunning and there are numerous view points you can scramble up to offering incredible vistas. Finally with the sun setting, we dragged ourselves back up the hill to our hotel to reflect on a day well spent.

The next day we enjoyed a day of doing nothing for the first time in a while. Had a bit of a wander and played with the puppy who managed to get his teeth in to both of us - hope we don't get rabies! The following day we decided to head back to Aqaba where we enjoyed some Falafel, Tahina and other delights.

The hotel in Aqaba had a working television and this enabled me to discover the wonders of "Crocodile Dundee!" Oh my god how have I not seen this amazing film before?? I was enthralled and laughed my bum off through the whole film. Amazing! Despite the fact that he's a leathery faced croc poacher I seem to have developed quite a crush! Very strange!

This trip to Jordan helped to re-invigorate our zest for travel which had began to wane after our time in Egypt. There is none of the hassle and pushy attitudes here that we have experienced in Egypt and it has made for a very fun visit. The people are hugely friendly and will invite you to eat with them in cafes and give you free tea at every opportunity. Most welcome! So now we are back in Egypt for our final few weeks. Blog on our adventures here to come soon!

---

Part of trip: Africa

---