Jen's visit part 1

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So I left Dana early on Friday morning and was given a lift up as a couple of the hotel employees where heading to Amman for there day off which was slightly surreal!

Arrived in Amman eventually and went for a walk as I did I walked past the main mosque where all the men were heading for Friday prayers. It was really bizarre as not only did a swarm of men start coming at me from down but people started putting down prayer mats across the road and on the pavements which struck me as slightly bizarre and potentially unsafe as traffic didnt appear to have been stopped!

The following day Jennie arrived so woke up and checked out and attempted to get a taxi which took some effort. Finally got in to a taxi and had a real mission trying to get to the hotel were we were staying which eventually resorted in him kicking me out the taxi!!

Anyhow when Jennie arrived she said that she wanted to go to Petra on the following day and so we headed off to the dead sea via Madaba and Mt. Nebo. We hired a car at the hotel - highly plush and the first stop was Madaba which is known for it's mosaics. We went into the church where they have got this map of the ancient holy worlds and it was incredible as it was so detailed and large and generally in pretty good condition. From here we headed towards Mt Nebo with a brief detour to a mosaic making 'museum' which was interesting though a deliberate ploy to make us buy something which failed miserably for them!

Mt Nebo was pretty dull for those who arent up to scratch on there biblical knowledge. Mt. Nebo is where God showed the promised land to Moses and also where Moses died. On clear days you have views across the proised land suprisingly enough but when we visited we could just make out the dead sea!

From here we went to the dead sea and it was such a surreal experience floating in it. Logically you know that on entering it you are going to float but it isnt until you experience it for real that you understand how salty it actually is and it is really hard even walking in it. Having fallen over in Dana and grazed my feet and Elbow I was expecting to be in utter agony but amazingly it didnt really hurt so I either have a high pain threshold or there is a bit of urban legend going on a that particular point - mind you I managed to get some water up where the sun dont shine and that was agony - Jen found this particularly amusing until she did exactly the same thing!!

We then became mud monsters because as some of you know the dead sea mud is particularly amazing for your skin - we looked particularly gorgeous with Jen wearing her bikini and I was wearing an old tshirt and a pair of luminous blue - Borat style - shorts that I had bought that day covered in thick black mud!!

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