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Published: August 8th 2007
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The most tacky tourist photo ever!
This is me, Karen, floating on/in the Dead Sea. It was a picture that had to be taken, shame it didnt come out all that well!!! We only had a brief time in Jordan, but its been great, mostly. We are currently in Amman and are off to Damascus tomorrow afternoon.
The boat across from Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan was fine, it was a nice, newish catamaran. The trip was so smooth, you hardly felt like you were moving at all. Passport control at aqaba was strange, our passports were collected from us as we got off the
boat, then we were bussed to the arrivals hall and had to wait for our names to be called out so we could collect our passports with the visas stamped in them. We had to wait until the end while all the easier Arabic names were called first.
We caught a taxi to Wadi Musa (Petra) that evening with a Canadian couple. The driver, as usual, insisted on taking us to his families hotel, so we just walked the rest of the way to one we had picked out of the guidebook.
We spent two long days wandering around Petra. Its absolutely amazing there, walking down the siq, the treasury at the end gradually coming into view, all the rock cut tombs everywhere, some good Roman
Obelisk Tomb
Just before the Siq - the entrance to Petra mosaics, and lots of high hills to climb for the views. Its not been as hot during the day as in Egypt, but still very hot, and the nights are much cooler. We
needed long trousers and long sleeves outside for dinner in the evenings. The dinners at our hotel in Petra were really good, plenty of veges, all Middle Eastern dishes, plenty of cucumber and yoghurt.
We also overnighted in Wadi Rum. The scenery there is fantastic, Lawrences well was a cattle trough, his house no more than a pile of stones, there were some old inscriptions on some of the hills, mainly of camels. We stayed in a goat hair Bedouin tent for the night, in the middle of the desert, and had what was meant to be traditional bedouin food. It was just
like a hangi, Colin said it was the best chicken he's had in years (sorry Mum!). The bus driver taking us from Petra to Wadi Rum and back, the "screen saver" thingy on his mobile had a picture of a plane about to hit a tall building next to a face who we assumed to be bin laden.
We have been to
The Treasury
Emerging from the siq, Petra several Roman ruins around Amman. Jerash was quite impressive, largly yet to be uncovered, but what was there was in reasonable nick. A couple of theatres, colonnaded streets, temples, churches (not Roman, added later by Christians). we also went out to Umm Qais, another Roman town of similar size to Jerash, but not as well restored. From here we had good views over the Jordan Valley to Israel / Palastine and the sea of Galilee / Lake Tiberius. Incidently, none of the maps here produced by Arab companies have Israel on them.
Today we were out at some excellent mosaics in a town called Madaba, and some more on Mount Nebo, where Moses died. Again, excellent views across the Jordan Valley and down to the Dead Sea, our next stop. We did the touristy thing and had a float. What else can you do on the Dead Sea?! Those poor Muslim women who have to swim fully dressed, even the camel was staring at me in my swimsuit! I've not had a lot of problems with staring yet. The main problem is when I ask a question and Colin gets the answer, or when I pay and he gets
the change. We have heard mixed stories about Syria, some people have said its open hostility towards foreign women, and some women havent had a problem, and it doesnt seem to be based on how you dress as most people have dressed conservatively. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon I guess, but I am considering wearing a skirt on the bus instead of trousers. Its impossible to get a tan here as we spend all of our time covered up!
Well, better go now as its nearly time for dinner. Colin has a craving for a burger.
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