Amman and Petra Town, JORDAN

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Crossing the Syrian / Jordan border:
Had a mad rush over the border - the men at the taxi park semed to be semi-hysterical, everyone arguing and gestuiculating like mad. I retreated to some steps and just watched the chaos going on all around - safest place to be, out of the melee. A Chinese girl standing next to me said, "Your first time getting a car here? It's always like this..." Rob, of course, was in the middle of all the men, arguing and throwing his hands around just as much as they were....Eventually, we found a driver to take us to Amman. We gave a lift to an elderly woman who also wanted to get there. and one good turn led to another, as she later asked the driver to stop at the very last Syrian shop before the border for me, when I realised I'd forgotten to get some Syrian sweets to take home.
Bottles of booze were swapped around in various cars before getting to the border, then 20 kms into Jordan, the drivers all met up and swapped everything around again - hilarious!


Amman- a huge city built on huge hills...We got to Amman in the evening - a lovely hotel - friendly people and the best driver we've ever ever met: Mr Abu. An Iraqi who has lived in Amman with his family for decades, he was incredibly knowledgable, friendly and good-humoured and made sure we didn't miss a thing. It took 10 hours to drive down the King's Highwa - Amman to Petra - and he literally made every minute count. We loved him!


Petra Town:
The town itself is actually small and fairly quiet, but it is so hot that even walking the kilometre to town for a drink or dinner often seemed too much effort...beter to sit on the holtel terrace, eat, watch the sun go down and listen to the call to prayer...

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Photos

Aya and our very helpful clerk
Aya, formerly known as Andrea, is an Australian who is now maried and living in Petra

The Water board - but there is no water....
(well, it made me laugh!)