The last of Jordan- Dead Sea and Mount Nebo

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Hey all,

Wednesday we were up early yet again (sleep is not a big feature of this trip!!) for our trip to the Dead Sea on the way to Syria. It was a cold couple of hours on the way but warmed up as we approached the Dead Sea- the lowest point on earth. We had beautiful views across to Israel. We stopped at the side of the road to get in, the salt had formed such a hard crust that we had to wear flip flops to ensue we didn't cut our feet! We were expecting to be buoyant but it was still such a strange sensation!! I really had to make such an effort to force my feet downwards and ended up bobbing up and down like a jack-in-the-box!! The water was so dense with salt it felt very oily on our skin. Greg was either very brave or stupid as he dived in face first. I had to see what it tasted like- not an experiment to be repeated! It was so ridiculously salty it felt like my tongue was burning! Thankfully had no recent scrapes or scratches, and we had been warned not so shave two days in advance.

We were given a jerry-can shower to get rid of the worst of the salt, and Graham chased off a pervy local man. We wrapped up in towels and had lunch while we dried off. As we were sitting there another car full of Jordanian men just "happened" to pull up nearby and they all got out. Graham did the necessary and chased them off again. We drove up to nearby Mount Nebo, of biblical fame, for another night of camping wild. We entertained a local family- grandparents, parents and children- who dropped over to see who we were and stayed when they saw the truck shisha!! The sunset over the Dead Sea was beautiful, and as night fell we could see the glimmering lights of Israel- Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Jericho.

That night we were surprisingly allowed to sleep on the truck due to the cold, but still woke up early at 6. Had breakfast before breaking camp and leaving for Syria- border crossing day!! We hit our first checkpoint about 1pm, and had three seperate stops and checks before we officially left Jordan. Then we had to enter Syria!! Had lunch in no-man's land and were stopped twice on the Syrian side with three or more officers trying to get in the back for a nosy before we were in! Arrived at New Kabouin campsite and set up our tents for the first time. Had a very long overdue shower to get rid of Dead Sea salt- Marianna's hair still wasn't fully dry because of it. Prepared for our much longed-for trip to Lebanon the next day.

Orla

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