Jordan, Petra

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Monday 24th. April
At this very moment, we are sailing with Yemen on one side of us, and Somalia on the other. We have the balcony doors open, and the cameras ready, just in case we spot any pirates! There were too small fast boats not far away, so we watched them through the binoculars for a while, but they have disappeared now…..did see lots of dolphins though while I was “pirate spotting”.
Yesterday we had one of the “bullet holes” pointed out to us in the Horizon Lounge. Anyway, never fear, Granny is on the lookout, and any sign of pirates will be reported
immediately……or as soon as I can manage an internet connection anyway!
Seems the wi fi is still a sore point with a lot of passengers, and also the cost of the Internet on Seabourn. As I have never cruised before, I have nothing to compare it to, but others assure me that other cruiselines are much cheaper, and have much better systems. I see a few other passengers now up in the Horizon lounge with their laptops, so I’m obviously not the only one who can’t get the wi fi in their suite.
I don’t mind so much that I have to take my laptop elsewhere on the ship to connect to the Internet, as I still have the convenience of doing all my writing off line in my suite. However I do wish the charges weren’t so high…….
We are now more than half way through our cruise……my finger nails are growing in readiness to cling onto the gangway as they try to evict me! I already have one of the crew members saying “oh not you again….you have been here sooooooooooooooo long”!


29th. April Saturday

Today we were made to feel like naughty children…..we went down to breakfast….and our waiter said “you’re late!!” Our juice was already on the table, and our food had been ordered! How are we going to cope at home?

Yesterday we arrived in Jordan early in the morning…as we sailed in, I took a few photos, thinking they were of some part of Aqaba, Jordan. Found out later that the first couple of photos I took were actually Egypt and the second lot were Israel, and the third lot were Jordan! All these pics were taken from our balcony in the space of about 10 minutes!

Later we boarded a bus and set off out into the desert. We had a police escort out of the City. Aqaba is undergoing a lot of rebuilding….looks like lots of the old buildings have been demolished….and new ones have been built…..in between all the building works are large areas of sand…..every now and then you will see a house where they have tried to put a garden…..maybe a couple of very hardy plants survive, but not much. Lots of palm trees in the main streets. Not far out of the city there was an Inspection station…….Security and police armed to the teeth…..very big nasty looking automatic weapons everywhere……there was also what we think was an armed personnel carrier…..was like a small tank thing, with a big machine gun sticking out the top ……I couldn’t get a photo of it, but looked very scary! Here I was thinking that Jordan was a perfectly safe Country! Our guide assured us that Jordan was safe…makes you wonder when you see all the guns! Every where we went, even into a hotel for lunch….there were armed guards…

The drive to Petra was very interesting……mostly rocky desert, but with some spectacular rock formations….made our Ayres Rock look like a pebble. We passed Wadi Rum, the area where Lawrence of Arabia spent some time. This was another area we could have gone on a tour. It looked fantastic in the distance…and would be a good choice for those who had already seen Petra. We also passed a lot of Bedouin camps with their goats and camels……hard to see how they make a living out there…one blade of grass per acre if they have good land! There were actually some areas of cultivation…….small areas of green, with huge rock piles around them…..the rock piles were the rocks they had cleared from the land……to be able to plant. And here we thought a farmers life in Australia was hard! One thing we were disappointed to see was the amount of rubbish everywhere…..most of The Middle East we had seen so far was very clean, and I had thought with the King of Jordan being so modern and westernised, this problem would have been addressed.
When we arrived at Petra, we found out it was a Public Holiday, so the area was very busy. We had also been told that the walk in to the historic site was very hard and very long….about a 45 minute walk, which to us would be over an hour. Going in was downhill and coming back out was uphill…I was starting to think I should have stayed home! However they did have alternative means of getting down to the site! You could go by horse, or by chariot! We decided on the chariot…$30USD return…the first few feet was fun…..very bumpy and rough…then the fun ran out. The ground was either huge slippery cobble stones, with big deep gaps between each one, which of course the wheel on my side went down every one…..and I had to hold on for grim death for fear of falling out…….or alternatively the ground was very rough slippery gravel….where the horse kept losing its grip and its feet would slide out from under it……this was of course all going downhill……quite fast…….I could see the horse going splat on its face with us and the chariot ending up on top of it! I still have no idea how we didn’t kill a few dozen sightseers on the way down. A lot of the crew had the day off, and were able to visit Petra as well, so we flew past quite a few of them. I heard later in the day they were saying “poor Mrs Baines looked petrified, and went by so fast we couldn’t get a photo!” Stupidly I thought to myself “at least going back up hill will be slower and not as dangerous!”
OK…so we made it into the site….and it was spectacular…..as you come out of the Siq,( long, narrow, high chasm) right in front of you is the beautiful pink stone Treasury building…as seen in Indiana Jones! We had to wait for all the walkers to arrive, so had a bit of a look around on our own. Were immediately set upon by the Bedouins trying to sell jewellery, “antique” coins and rocks! I got a good photo of one child peddler, with all his “genuine” jewellery in one hand, and texting on a mobile phone with the other hand! When the rest of the group arrived, we set off with our guide to see all the site. It was a lot bigger than I had imagined….would like to have seen it 20 years ago, when I may have been able to climb up to a lot of the areas off limits to me now. We bought a book about Petra so will be experts by the time we get home. After our tour was over, it was time to grab our chariot for the nice slower safer journey back up to the Visitors Centre. The poor horse looked exhausted and ready to drop, the driver was in a bad mood as he wanted to rest awhile…..we said that was ok…were not in a hurry….give the horse more time to rest etc…but the “boss” said no….the driver had to take us NOW. I don’t think the drivers bad mood was a very good omen……we started into the Siq….and the horse bolted! This time I am very serious about not knowing how we didn’t kill people….I also have no idea how I stayed in the chariot as it hit rocks and I bounced three feet into the air. There was one stage when my foot fell against the spoked wheel…..what could have happened if I didn’t get my foot back in quick enough, is very scary to think about. We flew through the Siq, and people ran in all directions. I think the only reason the horse slowed down was because it couldn’t get past another horse. I am very grateful that none of the crew saw “poor Mrs Baines” this time. I know I couldn’t have managed the walk both ways….but also don’t think I would recommend the chariots…..I thought later that maybe you could offer double the money, and insist they walk the horse down and back…….
They say there will be a lot of changes to Petra in the next 10 years, as more digging is going to take place. They believe there are a lot more buildings buried, and will be uncovered in the next few years. Unfortunately, I doubt we will ever get back there.

After we finished at Petra, we were taken to a hotel for lunch, but I was too exhausted and still in shock, so only had a few drinks……I couldn’t possibly eat….
Then it was back on the bus to Aqaba, and of course when we arrived back at the dock, the crew were out there waiting for us, with their big Welcome Home sign, cold towels, fruit cocktails, and iced water. The band were playing……and it was good to be “home”! Back in our cabin, and there was a note on the coffee table, welcoming us home, and hoping we had a good day, with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, cherry liquor chocolates, slices of cake and some cookies…..

Not long after that it was time for the “Deck BBQ”…so another huge feast, eating out under the stars, watching the lights come on in Jordan and Israel….Israel won for the best lights! The entertainers also performed during and after dinner……the end of a really good day.

We left Jordan around 11pm last night and our next stop was to be Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, but during the night we sailed right past. The decision had been made a couple of days ago to cancel Sharm el Sheikh because of the latest terrorist bombing there. We are now back in the Red Sea and heading towards the Suez Canal.
Next stop is Alexandria…..and we will go on another long tour to Cairo.

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