Adventures in Jordan Part 3

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The next day I was keen to go back to Petra so that I could leave with happy thoughts and show Joe and the kids how amazing it is! We had good fun clambering over the tombs and exploring the central "city" part. We had a camel ride and a horse and carriage along the Siq (making use of every animal mode of transport!) In the afternoon we drove to the Wadi Rum for our night in the desert. Saleem our Bedouin host told me I was a beautiful Bedouine and offered Joe 10 camels for me! (it changed to 1 camel the next day but I think that was just a communication problem! Also Joe said he says that to all the female tourists but he's just jealous!!)

Saleem took us up a huge sand dune to see the sunset over the desert which was stunning. He also produced a great meal - chicken cooked over coals and buried in the sand. We spent the evening drinking sweet tea and listening to him playing traditional songs under the stars - wow! Afterwards we chatted lots to our fellow campers - an American girl and a Polish couple before retiring to our tents for the night.

The next day we did a desert safari of the Rum in an old Toyota Land Cruiser (Joe's additional detail!). We explored canyons with ancient graffiti, some of it 2,000 years old (so it's not a new problem!), climbed rocks and more huge sand dunes etc. Never knew deserts could be so varied and so beautiful. The final stop was a climb up to a spring which I decided not to do as it was so hot. Bella however was determined and so she and Joe scrambled up. Some of the other climbers were really surprised to see a 6 year old managing it, and Joe was obliged to point out she was the one who wanted to do it, not him!!

We drove on to Aqaba with more fun on the Jordanian roads - one of the highways was shut for widening but the one diversion sign was in Arabic. After driving around a bit trying to find the slip road, we ended up driving across the building site! In gallant fashion Joe made me get out and ask the workers which way to go. They pointed over the bumps and unmade roads so we chanced it - thank goodness we were in a rental car!

Aqaba was hot so we spent our last couple of days in Jordan relaxing by the pool and doing some snorkelling. The Red Sea is amazing - only 2m or so from the shore the reef starts and we saw thousands of fish. Swordfish, tiny eels, lion fish, yellow and purple ones. Joe even saw a ray which he was over the moon about. It was just teeming. Unfortunately we couldn't persuade the kids to put their heads under the water long enough to see anything, but will try again in Oz.

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Comments

[Cornelia]

Hi...
... I'm really loving your blog, thank you for sharing your stories! Bon voyage xx