Jordan

Hello. A few things. Sorry these posts are a bit long. This is partly cos i am not able to blog so often cos internet is harder to find, and also some blog sites and facebook are sometimes censored so you can't access them. I don't think this will be a problem once we get to Turkey next week. Also, this is acting as my diary (whereas I had a seperate written diary before). So, this blog might include some boring facts and figures which I have recorded for myself).  cheers.


Tuesday 17th of August

Slept on the hostel roof, under the stars with a breeze coming off the ocean. A warm breeze so at times it was like someone pointing hairdryers at you. Had complimentary breakfast then sat by the pool reading. The Chileans (Herman and Carolina) arrived about 4pm. I was having a nap in the shade by the pool. The heat makes me sleepy, plus there wasn't that much else to do. So we sat around waiting for the truck to turn up, but by midnight it hadn't arrived so off to bed.

Wednesday

Awoken at 7am by some of the guys from the truck gathered round my bed. They had arrived at 3am after the ferry had, of course, been delayed. The same as me, they could not sleep in after 7am cos its so hot. So they hadnt had much sleep and seemed slightly delirious and shattered and i am not surprised. But it was great to see them and hear their stories and start up the banter again. Many of us went snorkelling in the ocean across the road. There was lots of coral and some colourful fish. There is a rope in the water to guide you round so i stayed pretty close to the rope cos the water was pretty choppy. A great start to the day. We went in search of lunch but the only cheap option was, sadly, Maccas. Aqaba was quiet cos its Ramadan. Maccas said we couldnt eat inside the restaurant, or just outside; they insisted we went away. Anyway, so we ended up eating on a the grass in the middle of a roundabout. So we may have offended local custom by eating in front of people who are fasting for Ramadan. Ooops.

At lunchtime we headed to Wadi Rum. This place was made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. We bushcamped near the entrance. Its alot like the moon. We were the only ones there and most of us slept under the stars and moon again. Great to be in Great Outdoors again.

Thursday

The truck is different from the one we had before and everything is in a new place so i am like a newbie having to ask where stuff is and where it goes. We went into Wadi Rum this morning in jeeps and the scenery is amazing. But to be honest it isn't any better than where we had slept last night. Nevermind, we did get to see some old rock paintings and sand dunes, and it only cost 10 bucks. Then we carried on to Wadi Musa which is next to Petra. Actually staying in a nice hotel.

Friday 20th

Last night we sat around on the patio outside the hotel. Team Canada made Chicken Shewarma(?) and salad which was real good. Had a smoke of the shisha. Made me a bit light-headed which it hasn't in the past. But its just a novelty really and not that exciting. Soem of the guys were a bit drunk and annoying so i went to bed.

This morning we were up at 6am. Quick breakfast, then a 15 minute taxi to Petra. It was about 35 US dollars to get in. Apparently it was 49 degrees today although i dont think it was quite that hot. We were there most of the day, lots to see, lots of walking but really not that many people which was a bonus.

Petra was lived in from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD so the architecture reflects this and there are Byzantine buildings as well the older Nabataeans ones. The first part was 'The Siq' which is a 1200 metre long deep gorge created by tectonic plate movement. They have had 3 big earthquakes here, a long time ago. There was some anticipation as we walked along the gorge because we knew that at the end of the gorge is the highlight of Petra known as 'The Treasury'. This is the building carved into the rock that you would see on a TV show about Petra. It is 30m wide and 43m high and appears gradually as you come to the end of the gorge, and it was spectacular, to think it was carved in the 1st century BC as a tomb for a Nabataean King. So we sat there looking at it for a while and taking a rest.

Then we spent the next six hours walking around the rest of the Lost City which includes some steets, temples and tombs. Phil and I did an extra walk up the hillside to Ad-Deir (The Monastery) which was very rewarding as the monestary is also cut into into rock, and there are some spectacular views of surrounding mountains and desert. We came back down after an hour or so and met the others. We then walked back slowly to the entrance stopping for litres of water along the way. We stopped at The Treasury to enjoy it once more before heading out.

After, it was decided that we should reward ourselves by going to Pizza Hut. Hmmm. Not really my choice but there you go. Anyway, the taxi driver took us around and couldnt find it so we ended up at some other place which was ok. I would have eaten anything after a long day of walking. I have to say again that the locals are so friendly, especially compared to some in other countries on the trip. Often when we buy stuff in the shop next door they give an extra gift like a small cake or some tea and they take the time to talk to you. Maybe this is only because its Ramadan, I don't know, but its very generous anyway. At Petra, the girls got a free ride on a horse because the guy had seen us at his family's hotel the night before. No hassle, no strings attached. And i went to buy a tacky souvenir expecting it to be over-priced but it was just a couple of bucks. Welcome to Jordan.


Saturday 21 August

We left Wadi Musa and Petra and headed along the Desert Highway and through Tafila and across Wadi Hasa. Wadi means valley and Jordan has lots of them and they are spectaculat gorges, a bit like the Grand Canyon but more rounded and a lighter shade of beige. We arrived at Karak and made our way up the hill to Karak castle, narrowly avoiding bringing down overhead cables with the height of the truck. The castle was first built by Crusaders in the 12th Century, one of many castles they built from Southern Turkey down to Southern Jordan. The castle changed hands as battles were won and lost against the Muslim armies of Saladin. Not a huge castle but lots of dead-ends to get lost in. Also learned that the cities of Sodom and Gomorah were round there. According to the bible, God told Lot that he was going to burn down both cities because they were rife with sin, but that he would let Lot and his wife run away, but that they should not look back. God duly burned down the cities, and Lot's wife looked back so God turned her into a pillar of salt. Don't look back in Anger?

We had lunch by the castle. The guy brought us a very low value meat sandwich. We pointed this out to him, and, to be fair, he brought us another one. As we left the town, everyone seemed pleased to see us and shouted 'Welcome' as we drove past, slowly in a traffic jam.

We continued on the Kings Highway and the Dead Sea highway. Up and down  almost barren valleys. Eventually we came to a sign that said we were at zero metres above sea level, and down in the distance we could see the Dead Sea. It still took a while to get to the sea, but the coastline was like something from mars. We stopped the truck, grabbed our stuff and made our way down the rocks. And walked into the Dead Sea. You could see the salt and other minerals on the surface. And you really do float. So we went around on our backs and I had the tourist cliche photo taken of me sitting up reading the newspaper. You can't really do breast stroke cos its hard get your feet under the water while on your front. But you can 'stand up' straight without touching the bottom or treading water. And you can 'cycle' to move around. After a while you start to realise the salt has got into cracks that you didn't know had. And you certainly don't want to get the water in your eyes or mouth.

Also in the water were hot springs so some bits were really hot. And there is a stream of hot spring water coming down the cliffs so we had a bath in the stream but it was a bit too hot really, not refreshing.

We left the sea and headed a km up the road and bushcamped in a kind of gravel car park just off the road. From there we watched the sun set over the Dead Sea, with Israel clearly visible on the other side of the water, and it was lit up after dark. Meanwhile, me and South African girls, Paige and Jess, cooked dinner. Beef and vegie stir-fry and mash and carrotts. We did a pretty good job. We also washed the pots and put away the grill and charcoal so back to being sweaty and dirty and no shower. Slept under the moon and stars, until the bugs got a bit annoying so put me tent up.

Sunday 22nd August

In the morning we headed to Mount Nebo which is, apparently, where Moses came at the end of his life. He looked across to Israel. If it had been today he wouldn't have seen it cos of the haze. We had a better view from our campsite this morning. It wasn't great, but there was a mosaic from the 5th century that had been made to honour Moses.

Onwards we went. On the outskirts of Amman we stopped at Burger King. I kind of whinged about taking in USA culture but if you can't beat them, join them. So i had Whoppper with Cheese! To be fair, there is not much else open because of Ramadan; the locals don't eat during the day. We drove around Amman, and saw, apparently, the largest flagpole in the world, at 127m.