Jordan - Petra to Aqaba and back to Amman

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After Petra, which was full on, though with the benefit of three nights in the same place, the trip calmed down a little. Our final night there was a cookery demonstration, of how our very tasty meal was cooked, a rice dish, similar to a biryani. We left Petra for Wadi Rum and a Bedouin camp in a communal tent (camp location: 29°38'48.8"N 35°28'44.4"E). 18 of us would have been cosy, but by the time we got there 14 had decided to pay the extra for double, twin or for the family, triple private tents with en-suite. This left Brian and I, Renee and Linda, with loads of space, and loads of bedding to make ourselves comfortable.

She didn't mention the stop we made on the way to the Wadi Rum camp at Wadi Rum Station (location: 29°41'56.2"N 35°23'48.99"E). This railway was used by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in WW1 to fight back the Ottoman Turks. It's still in use today though only for transporting some freight. However, looking at the tracks it's a wonder how. The steam train won't be running again, but there is a bypass track alongside

Good excuse to have a good chat!

We’d got there via bus, and 4 wheel drive truck (location: 29°38'21.43"N 35°26'05.54"E) across the desert and camel, which was interesting enough though don’t think we’ll rush to repeat it. We all went out to watch sunset, though perhaps Brian and I led Henry and Toby astray, climbing up the rock everyone else was sitting at the base of.

Arriving at the visitior centre for our 4-wheel desert drive experience. According to Abdullah the rock you see in the centre is called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom and the feature T E Lawrence referred to in his book. However, Paul, who has read the book says that's not the case

Dinner was delicious, chicken, lamb and vegetables, all cooked in a hole in the ground, same principle as our thermal cooker, but much more impressive when it came out. Dancing around the campfire before bed all made for a good evening.

Here we are already to go. We're in the right hand truck (photo by Abdullah)

Up the following morning to Aqaba, and the very small piece of Red Sea coast Jordan has, a glass bottomed boat and snorkelling for some. I’d already decided not to snorkel as I’d had a cold, and a headache, but was joined by many when they saw the current and possibly how little there seemed to be to see through the glass bottom. It was a pleasant trip though with a lovely lunch, that was delivered by motor launch! Another stop for swimming in a more sheltered spot, led to jumping in and larking about. Having eaten all my lunch, I really didn’t want dinner, but went out with everyone else to a restaurant that wasn’t ‘dry’ a couple of beers and part of Brian’s dinner, and we were both stuffed. We have eaten an awful lot on this trip.

After a short drive into the desert they stopped and told us we had to walk up this hill. Not sure why, but we did anyway

Our last day was quite a long drive back to Amman, with a break for swimming in the Dead Sea (location: 31°45'05.412N 35°35'27.12"E). I’d been in the Dead Sea, nearly 40 years ago when I went on a trip on the SS Uganda, the schools cruise ship. It was just as weird, you really do float, and it is quite hard to get your feet down to walk out. Slightly nerve wracking in that my bikini top was being held together by the world’s smallest safety pin. Fortunately no embarrassment ensued, and our skin did feel lovely and soft after, even though we didn’t cover ourselves in mud. That was just too much! With that, back to the hotel we started from (Toledo Hotel), and back out to the place we had sampled falafel from on the first day. Sit down this time, tables on the street, a new plastic sheet, no plates, just bread that you used to dip and wrap, absolutely delicious, great way to finish and only 4 Dinar, when every other meal, lunch and dinner has been around 12, before drinks, this was a great way to finish. Abdullah and his son joined us for a quick coffee, before a relatively early bed. Well, B&I, and Allan and Emma were being collected for the airport at 04.30!

Nice view from the top, but the soft sand and the heat of the day made us realise we never want to be lost in the desert, you'd have little chance of survival if you got lost

This was as expected far too early, but it all went very smoothly, arriving early to no queues at all at passport control, and luggage coming out together. Back to the hotel to collect the car, and up the motorway to mum. Very early night and we just about feel human.

They all stopped down there - very sensible!

Shopping, washing, unpacking and gardening today, a chicken roasting and meeting the Monday Club boys later. Fab

Look at that! Proper Lawrence of Arabia!

And then we were on our camel ride

There's Jackie

And there's me with my arm raised desperately trying to look cool!

Proper desert caravan

Back in the 4-wheel drive trucks again - and this time they drove like the wind! This is Paul and Jan hanging on for dear life!

Here's the camp in the desert. We were in the big communal tent you can see at the bottom, the others had their own private tents with en-suite and air-con. Somehow, to us, a mattress on the floor and a communal tent was somehow more 'camping in the desert', but we understand why the others wanted comfort 

Waiting for the sunset. Another photo by Abdullah, he does take excellent photos

However, so does Natalie, this is one of hers and I think this is one of the best photos I've seen. The camel rider is actually looking at his mobile phone which, somehow brings together the old and the new 

As it happened, the sunset was nothing special, mainly as there were no clouds in the sky

I'd like to say we danced round the campfire till dawn, but actually it was 10:30!

A nice communal room to sit and chat in

Oh, must put this photo on of someone (no-one we knew) being pulled along on a board behind a truck

This is where we slept, just four of us in here for the night

Next day after breakfast waiting to depart. That's Jackie, Paul, Jan (both from our village) and Renee from California

On to Aqaba on the Red Sea for our snorkeling trip and a look through the glass bottom

Sitting round the glass in the bottom looking at the coral

A sunken plane (on purpose) to allow coral to grow

I took lots of photos through the glass of the coral, here's just one of them

I did so want someone to swim underneath and, here, the guide obliged

The two young lads kept us entertained

And so did Renee - good on her

You may think this is a boring photo, but it contains three countries. The metal harbour on the right is in Jordan, the darker headland from the right to three quarters across is Israel and the lighter hills on the left are in Egypt

Our evening meal in Aqaba. That's us behind the fountain

And here's a better photo. That's Bertin and Natalie in the front, then, on the left Renee, Emma, Jackie, a spare seat where I was sitting, Jan, Paul and I can't quite see who's at the bottom. Abdullah is standing on the right

We were off again the next day for a four hour drive to the Dead Sea. On the way we saw Lots cave, it's that building there halfway up that hill. From here, according to the Bible he moved up to higher ground to escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, traces of which have been found as burnt fragments under ground 

And this, according to Abdullah is supposed to be Lots wife who was turned to a pillar of salt when she turned to look at the destruction

Dead Sea viewpoint. It's 433m below sea level in the Great Rift Valley. A couple of interesting points here: The Great Rift Valley stretches from Lebanon in the north, all along between Jordan and Israel, down the Red Sea and down the east side of Africa. It is caused by two tectonic plates pulling apart that will, in many millions of years be separated by a huge ocean like the Atlantic. The other interesting fact is that at 433m below sea level (the lowest point on the earth's surface), air pressure is 6% higher that at sea level, on average at 1060mBar. The higher pressure causes water to boil at a slightly higher temperature. It will boil at about 101.5 C. A third interesting fact is the level of the Dead Sea is falling by about 1m per year due to river waters being diverted for land irrigation. If left unchecked the Dead Sea will be dry within 50 years. A project is underway which, if successful, will see a pipe laid from the Red Sea to allow water to flow into the Dead Sea to maintain its level (the Red Sea to Dead Sea pipe), but it requires delicate negotiations as the pipe would need to pass through several countries

The white deposits are salt. The Dead Sea receives it's water from the Jordan River, but there is no outflow, only evaporation. The salt content is 33.5%, much higher than normal sea, making it denser and giving a greater buoyancy which means you float higher in the water. You mustn't put your head underwater or stay in for longer than about half an hour. Don't go in if you have any cuts on you, even tiny grazes, the salt will find it! 

Here we go, heading in

There's Jenny and Anna showing us how to float

And then we had a go. What a wierd feeling, waving your arms propelled you easily through the water, but it was really quite difficult to lower your legs to stand on the bottom, the water kept pushing them back up

We had a couple of hours at the Dead Sea and then we were off again back to Amman and the hotel we started at 9 days ago. Here we are in Amman centre for our last (and cheapest) meal. It's Ramadan at the moment, which means Muslim's cannot eat or drink during daylight hours so, at 7:00pm, when they can eat, everywhere is packed. They eat very quickly and, half hour later they are gone. We timed our arrival for 7:30, many Muslims were leaving and they pulled together newly vacated tables on the pavement for us. We had falafels, with lots of mezes and bread, washed down with tea (no alcohol!). Delicious, cheap and so much fun

Last time together at a shisha bar (we just had soft drinks). The lad on the right next to Abdullah is his 12 year old son. After this we went home to bed, ready for our 03:50 wakeup call to head to the airport for our journey home. The end of a hectic but very enjoyable trip