15th - 16th March 2009, Damascus to Dead Sea, Jordan.

We were glad to leave Damascus behind, it being far more expensive than we'd thought and there not actually being that much to see there. The border, just south of the city took about 2 1/2 hours to get through, although 30 minutes of that was a full blown lecture on tourism in Jordan from the Insurance guy over a very strong coffee!! It seemed a good start to the country.

From the border we drove south for a couple of hours to Madaba (bypassing Amman, which we were told by our tourist expert was not worth a visit), finding a very nice guesthouse called Lulu's, where a very nice double cost 20JD (1 Jordanian Dinar - JD = 1 pound). We took a look around the small town of Madaba, which confirmed that Jordan, although extremely friendly would be pricey.

We were on the road by 9am and passing Mount Nebo (Moses' burial place), we reached Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan by 10am (a sacred place on the river Jordan where Jesus is said to have been Baptised). I decided to take the 1.5 hour tour around the site, while Han the non-believer did some reading in the Landy.  From here it was only a short drive down to the Dead Sea, where we took the obligitary dip............. 

Due to the unbelievably high salt levels of the Dead Sea you experience the strangest sensation when you're in the water, that of floating helplessly to the surface, making it very difficult to put your feet down. After we got out we quickly dried in the hot desert sun and found ourselves caked in a layer of thick seasalt. We also checked the GPS to confirm our altitude...... or lack of it.

  At an altitude of around -220m, the Dead Sea is the lowest piece of dry land on Earth.

We then took the amazing drive over some truly biblical landscape south to Petra, where we found a cheap hotel (Mussa Spring Hotel, 15JD for a triple), and bumped into our first Overlanders, a few guys in a Landy and a Discovery going from Dubai to Paris.

17th - 20th March 2009, Petra to Aqaba, Jordan

We were up at 7am to make an early start in Petra, and by 8am we'd driven the 2km to Petra (free parking), paid the 26JD each for a 2 day pass into the site and got a guide for a couple of hours (another 20JD). Our guide (Mohammed, as if it would be anything else) gave us a very interesting tour through the Siq (the 1.2km long canyon that leads up to the site), giving us details of the History and the Nubians who built it.

After the long walk through the Siq, you finally get a glimpse of the Treasury, Petra's most recognisable Temple that is carved out of the sandstone walls of the canyons (all the while the theme tune to Indiana Jones is on repeat in our heads). 

 Once our guide had finished we were left to explore Petra's extensive ruins on our own.

 After looking around the many temples in the old 'City Centre' we embarked on the hour long walk up to the old Monastery, and although very steep and very hot it was well worth it, not only for the views but also to get away from the crowds (Petra seems to attract a new level of tourist).

  We spent our second day at a much more leisurely pace going to see some of the less visited areas of the site. (vids to follow). By soon after dinner we were finished and back on the road heading further south to Aqaba, via Wadi Rum. As we decended from the mountainous region of Petra we came to the vast and imposing desert that covers the the lower part of Jordan. We headed over to Wadi Rum through stunning landscapes to the visitor centre. Wadi Rum, due to it's narural beauty is a National Park, and also is the setting for the Arab uprising featuring T.E. Lawrence and sunsequently where some of Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. It worked out quite costly to enter the park, so we decided to carry on to Aqaba, where we set up camp a few miles East of the town at the Bedouin Garden Camp (6JD a night). We had a lazy evening enjoying a couple of beers watching the sunset over the Red Sea.

 The next day we took a walk around Aqaba, where we did a bit of shopping and got some info on the ferry we needed to take us over to Egypt, where we were told to come back the following morning to buy our tickets.

The day of the ferry we bought our tickets from the AB Maritime office in Aqaba ($220 for the Landy, $70 each for us). The ferry was due to leave at 1pm that day, so we headed over there for 11am. At the port, we paid 5JD exit tax each, got everything stamped and we were on the boat!!! 

Next Stop Africa!!