Jordan

So after a couple weeks vegetating in Damascus it was about time to get off our lazy arses and head down Jordan. We took the bus to the capital Amman and got here without too many problems although when we got to Syrian departures there was an Azerbaijani in front of us in the queue with about fifty passports to get processed. We were stood around for a short while thinking we were going to be here all day, especially as there was one guy processing all the passports while loads of other officials sat round doing nothing but our bus driver came to rescue and pushed us into the front of the queue; from there on in it was a breeze.

Amman doesn't have the immediate charm of Damascus and as a tourist there isn't a great deal to do. We did spend a morning wandering round the citadel and that was about it for sights in Amman. From the citadel you get a great of the massive flag pole in Amman bearing the Jordanese flag. The flag pole stands at over 120 metres high and according the holy bible - the Lonely Plant Guide - is the tallest free standing flag pole in the world. Only the North Koreans have a taller one, but theirs is suspended by cables, the big cheaters. Amman is also quite a rich city, well in places anyway and we did a visit a couple of quite swanky restaurants whilst we were here.

We used Amman as a base to visit Jersah, the very well preserved ruins of a Roman city. They were very extensive and easily matched the ruins of Palmyra in Syria. We spent a good few hours walking round the ruins. Take a look at photos to get an idea of the scale of the place. The one difference between here and Syria was the number of visitors. There are many more tourists here than in Syria. But having said that the number weren't overwhelming as we're here in low season and it wasn't really a problem - wouldn't want to be in Jordan in high season though. While here we also saw a 'chariot race'. They have reconstructed a hippodrome here and first we saw a Roman legion march and do a few moves followed by some reconstructions of some gladiatorial fights and then finally the chariots came round and did a few laps although they weren't really racing. It was a bit of show for the tourists and a tad silly but enjoyable enough I suppose. We carried from Jerash to the Ar-Rabad castle. Another pretty impressive castle built by one of Saladin's generals when they were fighting the crusaders.

The one last thing we did in Amman before moving on was to visit the Turkish bath. This place is well worth a visit if you ever get over here. The architecture of the place is great. There's a sauna and jacuzzi and you get a good long massage. We also opted for the dead sea mud face pack. A very relaxing way to spend an evening.

So next it was onto Madaba. This is a small town that boasts some pretty well preserved mosaics and is also the launch pad for trips down to the dead sea. We stayed in a fairly basic cheap hotel, with rather eccentric staff. The guy who ran the place seemed to speak fairly good English when he was speaking to us but didn't understand a word we spoke back to him. He told us lots of interesting things such as we needed to get a taxi to the dead sea at midnight and he also seemed to think I had a bicycle with me. We had a quick wander round town in the afternoon and saw a few buildings containing the ancient mosaics.

The next day we hired a taxi through our hotel to take us to the dead sea. First stop before the Dead Sea was to mount Nebo where Moses once looked out across to the promised land. The view from out here across to the Dead Sean onto Israel was great. There is a church here with more mosaics and to my mind these were better than the mosaics in Madaba itself.

And then it was time for a good old dunk in the Dead Sea. Pretty much everything you've heard about the sea is true. It is impossible to sink. You walk out and the water gets to about waist height then you carry on walking and realise you are no longer touching the bottom any more. Trying to swim in the Dead Sea is a lot of fun. Your feet stick out the water and you can't go anywhere. One word of caution if you ever do take a dip here - don't get the water in your eyes. It absolutely kills. And once you get the water in your eyes you can't rub it out because your whole body is covered is salty water. Yes I really can recommend not getting the water in your eyes. After a brief swim and a little rest to let my eyes recover we got ourselves full body dead sea mud packs. Not sure it really did a lot for me other make me look completely ridiculous. From here we popped along to some thermal springs and spent the rest of the afternoon there. There's a big waterfall there with a mixture hot and cold water running off it. You can stand directly under the waterfall and get pummelled by lots of water falling very quickly onto you head. We then watched the sunset over Dead Sea before heading back to Madaba.

The next morning we decided to head off to Dana taking a taxi via Kerak castle. Our driver from the previous day had already left by thre time we got up and there were no other drivers from our hotel or so our mad owner told us. So I popped out and got ourselves a driver from elsewhere. When our hotel owner found this out he went a beserk and threatened to call the police. Quite what he was going to the police I'm not sure - that we were legally taking a taxi to Dana? Well apparently we are not ever welcome back at their hotel which is quite a shame.

We had a nice drive down through Wadi Mujib and a good stroll round yet another crusader castle - Kerak Castle - before arriving in Dana in the early evening. Dana is a small village and the hotel we stayed at is part of a community that helps put money back into the village and conserve the surrounding coiuntryside. We saw another great sunset here and the following morning did a hike down the valley to the next village. It was very pleasant sunny day and a great walk. Once at the bottom of the valley we hopped in a taxi and headed off to Petra.

Petra is the main draw in Jordan and I'm glad to say this place really does live up to the hype. We spent two days wandering round the rock hewn temples and astounding scenery. The place is huge and we could have easily spent a lot longer exploring the area. The first morning we walked through the Siq to enter Petra. This is a tall narrow canyon over a kilometre in length formed not by water but by tectonic plate movements ripping the rock apart. The Siq seems to wind on for ever but finally it opens onto the Treasury. The Treasury is the really famous structure that most people associate with Petra and also featured in the Indiana Jones film which gets played every night in the hotels here. We saw as the sun come over the cliff tops and shine down on the Treasury. We spent the rest of the day walking past the tombs onto the Roman city which looks strangely out of place and then onto the monastery which looks very similar to the Treasury but involves a long walk up a mountain to get there so it's a lot more peaceful there.

On the second day we took an alternative route into Petra via another canyon. We spent most of the day without seeing any other tourists and found ourselves a great vantage point from which to look out across the whole of Petra. You can check my pictures but I doubt they do the place justice. This really is an amazing place and I wholeheartedly recommend Petra to anyone - you won't be disappointed. While in Petra we also did a cooking course and learned how to make a few dishes including hummus and mutabal. Little did I realise at the time that this course would stand me in good stead for Christmas day.

So no rest for the wicked and the next day it was straight onto Wadi Rum - the desert towards the south of the country. We did a 4x4 tour on the first day seeing some pretty cool places but for some reason I just didn't seem that enthralled with the place, maybe because it seemed a bit rushed in the 4x4 or maybe because it just didn't compare to Petra. Anyhow after a night of drinking, music and dancing in a Bedouin tent we did a tour on camels the next day. This was a lot more fun especially as my camel upon whom I bestowed the name 'Bob' was a pretty angry camel and kept attacking the other two camels and Phil and Merryl much to my amusement but no one elses. Poor old Bob, everyone else hated him but I think he was just misunderstood.

So after the rushed exertions of the last week or so we got Aqaba and took it easy. I wasn't feeling that well here and spent a couple of days chilling in my hotel room and watching crap western films. We did make it to the beach on the afternoon of the second day but it was windy and freezing and not a very enjoyable experience.

We headed back up to Amman so that Merryl could get her flight home and also to do a bit of Christmas shopping. I also got a chance to meet with my mate Attila whom I met a couple of years ago in Egypt. He's living in Amman at the minute and was able to take me round a few good bars, getting me into places for free and getting free drinks as well, so it was well worth catching up.

And after what seemed like an action-packed non-stop couple of weeks in Jordan it was back to Damascus for Christmas...