Where I left you last - in the Dead Sea. It felt like swimming in kerosene (and nerdy traveller fact #410 - this is because it is six times saltier than the sea). Brainiac here knew it was salty, but of course, had to stick my finger in and then put it in my mouth.... it was all too late - it is the grossest thing in the world, never taste the Dead Sea - that is why they have signs up saying to keep your head OUT of the water.... vile, vile, vile.. but curiosity killed the cat I suppose..... two days later things started tasting normal again, so I definitely paid the price for my curiosity.
The bouyancy was amazing - the best part was hearing other people get in and the cries of joy in all different languages (mostly French and Russian, as well as Arabic) of "oh my god, I can't believe it" - you really did float on top of the water and you could do all sorts of tricks, synchronised swimming style.....
And of course, it was very easy to read sitting up in the water - that's Israel & the Palestinian territories on the other side.....
I decided to fork out for one taste of luxury in this country - with it being dry, dusty and challenging (for the solo female formerly blonde traverller), I thought I deserved it. Booking a luxury hotel on the Dead Sea turned out to be my best move yet - as well as the private beach, I got to stay and watch the sunset, which was the best I've ever seen.....
... and believe me, the above photo still really doesn't do it justice.
The crimson sky stayed for a good half hour - which was time for some photography work. This little girl clapping did all the hard work for me.... and those are the lights of Palestine in the background.....
And a lovely Palestinian lad offered to take a shot of me - the sky was just amazing (I didn't colour coordinate my shirt very well).
The other best part of being in a luxury hotel was a bath - a luxury I haven't had for quite some time. I think I used all the hot water in the hotel - while drinking my way through the minibar - another luxury that I haven't had in the Middle East, either..... The hotel were kind enough to have a band directly under my balcony, as it was Friday night, so I then sat on my balcony, overlooking the lights on the other side of the Dead Sea, drinking my minibar and enjoying being away from the dirty Russian who asked for my phone number (having asked his 5 year old son how to say it first.... eww).
The next day - my last day with Haroun - I headed up to sea level (it's so wierd saying that - I didn't know you could go any lower!) and looked out over the Dead Sea....
Next stop - Al-Karak to see the castle, about an hour South of the Dead Sea. Now, we all know I love a good archeological site, but I was particuarly taken with the castle. Haroun commented that I was "gone two hours" when I got back in the car... it flew....
This man welcomes people to the castle and gives directions... he was very cute in his keffiye and happy for me to snap him.... this photo got his tick of approval, so here it is.....
The castle is built on a hill - it was a crusader stronghold and there was a small town up on the hill inside the castle... the views over the surrounding villages in the valleys, peeking through bits of rubble were amazing....
Once I got back in the car (much to Haroun's relief - I think he thought I'd never finish), it was another hour South to Dana Nature Reserve. I couldn't believe how quickly, and how radically, the landscape changed....
.... these mountains just stretched on forever..... as we got closer to Dana though, it became greener and greener.....
.....here's the valley that Lisa and I hiked in the next day....
I got to the Dana Tower Hotel - one of three habitable buildings in Dana Village - it's an old, ruined, Ottoman town - it's just rubble now. There are three hotels in town, two of them have "rebuilt" (I use the term loosely) some of the buildings to make hotels - and they are the only buildings in town that you can live in.... (though I still question some parts of the hotel I stayed in). The hotel was really a collection of strange rooms, cobbled together to make a hotel. It was a great move to stay there though, I met Lisa - a Canadian, around the same age - with whom I had a lot in common. I quickly invited her to stay another couple of nights in Dana and join me hiking the next day, and then head to Petra thereafter....
That night Lisa "popped my sheeesha cherry" quote-unquote (her words, not mine) and I learnt the hard way, and quickly, about the post-sheesha headache.... ouch. Ouch. Ouch. I was slow out of the blocks the next morning....
Dana Village is perched up over the Valley, and the actual nature reserve is down in the valley, so the next day we were offered a lift by a couple of travelling Dutchmen that we befriended to Rumanna campsite, where the hikes start from. Saving about $40AU in a ride to the reserve was the rocket up my sheesha-aching arse that I needed to get a move on....
Lisa and I chose to do the hike up to some caves, and a Byzantine church that's hidden up in the mountains, and carved into the rock, from the days when you were persecuted for practising Christianity.
Well.
Thank God I didn't go on my own. We found the caves OK, and old mate from the campsite had drawn us a map. When we got to the caves, we realised that the map from there on was a bunch of squiggles that didn't make sense. I used my (Australian mobile) to call old mate, as we'd walked all that way and I didn't want it to be a waste and he said "you need to climb the 15m rock face - it's easy, go left". I did all that and got stuck up a rockface..... one of the Dutchmen luckily came and saved me - I kind of slid on my arse like a slippery slope and he caught my feet. I was picturing helicopters and ropes and harnesses to get me out of there - I felt so sick stuck up there - and, we never did get to see that farking church.... Grrrrr. The Dutchmen didn't even TRY and climb it (smart lads).
So, I'm over my fear of heights now, that's for sure. Over it a little too much I think (cocky).
Here's Lisa looking over the Dana Valley (Wadi Dana in Arabic) - halfway up the mountain....
And me!
The Dana Tower Hotel - gallons of tea available on request - we spent a lot of time looking over the valley, drinking tea.....
Some architects came and visited the hotel while we were there - they are part of an international aid project to rebuild the village, and promote tourism - Dana Valley is awesome and underdeveloped at present for tourism - and they want development to preserve the old village as much as possible. A good idea - let's hope they don't f*ck it up, because the place is awesome. Ali was one of the architects, and I'm hoping to catch up with him for a drink in Amman in a couple of days before I fly out.... interesting guy - half Jordanian and lived all around the world - he's going to take me to some "underground bars". Yay. Booze!
Here are some pics of the village - this is right near the hotel....
Jordan is the land of great sunsets - perched up on this rock was a great possy for Lisa and I:
And Mr Donkey came to visit us while we were watching the sunset.....
The hotel guys were really laid back - there was no "program of activities" as such - but a bunch of their mates would come around every night to sing and dance.... and, I should have learnt my sheesha lesson the first night, but, alas..... one of the Greeks produced a bottle of Ouzo - we had a great night....
Next stop: Petra. Having a travel buddy in Lisa was awesome - made for a cheaper and far more enjoyable trip to Wadi Mousa, the town at the gateway to Petra.
I think this is my favourite picture, and my favourite travel moment so far. Walking 2km down the road from the entrance was OK, and then walking 1.2km through the narrow siq (gorge - 3m to 16m wide all the way along, and up to 80m high) was a lot of fun, but nothing prepared me for the wonder this sight.....
At the end of the siq, the Treasury came into view - and it was breathtaking. There were a few carvings in the rocks in the gorge to tease us on the way through, but this building was just stunning.
I don't know how they did it 2000 years ago - every line straight, and perfect.... we haven't come very far...
Here is the Treasury in the full glory of the morning sun.....
Petra is ENORMOUS. I could post 10 million photos in here of all the buildings - it's mindblowing. It just goes on, and on, and on. The first day, we walked for over 6 hours and then decided to take what the locals call a " Bedouin taxi" - a donkey. The Monastery is about 1000 steps to get to - way up high - and we knew we had to knock it off the first day, so we negotiated our way to 2 donkeys for 5 dinar ($10 AU). Worth every white-knuckle cent as these donkeys carried us up the mountain. Lisa got one that kept turning around and heading back down the mountain which I thought was hysterical - but funnily enough she didn't..... here we are about halfway up....
The lying bedouins said that we'd go all the way to the top on the donkey - we had to climb for about 10 minutes which wasn't too bad - the view was worth it. It is even bigger than the Treasury - which I didn't think possible - see how tiny I am starjumping at it's foot!
Back down the bottom in the ruins of the temple, this lass asked for food in return for a photo - only too happy to oblige on both counts....
One of the many Bedouins that invited Lisa and I for Bedouin tea/for a Bedouin BBQ/for a Bedouin camping experience.... we didn't go, but we were pleased that we were at least offered the full Petra experience....
Some camels and the Royal Tombs in the rock, on our way out of Petra. A 45 minute walk to get out at the end of 7 hours walking all day ..... oh so very very tired....
Petra is called the Rose Red city, and here's why... in the afternoon sun, it was a different colour again:
Day two of Petra was painful - my entire body was aching, and one of us had a sore head from waaay too much blackmarket vodka.
I never got bored of photographing the Treasury, though the walk inside on Day 2 felt a bit longer, and bit less exciting - it was just as great seeing this at the end of the siq:
We decided to bite the bullet and commence the hike up to the High Place of Sacrifice early - well I did anyway, and Lisa diligently followed.... up up up. I felt like Will - I kept saying "no up, no up", but "up" just kept coming. No donkeys today, we said....
... then this little boy, Ahmed (below), offered us his donkey for 4JD down around the back of Petra, past some little-seen tombs. I'd wanted to walk, but when we saw how hot and dry it was across the plain, Lisa and I both balked. We decided to take the donkey if he could find a mate with one so we could both have one...
Ahmed and his donkey in front of the lion carving - it was a fountain....
Ahmed was just gorgoeus, and his donkey was so clean and well kept. We had a lot of fun, except on this day I got the dodgy donkey, and there were some hairraising moments down some steep, narrow, steps.... we decided to walk some of it....
Looking down over some of the tombs over the back of the main bit of Petra on our donkey ride....
On top of the world, or Petra anyway....
Ahmed kept asking us to go and meet his Mum and sister for Bedouin tea - we didn't have time, so we stopped with his friends Fatima and her daughter for tea on the way down. We sat with them and were offered (smokey) tea straight off the fire, bread, tomatoes and yoghurt - the hygiene practices were non-existent, but it was not the time or place to be picky. Bedouin hospitality is visitors are always offered the best of everything available, and it's rude not to take it.
Here is Fatima - she has traditional Bedouin tattoos on her face, to ward off evil spirits.
The night before Mohammed from our hotel was horrified that we'd had offers to watch the sunset with the lads in Petra, so offered to take us up to the best lookout point to see the sunset - it was great. Jordanian sunsets for me seem to just keep getting better....
More blackmarket vodka, and in addition to our dinner somehow, a plate of sweets (I am addicted to Middle Eastern sweets now - esp. the cashew ones), a bowl of nuts and a sunset miraculously appeared - hmmm. I knew Mohammed had a crush on one of us - and I dodged a bullet there, it was Lisa!
Sad to say goodbye to Lisa and Petra, but with plans to catch up in Egypt in a few days time, I headed to Wadi Rum, deep in the desert.
Within 5 minutes of arriving, Lee and Claire (a couple living in Dubai and hoklidaying in Jordan for a few days) had invited me to join them on their jeep tour through Wadi (you can't just drive through, it's heavily protected and regulated), and offered a lift to Aqaba after our overnight camp in the desert. Landed on my feet - which was great - and good company for the day, burning through the desert in a four wheel drive, losing the back end in the sand and screaming with fear as we bounced over sand dunes was a lot of fun....
Just by the entrance to the Wadi Rum protected area....
One of the many, many dunes....
Yep, desert....
This is Lee standing on the rock bridge - I climbed up there too! I think I need my fear of heights back - I cannot believe I survived.
This rock was cool - it looks like an elephant on this side, on the other side, it looks like a chicken.....
Mohammed (number 454 of my trip) playing his guitar (not sure of the Arabic name of this instrument), and Nagee (the driver that made me sh!t myself with feari n teh 4WD) at our camp.....
Our tents in the desert campsite, deep in the protected area....
And another great sunset....
So here I am now in Aqaba - on the Red Sea, ready for three days of snorkelling, relaxing and the beach (albeit fully clothed, LOL). It's hot, and the town is quite pretty and I just had a great lunch for $2AU (guess what it was - felafel! hummus! bread! but this time with a yummy omlette....), and heading out to a bar tonight with Lee and Claire. Yes, loving Jordan.
Sleeping in the desert was cool - the silence was deafening, it was that quiet, and the stars were to die for. After the Amazon, I didn't even give the snakes, spiders and scorpions a second thought - they were few and far between.
So here I am now in Aqaba - on the Red Sea, ready for three days of snorkelling, relaxing and the beach (albeit fully clothed, LOL). It's hot, and the town is quite pretty and I just had a great lunch for $2AU (guess what it was - felafel! hummus! bread! but this time with a yummy omlette....), and heading out to a bar tonight with Lee and Claire. Yes, loving Jordan.
