Jordan

After a border crossing we would like to forget we finally arrived into Jordan. It was to be a short stint in the country (4 days), but a very memorable one.

First Jordan stop was Aqaba for a couple of hours, good for a wander and a bit of Israel spotting as we could stand on one riverbank and see Israel on the other. Didn't fancy a swim across however. From there it was straight to the Wadi Rum desert, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia who had a secret military base there. Did a 4x4 safari in the worlds crappiest land rover which kept breaking down. Also did the slowest sand boarding ever, it was like snail sand boarding as they had no wax for the boards. Desert scenery was stunning though, you feel very small being dwarfed by big stone cliffs and endless desert sands.

Camped that night in the desert where Ray Mears wannabe Chris lit the camp fire with his flint, a proud day. Too bad the fire didn't make the wind disappear, we slept rough with no tents and had zero sleep as the wind buffeted us all night. Lesson learned for next time...

One of the must sees in Jordan is Petra, an ancient trading city built by the Nabateans over 2000 years ago into the rocks in a secret valley. We weren't at all prepared for how spectacular this ancient city would be. It was like stepping back in time as most things are very well preserved and it really has to be seen to be believed. We spent the entire day wandering about finding more and more to explore. They are right in saying you could spend a week exploring every nook and cranny. You couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to be the Swiss explorer Johan Burckhardt who rediscovered this lost city in 1812 - he would have been stoked.

Our tour schedule remains excessive with no time to rest so onto the dead sea we went. 27 years ago Chris' dad got his picture snapped relaxing in the dead sea and now it was our turn. Words cannot explain the freaky feeling of knowing you are in the water but not being able to sink. It was great fun bobbing up and down but there was definitely no water fights as if you got a bit of that stuff in your eye you would know about it. Got a little in my mouth which was nasty tasting. As the dead sea salt content is 31% you really need to wash it off asap before you start crusting over, forward planning by the tour company saw us canyoning in fresh water 10 mins away.

That night we camped rough again on Mt Nebo where Moses was allegedly buried and first spotted the promise land. Our campsite gave us great views over to Israel's gaza strip and the city of Jericho. It looked like a stones throw away, amazing how all these countries in the Middle East are visible from certain vantage points. No wonder bombs have flown in the past. This was our last night in Jordan. It was short but sweet (and a little salty).