Jordan is absolutely outstanding!
My last memories of Egypt will be of the hours spent baking in the Port Authority Terminal, surrounded by airconditioning units that were not switched on, and experiencing the joys of what was certainly not the world's filthiest toilet, but the worst I have seen for many years.
Arriving in Aqaba was like returning to civilized life, the Jordanians are very friendly, and unlike the Egyptians, they don't seem intent of removing the meager contents of this Canadian boy's wallet with insessant requests for baksheesh.
All of Jordan has been just incredible, Wadi Rum (Wadi means dessert valley), was beautiful, I can see why Laurence of Arabia spent so much time there, The Crusader's fortresses, such as at Shobak, were super cool (and allowed me to practice my favorite past time of pretending to be Tomb Raider).
But, beyond a doubt, everything I have seen on the trip, the Sphinx, the Pyramids, Climbing Mount Sinai, were eclipsed by Petra. I had seen so many photos, but after walking for about a kilometer through the Sik (the narrow cleft in the rock that joins Petra to the outside world) and seeing the facade of the Treasury cove into view was one of those moments that makes one's heart stop.
The Nebuteans that built most of Petra used to raid caravans, the then realised they could earn more by offering protection. The main trade was in spices and arromatics, like frankensense from Yemen, which was worth about $150 per kilogram. One camel can carry 200 kilograms of weight. A camel caravan would take 14 weeks to get from Yemen to Jordan and would often have 500 or 1000 camels. If my calculations are right that's 30 million dollars in a large caravan...no wonder the whole raiding/protection business was so popular (and rewarding).
I met a guy, Mohamed at a restaurant in Petra...he cracked me up, when the tourists would walk past we would say "wide camel" or "skinny camel" depending on their figure. Many hours later after the long walk to "The Monastery" or "The High Place" as the locals know it, I met up with Mohamed and his half brother and some of there friends, inside the most impressive of all Petra's buildings. We spent a long time drinking beduin tea, while some of them played on home made aluminium flutes or the arabic lute, others sang or clapped hands. (not being real good at beduin folk-songs...I mainly clapped...which is probably best for all concerned)
The Dead Sea is cool!
Yup, you can read a newspaper while floating in it, you can even do barrel rolls from your back to your belly without getting you face or newspaper wet. There is about 350 mgs of salt in every litre of Dead Sea water...which doesn't seem to impressive until it gets into your eyes. After rubbing myself in Dead Sea mud, and baking it into a hard shell before removing, I can vouch that my skin has never felt smoother.
I have been suffering from a horrible illness for the past few days that has resulted in my spending 12+ hours each day lying in a pool of my own sweat. Last night my fevers were so bad I became somewhat delusional. I spent much of the evening sitting under a cold shower. (which was just horrible, as my chills had been so bad that I had been wearing my polar fleece and many layers of clothes under a stack of blankets just to stop shaking, and it is pretty hot in Jordan in May).
That seemed to have the desired effect, and I am now wandering the streets of Amman, which is a lovely city, not especially historic or pretty, but easly to navigate, filled with friendly (semi) English speaking locals, and some of the funniest misspellings on signs etc that I have seen anywhere.
If it is the will of Allah, I will see you all soon.
My photos from Egypt, and Petra, and lots of other cool places are on my other memory card :(
But for your viewing pleasure I have attached a few piccies of me, under a castle at Showbak...looking for the secret escape route (I think I found it but it was filled with sand), hanging in some little jordanian clifftop village, and catching up ona bit of reading at the Dead Sea.
