This will be my last missive before we jet off home from Amman on Sunday & Hopefully before that we will have celebrated a victory for the Swans as 2006 AFL Premiers. I will try to tune into the ABC local radio via internet for the coverage of the game. Have already checked that the hotel business centre will be open!
Downtown Amman
Yesterday the temperature was 45 degrees C. Fortunately this suited our schedule drive in A/C comfort & for the two and a half hours journey from Petra to the Dead Sea.
Security is still tight here, we passed through three check-points on this short trip. On arrival we spent the afternoon lounging & in the shade beside the fantastic Movenpick Hotel pool and then floated in the Dead Sea. What a surreal experience that was. At 437 metres below sea level the Dead Sea water is the lowest point on earth and is so exceptionally bouyant it is difficult to stand up. One could easily 'sit' in the sea and read a book. The muddy sea floor is mineral rich and believed to have curative powers. The idea is to cover one's body with the hot mud, leave for 20 minutes and then wash off. Makes the skin feel soft and dare I say it - young! How lucky it was that I brought my 'crocs' with me - perfect for the pebble beaches and hot sand and in this case hot mud.
Must tell you about the Movenpick Resort Hotel. The main building is designed in ornate 500 year old Arabic style architecture. Fantastic stonework.
The hotel rooms and suites on the various lover levels going down to the sea are constructed to resemble 1000 year old crusader style, 100 year old Turkish style and some in old Jerusalem style buildings with streets and external stairs. At the end is the small village square.
The buildings around this square are designed as farm buildings - cowshed and storerooms converted to outlets. It is magnificent and a real treat; especially as John was able to negotiate an excellent room rate as there are so very few tourists here right now. Apart from one Japanese group and one Spanish bus group one could count the tourists we have seen almost on one hand since we arrived in Jordan. Very sad for the country but a real bonus for us.
Jordan is not the only country in the region suffering from the absence of tourists. Turkey, Egypt and Israel are the same and it will possibly continue this way until the conflict between Israel and Lebanon is settled. We get little news and the locals are not keen to discuss it, however The Jordan Times today indicated that Israel is expecting a 'second round' with Hizbollah and will not withdraw their troops in southern Lebanon until an agreement over how the UN peacekeepers and Lebanese army troops would deal with the armed Hizbollah fighters is reached - from what we can gather here, that is unlikely to happen in the near future. One hotel employee told me today that five weeks ago the hotels in Jordan were full of Lebanese fleeing the conflict and now the hotels are close to empty.
On Sept 23 our group on ten split up to go in many different directions. Some continued to different parts of Turkey, some to cruise the Greek Isles and one home to London. Bob Pearce flew home to Australia and his wife Suzie, & ohn and I flew to Cairo from Turkey to continue our adventure.
We hired 'George' - a driver/guide for our short time in Cairo. His brief was to take us to the highlights of the city and introduce us to the 'real' Cairo. The latter part of this brief was probably a huge mistake on our part! We rode horses around the great pyramids and spinx which was fantastic.
Once again only about another dozen tourist in this mighty complex well outnumbered by dozens of heavily armed police on foot and with 4 X 4 vehicles at the ready with guns atop. One felt very safe from terrorists but the security was a little scary. Next came the 'real' Cairo. Wow what an eye opener. Such a filthy dusty noisy city with garbage strewn everywhere. Even the great souk was disgusting and such a disappointment.
George took us to a 'local' restaurant for lunch - I wont begin to tell you how that was.
Finally we toured the best parts of the city. Unfortunately the famous Cairo museum was closed for relocation. We had booked our Cairo hotel on the internet and although it was very basic it suited our needs and in comparison to where George had taken us, it was in a good location almost next door to the Sheraton. We could not wait to leave Cairo.
6am on 25 Sept we caught a bus from Cairo for a six and a half hour journey to the ferry to cross the red sea to Aquaba in Jordan. After many stops at passport check-points we arrived to learn we could not board the ferry for two weeks. We faced two options; return to Cairo or backtract to the boarder and go to Jordan via Israel. As we did not consider Cairo an option, we teamed up with three French travellers and paid a local to drive us to the Egyptian/Israel boarder, about sixty km.
Tried to get a loose leaf Israel visa at this boarder and not have our passports stamped but were refused. Eventually with stamped passports we walked the 200 odd metres crossing into Israel without any problem.
A very friendly taxi driver took us to the Israel/Jordanian boarder where we obtained our Jordanian visa. It was a relief to finally get to Aquaba and the red sea where everything is clean and calm.
Since then we have swam in the red sea,visited the vast and ruggedly stark echoing desert of Wadi Rum and wandered the ancient city of Petra - the reason we came to Jordan.
Petra did not disappoint. It is one of Jordan's national treasures and the legacy of the Nabateans who settled in South Jordan more than 2000 years ago.
It is such a spectacular setting deep inside a narrow desert gorge via an awesome immense crack in the sandstone that winds for one kilometer between overhanging cliffs.
At the end of this walk is the dramatic appearance of Petra's famous monuments, the Treasury, plus literally hundreds of buildings, facades, tombs and temples and a theatre from the 1st centary AD.
We were so very fortunate that the Japanese group I mentioned before stood on the 'stage' of this historic theatre and sang. It was very moving and astonishing to hear the echo around the gorge.
We are in the middle of The holy month of Ramadam now. This time is greeted with enthusiasm by Muslims and has caused only a slight problem for us in that it is difficult to buy alcohol, even in some on the best hotels, until after sundown. Ramadam is the time for Muslims to reflect, give to charity and be conscientious of personal behaviour. One guide said this means fasting from dawn to sundown and no sex. The mix here is said to be 80 % muslim and 20% other religions - mainly Christian. In the mosques during Ramadam, the Holy Koran is recited by someone who has memorised the holy book. They have a pre dawn meal called the Suhur and after sundown everything comes to a standstill for Iftar or breakfast. Both meals are a religious type event from what I can gather. Many shops are closed throughout Ramadam.
We hired a car and John drove from the Dead Sea to the city of mosaics, Madaba to the Graeco-Roman city of Jerash and onto Amman.
Tomorrow is our last full day of this amazing adventure so we plan to have a splash-up Jordanian dinner tonight. God willing John and will land in Sydney Monday evening. Suzie is going back to Istanbul for a few days before heading home.
Thanks again to everyone for the emails.
Jeanette
