Jordan day 7 - back to Amman

It was an early start for our final day. We were on the bus and heading out of Aqaba by 8:30.


We had started to shed people with two of our party staying on in Aqaba.

The trip back to Amman along the desert Highway was uneventful.

The desert is spotted with plants such as the ones seen in this photo

We had one stop for refreshments, toilets and shopping and we did buy a number of items.

Once we hit the outskirts of Amman the traffic became heavier and the closer we got to the centre the more caotic it became. Still, there is an acceptable manner of behaving and drivers do allow others to merge and cross. Rarely did we hear a horn.

We ate lunch at a local eatery. Obviously local as the menu was only in arabic. Tourists were not a common cliental. Sami organised the food for us which made the process fairly simple. And the food was excellent.

After lunch we headed for the Citadel. This site has been occuppied by the usual suspects from before the bronze age. The remaining structures are from the Roman times onwards.

The traffic was very congested particularly as we passed the vegetable market.

The views over the city from this high point were excellent. We were able to see the suburbs crawling up and over the ridges. With a population of 1.8 million people the city is surprisingly compact. Perhaps not so surprising when you consider that people generally live in apartment blocks. I still haven't worked out what the transport system is for Amman, apart from cars. There are busses but not enough to cater for that number of people. I must check it out when I get a chance.

These four photos show what much of Amman looks like. Note the Roman theatre in the top right of the final one

The Citadel site is quite big and Sami walked us through it explaining the history and purpose of each of the buildings/ruins before letting us loose in the museum. The museum was set up by time periods and each one had a small but impressive collection of relicts from the period.

This photo and the one below date from the Byzantine period

Just below the Citadel was the Roman Theatre. This was very well preserved. Getting to it in the bus required quite some skill and Hussein eased the bus through a number of points contrained by parked vehicles and narrow points on the road.

View of the rows of seats taken from the centre of the theatre stage

Trevor looking over the theatre

The theatre was certainly worth a visit as was the small museum attached which contained displays of clothing by region and some mosaics from a number of sites.

Two of the mosaics on display in the museum at the theatre

We said goodbye to Sami at the hotel and Trevor retrieved the bags we have left there earlier in the week.

We had been promoted to the 5th floor and our room was a very generous size with a huge bed.

Poor Thingy was starving. He had dropped to a mere 6% of his battery capacity. While we waited for our bags to be delivered we headed down stairs for a cup of coffee.

I eventually got Thingy sorted out. While there were quite a few power points in the room some of them did not work. After trying a couple of dud points I eventually unplugged a working lamp and used that point. Later I discovered a power point hidden behind a piece of furnitre which worked so I was able to plug the lamp back in to its point.

For dinner most of the group had opted to go to the resaurant Sami had taken us to on the previous Sunday night. Hussein, our driver, had kindly agreed to pick us up and return us to the hotel. At 7 o'clock we piled on to the bus and headed off. We were allocated a table in the "tent"area. This is actually an open air area with a bedouin cloth overhead intended to give the feeling of being in a bedouin tent. Those of us who were inadequately covered for the cool evening were provided with a robe to keep us warm. Without a translator ordering dinner was a bit of a challenge however we did eventually manage it. Most of the group had opted for mezza and an a la carte main.

Once again the food was excellent and there was far too much of it for us to finish it all.

We farewelled hussein when he dropped us back at the hotel and headed upstairs to attempt to finish our packing ahead of our flight to Dubai.

Later in the evening we went down and got a hot drink. Not being able to make a hot drink in our room was a bit of a pain however tonight it was a great chance to say final farewells to the people who had shared our week in Jordan.

Jordan day 6 ... camel rides and Aqaba

After going to sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow I awoke about an hour and a half later and could not get back to sleep. In the end I gave up trying and got Thingy out and drafted the write up for the day.

Just after 5 o'clock it started to get light and Trevor, who was awake by this time, and I headed out to find a spot to watch the sunrise.

The air was clear and the sky a lovely pale blue. As we watched, the sky in the east changed to a pale yellow. There were no dramatic colour changes. Finally the sun popped up above our horizon (a v between two valley walls) and the show was over. Some of the rock faces did show up with deep red tones. The light coloured rocks which we had expected to take on different hues remained stubbornly unchaged.

 We trudged through the sand back to the camp for breakfast. Vehicles arrived and people disappeared into the buildings adjacent to our tents. A welcome kettle of tea was produced and the fire in the pit in the middle of the compound was relit. This kept the tea hot along with a smaller kettle of water which was used for coffee.

Food items began to appear on the table. No one was game to go and help themselves as we did not want to offend our hosts by doing something that was inappropriate. I think that the staff ended up getting a bit frustrated with our lack of response to the arrival of the food as one of them eventually went and found Sami who appeared and informed us that we could start eating our breakfast.

Eleven of us from the group had elected to go camel riding this morning. After breakfast we headed out of the camp and found a dozen camels and three handlers awaiting us. The first person to get seated on a camel was Rosemary, a fairly large lady, and the handlers were very careful to ensure that she managed to get seated and then remain in the saddle as her camel stood up.

Trevor tackled the mounting process like a pro. Has he been practicing on Inti?

Trevor on his camel

 When It was my turn it was almost disaster time. The saddle on my camel was slipping and the camel was not at all pleased about life. I don't blame the poor thing. A shifting weight would be no fun at all. The handlers had to get the camel to sit down without me falling off sideways. It probably looked hilarious but was a triffle disconcerting from where I was. Rather that fiddle with the strapping on the problem camel I was allocated the spare camel. This was the baby of the dozen and I mounted and we got up without any further dramas.

A riders view of Baby Camel

Baby camel, I didn't find out its name nor its sex, very remiss of me, wanted to be the leader of our group of camels. That was fine for the first bit of the ride, actually a walk, as our camel handler did not attached Baby to the line but kept hold of its rope. Eventually Baby was deemed to be behaving and the rope was attached to the line. That did not stop Baby attempting to get in the lead whenever there was space between the moving camels to do so.

Me on my camel (2nd from the left)

A number of the riders were disconcerted by the grazing habits of their camels. Trevor and I were not at all surprised when our mounts grabbed mouthfuls of vegetation while on the move. For the rest of the group it was rather unexpected and a bit unsettling when their camel put their head down to grab a mouthful of a low bush as it passed.

The handlers occasionally grabbed a handful of vegetation to give to a camel if it was obvious that it was missing out on grabbing food.

Our camel ride was definitely pedestrian. The camels were lead by handlers who were walking across the sand so the pace was slow. One of the camels, a large female who was six moths pregnant, had a rope tied just above her knees. When asked why we were informed that this camel liked to move rather faster than was safe and the rope restricted the speed at which she could move. That group of riders were rather relieved that their chain of camels couldn't race off into the desert at will.

After a good hour of camel fun we arrived back at our camp. We then had the fun of our camels sitting and us dismounting. Everyone managed OK as the handlers were very careful to ensure that only one of their charges sat at a time and had a second handler assist if they thought that it was needed.

Baby camel after I had dismounted

 Actually, Di, the camel ride was quite a lot of fun. I don't know if it would be if you were on a camel for an entire day. An hour was fine even if the inner thighs felt like they had had a major workout. That was one of the issues I had when I swapped to Baby camel as I ended up with my legs handing rather than wrapped around the front pole of the saddle.

The group clambered into the three 4-wheel drives for the drive to the bus meeting point.  Our group was obviously a bit slow as it took us more than half the trip to realise that Sami, our guide, was actually driving our ute. He was a much more careful driver than the chap we had going out to the camp.

The initial part of the drive involved retracing our steps until we reached the Desert Highway and we turned towards Aqaba which was only about 40km south.

Running through the desert is a narrow guage railway line which these days ferries phosphate from where it is mined to port for shipment. In the days of Lawrence of Arabia the line was used to move troops and, as a consequence, had bits blown up.

A section of the narrow guage railway line running through the Jordanian desert

 I was a little over taking photos of rocky things so did not take any photos of the peaks and rocks we saw on the drive in to Aqaba.

Aqaba appears to be a clean, well organised modern city. There were quite a number of parks in the areas we passed through. The traffic was certainly less frenzied that Amman but then it was a Friday. By the time we reached the city centre the level of traffic had increased but it was nothing like we saw elsewhere in Jordan. On the whole the traffic flow was much more in accord with what we generally experience.

We were staying at Days Inn and were able to get in to our rooms when we arrived at 11 o'clock. Sami had rung ahead of our arrival to make the early access arrangement for which we were all grateful.

After a shower, a change of clothes and grabbing our swimming gear we were off to the Red Sea. Amman is situated on the shore of the Red Sea and is a busy trading port.

The sea looked was blue as we approached. The relatively high temperature was moderated by a cooling breeze. The whole party had opted to take the Red sea boat trip so we were handed over the the captain and his offsider for 4 hours out on the Red Sea. We headed north along the Jordanian bit of coast. We finally stopped over a reef where we were able to go swimming. Most of us took the chance to swim among the fish in the Red Sea. The coral in the reef had been bleached.

Looking towards a settlement on the Israel side across the Red Sea

Fish milling around the boat after bread was thwon into the water

Bare hills along the Jordanian Red sea coast

 Back on the boat we were treated to a very pleasant lunch before moving to a new location. The second stop didn't have nearly as many fish as the first. Of those who went in at the second stop most only stayed in a short time before returning to the boat.

All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Some observations.

Four countries have borders on the Red Sea near its southern end: Jordan, of course, and Saudi Arabia on the east side and Israel and Egypt on the western side. We saw the coast of all but Saudi Arabia but did see some of the Saudi land in the distance. No, we did not pay a visit to the other countries and our captain was careful to keep to the Jordanian side of the sea.

There were quite a few people down at the beach. We observed a number of women frolicking in the sea in burkas. It didn't seem to be stopping them enjoying themselves from what we could see.

There are a number of resort complexes along the coast with some very large ones under construction. From the outside they look swanky.

Back at the hotel we used the time to shower again, wash our hair which was full of salt, and catch up on emails and other things that had been neglected.

I had managed to catch a cold and my running nose was an inconvenience. Still, these things happen and a runny nose is much better than other runny things.

At 7 o'clock we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Aqaba has a good reputation for their seafood and what we were served did not disappoint. It was also licenced to serve alcohol which was a definite positive for the group. I suspect that some in the group wouldn't have cared what they were served foodwise just as long as they could get an alcoholic drink.

I was a little amused to observe camels being lead and riden along the footpath. I'm not sure what the pedestrians did when they encountered one. Get out of their way, I guess.

After dinner we did a walking tour through the centre of the city. It was buzzing with life. Many of the shops remain open until midnight and I can vouch for the fact that many of the eating places were still open to well after that time even if the regular shops had finally closed for the day.  The traffic was very heavy with people appearing to be cruising around, some looking for a parking spot which were in high demand and short supply.

We visited a spice shop. While we did purchased some Bedouin tea Trevor is not sure whether we will be able to get it into the country on our return. I guess time will tell.

Danielle, one of our party, who was roped in to help in the spice shop

We purchased a head scarf for Trevor as he had become expert at tying them. He will have to domonstrate his newly acquired skill when he gets home. I can just see him walking around Duffy leading Inti and Chimu wearing his head scarf like a true arab.

Our final stop of the night was for a hot drink. In Jordan there are no facilities in hotel rooms to make a hot drink. For we westerners who are used to being able to make a cup of tea or coffee at any time of the day or night without leaving our room this has been the biggest inconvenience we have experienced. Consequently, we were delighted to be having a late night hot drink before retiring for the night. The choices of teas is always wide and I decided on ginger tea while Trevor decided to try a hot chocolate. The rest of the group selected a wide variety of drinks and most came with a small bottle of water which was a real bonus.

 Back at the hotel Trevor retired for the night as I finished off the blog for our previous day.

Seen in Aqaba:

Jordan day 5 - Wadi Rum

Many places in Jordan are alcolhol free even though tabacco smoking is very wide spread. That aside, we had expected to be able to take alcohol to dinner on our last night in Petra. The bar at our hotel sold wine and beer and a number of us purchased bottles before heading off for dinner. Alas, Sami had been misinformed and we were unable to consume alcohol at the restaurant. It was consumed later around the hotel pool.

How is this for a label? Note the ashtray generally available on every table in every room

It was another 10 o'clock start today. This gave us time to sort out what we would take with us for our overnight stay in a Bedouin camp at Wadi Rum and what would remain with the bus. Thingy was packed in my overnight bag.

I did manage to complete going through the many photos that I had taken in and around Petra and posted a small selection of the photos. The write up will come later.

Once on the bus we headed to Little Petra which lies about 12 miles from Petra. I assume the distance is as the crow flies or maybe not. I'll need to check this later.  This area was set up as a trading area so that traders and spies passing as traders would not actually enter Pettra and thus not be able to report on access routes, defences and the like. There were some well preserved features within the site and well worth the visit.

A staircase leading to an upper level

The frescos on the ceiling (see below for a view of part of the remanents) date from BC

Little Petra had yet another "World Best Views" and quite a few of the group made the climb to check out the allegation. The views were OK but nowhere near as good as many of the views and vistas we had along the trails we had hiked on the previous day.

The best view in the world? No, not when compared with the vistas of the previous day at Petra

Sami took the opportunity to do a group photo for us all. By the time the last of the cameras where picked up we were all getting a little silly. I'm not sure whether it was too much sun or the fact that smiling for 18 photos was a little beyond our ability to remain serious.

Our tour group. Trevor and I are in the back row

To get to Wadi Rum we needed to return through Petra. The plan was to grab lunch in the town however there was nowhere to park the bus so we ended up with Plan C. Or was it D? We stopped at the next town (or village) and purchased items to make up our lunch. The available foodstuffs were a little limited once you discounted anything that required a knife to cut it. In the end we got hommus, soft cheese, a bread each and a bag of mixed nuts. This was actually a very cheap lunch.

A short distance out of Petra we stopped so that we could have a final view across the world heritage site. From our vantage point we could see part of the trail that we had followed to get to the high place for our view down on the Treasury.

Back on the bus we headed down the Kings Highway stopping at a rest house where we were able to eat our lunch. Sami surprised us with 100 small falafals which he had purchased while we were getting our lunch stuff. They were really nice and still warm. They certainly made a big difference to our lunch.

The rest housse had toilets, nice and clean, hot drinks and a huge area of items for us tourists to purchase. Actually, the prices were good and many of the group came away with purchases.

Swapping highways, the Desert Highway for the Kings Highway, we arrived at the Petra Visitors Centre a little after 2:30pm. We had a quick stop to look at, and take photos of, the Seven Pillars refenced in T. E. Lawrence's book Seven Pillars of Wisdom. T. E. Lawrence? He was none other than Lawrence of Arabia. He had camped beneath the pillars and had come up with a strategy for defeating the Ottoman Empire, the then rulers of much of the Middle East. someone obviously could not count. We had to work hard at getting seven pillars from the famed formation.

Lawrence of Arabia's "Seven Pillars". If you can get seven pillars let me know

The landscape within the Wadi Rum area is stunning. The formations left by the erosion of wind and water really need to be seen to be believed. My photos will not do it justice.

Within the desert areas of Wadi Rum four wheel drive is essential so we all transferred from the bus to utes. Seated on a bench which ran either side of the back we were transported across the desert.

We were taken to a point where we could get a good view of part of the Wadi. Walking across the sand and up sand hills is hard work. Give me rocks any day.

Part of the entrance ticket charged to get into Wadi Rum was a cup of tea in a Bedouin tent. While a small number of our companions took up the challenge of climbing up a rather large sand hill these of us settled down to a refreshing cup of tea. The tea tent was also another opportunity to sell stuff to visitors. Actually, some of the prices were very reasonable and, once again, quite a few members of our group bought things. By now about half the group are wearing head scarves. Trevor and I are still wearing our Pacific School Games hats.

The Wadi Rum area has been habitated for many millenium. We were taken to an area where rock drawings can still be seen. I hope that some of the many figures show up in my photos.

Finally we arrived at our camp. The setting was stunning. There are high walls on three sides of the tight valley. After yet another cup of tea we were able to claim our sleeping quarters. There was an option of taking the matress out to sleep around the camp fire.

There are toilet facilities at the camp but no showers. Water is in short supply but not camp cats. I guess that there were only two but they did seem to be everywhere.

We trundled out to watch the sunset. With no clouds in the sky we were left to hope that it would just simply colour up. It did to and extent and we ended up with a yellowish sky. Unfortunately the photos didn't seem to capture the colour. 

Back in camp we settled down around the fire and were entertained by a chap playing a traditional musical instrument and singing. It was very pleasant.


While the entertainment was going on preparation for dinner were underway with trays of food appearing from who knows where. Finally we were told that the meat was to be extracted from its cooking place in the ground and we went out to watch it being retrieved. There was loads of food with a wide varieties of salads and other vegetable dishes along with the "BBQ"ed lamb and chicken.

About to open up the cooking pit

The top is revealed

Lifting the trays out of the pit

The array of dishes offered for our meal

... and the chicken and lamb

 During dinner one of the girls went to her tent to get something and returned somewhat distressed as she had discovered a large scorpion inside it. The camp staff quickly captured and dispensed with the intruder.

After dinner Sami gave us a lecture about things Bedouin. This was very informative.

To finish off a great day we marched out into the desert, guided by torches for those who had thought to bring them,  to a spot where we could observe the night sky. The array of stars was unbelievable. The night was clear with no moon and the the stars were magical. We spent quite a long time just watching them and were fortunate to see shooting stars, too. Our return to the camp was without the aid of our torches ... just the light from the stars. As we were crossing uneven ground this was a bit tricky but we all made it back in one piece.

By the time we reached the camp the generator had been turned off. It, the generator, is only run for a couple of hours and shut down at 9 o'clock. The camp fire was still burning and torches provided sufficient light to prepare for bed.

The wind had come up by the time we needed to decide whether we would sleep outside under the stars or in our tents so most of us opted for sleeping inside. There were three hardy souls, all equipped with sleeping bags, who slept out.