Greater Palestine and the East Bank

We are regrettably coming to the end of our visit to Jordan. We thought we underdid Petra a bit on the last post so here is a little bit more, before we move onto floating rocks and high-tech refugee camps.

The hike up to the Monastery really took it out of us, and when we staggered out of bed around 11am the next day, breakfast was a bit hard to come by. Penny made do with a bowl of hommus (note the oil) and Matt had a meat and onion kebab. Breakfast of champions.

This is Wadi Musa, the town which services Petra.

And here is a little bit more Petra. This is the shot that all self-respecting tourists have to take. We chose not to gallop through the Siq on horseback ala Indy Jones, but managed to step in a whole heap of horse, donkey and camel poo all the same.

Because we don't know when to quit, we climbed up yet another large hill to the "High Place of Sacrifice", where animals were taken (probably slowly, because there were heaps of steps) for religious ceremonies. We wandered around the plateau trying to find a vantage point down onto the valley, but it was getting late and it was hard to see the edges of the cliffs over the loose gravel, so we turned back. On the way, we saw other people were picking up the mantel of craziness ...

Total lunatic.

Here are some more photos of the middle of Petra town.

This facade was hidden around a corner, which we only found as the park was closing.

And this is the really interesting pattern left on the roof by centuries of water.

We also climbed up to the top of the ampitheatre, stopped to have a rest and regain feeling in our legs, and then did the 2km uphill back to Wadi Musa.

The most common way for tourists to die in this part of the world (even more dangerous than being in a coastal resort with Germans) is to be in a bus which rolls over cliffs. This is where our local driver decided to park, among howls of "F#@*ING STOP" from us ...

And this is the cliff we were overlooking at the time.

Would you believe that when it was time to go, he drove FORWARDS, while turning. Local drivers, eh?

As you could see from our stunt-bus, we were a long way up, and it was a really long descent to 400m below sea level to swim in the Dead Sea.

These are the salient points to note before bomb-diving in the water ...

Here in the Holy Land of Greater Palestine, miracles really do happen. Who would have thunk it, but Matt can float! Some said it could never be done.


Despite consuming 10 plates of hommus, even Penny could do it ...

Matt tried as hard as he could to sink, and failed miserably.

The water in the Dead Sea is eight times saltier than every other ocean. It is impossible to sink. By waving your arms when upright and dragging yourself down you can get your neck into the water, but you immediately bob back up. Enormous care needs to be taken, though. Just a drop of the water on your lips feels like a burning match, and there are fresh water taps near the shore for those silly enough to get their eyes wet.

After floating in the Dead Sea we went for a swim in a fresh water pool just up the hill. It was hard work swimming without free bouyancy. We were disciplined by the life guard for being too close to each other. Very embarrassing. Very haram (forbidden!).

After the Dead Sea we took the bus-of-death up Mt Nebo, which is where Moses is said to have viewed the Promised Land and then died on God's instructions. This is the view towards Israel from the top of the mountain.

It hardly looks like the "Land of Milk and Honey", resembling much more a desert salt pan. We recently read about an alternate theory that the Promised Land, and Mt Nebo, are in fact in Kashmir, and this image seems to lend some weight to that view.

Next stop was Amman and Madeba. Amman is the capital of Jordan, and has grown from a small village 60 years ago to a city of 2 million people, the vast majority being Palestinian refugees.

With satellite TV.

Amman was a major Roman administrative centre, as you can see by the hilltop Roman temple and the ampitheatre and forum below.

Interestingly, the town was abandoned around 700AD (earthquakes again) and only resettled in the 19th century by 18 families fleeing persecution. Quite a rate of growth.

We are staying in Madeba, a small satellite town of Amman. This is the King of Jordan, Abudallah 2, a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. He is revered by all, and photos of him doing interesting things like watching football, smoking a sheesha pipe and generally looking military and regal are everywhere. This poster obscures the Jerusalem patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox church and the central roundabout in town.

The Queen is extraordinarily attractive. Google Queen Rania and you will not be disappointed.

We're off to view more Roman ruins tomorrow in Jerash, and will venture onwards into Syria - the land of meze. Hurrah!