Day 9: Petra

Another big day today!
We boarded a bus at 6:15am for Petra... it broke down in the middle of the desert, but luckily another bus was following that we were able to board immediately. We arrived at the "Visitor Centre" in Petra at 10:40am. We bought our ticket and began our hike. It is a very long and very hot walk to the first part of Petra... it took almost 1 hour before we got to the Treasury. Fortunately, the last 30 minutes of that walk is through the siq, which is like the walls of the Grand Canyon (without water). Once inside the Petra site it is very hot but quite breath-taking. You'll see a small selection of the pictures below... we hope it serves it justice. We walked to the end, then decided to take a camel back to the Treasury before exiting. We asked our camel owner what the temperature was and he confirmed that it was 37.5 degrees... kind of normal, but under the searing sun it felt hotter.
Sue and Mark drove to Petra to pick us up (4pm) and continue our journey to Aqaba. We drove along the upper rim of the Wadi Rum desert on the King's Highway. It took approximately 1h 45min to arrive to the Intercontinental in Aqaba. The temperature at 6pm was 51 degrees... yup, 51, 5-1 DEGREES!!!!! It feels like walking past an open oven door... but you never get past it!! The resort is beautiful and beaches on the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba). From the beach (at night) we can see the lights from - Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Israel. No pictures from the resort yet... they will follow.
Tomorrow will be a lazy day until ~3pm, then we're off to Wadi Rum for a desert hike and to see a beautiful sunset!

Petra - Architecture of Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Roman influence but made by the Nabataean people in the early 1st century AD (http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/petra_map.html)

Siq into Petra

Our first glimpse of The Treasury

The Treasury

"The Street of Facades" -

Silk Tomb

Lower Basin - outside the Crowne Plaza restaurant inside Petra (not the hotel, just the small restaurant)

Donkeys in Lower Basin - donkeys can be VERY loud!

facades

Really cool rock colours inside a cave

Tom & Deed on camels!! :)

Day 8: Ajlun Castle and Jerash (Roman Province)

Big day today! We were up early and had a driver take us to Ajlun and Jerash.
It was unbelievably hot with little or no shade... we were told it was 41 degrees @ noon.
Enjoy the picutres!

Ajlun - here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajlun_Castle

Tom and his new friends (who did NOT want me in the picture!)

A view from the top of the castle

Inside the Ajlun castle

Full view of the Ajlun castle

Jerash - here are a few details http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/jerash_map.html

Sand art... can't wait to show the boys what we got them

Hadrian's Arch

Inside the Hippodrome

The city's original gate

Don't we look like we're in love?!?

It's us again... in love... with Zeus' Temple in the background

Oh... here we are again, in love, with some arches in the back

... and here is our Bedouin photographer (camera hijacker)... who certainly knew his way around a D300!!

"The Cardo" - Colonnaded Street

Temple of Artemis (Zeus' daughter)

Amphitheater "South Theater", 90-92 AD

Another view of the Hippodrome

Day 7: Around Amman

Nothing exciting to report... I'm (Deidre) on the mend today... feeling much better.
Tom and I walked approx. 3 Kms to a local mall (AlBaraka)... it was nice to get out.
We did some grocery shopping at the Cozmo and met Mark after work for a ride home.
Tom made some yummy sandwiches and then everyone napped in the afternoon while I made guacamole and salsa.
We went to a local DVD store where we bought 6 DVDs for 5 JDs... tonight we watched Harry Potter.
Tomorrow we're off to Jerash & Ajlun... we'll be sure to have many pictures to share after our excursion!! :)

Day 5/6: Layin' low

Our trip to Jerash and Ajlun was sidelined because I (Deidre) became pretty ill Friday night. I was up all night battling something my digestive system didn't agree with. It's knocked me down pretty hard; I didn't know I was capable of sleeping so long.
We checked out of the hotel early Saturday and drove directly home rather than visit Jerash and Ajlun. We may be able to organize a trip there ourselves on Monday or Tuesday; we'll see how things work out.
I'm beginning to feel better today (Sunday), but still spent the day at the house. Tom went to the "Wakalat" mall - he said I'd really like it, so we'll make a point of walking there in the next couple of days.
We did some laundry today... as you can imagine it line dries in no time at all!!
Later Sunday evening (after I'd originally wrote the post), I was well enough that we went for a short drive and stopped at the Wakalat area for some food at the Lebani Snack place... I had a fruit smoothie, Tom had a shwarma and Mark had a squeaky-cheese sandwich. Here's the gentleman offering up Arabian coffee upon entry... he likes Canada but is saving his money to move to the US:

Coffee... NOW!!!!

Just a slight shade of pale-green

Day 4: Dead Sea Hwy and Wadi Mujib

Today we set off from our resort for a trek down the Dead Sea Highway to Wadi Mujib.  We took a 2 hour hike up river to a beautiful waterfall.  Enjoy the pics!!

Dead Sea

Salty and receding coastline

Deidre on the coast

Tom on the coast

Interesting and scary  signage

Entrance to Wadi Mujib

Tom floating in air

Breath taking!!

Tom and Deidre

Tom and Mark near the top

Heading back down

Sue and Mark after the hike

Chocolate rock

Day 3: Madaba, Mt. Nebo and Dead Sea

 Today we drove to Madaba, Mt. Nebo and the Dead Sea. It was a very warm day... it hit 41 degrees at approximately 4pm (but don't worry, "it's a dry heat"!).

Madaba is  a small community famous for St. George's church with a mosaic map of the middle-east buried under it's floor.

Downtown Madaba

St. George Orthodox Church - mosaic map of the Middle East

More downtown Madaba... if you don't like the price here, go

 next door

Mount Nebo - Moses memorial

Mt. Nebo - where you can see Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea

Jordanian moose on the side of the road

Mt. Nebo

Holiday Inn - Dead Sea (view from Sue & Mark's room)

Look Ma, no hands!!

Dead Sea float

They tell us the mud is good for your skin... I think they like to see people put stuff on their skin that stinks like poop!

Mmmm... smells yummy... NOT!


 

Night time shot of lower pool

Bar area

Far off lights across the Dead Sea....The "West Bank"