jordan: journalum qeis - 20th julynever before in our travels have we had stones thrown at us. this was the welcome we received from the small children in the village of um qeis in north eastern jordan. although to phrase it like that isn't really fair. all the adults were very welcoming and tea and coffee was always offered in the hospitably arab fashion to which we'd become accustomed. guards at the numerous check points were always polite and friendly and welcomed us to jordan. the children were truly obnoxious though. shame. um qeis is a small village beside the ancient roman settlement of gedera. perched high on a hilltop at the beginning of the great rift valley, it looks down across israel and the sea of galilee. surprisingly, given the location, there is an excellent restaurant in the ruins. this meant we were able to enjoy the view over a cold beer, gazing out between the columns as the romans must have done.
um qeis, al-hamma, jaresh, azraq junction - 21st julyclose to um qeis, there is a small spa called al-hamma. having somewhat rushed through syria due to their exhorbitant diesel tax - charged weekly - we wanted to relax a bit. al-hamma sounded like it might be just the place. as we pulled up outside, the landrover was beseiged by eager sellers; shouting and waving bits of tat through the open windows. that wasn't the haven of relaxation we'd envisaged, so a quick three-point-turn later and we were on the road again heading south along the east bank of the river jordan. the other side of the river was the notorious palestinian west bank. in amongst the lush hills of palms and olive groves it was hard to imagine all the troubles and hardships just across the narrow river; though the checkpoints with their large machine guns and humvee jeeps offered themselves as frequent reminders.
jaresh is home to another ruined roman city and is one of jordan's principal sites (after petra, of course). curiously though, it doesn't have much in the way of accommodation - particularly for the budget traveller. we hoped to camp in the nearby national park, but selfish picnickers had left the forest floor carpeted with rubbish as far as the eye could see. we tried the only hotel that allowed camping - but they wouldn't allow us to camp. reasoning that jaresh probably looked pretty similar to the other roman ruins we'd seen recently, we decided to give it a miss and once again headed out of town. this time we'd set our sights on azraq oasis/junction. perhaps an unlikely refuge, to say it romantically; azraq oasis is one of the oldest continually inhabited spots in the world, whose fresh water spring has drawn desert travellers for thousands of years as well as migrating birds on route to africa. its small fort also once sheltered laurence of arabia. to say it another way; azraq junction is primarily a truck stop on the cross-road between the main routes to iraq, syria and saudi arabia. the main road is lined with kebab restaurants and has a cheap hotel. romantically or otherwise, it sounded like the place for us.
azraq junction - 22nd julyit was good to be out in the desert. the land rover cruised easily along the long straight roads unphased by the heat. they were the kind of roads we'd envisaged driving along way back when we were planning our trip. the hotel was cheap, so we decided to stay a day and relax.
we ate cheap kebabs beside the road and watched the traffic go by. huge trucks towed multi-storey trailers packed with sheep. they rumbled towards saudi arabia in a ceasless convoy; their fetid smell trailing behind them. in the other direction the land-cruisers were almost as ceasless, always white, blacked out windows, gold trim where possible. the roof racks were piled with suitcases and the backs filled with black shrouded women and children. from where we sat, it looked like an exodus. azraq junction, madaba, the dead sea, karak - 23rd julywe left azraq early, in the cool of the morning. on the way we visited a couple of the desert forts, built by umayyid caliphs (early islamic rulers) in the 7th century. against the empty desert surroundings the plain exteriors of these simple structures have a certain style about them. the interior of one is decorated with flowing murals of hunting scenes and dancing girls - very unusual in islam art apparently.
arriving in madaba in time for a late breakfast, we couldn't help but notice that the shops were selling - and advertising - beer! it had been quite a while since beer had been available - at least at a price we were prepared to pay. madaba though was, at least partially, a christian area with several churches; probably due to its proximity to the holy site of mount nebo. this explained the beer.
not ones to miss an opportunity we grabbed a couple of cold ones, threw them into the cool-box and headed for the dead sea. on the way we stopped off at mount nebo - where god showed moses the promised land. after taking some snaps of the mosaics in the basilica we gazed down into the great rift valley, a seismic fault that runs south for 5,000 kms, all the way to mozambique. it was hard to believe that we would more or less be following it all the way down there, and then some.
if you'd told us that morning that we'd be spending the afternoon sitting on the beach drinking a cold beer, we wouldn't have believed it. but that's exactly what we did and it was great. the dead sea didn't disappoint either, the floating really is hysterical but any in your eyes and you soon know about it. we ended up the day in a hotel in a town called karak. the manager was a friendly egyptian who liked to share his arak - the strong local spirit. the days really are full at the moment. dana national park - 24th julydana national park is one of a very few wildlife parks in the arab world. the arab passion for hunting has eliminated most of their native species. however, at least in places, the message of conservation is beginning to be spread. ibix, syrian wolf, caracol and hyena are all native to the reserve. luckily for the animals, dana is a large park enclosing part of the great rift escarpment as well as a vast area of desert beyond. this is not so lucky for us though, as it means it's very unlikely you'll ever see any of them. for this reason, and the high entrance fees, we decided to stay on the outskirts of the park, enjoying the rugged scenery and having the relaxing days we'd promised ourselves.
wadi musa (petra) - 24th julywadi musa is the small village cum tourist hub that covers the hillside above the ancient city of petra. we chose from one of the many hotels more hastily than usual, as that morning the bathroom called. we managed to stop a small boy drawing on the side of the land rover with a marker pen (those loveable jordanian kids!) then sat out the heat of day before making our first assault on petra. i use the word assault, as petra's geography thankfully (in a way), makes it impossible for tourists to be bussed right up to the main sights, unlike many other world class attractions. the site of the ancient city is accessed, as it has been since ancient times, through a dramatically narrow canyon (or siq) that winds its way through an ayers rock sized wall of stone. this means - shock, horror - that you must walk.
the site itself is spread out over several kilometres and it's a couple of kilometres through the siq. i can hear you scoffing, but with the mid-summer temperature edging towards 40 degrees in the shade, those trivial distances soon add up to a whole tee-shirt of sweat - not to mention a rucksack full of water to replace it with.
we bought a three day entrance ticket to the site. this made economic sense, as it doesn't cost much more that a one day ticket, plus it allowed us to take our time and get the best from petra. this was a part of trip the we'd been really looking forward to.
we avoided the boiling mid-day heat, settling instead for the gentle simmer of late afternoon. walking down the shallow slope towards the siq we declined the many insistent offers of camel/donkey/horse rides from the bedouins who provide a shuttle service for those with larger wallets or waists than ourselves. these unwanted but to-be-expected distractions persisted on down through the siq. as we wound our way round the smooth curves, i tried to put the hawkers into context; surely it would have been similar in the cities thriving heyday, probably worse, some opportunities for profit never change.
the walk through the siq lasted longer than expected. at every turn in the canyon i was braced for that postcard shot as the huge, ornately carved facade emerges between the rock walls. the anticipation had built up deliciously when we reached it, and it didn't disappoint. golden in the afternoon sun, magnificently bold and astonishingly precise, the "treasury" impressed us as it must have all visitors for the last 2000 years.
the treasury is petra's ornate reception. accordingly, i wasn't expecting too much of the back office, the site of the city beyond. but i underestimated and misunderstood the nabateans - the founders and architects of petra. like the pyramids and the taj mahal the show-pieces of petra are tombs; and there are lots of them. as the siq opens out, the void that would have once been filled by the city is flanked on all sides by oversized monuments to the long-forgotten dead. towering masterpieces, unerringly hewn from the cliff face, still displaying power, prestige, austerity; indifferent to the fate of the people or the city that once spawned them.
petra is not, though, a tribute of man conquering nature. as is usually the case, nature will not be outdone. what the nabataens created in form, nature equalled in colour. columns and lintels, lions and scrolls are shot through with reds and mauves, oranges and whites. strips and swirls, waves and ripples; the nabateans perfect lines and neat angles are over-run with tides of colour.
with so much to see and appreciate, it's difficult to know where to pin your admiration; the age, the scale, the design, the workmanship, the colours. it's easy to feel overwhelmed and for me the antidote seemed to be not to worry about it too much and take lots of photos. in the meantime the background din - one dinar, one dinar; want camel?; come look, half dinar; taxi, air conditioned (meaning the donkey); mister, mister - was omnipresent but bearable and lighthearted.
walking out of the site each day, after several hours exploring in the heat, as the incline seemed to be steeper and the path longer than on the way in, it was, at times, even tempting to say yes to the donkey pedlars and join the other tourists, looking awkward upon a beast of burden as it's whipped up the hill by a local. but we never succumbed, never!
wadi rum - 31st julyout in the desert again. this time though, we left the tarmac and drove out across the sand, with the red cliffs of wadi rum on either side. the land rover demonstrated its capability over the sandy tracks, wheels spinning a little, but digging in and powering through. the driving was fun. but as the tracks became less and less clear, finally leaving us in the virgin dunes our inexperience showed and we became stuck. at least we got to use those sand ladders we'd been carrying (placed under the wheels for traction).
after a couple of attempts we mangaged to free ourselves, then got stuck again, then free again. which was all quite exhausting, so we picked a nice spot, flipped the rooftop tent and made camp. it was our first desert camp and it was as idyllic, desolate, ruggedly beautiful and as romantic as we'd imagined. we watched the sunset and lit a fire as the full moon rose behind the cliffs.
the next day was more fun in the desert, exploring the gullies and canyons and marvelling at the anthropomorphic patterns on the rock faces. we found a shallow cave to shade us from the heat of the day, where, sheltering like ancient nomads, we plugged in the laptop and worked on the web update.
later on we found ourselves in the dunes again - stuck again. after several laborious extractions, we let some air out of the tyres and it seemed to do the trick. exhausted again, we made another camp. we'll learn.
aqaba - 2nd augustwe arrived at the port cum beach resort of aqaba. at the northern tip of the red sea, aqaba's promotional literature promised clear turquoise seas and dazzling coral reefs. driving out of the desert, this was certainly something to look forward to. the barren, dusty, windswept coastline wasn't quite what we'd hoped for, though perhaps what we'd suspected. the fringing coral reefs however, in water clear enough that we could see them from the road, still held promise.
when the sun had died down a little, though not the wind, we swam out with snorkels and masks, carefully picking our way through the deeper channels of the shallow reef plate. once we reached the deeper, seaward side we were delighted with what we saw; vibrant healthy coral, encircled by a stunning variety of fish. the only shame was that the fish competed for our attention with sunken coke cans and beer bottles, but the litter could, just about, be overlooked. in the evening we barbecued on the beach; the lights of jordan, israel, egypt and saudi arabia all visible from where we sat. whilst we ate, some local girls threw stones at us. we wish they'd understood the torrent of abuse we gave them. during the night our barbecue was stolen from underneath the land rover. we decided it was definitely time to leave jordan, and went to get a ferry ticket immediately. thankfully we got the last two for the boat that would leave that night. i was getting hot and bothered in the town and small things (and people) were beginning to annoy me. we decided to take advantage of our free afternoon and aqaba's duty-free prices and relax by the sea-front with a cold beer. it wasn't very relaxing though as another stone was then thrown at us, i really lost my temper (which had been mis-placed for a while anyway), more insults were traded and a young lad came very close to getting thumped. after this we moved directly to the ferry port, without stopping to pass go. the ferry left three hours late for its three hour journey, giving us plenty of time to reflect on our stay in jordan. both wadi rum and petra were the sort of unforgettable experiences that inspire our passion for travel. thoughout the country we were genuinely welcomed and enjoyed sharing a cup of tea and a chat with the people we met. this makes it all the more regrettable that our trip was bracketed by harmless, but memorably unpleasant missile attacks and that jordan's natural beauty is so often degraded my needless littering and lack of care.
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jordan: accomodation
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jordan: other infoentry checks: there's no problem buying a visa on the border - costs 10 jordanian dinars. the vehicle is pretty straightforward too. just need to pay for insurance (decide on a week or a month), pass customs and get the carnet stamped. costs c. £30 in all. costs: with the exception of diesel, jordan is an expensive country to travel in. there are limited opportunities to camp so we stayed in hotels which cost some especially in the north as there are fewer of them (expect to pay between £3 and £15 a night not including breakfast). beer is available in bars and costs just under £3 for a large bottle. water is 25 pence. the cost of visiting the main attractions including petra have been halved due to the lack of visitors to jordan at the moment. the good news is that like syria, the tank can be filled for about £8 (10 pence a litre). pity its such a small country! must sees: the obvious is petra but go at sunset and watch the colours of the rocks change, make the ascent to the monastry with magnificent views over the araba valley and the path to the 'high place' - an ancient sacrificial alter, many tombs and a different perspective on petra from above; desert driving - wadi rum is great fun and you can camp wherever you want in total isolation - take sand ladders with you, you will get stuck; if you have the time, visit dana village which is a great place to relax in beautiful surroundings.
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| kusafiri: the swahili verb "to travel" |
