Mount Sinai

We were up at 1:45 am (yes - AM) to climb Mt Sinai to catch the sunrise. Apparently it's what you do - there were lots of other people with the same idea. We bused to the start of the ascent.

We took camels for the first hour of the walk - they seem to be able to see well in the dark and they find their way up the winding switchback camel path from St Katherine's Monastery at the bottom to a saddle near the summit. Others walked up the path. It might have been more comfortable walking, but the camel ride was interesting. These camels had smaller saddles than those at Wadi Rum, so it was a tight fit between the front and rear 'horns' of the camel saddle - every time the camel moved upwards quickly, the rider got a quick punch from the front saddle horn in the belly.The stars sun brightly in a clear night sky as were rode.

From where the camel left us, it is a walk up 750 rough stone steps in the dark to the summit. There we all waited for the sunrise at 5:50am. Apparently it wasn't a busy day, but there seemed a crowd to me. Some groups sang hymns and others simply waited. At the expected time, the sun rose, much as it does anywhere else on the planet. However, there is a good view over the rugged Sinai mountains (this really is a wilderness).

Then it was down the 750 steps (at least it was now daylight) and then a walk down the winding camel path, which took us to the ancient St Katherine's Monastery, still the home of about 22 Coptic monks. We got into the grounds, but no further (it was closed on Sunday).

Back to the hotel for breakfast and a shower and then onto the bus for the trip to Cairo. This takes over seven hours and crosses the Sinai to the Red Sea coast, then across the Suez Canal (in fact, under, by tunnel) and then straight on to Cairo. You see the strange sight of ships proceeding across the desert as they move along the Suez (you can see the superstructure above the canal banks).

Cairo is a very populous city and traffic is terrible at most times. Our bus took about an hour to get from the outskirts to our hotel near the west bank of the Nile. We arrived by about 8 pm and were tired and ready to drop. We had a quick meal at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel (the Indiana Hotel).

Red Sea

On Saturday in Dahab we had the first breakfast that was different in four weeks - the hotel offered omelets and toasted bread. Simple things really do delight sometimes.

This is a good hotel, on the beach with beach-views from our room.

For the morning, we took jeeps to a local diving site, the Blue Hole. This is about 30 minutes outside town and there is a sort of shanty town there, with shops selling drinks, food and providing snorkeling and dive equipment.

We snorkeled. The water was reasonably warm and extremely clear. The coral reef is right on-shore and then falls away in a 80m cliff. There are good coral colours and lots of reef fish of all colours and shapes. We spent a few hours there enjoying the sea and sunshine.

Back to town, we had a meal from one of the many restaurants on the foreshore area. It's great to be able to get beers reasonably and easily.

At 5pm, we took to the bus again and drove for 90 minutes to St Katherine, which is at the base of Mt Sinai.

To Egypt - Dahab

Friday was a day of hanging around. We had to get from Aqaba in Jordan to Dahab in Egypt, which involves Jordan Customs, a ferry across the Red Sea and then Egyptian Customs. This is a very bad combination - any one is likely to be hopeless and the three together are horrendous.

The key thing is to find out when (even if) the ferry is running. Initially we thought that we would leave at 10am, then 12am then 1pm. We took our bus to the Aqaba port at 1 pm and we got on the ferry at about 2:30pm (having been allowed to leave Jordan). The ferry finally sailed at about 3:30pm. You get you passport stamped for Egypt entry on the boat, so this is finally looking more efficient.

The ferry arrived in Nuweiba in Egypt at about 5pm and we were allowed to disembark at about 5:45pm. We got on our bus - fantastic we thought.

In fact, the bus took us for a 4 minute drive to the Egyptian Customs, where we unloaded our bags and proceeded to hang around for a while. Eventually, we had to heft our bags to a building to have them perfunctorily scanned and then back on our bus. We then got as far as the gate and an Egyptian immigration officer checked all our passports. By about 7pm, we were finally on the road to Dahab, which was about a 90 minute drive.

Dahab is a Red Sea resort, famous for its reefs and diving. Our hotel was one of the best we had been in - clean with large rooms and a view over the pool and the beach.

We strolled along the foreshore strip to have a good meal together, to end a day that really only consisted of getting out of Jordan and into Egypt.

Wadi Rum

On Wednesday evening, we reached our camp at Wadi Rum. Wadi means 'valley'. Wadi Rum is a desert valley, with a floor of sand and many isolated rock hills that rise from the sand. Wadi Rum was a home of the Bedouin and our camp area was run by Bedouin. It was in this area that Lawrence of Arabia lived and fought with the Bedouin (some of the film was shot here also).

We stayed in a canvas tent with a double bed. Our hosts provided a delicious buffet meal featuring chicken roasted in a large pot sunk into the sand. Of course, we had brought the rain with us....

On Thursday, we rose early to have a camel ride at 7 am (as you do ??). Bedouins led these camels as we perched precariously on their backs. Over the one hour ride, we begun to get the knack of sitting on these beasts and found the ride quite gentle.

Back at camp, we had breakfast and then set off on a two hour desert 4WD trip. We sat on benches in the back of three 4WD utes (great OH&S !) and were driven to various sites (a Bedouin cave with a 1000 year old rock map, a sand dune and a Bedouin camp). Between camping, riding a camel and a dusty 4WD ride, we were getting pretty grimy.

Wadi Rum is a beautiful desert and our Bedouin hosts were welcoming and gracious.

Back on our bus, we travelled the short distance to Aqaba (about 1.5 hours). Aqaba is Jordan's port at the head of the Red Sea (with the Israeli city of Eiliat across the water). Aqaba is a resort town, but we were happy to find our hotel and to get a shower and into clean clothes.

Petra

On Wednesday, we were up early to arrive at the Petra entrance just after 7 am. It was alarming to see the number of buses in the parking lot already (it was high-season), but we later found that these were parked there overnight as there probably isn't anywhere near the hotels to park them.

The day started out cool and overcast, but the threatened rain didn't appear and the day became clear and mild with blue skies.

You walk into Petra along an open track for about 700m. You then enter the Siq, a 1.2 Km natural narrow gorge in rocks that are about 80m high. The track winds and is from 10m to 2m wide. There are various carvings in the rocks as you go.

You know it is coming, but the first view of the Treasury as you come to the end of the Siq is breath-taking. The Treasury is a tomb and is well-known from its use in the Indiana Jones movie. It is amazing. It is huge - 30m wide and 43m high and was carved from the solid sandstone rockface in the 1st century BC. It is elaborately carved and has not suffered unduly from erosion over time, In fact, the most damage was by Bedouin tribesmen using it for target practice - this harmed some of the statues on the facade. Inside is simply one large room - this was a tomb.

Most of what remains in Petra are the tombs. Petra was an important city (the Nabataean capital and later a Roman colony) made wealthy through it's position on the caravan trade routes (particularly for frankincense). In time, trades routes changed and the demise of pagan religions lessened the demand for frankincense, which meant that Petra fell into ruins. Most of it's free-standing buildings were destroyed by an earthquake in 747 AD, with only the tombs remaining. Petra was re-discovered in 1812.

There are many tombs, of varying sizes. While numbers of tombs were grander than the Treasury, these are mostly much more affected by erosion and so in a much less complete state. We had the time to look at many of these tombs.

We hiked to a tomb called the Monastery, which is set up a flight of 800 steps cut into the rock. The views on the way up are marvellous and then you come to the only tomb that can rival the Treasury. The Monastery is huge and awesome - it is less embellished than the Treasury but its size and location are fantastic.

Arriving at 7am gave us one great advantage. We saw Petra without the crowds - because it does become very crowded indeed. When we first saw the Treasury, we were the only ones there. Similarly, we saw the Monastery without crowds. By contrast, the front of the Treasury was a milling crowd of tourists when we left at 3pm.

Petra is simply fantastic. The entrance through the Siq and then the tombs (particularly the Treasury and the Monastery) are breathtaking in their scale and drama.

We drove on from Petra to our overnight camp at Wadi Rum

The Dead Sea

On Tuesday we headed off in our own bus. We travelled to Madaba, about an hour south of Amman, to briefly see the remnants of a 4th century floor mosaic on a church floor. The mosaic is a map of parts of the Middle East (as it was then).

We then headed for Mount Nebo, which is supposed to be where Moses sighted the Promised Land and where he then died. While visibility wasn't great, we could see the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and Jericho across the Jordan. Sometimes Jerusalem (45 km away) is also visible, but not today.

From there, we travelled to the Dead Sea - a winding descent from over 1000m to 400m below sea level (the lowest dry land on earth). You swim in the Dead Sea from a resort hotel (they have beaches, showers, pools etc). We had the obligatory 'swim' - the sea is so salty (30% salt) that you cannot sink and really cannot swim (your legs won't stay under). You can float with arms and legs out of the water. You have to be very careful not to get the salt water into your eyes.

After washing the salt off and having a snack lunch, our bus took us to Petra (about three hours). By now it was raining - we seemed to be bringing rain with us. We had a good dinner at our hotel.

Amman

On Sunday, we headed off to Amman and Jordan. We were again in a local bus (again a comfortable coach).

We arrived and got our bearings. We had a felafel roll from the local vendor (an interesting variant that also included chips and grilled eggplant in the roll). This was followed by a stroll downtown. This is a 30 minute walk (downhill). The downtown is simply various streets with open shops selling textiles and various other items - we found it hard to find a coffee, but succeeded.

Amman is widely spread over about 35 hills (the number continues to grow). The environment is dry and the area is rolling stony hills with no vegetation. The hilly environment and spread-out nature of the city discourages walking as a means of getting around.

Amman is growing fast. While the downtown is a bit tired, there are new suburbs springing up and significant redevelopment. The road systems are very good. There is clearly plenty of money around (though there is probably a bit of space between the poor and the rich). There are lots of fancy cars around. All this means that prices are quite high (higher than Syria) - probably about equivalent to Australia (except for much more expensive alcohol and much cheaper cigarettes).

Berna was unwell, so she had KFC delivered to the room (Amman is much more 'western' than Damascus). Michael went o the Books@Cafe restaurant - a good restaurant with a fine view, but an interesting trip requiring a walk downhill and then finding a way uphill (including finding a way up many flights of steps in little light).

On Monday, the group headed off for a walking trip, starting with the citadel. There is little left other than some columns and low ruins, but the small museum is noteworthy because it has some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were worth seeing (see picture).

We walked down the hill to the Roman Theatre, which is well preserved. It has two small adjacent Folklore and Costume museums.

In the afternoon, Michael and others took taxis out to Jerash (about 1 hour drive). Jerash is the ruins of a Roman provincial town. The main street, the two theatres, the Hippodrome and various temples and fountains are well preserved. We also saw a 'chariot race' in the Hippodrome - three chariots raced as part of a show.

For dinner, we took taxis to the Blue Fig Cafe, all brilliantly organized by Eileen.. This cafe attracts the trendy younger people in Amman. The vibe was great, the menu interesting and the food very good.