(Boddy)
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Jordan is a kingdom located just east of Israel, in
general it is a lovely country to travel in, people are sweet and
helpful, and they do not come running to sell anything.
We flew to Aqaba and rented a car to drive around the southern part of the country. We had three main goals, first spending a few days at the Red Sea, then out into the Wadi Rum desert, and finally up to the old cultural center of Petra. |
Out route (GPS) during the week.
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| The Reas sea in Jordan There are many different diving centers located along the 30 km. Red Sea coast. It is nice to snorkel from the beach, because many coral reefs start less than 100 meters from the beach and at water depths below 10 meters. The reefs are worn, but there are still lots of different fish to watch. There is also domped a old tanker and a small sports airplane below 15 meters of water, which is a nice diving target. The beaches are used extensively to both tourists and locals. The local women bathe in there "tents" the men bathing in swimwear as we know it from the west. The beaches are filled with plastic waste, bottles, capsules and food debris, although there are often signs that exhort people to clean up after use. It is easy to rent SCUBA equipment along the coast.  |
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| The Wadi Rum desert located
east of Aqaba
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Wadi Rum is a wonderful desert with oases,
mountains, lush gorges and some beautiful sunsets.
The picture shows our first sunset in Wadi Rum, and the picture to the left shows our primitive camp, where we sleep on mattresses under the open sky, it's great. We had bought a guide who had to drive us to the many different sights in the desert itself. We spent two days with a Bedouin who was born and raised in Wadi Rum. The pictures are from the tour.
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 Click
on the photo, it is a link to a time lapse video showing a night in Wadi
Rum |
 https://www.wadirumstillness.com/ We used a small young company that specializes in trips where you sleep outdoors. Run by a young Bedouin from Wadi Rum City, it is definitely recommendeble. link to TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g12908257-d14157280-Reviews-Wadi_Rum_Stillness_Tours-Wadi_Rum_Village_Wadi_Rum_Al_Aqabah_Governorate.html |
| Petra is an area 3 hours drive north of Aquaba. A few thousand years ago, the area has been the capitals of the Middle East and people have lived there for at least 3000 years. Large parts of the area are very well preserved, although strong earthquakes occur regularly. Many buildings are carved into the mountain itself, in stead of build them of stone. This, of course, makes it extremely durable for shaking. The whole area is a major tourist attraction, but if you do NOT want to walk around like lemmings, you can easily hire a local bedouin that can take you on a walk where you go through mountain passes, and only at the end, meet the tourist crowds. Some of the local guides have lived in the area all their lives, and therefore know the area and all the dirt roads. |
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| We chose to stay in a small town UUM
Sayhoun located 7km north fro tourist crowds by the official services
main entrance to Petra. We stayed in a Bedouin family who ran a small
basic B & B, but he was super good as a guide because he was born in the
Petra area. (The blue line is our warking route)
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If you want to enter thrue the mountain road to
Petra, start early in the morning. On the open stretches, the
temperature is best in the morning, and before reaching the entrance
that leads to Petra town, you have walked approx. 3000 height meters.
Remember to bring water and of course a camera. |
| If you have a extra day, I recommend
spending an afternoon in an area 15km north of Petra, it's called Little
Petra. Ii also starts with a narrow gorge that enters a very nice
valley. There are few tourists, and if you have the courage for a hike
you can go down the valley and follow it for a few km. and back again.
The image is 10000 pix, to show the aspect ratio, there are three people on the right side of the picture. |
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| The second night in the Wadi Rum desert, the moon shining on the rock just before it also descended below the horizon, then only the light from the stars returned. It is wonderful. | |
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| The last picture shows how to get rid of used truck tires and all sorts of other waste., they roll it into the river valley, when the next rainfall comes, everything is washed out in the red sea. There is still a long way to go !!!! | |
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Jordan |
Travel to Jordan November 2018 |
 Jordan is a Middle East country east of the Jordan River. The country lies between Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank. We visited the southern part of Jordan to experience the desert area of Wadi Rum and the historic area of Petra, and of course a few days of snorkeling in the Red Sea south of Aqaba Link til info Wadi Rum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum Link to Petra Jordan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
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