Day 28 (23/06/08) Damascus (Syria) to the Dead Sea
Travelled: 293km
Debbie: We were up early this morning as we wanted to get to the border before it got hot and also before all the buses and taxis as they make the border hell. All along the roads we noticed a heavy police presence and we also went through several military check points. We were very lucky that no one so far has asked to search our vehicle cause they search all the locals and literally take every single thing out the vehicle including the spare tyre. We got through the border in under an hour which was great! We drove down to the Dead Sea (getting lost in Amman on the way through) and found it to be very “dead”. Seriously – there is nothing here bar a gazillion military men with huge guns and tanks. You can see the Israel shoreline from the Jordan side. There is one little zone of hotels (no camping) so we decided to check into the Movenpick as it was the cheapest. Just as we got out the car all the hotel alarm systems went off and we were told to evacuate. A few minutes later we were told that it was a drill – thank goodness - cause next thing the military arrived with fire engines, ambulances etc. They staged a real drill and even had “wounded people” posted in the hotel. All this time we had to sit outside in the heat but lucky they allowed us to sit where we could see what was going on. Once the drama was over it was off to the beach to float in the very salty water.
Andrew: We are at the lowest point on earth today - 408m below sea level. I thought it was going to be hotter but still in the mid to high 30’s. The salt content in the dead sea is unbelievably high, you literally couldn’t sink if you tried. Tried to duck down and see if I could swim to the bottom, not much use I just bobbed up to the top, when I lifted my head I heard this lady shouting at me to rush to the edge for a life guard to pour freshwater over my face. I thought she was overreacting slightly then suddenly my face stared to tighten and an excruciating stinging started to set in my face, then I rushed a bit. Obviously I didn’t read the small print on the safety notice or the Arabic squiggle. No big dramas though a bit of fresh water and all was good only thing damaged was my pride, I could feel the onlookers cackling in the back ground “ha ha first timer”.
Day 29 and Day 30 (24/06/08 – 25/06/08) Dead Sea to Petra
Travelled: 217km
Debbie: The drive from the Dead Sea to Petra was very pretty – it was all desert but somehow the desert in Jordan is pretty. We didn’t see much bar the odd shepherd and his goats but it was quite a mountainous drive. In Bosnia we had to endure tunnel after tunnel – in Jordan its check point after check point as well as speed bumps which are unmarked and big so you have to watch out for them. I see on the news there in trouble in Israel which is why we thing the military are out in full force at the moment. We checked into the Marriot hotel in Petra – had parking and had a good rate. Its on the “top” of Petra so we look over Petra and the views were great. Petra is amazing and words can’t describe it – it’s one of those places you have to see to believe. Along with the magnificent Petra come the most magnificent tourists – and not Europeans for a change but tons and tons of Americans and Chinese. Wow they are just another breed of tourist all together and a few times we had to stop on the side in some shade to just look in amazement at what was walking around Petra. We made sure we knew when happy hour was at the hotel bar as things are not cheap in Jordan like they were in Syria. In face the Jordan Dinar is nearly nearly the same rate as the US$. We discovered that Jordan makes a beer called “Petra beer” and its 8% in alcohol so we had to try it out but when we asked the barman what the rate was to carry us to our beds after 2 beers he stopped serving us Petra beer.
Andrew: It is quite a spectacular place, to think of the work that went into making the city is mind boggling. All the tombs and temples have been carved into the rock face, but it’s the sheer scale of it that amazes you. We did lots of walking on day 2 including the monastery and up to the top of the gorge to look over the central part of Petra. So far there has not been any opportunity do any camping in Jordan so we have been enjoying the luxury of the hotels and the aircon. Tomorrow we head to Wadi Rum this is one of the only places where you can camp in Jordan.
Day 31 and (26/06/08) Petra – Wadi Rum (Bait Ali Camp)
Travelled: 158km
Andrew: We left Petra this morning for Wadi Rum for a bit of off road driving and exploring. I was really hyped up for this leg of the journey maybe too much so because it ended up being a bit disappointing. We arrived and paid our park fee and were shown on the map the 2 designated camping areas. So off we set and just at the back end of Rum village the tar runs out and all you see in front of you are interwoven sand tracks. We let the tyre pressures down by 1/3rd and set off again. About 20mins down the track and not much of an idea where we were actually heading the tack started getting a bit softer until eventually we came to a standstill in a little hollow. Then I thought boy we’re going to be here a while getting this one out, hill in front and hill behind. So I decided first action was to let a bit more air out, so went down to 50% and would you believe it that made all the difference and one rock forwards and we came all the way out in reverse. We decided to change our direction and follow some of the local jeeps heading off in the other direction. After a few hours of driving around we had pretty much seen the whole of the park and were growing tired of the bumping about, so we decided to stay at a camp site just outside the park (Bait Ali) which had showers and toilets as the camping in the park is just wild camping. We also decided that another day would be a bit boring so tomorrow we’re going to Aquaba to get onto the ferry to Egypt. All said though it was pretty fun cruising around for a few hours in Bwana in the sand as some of the tracks are quite testing driving, but half a day is all you need.
Camped at:
Bait Ali
http://www.desertexplorer.net/
Day 32 and (27/06/08) Wadi Rum (Bait Ali Camp) – Aquaba
Travelled: 64km
AND
Day 33 and (28/06/08) Nuweiba – Cairo (Salma Camp)
Travelled: 518km
Debbie: Today we decided to get the ferry from Jordan to Egypt (the border we were dreading the most). The Lonely Planet reckoned there were plenty of tickets and that we should be there by 10.30 – no one else knew much about the ferry. We were up early so decided to get there, get our ticket and then go get something to eat before the ferry left at 12.00. Well.... First of all it was a huge bun fight to get the ticket. No one spoke English and no one seemed to give a dam. We managed to figure out the system and that was for me to push ahead of the men as they seem to allow the women to do that and then they got served ahead of the men. So I had to push through the most horrendous BO Id ever smelt. We met a girl called Kenny who was Korean and she was travelling on her own. She had been told that the passenger tickets for today had been sold out so we told her she could get a ticket with us and come in our car. By 10.00 we had our ticket and had gone through customs so we were quite pleased with ourselves and thought “ah we only have a couple of hours till we leave”. Boy were we wrong! At 13.00 the temperature was up to 43 degrees and we had not moved and no one seemed to give us a straight answer. Kenny decided to get a refund on her ticket and try another day as we had a feeling it was going to be a long time till we moved and there was talk of us not getting on the ferry as well ... We also didn’t understand a word of Arabic so we couldn’t understand what was being said on the loud speaker and none of the other cars around us spoke English. It was cooler to be in the car than in the sun and lucky we had a sun visor with us so we could block out the sun from the car which helped. At 19.00 we were moved to Stage 2 which was where they put you to load you onto the ferry. It was still 43 degrees and nothing we did made it cooler. As we were going to take up our position in the parking lot we were pulled out the queue and told to wait to the side ... this got us worried cause we thought that this might mean we miss the ferry. Turned out they had classed us as VIP and this allowed us to load fast and onto the “fast” ferry which meant that the crossing would only take 1.5 hours as opposed to 3 hours. We got loaded at 22.30. As we were being directed on where to park the official asked us the usual question we get asked a thousand times a day “where you come from” – so we said South Africa and to our absolute delight he turned round and said “Sawbona”! We were then told to go upstairs and thank goodness someone took pity on us and ushered us to customs on the boat to get our immigration sorted and then he took us to a seat and said “sit and don’t you dare move”. We soon discovered why – an absolute bun fight broke out between all the passengers as to who sat where as there were not enough seats. The ferry tickets are not at all cheap so I guess they had a right to be upset for not getting a seat but I have never ever heard such rowing in my life – and it was mainly between the women. At about 00.30 we departed and got to Egypt at 02.00 but it took them an hour before they let us off. First all the cars had to unload (about 20 of them) so Andrew went down to do that and I was ushered to a small corner where the officials sat. Before we all knew it the woman who’s husbands had gone to move their cars all decided that they, along with their tribe of children, also needed to be in this area and shoved and pushed till I was pinned up against the wall and had people standing on my feet and that is when I lost my cool a bit and shouted above their rants and raves “Ladies, can you not see there is no more space here! Stop pushing!!” They couldn’t speak English but the sound of this foreign chicks voice shut them up one time and they seemed to stop pushing for a while at least. At 03.00 we were let off – only one official custom man to check our passports off the boat ... and I found Andrew and we sped off to customs to get through what we had heard was the worst customs ever and we were expecting to unpack everything etc etc. We put the ferry debacle down to practice for the ferry we have to catch between Egypt and Sudan as that normally takes about 32 hours from start to finish – if you are lucky. Well much to our delight it was one of the better crossings we have done to date. Firstly it was 3am so there was no sun and it was cool (although it was still 30 degrees). There were only the cars from the ferry so the officials were not all over the place. I also think its not a busy border as they only deal with cars and passengers from the ferry’s. There is a lot of paperwork you need to do but a tourist police man who could speak decent English helped Andrew through the process and by 05.00 we were on the road to Cairo with Egyptian number plates stuck to Bwana. It was a long boring hot drive – straight road right through the desert and we battled a bit after having not slept at all. We did a few 30 min driving shifts while the other slept and even had a 30min break on the roadside before we found a “shell ultra city” where we could get some food as we hadn’t had a meal in over 2 days. That did the trick and gave us the enthusiasm to face Cairo traffic. We found our campsite by paying a taxi man to lead us to it as its not in the most accessible area. Its also the only campsite in Cairo. Salma camp is where any overlander who comes to Cairo stays so we were really hoping to meet some buddy’s here but no such luck – we are the only ones here. Tomorrow we will go into Cairo to sort out our visas for Sudan – I really really hope they will be kind to us and issue them in 24 hours as we would rather spend our time in other areas in Egypt.
Andrew: The ferry crossings was hell because we had to wait a full day in the sun at 43 degrees, when 5pm came around we though great its going to get a bit cooler now, wrong. By 22:30 when they loaded us it was still 36 degrees and not a breath of wind. It was on of the longer days I’ve had. Needless to say we went through plenty water. When we got off the ferry on the other side we had to wait while they looked for one person for over an hour. During this time I chatted with a few of the locals that could speak English on the dock edge. One of the guys was the customs manager which turned out to be a great move. When it came time to clear the car he came around to do the checks and another policeman tried to ask me a few arbitorty questions like do you have whiskey and do you have a computer? The customs manager in the mean time quickly filled out a form signed it, handed over to me and said welcome to my country my friend. Not a door was opened and not a box searched, what a bonus! Jordan was a lot more scenic than Syria but seemed substantially more pricey, also there is not much in the way for campers, except at Wadi Rum but I wouldn’t recommend more than 1 night there as it can be boring and hot. Petra is a must see if you go to Jordan and it is quite easy to burn 2 days wondering around in amazement. We stayed at the Marriott which is about 5km outside Petra but it has great views over the valley with a cab costing about 6JD down to the gates. There is a massive police and military presence on the roads so speeding which is pretty difficult in Bwana anyway is not advised. Another good reason not to speed are the many randomly placed and unmarked speed bumps.
