Woke up at 9AM, it was +30° already. Took a swim in the Dead Sea it was fun. The GPS told us that we where 412 meter below the sea level.

We drove along the Dead Sea shoreline heading for Aqaba and the ferry to Egypt, and we got stopped in again and again in check points along the way. We are now in a desert like climate and the waning signs are not for cows anymore - they are for camels.

In Aqaba we where just in time to catch the ferry at 9 PM. We managed to get vehicle aboard as a car instead of as a camper after a bit of persuasion that saved us 50 $US. A one way trip for two and a car is 165 $US.

The ferry that was supposed 9 PM was not even finished loading a midnight… We took the opportunity to improve our protection Montezuma’s revenge taking cholera medicine. We haven’t had any problems this far even though we eat all that we want. Our only restriction is on boiled tap water.

We boarded the ferry at midnight. The ride took five hours and we really tried hard to get some sleep even though it was very crowded and absolutely freezing.

The border passage in to Jordan took less than an hour, much because of that we already had arranged with most of the documents like insurance and road tax etcetera on the way down to Egypt.

At Wadi Rum there was the most beautiful desert scenery, completely different to what we had seen in Sinai. This is what a real desert is supposed to look like. After Wadi Rum we went to Little Petra. A visit that gave us a taste of what Great Petra will offer us tomorrow, with the difference that in Little Petra there are no tourists, it is all for free and it is totally unexploited.

In the evening we had our first freshwater shower in a fortnight. Absolutely super!

Today it was time to visit Great Petra. The entrance fee was 35 $US per person. Jordan is very expensive. A can of beer is 5-7 $US!

Petra is known as the hidden city. For a very long time the Bedouins was the only ones that knew Petra existed. The town is carved out of the limestone walls . The oldest parts of Petra are from 600 years BC. There are settlements, an amphitheatre with 7 000 seats, church ruins, a monastery, water reservoirs and a water supply system, but most of the ruins are graves. During the mid eighties the Bedouins were evacuated from Petra. A few of them refused to leave Petra and they still lives here.

This was not exactly a super day. We left Petra early to go to the Hot Springs in the mountain by the Dead Sea. As we got close to the Dead Sea our war with the annoying and disgusting flies started, they practically invaded the car it was like a horror movie. We nearly lost it trying to have lunch running around fighting all the flies.

After a long time on steep and winding road in the mountains, we finally found the Hot Springs. But, what a disappointment it was! An expensive fee for a shabby pool of thermal water and a fake waterfall, and included in the price was a gang of lads that could not stop themselves from staring at us two middle-aged women. Tirelessly they were waiting for us getting out of the pool in our bikinis. My god, do they not have anything better to do with their time?

Arriving in Amman in the evening we could not find a suitable place to stay. After a dinner and a stroll around town we decided to continue to Jarash. While looking for a place to park for the night we met Kahled who clamed he was a policeman. He offered us to park our car in his yard, and he showed us the way in to a small dirt road in the darkness of the woods. At first we felt a bit concerned, but we decided to stay the night because it was late and we were very tired.

When we woke up Kahled invited us for breakfast with his family . Because it was Ramadan they did not eat themselves.

They are a big family , they have ten children and we got to meet everyone that was not in school. The oldest daughter did not were a shawl as long as we were there, but when her cousin showed up she immediately put it on.

Kahled showed us around the house . The family has 22 goats, a horse, chickens, a dog and a cat. The cat did not have a name and they said that Catharina could give it a name, now the cat is called ”Yellow”.

By lunchtime we went to Aljun Castel, where they had a donkey for carrying sand for the restoration.

In Jerash there is a big well preserved Roman ruin. Ninety percent of the town is still to be excavated. Despite of that there was still a lot to see, amongst other things there was a cool hippodrome that they actually use now days. We could see the fresh horse tracks in the sand.

Today it was time to plan the next part of our trip heading for Asia. Usually it takes fourteen days to get a visa to Iran so it is time to send in the application. But before we are able to do that we need to make an itinerary and time schedule.

We were to meet the agent that was supposed to takes us through the procedures on the Syrian side of the border at 2 PM. But we happened to get lost on the way to the border and got there a bit late.

After a rather uncomplicated border passage we went strait to Bosra. We stayed the night at a parking by a small and very nice restaurant. The restaurant even sold beer. Great!