The lowest point on Earth

1400 feet Below sea level

After a long day hiking around Petra, a little R/R was in order.  I took the morning bus from Wadi Musa to Amman the next day and spent the day walking around the city.  That evening the rest of the crew that I've been traveling with showed up and the next day we rented a car.  There are many tours to the Dead Sea but being 5 of us it was great to split the cost of a car and well worth having our freedom to do what we want.  There are also many resorts and paid beaches along the Dead Sea which all are quite expensive.  With our car, we found a quiet spot on the side of the road and simply walked down the hill to our own, free beach.  

When visiting the Dead Sea:

RULE # 1:  Never EVER dive head first into the Dead Sea!

RULE # 2:  Never EVER...EVER ignore rule # 1!!!

Here is the resulting photo of me ignoring Rule # 1

I can't even begin to explain the pain in my eyes from the salt water.  Lucky we bought several bottles of water because it took some serious flushing to reverse the breaking of Rule # 1.  It also took a long time for my friends to stop laughing at me too.  Happy to have entertained you guys.

The Dead Sea has a salinity of 33% salt.  Normal ocean water is around 3.5%  It was a strange feeling to be so naturally buoyant.  I was actually able to put my feet straight down, as if standing, and still float.

Then it was spa time.

The mud along the shores of the Dead Sea are very rich in minerals and nutrients. The common thing to do is give yourself a little mud mask and scrub but scrub lightly because when you wash it off in the water, you'll be made aware of every single scrape, scratch or cut.

After a good bake in the sun and a rinse in the water your skin really does feel amazing.

Petra, Jordan

I arrived in the evening in Wadi Musa (Valley of Moses) right outside of Petra where it was windy, snowing and raining.  Here met up with again with my two Australian friends that I had met in the deserts of Egypt.  It rained for 2 more days where I was forced to sit inside the most unpleasant place on earth...The Valentine Inn.  Lonely Planet's Middle East book lists the Valentine Inn as "the quintessential backpacker hotel" which makes me now convinced that no one from the Lonely Planet crew has ever even been to Jordan.  I'm not going to complain much about all the details but hopefully the word will spread and this place will cease to exist.  Basically, the whole of Wadi Musa is a virus feeding off the wonderful world class ruins of Petra.  Get in, go to Petra and get out is my only advice.

Finally the weather cleared and I was able to go to the "Red Rose City"  The Entrance fee is exuberant but it is a sight that cannot be missed.

The road leading down into the valley of Petra.

The valley walls of solid rock cut straight up on both sides.  Then at the bottom the sandstone walls break away and reveal the Treasury, the most iconic image of Petra.

The locals are quite proud of one particular movie that made this sight famous.

Petra is quite large.  It's possible to see it in one day but 2 days are better as there are numerous hiking trails throughout the valley.  I did it in only one because I was already falling behind schedule but I left very satisfied with what I saw.  It's impossible to post enough photos of this place to do it justice.  Absolutely incredible.  

This last one is from "Little Petra"  Another set of ruins that are free and well worth a visit outside of the Bedouin village near Wadi Musa.  The sandstone here is more golden colored.

Catching up...Crossing Jordan

I have some catching up to do.  Since the last post from Dahab, Egypt, I've been into Jordan and Syria and now back in Jordan waiting to cross the border into Israel.

From Dahab, I took a bus to the port city of Nuweiba on the Sinai Peninsula in the Gulf of Aqaba where I caught the ferry into Aqaba, Jordan.  This ferry crossing has many horror stories from other travelers with long wait times, ferries stuck at sea for hours, and one alleged sinking several years ago.  To cross into Jordan by land you risk having unwanted passport stamps from Israel which would have made things difficult further down the line so the ferry was my only option.  After enduring this, I have to say that everything that is said about the ferry is understated!

We bought our ticket ($70 USD!!!) and were told to wait.  Then after about 2 hours we were told to hurry up and go down to the ferry landing and board the ferry.  With no real direction, the whole mass of us rapidly wandered around until we found the landing where there was more waiting while we watched this...

For about 20 minutes, the driver of this tractor was attempting to load the ferry with the luggage trailer.  I think this is the ideal situation to inform everyone out there that tractors are to remain in fields and not as a loading device.  I'm not even sure how they did get trailer on because they gave up and let the foreigners on first.  I was the first one on the ferry.  The group was told to come up the ramp then no, wait here, then ok go, go, no wait, wait, ok now go, no wait so I just pushed past and walked up the stairs.  When I arrived at the top of the stairs it was almost of a surprise to the crew that there were to be passengers on this passenger ferry.  Two men began talking back and forth with eachother and pointing...a lot.  Then one of them escorted me past the seating area then walked around and then back to the seating area.  This was when I realized that no one else had boarded yet.  They were still down doing the go, no, wait, ok now go game.  After about 10 minutes the rest began to arrive.  Tourists first then the locals.  After about 1 1/2 hour the ferry was ready to leave.  They closed up all the doors and then more waiting.  I swear that the only way this much confusion and disorganization is possible is that the entire crew and ferry was doing this for the first time of their lives.  Sadly this is not the case.  This is what they do every single day.  Maybe one day they will figure out a routine but undoubtedly any time soon.  Immigrations was done on the ferry (another long messy process) and off we went.  Finally we were allowed to walk around a little where I found the duty free shop on the ferry with some amazing designer perfumes, bootleg of course.  Here are a few of the classics there.  

And my favorite...

Total time: entirely way too long to account for what should have been 1 hour shore to shore.

"Error: The requested URL could not be retrieved "

Hello all. I've made into Syria! I wasn't sure if I was going to be allowed in since I did not have a visa before leaving the USA which is what is required (in theory) to enter. After hearing from many other travellers that it is sometimes possible to get a visa at the border I thought I'd try. After 5 hours of waiting at the Syrian border I was given my 15 day visa and an entry stamp. Quite happy about this.

I'm jumping ahead a little with my travels here. I know that I still need to get all of Jordan up on the blog. I'll get to it but looks like it won't be for another week. Syria has many websites that are not allowed to be viewed within Syria. Facebook, Skype and apparently my blog or any blog from Blogspot for that matter.

"ERROR


The requested URL could not be retrieved

Requested URL:http://www.thetransientnomad.blogspot.com/
Error message: Access Denied
Administrator: webmaster."

I found a way to get in to post this message but this is all I will be able to do. So you will all have to wait for those photos.
I'm doing very well. Starting to get sad knowing that I only have 20 days left. It's been flying by but I am still loving it. In Damascus at the moment. I'll be spending 9 days in Syria before heading to the **unmentionable** country where I fly out of. Have to be a bit careful because I would not have been allowed in had the border guards known that I have been or plan on going to **unmentionable**. I'll give a hint...It's occupied Palestine. If you've been following me, then you know where my last country in the middle east is. If not, well, you'll just have to wait. At least I can still check my email.

Dahab, Egypt

Well, here's where I've been spending the last 9 days of my holiday.  The mountains that can be seen in the background of the first 5 photos is Saudi Arabia.  The last 3 are on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea.

Tonight is my last night in Egypt.  Tomorrow I head north a little by bus and take a ferry across the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) into Jordan.  A new adventure awaits...

The Real Deal.

Breath in...

Breath out.

Alright!  Many of you have already called me out on the photos of my last post.  No, I did not take those.  These are the ones of me.  The two above are me at the bottom of a canyon.  Depth here was 33 Meters/108 ft. below the surface.  This was my first dive that deep and the combination of the pressure you feel on your chest simply breathing and the fact that there is nothing but rock and sand surrounding you was a true test of the mind.  I loved it!!!

To the Red Sea Coast

Having Luxor all wrapped up, I was quite ready for some relaxing on the beach so I headed to Dahab.  There are a couple of options on getting here and the one I was wanting to take which was Luxor to Hurgada by bus, one night in Hurgada then a ferry across the Red Sea to Sharm el Sheik, then another bus to Dahab.  I had heard from a few other travelers that this way is not recommended because the cost and hassle is far from fun so I opted for the 16 hour bus that travelled up the coast, crossing into Sinai at Suez then down and around the southern tip and back up the east coast to Dahab.  I really didn't want to spend 16 hours on a crappy Egyptian bus but since Moses' staff had been rented out by some Russians, parting the Red Sea was out so the bus it was.  I've had worse but this was by far the most tortuous transport.  Much worse than the train.  But the Red Sea is well worth it.  I'm still here.  My hotel is right on the beach.  In the distance, you can make out the skyline of the mountains of Saudi Arabia with the most crystal clear beautiful turquoise blue water you could imagine.  I went snorkeling on day one and after seeing the amount of marine life teeming on the reefs and the clarity of the water I quickly decided that snorkeling would not be enough so I enrolled in the SCUBA class and after tomorrow I will be certified for open water diving.  I'm pretty stoked to get out there and have a look around.  4 out of the top 10 diving sites in the world are located here.  I've only been down to 12 meters (36ft) In class tomorrow we are going on 3 dives and down to 18 meters (60 ft).  Can't wait!!!  

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings

From Aswan, I traveled by train again up to Luxor.  I spent about 5 days here traveling around to the tombs and temples.  Every person breathing in Luxor is somehow associated with tourism and they are trying to get your money!  I enjoy finding the way without the need to be a drone on some tour group.  I rented a bicycle for 2 days and rode up into the Valley of the Kings and although it was a bit of a sweat, it was worth the $5 I paid for 2 days of transportation.  The tombs are all off limits to any kind of photography so I don't have any to share.  There are guards in every tomb and when you either ascend or descend into the tomb, they are there instantly to show you around and point out certain hieroglyphs or paintings of importance then rushing you out the door again (with hand out waiting to be filled with coins of quantity) to allow a new group of donations.  This is also to keep your time inside to a minimum since the humidity of everyones breath increases the moisture of the air and encourages a bacteria to grow that eats the paint.  You are also only allowed to visit 3 tombs.  A small let down I suppose but understandable.

  The temples, on the other hand, are really amazing and it is easy to spend hours in the afternoon or at sunset just roaming around between the statues, columns and doorways.  I visited the Luxor temple, Karnak temple, Hatshepsut temple and Ramesseum temple.  

Luxor Temple

Karnak Temple

Karnak Temple

Karnak Temple

Scarab beetle.  Apparently if you walk in a circle around this statue 10 times you become Chinese.

Ramesseum Temple

 

Ramesseum Temple with guardians guarding

Deir el Medina Tombs

Birds eye view of Hatshepsut Temple

Camel Luxury Transport