After yelling back and forth for a good 30min and me whipping out the “What would Mohammad do” line, he drops us off at the port.

This will be the third Ferry I’ve taken on this trip; Once in Croatia, twice from Morocco to Gib and now from Acaba, Jordan to Nuweba, Egypt. I’ve already heard a handful of stories of how late the ferry was and how a simple 3hr journey turns into an entire day.

Getting out of Jordan via the ferry is quite a process. The ferry ticket office is on the ground floor, but first you have to go upstairs. There you will be given an exit stamp, it actually looks like a postage stamp with a picture of the Petra Treasury on it. After queuing for the stamp, you must leave your passport there and you are handed a sheet of paper which has the exit tax amount on it. Next you take that sheet of paper across the hall with in talking if not yelling distance of the first counter. There another guy will take the sheet of paper, as if he didn’t know what it could possibly me. There you can pay him, but you must pay in USD. So then you have to across the hallway yet again to an exchange stand where you exchange the Jordanian Dinar into US dollars. Then you backtrack to the last counter, pay in dollars. After paying he stamps that sheet of paper which I take back to the counter that has my passport. There he looks at the stamp and puts a proper exit stamp on my passport. Finally I am allowed to buy a ferry ticket.

I meet several other backpackers in the waiting area. Manuel and Eric, from my Wadi Rum tour, as well as Ron, an Arabic speaking Lebanese Australian join our group. The bottom of the ferry is for cars and all foreigner bags/luggage has a designated area. Only one small backpack is allowed for carry on. The cabin area smells of BO and dirty, must dirtier than the Tangier -> Gib ferry. The boat arrives in Nuweba 3 hours late as expected.

Ron negotiates with the taxi drivers to take everyone to Dahab. I decide to stay in Nuweba to check it out. I head over to soft beach with a couple of Chinese Canadians from Vancouver while everyone else piles in a minivan heading south to Dahab.

I booked a tour of Wadi Rum through the Valentine Hotel. I wasn’t sure if this was a rip off or not, but after arriving in Petra it seems that people were paying twice as much as I paid for the same tour. We have six people crammed in our Land Rover Discovery SUV. There is no AC just windows-down driving.

There are many other SUVs along our same tour and we end up seeing a lot of the same people over and over again. I meet up another American, Eric, who was on the same route toward Egypt. We ended up seeing each other at most of the various stone formations. At the rock bridge we both end up meeting a third American, Thu, a Seattleite who was visiting Jordan while she was working in Alexandria, Egypt.

When I was talking to Thu she talked about how she had just met another American from Kansas City. I described Brian and it turns out that they had met each other previously. I ended up having to leave hatefully from the last attraction because our group was late for another appointment. But Brian and Thu ended up see each other again and Brian was able to give me her contacts.

Our next stop is a Bedouin camp. Here we will spend the night in the tents and see both the sunset and sunrise. The Wadi Rum sunset and sunrise was amazing. The visibility was far and the landscape was bare and peaceful. The red rock color slowly changed various shades of red and orange. I took a barefoot walk around our Bedouin camp exploring all the wildlife that lived around us. There were countless lizards, 4×4 wheel tracks, snake tracks and lizard tracks throughout the area.

The night at Bedouin Camp is cold. When the sun sets the dry hot environment changed to darkness and cold. The atmosphere became completely quiet and there were no lights to be seen. The landscape felt calm and peaceful. This is the reason this place is called the Bedouin meditation camp. The moon lit the surroundings and we all decided to take a talk by moonlight. It was surprising how well lit the moon light was and desert was clearly visible.

That night we all sleep under double blankets. They were so heavy that it felt like you were trapped under the covers. I had the best sleep ever that night and nearly missed the sunrise. Dawn approaches by laying a layer of fogginess across the desert. The colors are grayed and slowly increase in saturation as the sun appears. One of the most beautiful sights so far. I would probably rate this higher than Petra.

That morning I was talking to Yoko in the lobby when a familiar voice says my name. It turns out that Brian, a friend of a friend, that I had met in Dubai is also at Petra. We decide to check out Petra together and all jump in the truck for the morning ride down to the entrance. During the ride down, Yoko realizes that she has forgotten her ticket.

It is best to view the Treasury, which is usually the picture most people associate with Petra, in the morning. The light doesn’t reach the canyon crevice until 8-9am. Luckily it is best to view the Monastery in the afternoon.

Petra was absolutely amazing. The sheer size of both the Treasury and Monastery are incredible. You really have to see people next to both the carvings to see their true size. I ended walking up to the Monastery with Brian. Then around early afternoon we had explored most places in Petra. Brian headed back and I stayed to wait for the sunset at the “World’s End” which is near the Monastery.

Around sunset I meet up with a group of students that were on a trip to visit Petra. After taking some pictures for them at the “World’s End” we all trek down towards the entrance. It is about a 45 minute walk from the end to the entrance and they end up being late and running towards the entrance. It was kind of interesting to see. I say good bye to that group of acquaintances, I head towards my hotel.

After a long walk back up towards the hilltop hotel of Valentine, I see two familiar figures walking towards me. It was Nick and Paulina, the two Aussies I had traveled with in Morocco. I knew they were going to try to meet up with me either here or in Egypt. We hit a hookah stand after dinner and get some tea. That night we said our goodbyes as I am leaving tomorrow and they are staying to check out Petra.

The funny thing is that the entire time I’m meeting people at Valentine they always bring up how much of a bitch the female owner is. She’s even notoriously mentioned in the Lonely Planet as being less than polite or friendly. One of the first things that Paulina and Nick mention is that very fact. In my experience, the owner was really nice, but then again I was checked in by the husband and not the wife.

The next morning I travel back to the border and move through much quicker this time. I take another minibus ride to the capital city of Amman and then finally a minibus ride down to Petra. After getting into Amman a taxi driver tries to rip me off by taking me the wrong station which is closer but doesn’t offer services to Petra. Luckily I shared the taxi with a Jordanian that lived in San Francisco and she caught on to it. Half way during the ride another Muslim woman and the former San Franciscan started yelling back and forth in Arabic. Finally they she turned to me and disclosed the fact that this guy was going to drop me off at the wrong station and they were arguing in my favor to get to the correct bus station.

I arrived in Petra in the evening. It was already dark, I was hungry, and I had heard that Valentine Hotel was at the top of a decently steep hill. At the drop off point a man in a truck was sitting there waiting for me. He said that he works for the Valentine Hotel and drops people off between the bus station and hotel. I suspiciously ask who much he charges and it turns out to be free. At the top of the hill I find Valentine Hotel and take a moment to breathe in enjoy the view. Tonight the hotel offers an all you can eat dinner and I can’t wait.

That night I realize that a two day Petra entrance pass is a better deal than the single day. Then you can always sell the second day. This is exactly what another group of Americans are doing. So I buy the second day off of them for a huge discount. That night I also discovered Petra beer, which looks amazingly similar to Coors Light.

I got a haircut today from a guy whose only English was “Obama Good (followed by thumbs up) and Bush Bad (followed by thumbs down)”. It only cost 2 JD and was probably the best haircut I’ve ever gotten. The only downside of it was when he put alcohol on my neck and it burned like hell.

The next day a couple of us from the hostel are taking a day trip to visit the many historic sites around the Amman area. We get up at 7am to catch a minibus that will take us to Madaba which is known as the mosaic city. There we visit a church that has some of the oldest mosaic artworks. After viewing several of these masterpieces I am bored and not all that impressed.

Our next stop is Mount Nebo where Moses died after seeing the Promised Land. Below is a picture of the valley that overlooks the Promised Land and I have to say that it not that impressive. On top of the viewpoint the Jordanians have erected a tourist attraction where there are many statues.

Bethany is the next stop. We all unload next to the River Jordan. Here is the supposed baptism site of Jesus. The funny thing is that there is a temple much like the one we are visiting on the Israeli side where there Israeli are claiming is the actual baptism site. Near the base of the River Jordan where thick mud like fluid moves steadily across the banks, a line of people wait to be baptized like Jesus at the same location.

The highlight of the trip was the last stop which is the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has some of the highest salt concentrations found on earth. Because of this fact it is effortless to float in this body of water. Swimming in the Dead Sea is said to cure almost any kind of skin aliment. As I get to about knee deep in this salty water I start to the feel the buoyancy force pushing me up. When I get to about waist deep I can effortlessly float and it is one of the strangest feelings in the world. Below is a sign describing how to swim here. I actually got some salt water in my eye and it immediately shut and started to burn. Luckily I was able to rush out to the freshwater showers.

I landed in Jordan at 2am, got in some dude’s illegal taxi, made it to my hotel around 4am. I slept until 9am got up got the free breakfast, which was consisted of toast, jam, cucumber, instant coffee and a hardboiled egg. Huge difference to what I had become accustomed to in Dubai. The following day it rained so my only activity was confined to finding a backpacker’s hostel and get out of the shithole I had been staying at.

The following day I did a daytrip to Madaba which is known as the city of mosaic. Then we went to Mount Nebo. This is where Moses died after seeing the Promised Land. After checking out the view from the hilltops we travelled along the Jordan River to the Bethany. This is where Jesus was baptized. On the other side of the Jordan River there is also an Israeli tourist site where they claim is the actual site of where Jesus was baptized. Finally the trip ended on a highlight of swimming in the Dead Sea.

I had always read about and seen pictures of how easy floating in the Dead Sea. I even understand the concept and after taking a scuba diving course I’ve experienced how much more buoyant I was in the ocean versus Tablerock Lake where I got certified. None of this prepared me for the feeling of effortlessly floating in the Dead Sea. As soon as I got to about knee deep I could feel the upward force from the water. By the time you walk to about waist deep, you naturally start to float on your back. You are literally on top of the water.

The entire place has sign warning swimmers about floating on their backs, not on their stomach, and the importance of protecting your mouth and eyes from the super high concentration of salt water. Well, I got to experience firsthand the power of the dead sea as some kids swimming next to me splashed some water in my eye. My eye immediately closed shut and started to burn. I was tearing up as I quickly ran towards the freshwater showers. Luckily a quick freshwater rinse was all I needed.