We spent a night in a Bedouin camp, sleeping in a large tent made of woven goat hair. We had a small part with 2 beds, separated by curtains, and during the night , after a trip to the loo I forgot exactly which was our compartment so had to call out to Mal to find my way back to bed!! That night we had a delicious dinner - hungy style, cooked in the ground and partied with music, dancing and sheesha (bubble pipe) - all good fun!! The next morning we had a camel...

The Dead Sea is the lowest sea on earth and is getting lower each year, as it gets lower it gets more salty. We tried to swim, swimming feels like being on a boogy board, floating on your back is quite comfortable. Mal ducked under - very stupid as when you surface, you can't open your eyes because they sting and you have to have your eyes washed in fresh water. There are new resorts being built all around here, Europeans think this place is a resort. It woul...

We have had a great time in Damascus reputedly the oldest city in the world having been constantly occupied from many centuries BC. We stayed in the centre very close to the original walled city which consists of a number of mosques, a citadel, a Roman Road called The Straight Road, two covered shopping streets similar to the grand bazaar in Istanbul, a number of soukes (very narrow windy lanes which often go under the second storey of shops and houses), and cour...

We are in Syria, in a place called Palmyra. It is out in the desert, east of Damascus and not too far from the Iraq border ( not really too near either!) It has ruins which date back to Roman times and earlier but we haven't visited them yet. We haven't had internet access until now and our phones don't work out here at all. We had a day in Damascus and walked around the old town, including the souks (bazaars),visited 2 mosques, one the largest mosque in Syria...

We had 2 lovely days with friends, Judith and Roger at Thorpe Bay, next to Southend on Sea. We drove along the coast to Leigh-by-the-Sea, where Judith had spent her early life. We tasted some of the local delicacies - cockles and whelks! The cockles were OK but the whelkes... Mal liked them! We also walked around Southend, looked at the pier, the 18th century housing above the gardens and had a look at the Garrison development, a really good re-use of a huge are...