Up early we explore the hotel and decide we need a week here to make use of the facilities, also we need a big bank account as most of them involves extra charges, eg salt spa, mud wrap, massage, indoor salt pool etc BUT a swim in the dead sea is free. You need to take a packed lunch to navigate through the maze of outdoor pools and bars to finally descend to the "beach". I use this term loosely as it is just a rock platform from which you carefully tread your way before immersing your body into the water. The water is quite warm and is pretty blue due to the minerals in it, but because of the breeze blowing today, it is quite choppy making entry difficult without falling onto the rocks. We don some plastic shoes and gingerly make our way over the rocky shore. I chicken out at just above knee level but Brad braves it out finally immersing his body into the salty brine to finally float, he hopes. For some strange scientific reason, Brad cannot float ..... his feet always slowly sink, but yeah!!!...., today he floats for the first time with my video it to prove it. I pick up some dead sea mud and smear it over my arms to see if they feel any softer for the experience, but I think it needs to be left on for some time to work its magic. One of our group, goes for the whole mud wrap experience in the spa and while she claims it is pretty scary to be bound up tightly with glad wrap over the top of hot mud, she is certain her skin is now glowing and she feels a million dollars.

From the top of the rocky panoramic sand mountain later that morning, we gaze at the unique view before us of a blue sea surrounded by sand mountains with barely a tree in sight. We can see Jericho at the foot of the mountain and in the distance on top of the mountain is Israel. I see some curls of smoke coming from Israel and think it might be from burning off of olive trees never imaging that it is the result of rocket fire in the Gaza strip which we hear about later in the news. We are on our way to Amman today but first we visit the ancient Roman site of Jerash which quite surprises us, both with its size and quality. We compare it to Ephesus in Turkey and while not quite as well preserved or touristy, we are impressed, especially with the little amphitheatre where we are entertained by some Jordanian bagpipers, for a tip or course.

Lunch today is at a Lebanese restaurant where we are greeted by no less than 20 male staff all wearing suits and falling over each other to serve us. Even the veiled toilet attendant hovers over me showing me how to use the soap dispenser and paper towel, as if!! I'm sure if I ask her she would have helped me with my toileting. The food is very good but the hovering staff becomes a pain in the neck and we are happy to leave.

The journey to Amman, our last destination, is longer than it should be because we stick to the main highway instead of taking short cuts through some small towns where noisy protests are still happening. Fuel prices have suddenly increased by about a third and the people are not happy and want to end the reign of King Abdullah. We arrive at our hotel, the Grand Hyatt, and because of these demonstrations, we are advised not to visit the tourist sites (blue mosque, citadel etc) and to stay in the local area of the hotel which we happy to do. From the drive into Amman, we can't see anything which would want to make us go exploring. Nadine, our guide, says goodbye to us and we are happy to see the tail end of her. Her heart was not in the job and she didn't engage with us at all, making it quite apparent that she couldn't wait until she quits this job to open up a little shop selling art and specialized jewellery. The sooner she gets her wish the better for the tourist industry.

We have 2 nights booked here in Amman but we actually only sleep here once as we leave at 11pm on the 2nd night for our 2.45am flight toFrankfurt/New York. We spend the day just relaxing which is quite a nice way to get ready for the long journey home. We venture out in the safe area of the capital for a walk and a general look around, however the common feeling in the group is that there is nothing in this place which would bring us back again. The chaos at Amman airport confirms these thoughts as everyone coming into the airport is funneled into just one security entry point where once again, we, together with our luggage, are screened. We are not asked to remove anything from our bags eg computers, liquids etc as is done in most airports. It just all goes through and when something not quite right is spotted on the screen, the officer sticks a little orange sticker on that bag which says "security inspection". A lot of these stickers fall off but the idea is that the owner of the bag then takes it to another table for checking where just 2 men go through the process of pulling everything out of the bag. This queue is as long as the original one trying to get through the gate in the first place. Time to go home to some order!!