Were do i start....Jordan is such a contrast from India. We got off the plane and out of the airport and we weren't hastled by touts.

Amman was our first stop. The capital of Jordan and quite nice. Everyone here is very friendly. Shop owners all say hello by saying welcome to Jordan. We vistied the ancient Roman ruins of Jerash before hitting the dead sea. I absolutely loved the dead sea. Because it is 400mt below sea level it has 20 times the amount of salt as normal sea water and hence you are very bouyant. We stayed afloat even with huge rocks on our stomachs. We had to be very careful not to get it in our eyes or mouths as it stung like hell. I did actually put a small drop on my tounge and it burned like mad. After floating in the dead sea for a bit we went for a swim in the pool at the resort we were at and it was quite funny as we sank to the bottom. You don't actually relise how much you tread water to stay afloat until you have a dip in the dead sea.

Next stop was Petra. Petra is the old Nabatean village carved out of sandstone cliffs found in the desert ton of Petra. Over 2000 years old, this was a fantastic site to see. A whole city of sandstone houses, shops, churches and tombs carved into the large surrounding mountains of dirt. The only thing that we didn't like about Petra was the dramatic increase in prices compared to Amman. We found that they had a local price and a foreigner price for everything and the foreigner price was double that of the local.

From Petra we hit Aqaba which is where we are now. Aqaba is on the bottom tip of Jordan on the Red Sea. It is about 40 degrees here and sweltering,. We have just completed our 3 day PADI open water squba diving course and can't wait to hit the water again. The reef here is amazing and it is nice to escape the outside heat. We managed to snag free entry into the Movenpick (Sheraton equivalent) private beach, pool and spa by making friends with a local. Normally entry would cost around $30. So we soaked up the sun and had a relaxing spa for a few hours. Trent took me to a beautiful sea side restuarant for my birthday. We had a great pasta meal (nice change from felafel) and the waiter even organised a birthday cake and sang happy birthday for me.

As usual, i have run out of time and must run.

Till next time.

Gis and Trent.