Day 2
17/07/11
Well that was an interesting night. To begin with the traffic seems to be racing past the hotel until about 0:30. I get to sleep only to be woken at 04:00 with the call for prayer that comes from the mosque next door which lasts for about 10 minutes. The the same again at about 06:00.
Up at 7:00 to beautiful blue skies and time to try the shower. It's an unusual idea the shower head doesn't tilt so the water goes directly into the wash basin. Showered and ready for the group meeting at 08:00.

At the meeting I'm introduced to my traveling companions Lucinda and Allania who are both from Australia. Our tour guide is called mohammid and is a larger than life character. We set off from the hotel in a car as there is only the 3 of us and head to a catholic church just outside Amman which has the most amazing mosaic map of the middle east. After that Mohamid takes us to a place in which that make mosaics which is funded by the government and is a charity. As we visit each place I find that the Jordain people are so friendly and hospitable and they are happy to just talk and drink tea with you. We hit the road again heading to Mt Nebo a religious place where mosses once was. After this we have about an hours drive to the dead sea resort where we get the chance to float in the dead sea and have mud put all over our bodies. The mud is left to dry and then it's back into the sea to wash it off. We are told it makes you look 5 years younger and I ask if I can do it twice. The experience of floating in the Dead sea is amazing, once you get out to about chest Hight it is almost impossible to keep you feet on the sea bed and even someone like me who is not a strong swimmer would find it hard to drown here. The water is like a warm bath and about 34 degrees and to be honest I would have given anything to jump into a nice cool pool. We leave the dead sea and drive south towards Petra. For the next 2 nights we will be staying at the Sunset hotel. The rooms are clean and fairly modern and it's 100% better than last nights hotel. A quick shower and off to eat at a local Jordian restaurant. The food is good but my main coarse comes out with nuts on the top but they are soon discarded to one side. We are then taken to a Turkish bath and Mohamid tells us that we can book it for tomorrow evening if we like. We say that we will give it some thought. Back to the hotel and Lucinda and I go down to the lobby to log onto the Internet. After a while Lucinda goes up to her room and a Jordian guy sit down next to me and starts to chat. The whole conversion seems to be about my sex life so I finish my cigarette and make a hasty retreat to my room, locking and barricading the door. Tomorrow we are off to see the temples at Petra one on the 7 wonders of the world. God I hope I don't get woken by the call to prayer again tonight!!