Moses got it wrong when he chose the Promised Land....
I cant believe after 40 years of wandering in the desert he didnt find find this place. Or, if he did, why he didnt settle here! But thank goodness he didnt or it would be this magnificent place destroyed by thousands of years of conflict.
Dawn over Wadi Rum is sublime. Im watching the mountains change from blue to blazing orange to gold. The sun, very considerately, has risen between a gully outting in a spectacular display as the circle of mountains light up around me. Im lucky to have it all to myself this morning. The only one up - believe it or not.
Sunrise is such an event here. Each second more of the land reveals itself. I can mark the path of the sun down the cliff face. Everywhere I turn there is a new vista dawning. Everywhere!!
Wadi Rum is very special. I can see why Lawrence of Arabia fell in live with it. Again I dont feel out of place here. The sand is red like our outback and the huge sandstone mountains remind me of the Bungle Bungles in WA. It is an enigma too. This landscape is 300 million years old, the bedouin have lived here for centuries, and they are all glued to their mobile phones!! I kid you not - they have phone reception in the middle of nowhere! "Facebook, facebook" all the time - its very important here - for reasons other than Cityville!
We leave Jordan today. Im a little sad. Even though the thing I have wanted most is still ahead of me. This country is beautiful, peaceful. The Jordanian people are warm and friendly and hilariously funny. They have a wonderful sense of irony to their humour. They smile with their whole faces. They love their country and they love their King. They are all ( mostly) ambassadors to Jordan "Welcome to Jordan" they say when they meet you.
We are astonished at how they have remained so open and so peaceful with all the centuries of turmoil going on around them. Mustafa, our driver, makes a very clear point: "To the Jordanian it doesnt matter if you are Muslim, Christian or Jew, it is important that you are good and good to others". At our hotel in Amman the King Abdulla Mosque is across the street from a Church. If you are lucky you can hear the call to prayer at the same time as the bells pealing. Harmony. That's Jordan.