Day 43, 16 August 2012, Impromptu trip to Jerash, Jewellery shopping and lunch en route to Shobak Castle then onwards to Petra and "Petra, by Night!" - What a day! We left on time for the one hour drive to Jerash and initially we had a look around the imposing entrance gate and thought - hmmm... not as much here as expected for the second best attraction in Jordan. Then we turned a corner and saw the Roman ruins stretching into the distance. One of the highli...

Day 42, 15 August 2012, Madaba by night, hatching plans for Jerash - After a 2 hour, dead to the world nap, we woke up at 6.50 pm to head out with our guide Jurmelah to break her Ramadan fast. Went to a local restaurant, smelled the sweet smoke of the shisha pipes and enjoyed local food. Due to equipment just not being Hardie-proof, James was in need of new Jesus-shoes (aka. sandals) and we had a good look around the lights and action of night time Madaba - sec...

Day 42, 15 August 2012. Aqaba Port to the Dead Sea, views from Mount Nebo - from where Moses first saw the promised land after 40 years in the wilderness, overnight in mosaic filled Madaba - After an early arrival into Aqaba, we did the dance of the dozen ATMs and eventually secured some Jordanian Dinar... so it was 6 Egyptian Pounds to US$1. Now it's 0.7 Dinar to US$1 (or 70 piastres to US$1). Our group has reduced to just 5 travellers along with our Jordania...

Day 41, 14 August 2012, Dahab Diving Day 2 - To beat the heat of the day would involve leaving the hotel at about 3 am and no breakfast, so we stuck with the 7.30 am departure and headed north of Dahab for one of the best dives of the trip - The Canyons. Dropping down into a narrow cleft in the rocks and sitting at the bottom with the light streaming through the water, we thought choirs of angels were about to sing. Truly a dive site not to be missed if any of ...

Day 40, 13 August 2012, Dahab, Dinner, Diving the Red Sea - Dahab is Arabic for gold as it is thought when the sun sets behind the mountains then the ocean around Dahab turn golden. We had dinner in downtown Dahab last night and a brief look at the local market - we felt like we were no longer in Egypt! Apparently many local men have married western girls and have had it explained in no uncertain terms that westerners adore shopping and will actually spend more...