We left Amman today, heading towards the Dead Sea.

On the way out, our driver Mahmoud took us for a city tour of Amman. He stopped at a small shop that made a dish called kanafeh. This is kind of a warm slice made from noodles and sweet cheese, drizzled in honey. It was absolutely delicious.

We then made our way to a city called Madaba, where we met our guide, Fadi. Fadi lives in Madaba and he gave us a bottle of olive oil he had made himself by taking olives to a local business that presses them.

Madaba is famous for their mosaics and first stop was St Georges Church, which has a giant mosaic of the middle east in the floor that dates back to the 6th century.

After this Mahmoud stopped the car and ran across the road. He returned with a stack of Turkish breads and a bag full of falafel. This guy is determined to make us huge before we leave Jordan.

We then visited a mosaic factory. Before we had a look around, Mahmoud strode in like he owned the place, pulled up some chairs around a table and laid out the breads, olive oil and falafel. Apparently, we had to have a "snack". So we sat in this shop, tearing off bread, dipping it in Fadi's olive oil, adding a falafel and chowing down. Man it was good.

When we finished stuffing ourselves, we saw the locals making mosaics. the profits go to a foundation that supports disabled people in the region and we bought a beautiful mosaic to hang on our wall back home. It will be made to order and is going to take 2 months to make.

On the way out of the shop Lidia pointed to a ceramic clock and said "That's cute". Having just spent a fair bit on a mosaic, the vendor took it off the wall and gave it to her as a gift. Then Mahmoud approached the vendor and wanted to see what we bought. The vendor showed him and then he started walking around the shop taking things off the shelves. He said "They can also have this...and this." He gave two small jugs worth around $200 Aussie dollars to the vendor, who laughed and then packaged them up for us to take for free as well. We couldn't believe Mahmoud could be so brazen. Then he explained to us that he would rather build trust with his clients than take a commission, so he had used his commission to give us these gifts. What a guy!

We left Madaba and after a short stop at Mount Nebo, where Moses apparently died and is buried, found ourselves at the Dead Sea. There are many resorts along the coast. Mahmoud dropped us at our resort and we wasted no time in changing into our togs and getting down to the beach.

The tradition here is to smother yourself with black mud, which apparently is good for your skin, and then wash off in the waters of the Dead Sea. So after slapping mud all over ourselves, we waited for about 10 minutes and headed to the water.

The Dead Sea is not only the lowest point on earth, being 430 metres below sea level, but is also the saltiest. The salinity is so high that it is impossible to sink. You go into the water and immediately your legs are swept out from under you making it almost impossible to stand up. You have to float on your back because if you turn over, your legs float up, pushing your face down into the water, and you don't want this because getting the saltiest water on earth into your eyes is apparently very painful. Luckily we avoided this, but there were plenty of people around yelling when they got water in their eyes and lifeguards on hand with fresh water that they would pour over their faces.

After a shower, we went to one of the bars at the resort, sat on a balcony and enjoyed a quiet drink while watching the sun set over the Dead Sea, with the lights of Isreal 15 km away on the other side of the sea.