Maa Salama Syria, Mahaba Jordan

Welcome to country number 5. We had a very enjoyable trip into Jordan. There were only 8 people on the bus for the border crossing, including a Lebanese - Australian couple who works for the NSW premier on muslim public relations. She had been in the Middle East at a conference and it was wonderful talking to her about what is being done in Australia and elsewhere. Also, with the recent Cronulla riots, she has been extremely busy.
The difference between Jordan and Syria is night and day. Syria is pen and paper, Jordan is computers and eye scanners. It's amazing what cool gadgets you get when you sign peace treaties with the US and Israel. Funny how the world works!
Anyway we arrived into Amman, which has not a whole lot to see, but is strategically situated for day trips to Jerash (Palymra in grey) and to the Dead Sea. Jerash was actually very good, much more touristy then the ruins at Palymra. However there were loads more descriptions, which made hiking around the site very interesting and educational.
Our trip to the Dead Sea was exciting. We decided against an organised day trip from the hotel and instead picked public transport. Usually a relatively safe and interesting choice. We boarded the minibus in Amman with Dead Sea written on the outside and assumed, wrongly it turns out, that the bus would go to the Dead Sea. Not quite, we ended up being let off on a road within view of the Dead Sea, but a good 5-6km walk from the nearest beach/resort. Being 400m below sea level it gets bloody hot, so we were a little anxious of how exactly we were going to continue. Luckily, a boy racer picked us up in his VW Golf and gave us a lift to the beach. We did the kodak moment swim and generally relaxed. The water is supposedly 25% solid, although it looks and feels pretty much like real seawater, until you try and swim. If you had any ideas of swimming to Palestine you would quickly forget it. It is almost impossible to get your legs submerged in the water, so you could forget about kicking. Overall a very odd experience.
After Amman we traveled to Dana Wildlife Refuge for a couple days of walking and relaxing. We are now in Petra for the star attraction in Jordan. We will spend 3 days here exploring the Rose City before moving onto Egypt.