First week of school over...time for a week off

What an amazing week for the three of us in Jordan. I was lucky enough to be scooped up by the general organising enthusiasm of my two fellow Durham arabists out here and found this week to be a fully planned 5 day holiday to the south of Jordan. It was lovely to escape the noisy confines of the big city as we tripped (by bus as it happened) down to the resort of Aqaba.

Sunday - يوم الأحد - not the most interesting of days but actually getting there was rather key to the trip that followed.

Amman ---> Aqaba (4 hour bus) from which point it did not take us long to find our hotel the Bedouin Garden Village. As dubious and tent-like as the name sounds, only the dubiousness proved to be true. On first glance the hotel is formed of a charming little pool and shaded seating areas surrounding it eventually leading to a small labyrinth of ground floor rooms painted in jolly primary and secondary colours. The customer service experience seemed to have an obligatory delay of half an hour onto everything that you asked for, nevertheless we did not find it difficult to survive. We were certainly moving a little slower as a result of the 41°C heat that rushed as if from a small portable furnace (it did follow one around rather).

Monday - يوم الإثنين - lazing by the pool at the Berenice resort, burning spectacularly, some snorkelling, walking and glass-boat voyaging.

Having researched a likely spot to do some well-deserved lounging we set off (6 of us were in the party for the Aqaba venture, a generous 1:5:0:0:0 gender ratio smacked a little of utility male/token boy, but as demonstrated in the numeric representation, one can get too caught up in such things). True to form, some exceptional lying in the sun took place. In addition to the worshippers of Helios who were very busy doing their thing, 3 of the group went on a brief snorkelling trip out of the resort's dive centre which proved to be extremely worthwhile. Meanwhile, I was asked to join in with some aquatic volleyball with a bunch of Arabs. This was a lot of fun since they got extremely excited whenever I scored a point or even touched the ball. I have also learnt the word for "Come on!/Yes!/Huzzah!" in colloquial and that the sprinkler dance move is not localised to the UK.

Later on we went for a walk in central Aqaba which culminated (thanks to Lydia's strong whimsical side) in a short boat trip around the northern shore of the Red Sea. Said boat bore the audacious claim of being a "glass-boat", a trait that was immediately put into question by the fact that it did not appear to be made of anything resembling what we would call glass. The answer was shortly revealed as we discovered a small (and fairly dirty) "window" in the floor (it really didn't qualify as a deck) of the launch. We trundled around for half an hour or so occasionally marvelling at large coral formations dimly visible through the floor-window before thanking our skipper and heading off in search of dinner.

Tuesday - يوم الثلاث - Snorkelling and transfer to Wadi Rum

On Tuesday morning we spent an amazing 2 hours snorkelling in the area of the Red Sea near to our hotel. The experience is essentially told through the pictures, though it should be noted that the sunken ship that can be seen in one of the photos did in fact founder in the Red Sea. After its salvage (or perhaps during the planning process for the operation), it was decided to leave the ship on the sea floor where it has now become a hot spot for both snorkellers and divers alike.

Following the snorkelling we bade farewell to two of our number as the (now) four of us set sail (in the most figurative fashion possible) for Wadi Rum by taxi. We were met at the visitors' centre in Wadi Rum by Ibraheem - our extremely chilled and good humoured guide and he proceeded to drive us to our final destination. The camp where we stayed on Tuesday night was about 10 kilometres into the barren sands of the Wadi Rum expanse and after watching an exceedingly picturesque sunset, we decided to go and make friends with our fellow travellers.

Wednesday - يوم الأربع - Jeep (sic.) and Camel riding

We were awoken by Ibraheem at the cheerfully early hour of half past 7 in the morning. Although this may not seem early to some readers, we would implore them to remember that we are but meglonychidic (only two-toes for us mere mortals) layabout students and thus resent any movement before a slightly later hour. However, neither the sun nor Ibraheem was willing to wait as we were piled into his professionally converted Toyota pick-up truck (see picture). Merrily we rolled along (though thankfully with a bit less song and dance lest we disrupt the amazing tranquility of our surroundings) and were introduced to such geographical phenomenae as 'a rock that looks like a cow...some people say a chicken'. Despite the serious doubts incurred by Ibraheem about the Bedouin ability to identify successfully any animal that wasn't a camel, we had a very enlightening trip around the area. Also on our list of sites was T.E. Lawrence's house (now sadly reduced to but one wall), where in a shaded tent space nearby, the girls had henna painted onto their hands. I was very happy to do without any Arab makeover (their words, not mine) but alas did not escape unscathed as proved by the heavy eyeliner in the picture.

Thinking ahead to our camel ride in the afternoon, some of us decided that headscarves would be a useful purchase for the desert sojourn. It turns out that we were quite correct as the sun bore down relentlessly upon us during our two hour ride. There is nothing that I regret about doing the camel ride. Although my animal was of a slightly rebellious disposition, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience that I would highly recommend. Camels though, I did find, are some of the boniest creatures that I have ever come across and as a result I do still occasionally find myself wincing when sitting down abruptly or on a hard surface nearly a week later. After the ride we retired back to camp for the evening and made the acquaintance of a fascinating Polish lady called Agnes. Agnes was the head of a humanitarian company working in Turkey (though operating largely in Syria) and had a wealth of experience of the situation in that most interesting part of the Middle East. However we soon found ourselves flagging after our long day and retired to bed in relatively short order.

Thursday - يوم الخميس

Thursday was to be our final day away from Amman and consisted almost entirely of travelling. We said a fond farewell to Ibraheem as we left for Aqaba and from there subsequently to catch the bus back home. It really was a fantastic trip and I would thoroughly recommend anyone who has some spare time in Jordan to go to both places, Wadi Rum in particular.

I've already written far too much so will sign off in the shortest order possible. Thanks for reading, yalla bye X.