Holy Moses!

Merhaba!

Today I was really down!
In fact as down as it is possible to go, without going underground or under water - over 400 meters below sea level. Hello Dead Sea - the lowest point in the world! Yes, it is indeed a very, very strange and amusing experience to float so close to the top and trying to swim the breast stroke is quite impossible, as however you try to keep your feet in the water, you will end up kicking high in the air as your legs just wont stay under. From experience, I strongly advice everyone not to get water in their eyes though.
And of course no trip to the Dead Sea is complete without the Dead Sea mud treatment, scraped straight from the source! My skin is baby smooth and gorgeous after the treatment - above you can see the end result.

So I arrived in Amman yesterday night after a 4 hour bus ride that took 6,5 hours. Syrian border officials were as efficient as ever - to pay the departure tax, you had to queue to one counter to get the form, then go to the next building to queue to another counter to give the form. But I have now entered a more orderly country (possibly, only time will tell). At least the traffic is slightly less chaotic and the cars slightly newer and more expensive.

Today I went on an organized tour with 3 guys I met on the bus. We tried to hire a car, but it wasn't possible, as today IS the equivalent of Christmas Day for the Islamic world - in other words, today is Eid al-Adha when Muslims make the Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. So today everything was shut... and this is just the start of many days of festivities during which it may be trickier than usual with public transport, accommodation etc. We'll see how that goes.

Apart from the highligh of the tour - lying on a sunny beach and floating on water in a very strange fashion, I have today visited the place where Jesus was baptized in the waters of the river Jordan (the holy water was also for sale at an unholy price - but if someone wants me to bring some back for their baptizing or blessing, let me know) and Mt Nebo where Moses stood and saw the promised land for the first time (though it was misty and we aren't Moses, so we didn't actually see the promised land). We also visited the place where Moses struck the ground with a rock and water came forth, though our driver didn't know exactly where it was, so the first site we stood at trying to feel Biblical turned out to be an irrigation plant some 500 meters from the real Mc Coy.

I have to say, it's been a good day! Tomorrow Petra. Now a long, warm shower to wash off the last of that famous mud.