Syria and Jordan

We had such a great trip to Jordan (and Syria)! Jordan was so CLEAN and QUIET and the people knew how to DRIVE without causing me to have a heart attack at any moment. I liked Syria too but in a different way. It's kind of like having 2 boyfriends. One is dependable, comforting, and looks good. The other is dangerous, dirty, and a bit of a bad-ass.

It only takes an hour or so to reach the Syrian border from Beirut. Then we waited about an hour while Tigerpapa sorted out my visa and registered the car. It wasn't unpleasant although the anticipation of "trouble" can be somewhat disconcerting as you never know if some border guy is going to decide that you cannot enter that day. We got through with no difficulty and proceeded to drive to Damascus where we would spend one day exploring before continuing to Jordan.

Damascus was an interesting place and I look forward to going back there so that we can see more of it. Due to our time restraint, we only saw the souk and the Umayyad mosque:



The entrance to the souk from the Mosque. You can see how old the pillars are here:


The entrance to the souk from the other side:


Some of the things to buy in the souk:







The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Jordan after spending an hour trying to get out of Damascus. I heard tigerpapa mutter something about a F-@#*$-ing Labrynth and then something about how my map-reading skills weren't very good and if he had his friend so-and-so with him we wouldn't be so lost.....blah, blah, blah!

Anyhoo, we eventually made it to the border where we waited another hour or so to do all the visa-getting and car-registering we had done at the Syrian border all over again. Soon enough we were pulling in to our Bedouin camp to spend the next 3 nights of our trip. Bedouin Camp:



Near the camp:


The camp was very close to Petra so that is where we spent the first day we were there. Petra:



The second day in Jordan we drove down to Wadi Rum and (using our very own Rav4) explored this vast and beautiful desert area. I started out doing the driving but, after a few fishtails, Tigerpapa took over whilst doing some more of his muttering....blah, blah, blah. Wadi Rum (7 Pillars of Wisdom):


Wadi Rum, The Camel:


The morning of our 3rd day in Jordan, we moved to a really nice resort hotel on the Dead Sea. Here is the view from our room:


The kids enjoying the mud from the Dead Sea:


For some reason I can't add any more pictures to this post so I will end here and put the rest in a "Part 2" post later.

Mata ne!