Jordan Adventures part 2

Fresh tomatoes!

    Man, Jordan's countryside is stunning. After Petra, our next destination was the Dead Sea or as I like to call it, The Deceased Sea. To go directly from Petra to Dead Sea takes about 2 and a half hours, so we had plenty of time to admire the view along the way and also had a few stops for pictures. I mean duh, what's travelling without pictures?

Behind the hills lies Palestine. I really want to go there one day.

   Something I have to mention, which I have overlooked in the first post is the security situation in this country. Being pretty much in the middle of a bunch of countries  in the midst of conflicts results in them having very tight security. Almost everywhere we went, let it be a mall, a hotel, or any buildings required the same procedures.

    Upon arriving at the hotel, we had to pass through a metal detector and all our bags were x-rayed, just like in airports. I was walking confidently through the metal detector not expecting the alarm to ring when suddenly the next thing I know is that it was screaming on my face. OHMYGOD WHY AM I CARRYING A BOMB. Oh ok wait no, its just my phone. Chill.

                 

    When we arrived at the hotel, it was a few minutes to 12. The room was however not ready yet so in the meantime we had our lunch and roamed around the hotel compound. It was huuuuugeeeeee. Complete with everything, dozens of restaurants, gym, sports centre, souvenir shops, clinic, you name it. It took an hour before we could finally check in.

Floating in the Dead Sea

    It was close to sunset when we started making our way to the Dead Sea. Passing through the gorgeous hotel landscape, infinity pools and hotel guests who seemed to be heading back to their rooms. Are we that late? Oh well.

     When we reached the beach, no one was there except for the lifeguard and a few hotel employers. Upon seeing us, the friendly local lifeguard approached and welcomed us. He then offered us to go into the sea. Of course we want to!

Sunset at the Dead Sea is surreal //heart eyes emoji//

    The Dead Sea's extreme level of salinity (roughly 8.6 times saltier than the ocean) prevents any form of life in the lake hence the name Dead Sea is given. Yes, the Dead Sea is a landlocked body of water and not apart of the ocean that contains an excessive amount of sodium chloride which is why its really dense. So, it makes you float without even trying. It's depth is 377 m (1237 ft) deep.

   A few seconds into being inside the Dead Sea, my skin started to feel this thing like a burning sensation. But I can't run off now, mummy's taking a picture of us floating with the beautiful sunset plastered on the sky as a background. The moments that pass by doesn't seem to help, the only thing I wanted needed to do was get out of it.

    Minutes later, I found myself running up to the shore where the lifeguard handed me the pipe hose. Oh water. I've never been happier in my life to see water before.

She wouldn't let go of me.. What a cutieeeee.

Tips 

-Do not get the water in your eyes as it would cause something like a temporary blindness. It's very very painful. Wear goggles or something for extra precaution

-At the sea bottom lines sharp shaped salt that may cut you severely. Do wear water shoes or some kind, protect your feet.

    After spending 2 days at the Dead Sea, it was time to leave :( Our flight on that day was at 5 in the evening, so we had few hours to cover the places we missed in Amman. On our way back to Amman, we stopped at Madaba, the home of the ever so famous Madaba Mosaic Map and Mount Nebo (where in the bible it was mentioned that Prophet Musa a.s was granted a view of the Promised Land). 

Saint George Church, Madaba

                     

           

One of the most famous Jordanian souvenirs; sand art. They can even write your name in it!

                   

Streets of Madaba

Mosaic art @ Mount Nebo

View from Mount Nebo

    In Amman since we were short of time, we had short visits to the Citadel, Cave of the Seven Sleepers and drove through the Palestinian Refugee Camp. Before dropping us off at the airport, our tour guide brought us to a Kebab shop. Gosh, Jordan sure has some good kebab. So juicy and freshhh.

Cave of the Seven Sleepers

One of the few locations claimed to be the cave where the 7 youths hid to escape prosecution for refusing to worship idols as mentioned in Surah al- Kahf.

Amman Citadel (also known as the Jabal al-Qal'a)

Located in the highest hill (850m above sea level) in the middle of Downtown Amman, Citadel is an important site in the ancient civilisation. Buildings that are still visible are believed to be from the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad Empires.

Baqa'a Refugee Camp

Built during the time of the Palestinian exodus and is home to over 100,000 Palestinians. When it was first set up, they were all tents. Over time, they got rid of the original tents and replaced them with concrete shelters.

Time to go home, see you again Jordan!

Couldn't sleep in the plane this time, so it's time to catch up on my favourite fictional character's life :P

   Jordan is probably one of my favourite places I've visited (I say everything's my favourite but ok la just tolerate with me). Its a country complete with natural beauty and historical sites but minus all the scatters of rubbish that is. The people were so friendly, wherever we go I'd hear people saying  "Welcome to Jordan" to us. Isn't that just nice to hear? Oh and did I mention that loads of the people there could talk in Malay? So cool kannnn.

If you haven't already, go check out part 1 here !

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