Shweiki Hotel Aqaba

... and yes, two days later I could swim ! I invited my friends to the beach and after some time I walked into the water. I could feel the eyes of my friends in my back. They must have thought I was going to commit suicide. I just took a dive and SWAM.. as I had never done something else. My friends were stunned like if they had seen a camel flying<br><br>Nawaf<br>tourist guide 00962795537109<br>

... no. 1), to get in to the passenger area from the parking area (no. 2), to enter the 1st floor from the ground floor (no. 3) and to enter the 2nd floor from the 1st floor (no.4 checkpoint)!!!<br><br>Arrived after a 3,5hrs ride (instead of 1 hour with speed ferry), we have proceeded through a similar procedure like in Egypt, but done in 1,5 hrs, what took 48 hrs in Egypt. Welcome to Jordan and welcome to new freedom! Camping at Aqabat.

... us as there were no signs in English- we were lucky they were there to help us. Finally around 3 pm we boarded the overfull ferry along with hundreds of Muslim people making the pilgrimage to Mecca through Jordan to Saudi Arabia and Mecca. There were no seats anywhere and the ferry was heaving with people so we scratched a space out on the floor next to the toilets (eek smelly) and sat or lay there for the next 4 hours while the slow ferry went along ...

... no stirrups for one thing. But our guide led us into what seemed to be more and more of a wasteland. The funny thing about a wasteland is that the longer you're in it, the more detail you start to pick out. He led us to the edge of a deep gorge, but we only stopped long enough for a picture, and then he led us to the edge of an even more spectacular gorge. We learned the camel dismount, and then he showed us several safe places to stand to take ...

... to get the 11 O'Clock ferry whilst I was sat there like a mug for 8 hours! Mark was doing the same thing as me so we both jumped off at the turning to Wadi Rum and a local guy approached us to take us to Wadi Rum and tried to charge us 5 Dina each no chance of that happening so we started walking down the road and he ended coming back to us and offering us 2 Dina instead which we took. We ended up getting to the entrance for Wadi Rum which is a really impressive ...

... that were really old from when the caravans of camels travelled in the area, Lawrence's house (which is just half a wall and not much more) and a rock bridge. We also found a sand dune to climb up and run down. There were quite a few tourists around but also a fair few of the Bedouin. In the evening we stayed in the desert in a camp. It was quite funny cause there were ...

We arrived in the small village of Wadi Rum by bus and immediately set about organising our trip with a local guide called (you guessed it) Muhammad. Within an hour, the four of us were bouncing around in the back of an open-topped jeep, to the tune of the undulating desert. Among the landmarks we visited were the remains of Laurence of Arabia's desert home and a gravity defying rock that one could traverse in an 'Indiana Jones' style, walk of faith. The ...

... hole now referred to as "The Werehouse"- this 100 ' sauna of a port station with benches, dirty bottles, crying kids, no windows, and as many Muslims as you can imagine packed into the smallest possible space. I also didn't have an exit stamp (brilliant Sheryl..). I ran to the border dude, who immediately took a liking to me and asked me to write his son an invitation to study in the United States. After agreeing without really caring at that point, I ...

... granite cliffs. This vast landscape of sand and rock is also known as The Valley of the Moon. We were quickly transported to the desert where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Wadi Rum was also the setting for many of the real T.E. Lawrence's adventures. His first visit to the area inspired this observation in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: "Our little caravan grew self-conscious and fell dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the ...

... how we spent the whole day - yep, 12 *******n hours - getting here from Nuweiba in Egypt, a mere 60km away. The Egyptians finally let us on the ferry at 5pm, it departed soon after and we finally got to Aqaba port, the only port in Jordan on the Gulf of Aqaba at the southern tip of the country, at 6:30pm. We then embarked on the extended taxi ride and had the 'finding-a-hotel-&amp;-bartering-for-a- fair-price' chore out of the way by 8pm, meaning we've spent the last ...