Already we are becoming slack at sending out the e-mails... doh! I'll now try to recap the last week of our trip.
So... we spent 3 days in Dahab, a wicked wee place. The days were spent sunbathing, snorkelling, eating and of course smoking shisha. The nights were spent drinking far too much Egyptian Vodka (Fineland) and dancing the night away at the local night clubs - imagine dancing being surrounded and circled by 50 horny Egyptian men... not my cup of tea, but when you are hammered it's all good fun.
On one of our days in Dahab we went snorkelling at a place called the Blue Hole. Now I thought the snorkelling in Thailand was wicked, but this place was out of this world. We saw the best variety of fish... even some gold fish, the colours of the reef were vibrant and simply amazing. The highlight of our day though had to be when we saw a turtle, all I could think of was the movie 'Finding Nemo'... duuuddde it was so cool!
From Dahab we headed for Jordan, first stop the ancient city of Petra - an ancient Jordanian city carved into rose-coloured sandstone cliffs, one of the momst defined cities of the ancient world.
Petra is like nothing else I have seen before, it is out of a story book. Of all the places I have visited, this is now my favourite site - it's even more spectacular than Angkor Wat! To get to actual city of Petra you first have to walk through narrow gorge like paths with the rock faces towering over you... all of a sudden the city will then emerge from the rocks. This place has been intricatately and literally carved out of the rocks. Most of the city is built up high and in cave like crevices, it feels like there are little eyes looking at you from all angles. We spent an entire day out there, and around every corner would be something new and exciting to look at. Easily I could have spent another day, though sadly with being on a tour we were restricted to one day.
Other highlights of our stay in Jordan were 4WD'ing through the desert at Wadi Rum, slepping under the stars in bush camps - where there were no other people other than our tour group, partied with dodgy Jordanian men at an Irish Pub, visited the site where Moses died, watched Israel's lights twinkle by night, floated in the Dead Sea... there is just so much we've been doing to write about each individual thing will take forever.
So... now we are in Syria, and what a place. They say the Syrian people are some of the friendliest in the world - and they definitely live up to the glowing reports. So far we've visited a sign 172km from the Iraq border. Visited the wicked city Damascus - where we spent a couple of days ambling around the local Souk (market) and getting lost in the narrow alley ways of the Old Town, we also visted the local mosque, where the females were made to wear a Yoda (Star Wars) style gowns... oh so gorgeous. We've been to the Ancient city of Palmyra - though Ant and I didn't visit the ruins, this trip we will save for when we return to Syria (yes we love the place so much we are going to come back!).
We are now sadly at the end of our stay in Syria, we are in the town of Aleppo getting ready to enter Turkey tomorrow. Last night we sampled fine beer (actually Egyptian Stella... not the nicest of beverages) and drank till the early hours of the morning, in a hotel that had decor back to the 40's. The bartender - a wicked elderly Kurd man - kept giving me this free Ouzo kind of local drink, I think he liked me as I was trying to speak Arabic with him. Today we visited the local Souk, and have been traumatised by the site of camel carcasses hanging in butchers with their heads still in tact, BBQ'd sheep heads sitting on trays waiting to be bought, seeing huge balls of some poor unknown (now dead) animal... I know that I have to accept that this is their way of life, but sorry these sites were simply gross!
Now as I've been sitting in the e-mail cafe, we've just witnessed something quite disturbing. It seems that army guards were confiscating a guys tray of cigarettes that he was trying to sell - maybe it's illegal to sell on the streets without being in a shop?? Anyway, there's arguing going on... then this guy from nowhere throws off his jacket and starts stabbing at the cigarettes and trys to stab the guards. The guy then runs off threatening to stab himself... hmmm all a bit scary. Thankfully though, we are sitting in the comfort of our first floor internet cafe watching the shinanigans going on below!
So... now we are going to get some lunch, and will probably head to the dodgy bar again! Next stop Turkey!
Sorry about the spelling mistakes, I can't check the dictionary.
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