Dead Sea mud wrap vs Turkish bath

Jules at the Dead Sea, originally uploaded by Racmol.

After trying out the various beauty treatments of Jordan, Jules feels the Turkish Bath had a greater effect on his skin than the dead sea mud treatment (self application method).

And another thing - what's with all the snow and hail in London?

Trekking with camels

jordan first 227, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Blog postings a bit thin on the ground this trip - much like emails and comments, I might add!

Highlights of the past fortnight, in brief:
- climbing Mt Sinai's 3750 steps of repentance and watching the sunset from the top
- spending a night at a Bedouin camp in the desert at Wadi Rum
- driving through the hills to Petra in thick fog with snow on the ground
- two days in Petra, including climbs to the High Place of Sacrifice and the Monastery
- a swim in the Dead Sea today (very quick in my case as my skin turned red and started to tingle instantly). Great pictures to come of Jules covered in Dead Sea mud, though.
- yesterday a very vigorous Turkish bath, removing a thick layer of grey-black skin
Tomorrow we arrive in Amman at the end of our travels. Photos will appear when we have a proper Internet connection again.

A pyramid and a quick hello

DSC03075, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Hi again - we're still alive. Now in Luxor and heading back to Cairo by sleeper train tonight.

Had a fantastic day today - up at 5 for a balloon ride over the temples on the other side of the Nile and then we got on donkeys and rode up and over the saddle of the hill and down into the Valley of the Kings. It was a spectacular climb with huge red rock formations and crevasses. My donkey was a bit competitive - had to be in the lead so was always trying to overtake all the other donkeys, on the outside along the cliff edge.

Have only been violently ill once (or 3 times, if you want to be literal about it) but that was just dehydration related so I was fine the next day. Unfortunately the urge to throw up struck while J and I were having afternoon tea at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan (where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile). The bathrooms are probably the poshest place I've ever been sick in!

We spent one day and one night on a felucca sailing down the Nile from Aswan but due to a combination of high winds (which meant we were stopped by the Nile police for 4 hours) and then not enough wind, we only managed to get about 5 km down the river before stopping for the night. You could still see the lights of Aswan in the distance! Still, it was nice and relaxing, lying in the sun, reading and doing nothing all day.

Have to go now - have a train to catch...

Camels 2, hissy fits 1

Just a quick hello as we are off for dinner soon and the computers are too ancient to talk to the camera so no piccies today.

We caught the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan last night - very civilised, individual sleeping cabins for two people. Today we took a boat over to Elephantine Island and then went on a camel ride out past St Simeon's Monastery in the desert. My first camel refused point blank to carry me - locked its knees and growled and spat. It took ages before the camel driver could even get it to sit down so I could get off, but the second camel was much better behaved. Still don't think it's a preferred mode of transport though - was kept far too busy hanging on to take pictures.

Yesterday we were out at Giza visiting the pyramids and the sphinx. I hate to say it, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience. I guess once you've seen the image 50,000 times already in your life, you get there and it looks just like you'd expect. Plus the sphinx is much smaller than you'd think.

Anyway, the weather is lovely - just pleasantly warm. And nobody has got sick yet...