After 4 intense days of hiking around ruins & the desert, the 3 of us traveled to a resort town on the Red Sea at the bottom of Jordan.

Immediately after getting off the bus a guy pulls his car over & asks me if I'm waiting for someone to spend the night with & shortly thereafter another guy grabs me. Instantly knew this was not a place to hang around. But it got better... we bought some local whiskey, went to the beach to smoke water pipes & chill while looking across the sea to Egypt & Israel.

The next day we went to the sea but after getting hit on once too many times, left my friends & hitch-hiked back to town.

The next day said goodbye to expensive Jordan & took a ferry to Egypt.

After Petra, the Spanish girl, American guy & I kept heading south to Wadi Rum. Unfortunately you can only enter the area with a local Bedouin guide on an expensive package trip. It was the most I'd spent in a single day on this trip... but it was something not to be missed.

When we got there we were dressed in traditional headscarves & each got on a camel for a 2hr ride to the cave where we spent the night.

camel, the Spanish girl, American guy, me (!) & camel #2

Petra Treasury

Still traveling with the Spanish girl & now joined by an American guy living in Dubai, we headed south to Wadi Musa, a tourist hell-hole where everything was triple price. But it was worth it... this is where Petra is, the archeological crown jewel of the Middle East... an ancient city hidden deep within gorges in the desert.

The site was amazing! Entering the heart of the city you walk 2 miles thru a narrow, deep crack in the canyon & when you finally arrive a spectacular 3 story tomb built into the mountain greets you.

The entire city was so large we spent 3 days exploring various other tombs, temples & a theater in the city. And it was a major workout.

geting directions from a Bedouin

Left Amman without any problems... taxi took me to the bus station, not a joy ride... got on the right bus -- since everything's in squiggly little Arabic letters & numbers, that's always an accomplishment... found a decent hotel where I met a nice Spanish girl... we walk out of the hotel & some guy grabs my ass... welcome to Madaba!!

smoking a water pipe

floating in the Dead Sea

Now I'm back in Amman & headed to Petra tomorrow.

Yes, $4/gallon gas sucks. But that's still one of the cheapest prices anywhere. The whole world's bitching about the high cost of gas & food. And I'm not talking about old people on porches saying "I remember when..."

Here in Jordan everything pretty much doubled in the past 6 months. Just read oil in Syria increased 360% last year. In Asia everyone complained about the skyrocketing price of rice. It increased by 300% in 4 months in Thailand. And recently people have died in riots over high food prices in Egypt & across West Africa.

It's like the 'perfect storm' - increased cost of oil, raw materials, food & the little discussed reorganization of ocean trading routes all combined with the plummeting dollar... I don't think the outlook's good...but you & I will get thru it... it's everyone else I worry about.

I've had a stomach thing for a few days... been waiting for it to pass before subjecting myself to 12 long hrs in "No Man's Land" with Syrian border guards...but I'm tired of waiting. It's time to move on. Time to get going. Instead, gonna head to Madaba tomorrow... it's only an hour away... supposed to be a nice kick back place... & a good jumping off point for the Dead Sea & some other sites.

Also reconsidering Yemen (home to the Queen of Sheba!)... yesterday there was another bombing in the north, that doesn't scare me... I'll just stay away from the north. What does scare me are the 3 barely reported bombings in the capital over the past few weeks. An apartment where many foreigners live & the US & Italian embassies where all targeted. BUT... none were hit... these guys have bad aim. So if I go, guess I'll also have to avoid all places around the obvious targets.

Finally... heard about Burma... very sorry for the people... guess it's good they didn't let me in.

Jordan... apart from everything being the color of the desert, I like it!

2hrs to Iraq... had to get this photo!

I'm gonna to try to enter Syria. Syrian embassies told me to go back to America for a visa but there's stories of Americans crossing the border with a bribe & enduring 6-12hrs of being ignored. If they can do it, I've gotta give it a try! And if I get in, I'll be able to overland to Beirut too!

I don't understand the issue. I understand enough to understand I don't understand. Understand? :)

Been hanging out with an Israeli & 3 Palestines guys. Just not together. They're 4 nice, educated guys & yet all have made snide comments about the other.

It's been especially interesting with the Israeli. I watch the locals, 60% of whom are Palestinian, ask where he's from & then say "welcome" with a painfully forced smile.

One day helped him smuggle his Jordanian girlfriend into his room. Apart from him being a Jew & her a Muslim, local girls are not allowed in a hotel with a foreigner. Had her father found out her "honor" was in question, he would have the legal right to & would have KILLED HER. Seriously. Wow.

And the Palestine guys... hilarious, handsome & soooo sweet. They took me anywhere I wanted & never let me pay for a thing. They just returned to their home in Ramallah & begged & begged me to come with. All expenses paid! But had I gone, it'd be impossible to get into counties like Syria & Yemen. Other countries carefully look through your passport for an Israeli stamp & even if Israel doesn't stamp your passport, the Jordan stamp when I came back would show where I entered, making it obvious I came from Israel. I'd love to go to Israel. And Palestine. But no way 'till I'm done with the Middle East & Africa.

The whole situation really sucks! For them. And me. Why can't we all just get along!?!