Well, let me start off apologizing for not having the writing skills of Anne as she reported the escapades of Cleo and Mark Anthony on a similar itinerary two years ago. Their story was a major reason we added four days in Jordan to our Israel trip. We have been in Jordan for only a few hours (only three calls to prayer so far) but it has already been interesting.

We came from Jerusalem via the Allenby Bridge. We had heard that it is a major hassle to cross on the Allenby Bridge but we felt we were set as we had "VIP Service" arranged. We learned that VIP service is not defined in the "eye of the beholder," but rather, in the "eye of the seller." We had an early pickup at 0715 at our apartment as we were to be at the bridge at 0800. We arrived at 0750 with one taxi in front of us. We watched a series of trucks get inspected and sent across the checkpoint. Eventually, other mini-buses started showing up. Still, at 0805 no passenger vehicles had been let through. Finally, the taxi in front of us. Then, one of the mini buses. :( Then, another mini bus. :( By this time, our driver had already talked to the soldiers once and said he couldn't do any more. So, I without any help from a bottle of scotch, decided to get out of the van and block the rest of the mini buses. It wasn't long before the horns were honking and the arab drivers came up to me to tell me to move. I tried to get the soldiers to wave our van forward, but no luck. :( I gave up. Finally, we made it through and drove to the next check point where all the mini buses were still stuck. Our driver tried to go in the employee entrance but no luck. Finally, we were second in line when the gal at the checkpoint put out a sign with the name of an Arab tour bus; we had to back up and let a big bus through. Finally, we made it through. We went to the terminal where our driver dropped us off (and returned to Jerusalem) and someone stole our luggage (for all we knew as he took our luggage and told us to go another way). We went inside and FINALLY found "VIP Service." A nice young lady took us into a side room, took the money for our exit passes (I believe it is called extortion in other parts of the world), and took us to the front of the VIP line (i.e., no one else was in VIP line) to get our passports stamped. We exited the terminal to find our luggage waiting (and tip expected), loaded it into a rickety van that said "VIP Aqaba," and headed across the bridge. We really had no choice as the driver had our passports. There really is nothing to the bridge and practically no water in the Jordan river at that point. Once on the Jordanian side, we kept driving. The driver never spoke to us and I was getting a little worried that he might be our driver for the next four days. Eventually, after a few more checkpoints (which we flew threw), we reached a terminal on the Jordanian side. After someone again stole our luggage, we were directed to a VIP Waiting area. As it is a beautiful day, we decided to wait outdoors. We met our driver, Tayseer, who seems like he will be great for next four days. Eventually, someone comes out with our passports. I tip the guy with our luggage, who hands the luggage over to another guy for the 50 feet to the car and another tip. All in all, we finally left the border at 0915.

Our excursion today was to Jarash, an ancient Greek and Roman Decapolis city. Arlene is "ruin'd" out. We have seen so many Roman, Crusader, and Ottoman ruins on this trip that the last thing we wanted to see was another Roman Decapolis. It was wonderful. The excavations are excellent. The two theaters are in wonderful shape. You really get a feel for the city. The drive there was also very interesting. With the fall rains, everything is green. And then the trip to Amman was easy. We are staying at Al Qasr Metropole. This is a hotel that wasn't blown up and they are planning to keep it that way; heavy "wanding" each time you enter.

Tomorrow we go to Mt Nevo, Madaba, and Karak before reaching Petra. Thursday we tour Petra and then spend New Year's Eve there. Finally, Friday, we have our jeep tour in Wadi Rum, and a trip to Aqaba for the road crossing back into Israel at Eilat; hopefully with no excitement as we have an early afternoon flight to Tel Aviv.

Hopefully, a little less excitement tomorrow. We will try to post pix on our return.

WOW, Marc & Arlene, what an adventure! I would have been as nervous as a cat. You are at their mercy, I guess. Can't wait for your pix!

You guys have guts!

Penny and I aren't very adventuresome when in some foreign countries, probably to our detriment, but I do marvel at those that stick their neck out and get the most out of their travels.

Well done!

Cheers! Ray & Penny
"Ruin'd out" Too funny!

I can just picture Marc on the bridge trying to direct traffic!!

Andi, Doug and Susan were considering crossing into Israel from Jordon on Nile as they have an extra day to spend in Amman. Not knowing anything about this process I researched on the web and read so many horror stories of trying to do this crossing going in either direction. Shared these with Andi, Doug and Susan and they decided to go to the Dead Sea instead. I think a very wise decision.

Of course for those of you who do not know about FOUR CORNERS, Marc and Arlene are very EXPERIENCED at crossing borders in difficult circumstances. This Four Corners tour was at the request of Marc and no one knew exactly how it was going to work.

Marc and Arlene, along with a few other trusty souls set off to visit four countries in one day from Zambia during the first ROAR trip.

The group were in four countries, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia in one day and experienced border crossings in boats, vans and by foot. The guides could not cross the borders. So at each crossing they lost their guide, crossed into the next country and were picked up by a different guide. The group had a blast but the story is amazing, I was just grateful to see them all return in one piece. A bonding experience of a lifetime I would say.

Marc and Arlene are indeed adventurous people.

If anyone is interested, here is the original report regarding the Four Corners tour during ROAR. Jerry, Peggy, Don, Michele, Jerel, Andrea, Arlene, and myself had a wonderful time.

OMG Marc, that is so scary. I can see the headline now "American Terrorist sited in Jordan" details at 11.

Stick to scotch.

Great stuff! I'm on the edge of my chair reading this. I would have loved being there with you on this adventure today! Never a dull moment with you guys :) I will never ever forget that Four Corners adventure w/ you! P.S. ...Did you get that confusing feeling of whether you are coming or going again?.... :D

The Four Corners experience is one I will never forget - no matter what, it was awesome! I relish looking through my passport at all those visas.

Sounds like you are having one fabulous and a little bit scary trip!

Four Corners--never had so much fun before or since. Not only was it fun tromping through all those immigration checkpoints, the people we were with were great too. If laughter is good for the soul--our souls were well taken care of after that trip. Marc and Arlene--enjoy Jordan. Happy New Year.

Our second day in Jordan started at 0455; that is when the call to prayer started. It was quite loud in our hotel room. Given that sunrise is not until 0630, I don't know why they have to start praying at such an "ungodly" hour. When we were leaving our hotel room this morning, I noticed that our window was slightly ajar; thus the loudness of the call. When I shut the window, magically the A/C started working. Makes sense why I couldn't get A/C to work last night. :(

We were on the road at 0800. First stop was Mt Nevo. This was the place where Moses looked upon the promised land and where he died. The view is fantastic. We mingled with busloads of Italian and German tourists to see the site which is quite interesting. Next stop was Madaba to see the mosaic map of the ancient world in Greek Orthodox St George's Church. It is quite amazing. Even more so is to see this church juxtaposed in a thriving Arab town. We also stopped at the Church of the Apostles. The mosaic floor there was also fantastic. The main difference is that while there were hundreds of tourists at the Church of St George, we were the only ones at the Church of the Apostles. We received a great tour from a local Arab sitting around waiting for tourists to come by.

From Madaba, we had a long drive to Karak to the old Crusader Fortress. We took the King's Highway which crossed the Jordanian version of the Grand Canyon. Michael Schumacher, I mean Tayseer, had that Hyundai going through the gears as we went around each hairpin turn. The fort at Karak is interesting to see. I recommend hiring a guide once you get inside. Or, at least, head up the stairs instead of down the stairs. I went down 101 stairs thinking I was heading into the Chapel only to find that I had to climb the steps again, and then more steps. It is partly refurbished and partly ruins; OSHA would have a heyday with all the "violations." It is a wonderful site even though it hasn't been refurbished to the extent that the Crusader Fortress in Akko has been restored. One other thought, there are three roads to get from Madaba to Karak; the King's Highway is the slowest. I think I would opt for the Dead Sea route instead; not as scenic but a little faster. You can also go the Desert Highway but that is not scenic at all.

From Karak we drove to Petra. Tayseer made it to the Desert Highway to pick up speed. He said that speed limit was 110kph so it was faster. When we later got off the Desert Highway to go on the small roads, I noticed that he was doing 130kph. Something seems wrong with his logic. :D

The countryside has been pretty bleek in spots and very pretty in spots; the one constant is the trash along the side of the road. I think I will rename Jordan the "Land of the Discarded Plastic Bag." They are everywhere.

Tomorrow we tour Petra. Then, we have a New Year's Eve Party at the hotel. We are in the Marriott and it seems fine although food and drink prices are higher than they were in Amman. Of course, Petra is prime tourist country.

Don't know if I will have a chance to write tomorrow. If not then, I will report from Tel Aviv.

Arlene and I wish everyone a wonderful New Year from Petra!

Uh, Marc & Arlene, the next time you are awoken at such an "ungodly" hour, would it be too much to ask that you prepare a list of your favorite 101 excavation sites...in order of importance, pls? ;)

No hurry.

I suddenly felt some odd vibes.

Carry on.

Cheers! Ray

Marc - what a wonderful report! You've transported me back to our tour. We went to Jerash instead of Karak. We made 'magnificent' time on the Desert Highway, where the miracle of the 110 km speed limit also occurred :D

Did you find a lot of roadside police checks? We did. The driver just had us hand over our passports and we were waved on. How about the hotel security? It was fairly tight when we visited.

A very happy new year to you and Arlene. Have a GREAT time at Petra. The donkey or the horse ride from the Siq will give you a few bumps, bruises and a backache to remember.

Cheers, Anne

Anne, we did Jerash yesterday, after our crossing into Jordan. It is a fantastic site; one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities.

No roadside police checks at all. We have had security guards and magnetometers at both hotels.

We have horses reserved for the ride into Petra; at least the first 800 meters.

Glad you are having fun in NZ!

Enjoying your adventures, Marc and Arlene! Keep all the detail coming - we would love to go to Jordan one of these days, soon!

Petra is FANTASTIC!!

We had a wonderful guide. Over three and half hours, he led us down the Siq to the Treasury and through all the other sites. It was cloudy so pictures may not be the best; but Petra needs to be on everyone's "must do" list. It is amazing what the Nabataeans could create 2000 years ago. We did not go to Monastery (Gary, I don't know how you did that climb on top of everything else) and we did not climb to the High Place of Sacrifice. To see it all would take a couple of days and strong legs.

One word of advice for future visitors. Our tour included a horse ride. The horses only go the first 500 meters. As there were sites to see, and it was downhill, we walked instead of using the horse. So, we paid for the horse but did not use him. I would recommend that when you book the tour, you tell them you do not want transportation (horse, donkey, or buggy) into Petra. On the other hand, it might have been good to have the horse for the last 500 meters out. ;)

Ray, I don't know if this would move to the top of a list of 101 Excavation Sites but it would be near the top (Ta Prohm in Cambodia might actually be my favorite).

Tonight we have a New Year's Eve dinner and party. We were given a copy of the menu. I do not know if their word processor is bad or they have a french keyboard. Regardless, the menu has items like pikils, chaines salad, cabbage roch salad, fried baby marrw, sour chicken livar, whole lamp, staffed meat medallion, staffed tarkye (at the carving station), and appel biy. There is also to be music and belly dancers. ;)

Tomorrow is Wadi Rum. I am hoping to see sites from the filming of Lawrence of Arabia along with, hopefully, some of the actual sites he visited. We are also going to do a quick tour of Aqaba before crossing the border to Eilat for our flight to Tel Aviv.

Jordan is definitely a wonderful place to visit. I think four days is a minimum. There are a lot of other roman ruins and castles so that a week could easily be filled (extra day or two in Petra would also be nice).

More later...

Marc, so happy to hear all about your Petra trip.

pikils, chaines salad, cabbage roch salad, fried baby marrw, sour chicken livar, whole lamp, staffed meat medallion, staffed tarkye and appel biy would sure rank high on my list...#@&$? :eek:

the music and belly dancers would score high on Tom's list :banana:

New Year's Eve dinner was wonderful; the Marriott pulled out all the stops. The whole lamb was placed in the middle of the buffet line; one of the chefs would slice off a piece for you if you wanted. We didn't make it until the belly dancer arrived let alone midnight as we have had early mornings every day.

Today was our last touring day of the trip. We had an early start so that we could go to Wadi Rum. We switched to a four wheel drive, driven by a Bedouin, for the tour. We had to go down the highway around 10 miles before we hit the desert. I noticed that the spedometer was not working and he had no tach. He must be related to Louis Hamilton as he was very efficient going through the gears. We had a two hour tour of Wadi Rum but 20 minutes each way were taken up getting to and from the desert. Wadi Rum is fantastic. I recommend a longer tour. I think it would be better to get the 4x4 at Wadi Rum Visitor Center or Village. Some of the sites are a couple of hours just to get to them. We saw Lawrence's Spring and the Seven Pillars of Wisdom but didn't get to some of the other sites where Lawrence had travelled.

To continue the Lawrence of Arabia tour, we asked the guide to drive us through Aqaba before heading to the border. Aqaba was beautiful; very clean.

The border crossing was relatively easy. The Jordanian guards searched all of our bags even though we were leaving the country. We then had to pay an exit tax and walk across "no man's land" to the Israeli side where we went through three separate checks. Then, a short taxi ride to Eilat airport where we were interviewed for a while and had our bags searched again. We were able to get an earlier flight so we were at our hotel in Tel Aviv by 1500. Arlene will write later about what happened then. ;)

This has been a wonderful trip. It has been very difficult. Seven different hotel rooms and six days in apartment. All days except two we were up and out no later than 0830. Middle easterners, whether Jews or Arabs, are a different type of people. It is not exactly a relaxing place.

I asked Arlene to write a review of the whole trip when we get home. Although this is my third trip to Israel (and I have spent a little time in Arab countries), this is Arlene's first. I think other's would appreciate her impressions.

Tomorrow we head home so this is it for Sandmail.

Great stories, Marc! Thanks so much for sharing. I'll be looking forward to Arlene's review! Bonnie

It's been wonderful hearing about your trip and I look forward to Arlene's review.

I do think it's for "adventurous" travellers, which doesn't include me, at this point, or maybe never did!

We've all loved your sandmail and look forward to Arlene's review. Welcome back to "civilization" and Happy New Year.

Thanks, Marc. Looking forward to Arlene's posts.

We can't all be Anne but your posts are pretty darn good Marc - glad you are having good time -

mmmm......whole lamp :)

Appel biy is a scream, the entire menu should be on You tube and David Letterman. Petra is indeed wondrous and a challenge but worth every ache, pain and blister. Can't wait to read more.

Marc and Arlene, thanks for entertaining me for the last week!

Marc and Arlene,
Thanks for taking the time to write your blog. It was fascinating. I laughed out loud when I read the menu.

What an adventure! I'm very late in seeing this thread but was fascinated to read it -- love the image of Marc directing traffic, unbelievable! -- plus the link back to the Four Corners tour. You guys are something (in a good way)!

Your dinner menu sounds "interesting". I was laughing so much my assitant came in to see what was the matter.