The best of Jordan!

(Trip costed Rs. 1,10,000 from Dubai for two)

Day 1 : After weeks of planning, trying to fit in everything in a tight schedule, a foggy morning and flight delay may not have been the best way to start this bucket list trip. But view of Burj Khalifa from the flight did make up for it a bit.

We landed at Amman airport around 11 am and had our driver (booked from our hotel in petra) waiting for us, all set to launch our Jordanian adventure.

We had chosen to head towards Petra directly from the airport , via the "kings highway". That means we will be covering attractions in the central part of the coutry ( which I will talk about in a bit ) during the day and will be reaching Petra, just in time for "Petra by night".

Our plan did work ( well almost) but it came at a pretty high price ( paid 110 JD for the taxi). The price was initially negotiated as 90 but the driver some how tricked us in paying extra ( let's skip that part I guess )

We drove through a few boring spots like churches in Madaba , Mt. Nebo etc. (skip them if you are short on time) to finally reach the top item on our list after Petra - "the Dead sea".

Dead Sea : Uniqueness of this place is unmatched ! A lake which is called a sea ( as it got cut off from a sea , I guess ) has no aquatic life ( hence named Dead) and is so salty that even single drop of sea water could (temporarily) blind you. But it's too much fun , as it let's you "float" ! Behaving like a couple of 10 year olds, we put (apparently "therapeutic" ) black mud all over our body and tumbled up and down in the buoyant, cold waters at the lowest point of the planet earth.

We did all this in a resort, which took 20 JD per person (and in return gave almost no facilities). All dried up and covered in salt , we resumed our journey towards Petra. Driving along beautiful coastline of dead sea, the highway proved worthy of its name as it was filled with spectacular landscapes, making this longer alternative of reaching Petra worth every penny !

The temperature dipped from 22degs at dead sea to 2 as we reached Petra. It was 7:30 in the evening and in no time we checked into our hotel and headed out for "Petra by night"

A 30 minutes walk from the entrance of the complex on a candle lit path, to witness the 'treasury' (Petra' s poster boy) gleaming with yellow light of 100s of candles below it, under a star studded sky. We couldn't have asked for a better end of our HECTIC first day in Jordan.

(PBN starts at around 8:30pm , is organized only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and costs 17 JD).

Day 2 was all about PETRA ! This is what drew me to Jordan and it was worth all the hype. We started our day early (around 9 am) and finished it around 4 in the evening. There is a lot of walking in this "world's wonder" but you can always take a "camel taxi". Now I am just going to let pictures do the talking

(We got entry to Petra using Jordan pass which costs 70JD and provides a supplementary visa for Jordan)

(Pro tip : We could not do it, but its better to start the trip from the entrance at the far end of the complex, near the monastery. Then you just walk one way towards the main entrance and save a lot of time and effort!)

Day 3 : After a good sleep we were all set of our next adventure i.e. camping in Wadi Rum. With our bags backed and tummies filled with khubus and cheese, we set out for Wadi Rum (taxi for 35 JD, as public transport if close to none).

Known as the "Valley of the Moon", this place was plain crazy. It was true a spectacle, some thing seen never ever before. Traveling with a bunch of other tourists, we were taken to various popular spots in the desert. The icy cold wind made it difficult, but I never stopped clicking :)

Post the safari (and sunset), we were brought to our campsite. The arrangements were very basic (little disappointing for the price we paid), but full efforts were put in to give us an exclusive 'Bedouin' experience.

We spent the (new years) night singing Bedouin songs around a bonfire, fighting cold with our blankets, under a sky filled with stars. Something which is hard to get in these modern times.

(55 JD per person for safari, stay and 2 meals. Although pricey, I would still recommend it. )

Day 4 started (again) with a tight schedule. After having a quick breakfast at our campsite, we set out for Aqaba (20 JD for the taxi), which was 30 minutes away. First thing we did was to reserve a seat in a bus to Amman (20 JD pp).

The idea of coming down to Aqaba was to take a dip in the Read Sea, and after a lot of thought we ended up snorkeling. It was a lot of fun (as it was uninstructed) and a little painful (as I couldn't keep away for corals).

We wrapped up quickly to make sure we don't miss the 4 pm bus and by night we had reached the last leg of our trip - Amman.

Day 5 was when our flight was in the evening, hence we could do very minimum stuff in the capital city(which has lot to offer, hence I was a little sad due to the scarcity of time).

We stayed in a lovely hotel-cum-hostel (Amman Pasha Hotel) which was in downtown area, right opposite the Roman amphitheater. Hence we started with the theater which was a great place to get pictures clicked. Then we hiked up to the the Citadel ,which was nothing but some ruins but offered great views of the city (and gave me an awesome jumping pic :P).

Ended our day and trip at the Rainbow street (3JD taxi from Citadel), which has lovely quaint cafes and nice souvenir shops. We grabbed a quick bite and took a taxi back to the airport (15 JD) via our hotel, in order to pick our luggage.