This is a guest post by photographer Dayle Fenton, whose round the world trip started in New Zealand. Find out more about him at www.backpackofdreams.com. This post is also supporting Blog4NZ, a grassroots blogging and social media effort to support New Zealand travel in the wake of the Canterbury earthquake. Find out more at http://facebook.com/blog4nz.

New Zealand is full of spectacular sights and sooner or later you get asked the inevitable question: ‘What was your favourite place?’ I dread the question and if twice the same person asked me, my answer would probably change. New Zealand constantly surprises me and there’s always a new favourite but here are my Top 5 views so far.

Lake Pukaki

Lake Pukaki was somewhere I didn’t want to leave but inevitably had to. I’d been staring at the lake driving along the highway and when the opportunity came to take the car off-road and clamber down I grabbed it with both hands. Don’t drive past this beauty on your way from Lake Tekapo without taking some time to reflect on how tranquil it is.

Mount Cook

Mt Cook is a detour that warrants consideration, this is from outside the Heritage Hotel (check out the exhibition inside) before setting up in a DOC campside ready for a tramp the next day. Mount Cook has so many walks to offer, it’s a shame so many people seem to dismiss it.

Tongariro Alpine  Crossing

This was my best and most challenging weekend since I’ve been in New Zealand. I recommend everyone does the crossing because the views and sense of achievement makes it all worth it. The rewards outweigh the effort you put in – it’s the pleasure/pain theory in a nutshell.

Hokitika Sunset

The beach was nothing special during the daytime but sunsets just transformed it into something beautiful. Hokitika boasts of it’s sunsets and I wasn’t disappointed. It being Christmas Day made it even more beautiful.

Pancake Rocks

Mixed reviews for the Pancake Rocks but these are works of art – or miracles. The rocks are stacked together, the spray bounces off them and you can even catch rainbows in the spray. The blowholes and waves mesmerise you as you wait to capture that perfect shot.

Now it’s time to pick your own favourite view!

On my recent trip to Krakow, in southern Poland, eating was the main activity I engaged in since it was far too cold to do anything else. Below, I’ve listed (in no particular order) my pick of the best places to eat there.

Vega Vegetarian Bar

Addresses: św. Gertrudy 7 & ul. Krupnicza 22

Website: www.vegarestauracja.pl

An exclusively vegetarian (with many vegan dishes marked as such) joint with a laid-back atmosphere. There is no table service; instead order at the counter and either take your food immediately, or it will be called out when ready. The food uses typical Polish ingredients (such as spinach and cabbage), but puts an interesting spin on them. Prices are very reasonable, and there is also a nice selection of deserts and teas. For 2 people with drinks, expect to pay around 35 PLN.

Genji Premium Sushi

Address: ul. Dietla 55

Website: www.genji.pl

Despite being slightly more expensive than other options listed here, this Japanese restaurant is worth every penny. There is a wide selection of soups, sushi, maki and curry dishes as well as all kinds of teas and a few deserts. (The ginger tea is high recommendedl.) The building itself is also noteworthy; upstairs there is traditional seating, but downstairs, there are private rooms with vaulted ceilings and exposed bricks which gives the place a very classy feel. For 2 people with soup, drinks mains and a desert, you’ll likely pay around 120 PLN.

Pozegnanie z Afryka

Address: św. Tomasza 21

Known in English as ‘Out of Africa’, this cosy little coffee shop offers a wide range of coffees and a few teas from around the world. It is actually a chain, though you wouldn’t guess from the quirky interior and unique atmosphere. There is also a shop attached with coffees from every corner of the world available.

Momo Bar

Address: Dietla 49

Another mostly vegan joint with an abundance of rice and bean dishes, the food here is good and a little more exotic than at Vega. It’s also slightly cheaper and has better tea. Again, there is no table service, and you need to clear away your own dishes, but the eating space is intimate and communal and seems to mostly be frequented by young students. For 2 people with drinks, expect to pay about 30 PLN.

Massolit Books & Cafe

Address: ul. Felicjanek 4

Website: www.massolit.com

This place is mostly an English language bookshop, but also has a pleasant little cafe in the middle, around which the book-browsers orbit. It serves teas, coffees, hot chocolates and the likes, as well as a few homemade cakes at average prices. As well as the large array of books, they also have copies of international English language newspapers and magazines to browse while sitting in the cafe, idly people watching or just taking refuge from the cold outside.

###

Have you been to Krakow? Did I miss out one of your favourite places to eat there? Add it in the comments!

Now I realise this will have been the only post here in the whole month of February, and that because of that, I will have failed already at my goal for 2011 to post at least twice a month on this blog, and I’m sorry for that, if mostly to myself.

I continued working in Austria for the first half of February, then had a week off in the second half, during which I went to southern Poland to meet my partner and have a holiday. Unfortunately, we were both ill during this time, and Krakow (where we spent most of the week’s holiday) was so cold that we barely went outside. It was -16°C at one point.

Now, I’m back in Austria, staying with a friend in Linz, my favourite Austrian city, and looking forward to going back to work once I’m better. Until then, I’ll go for walks along the Danube, get stuff done at home, and hopefully write some more for this blog!

I began 2011 in London after travelling through the Middle East at the end of 2010. Now, I’m back in Austria teaching again.

New Year’s Eve was spent at home with my partner, and in the first two weeks of January I caught up with several friends in my native city and spent more time than I should really need sorting out my crap that lives there. (Every time I go back to London, I look at all of my possessions there and ask myself why I still have all of this stuff, and end up getting rid of a portion of it. Despite this, there is still more than I would like, but I’ve found myself hitting a wall when it comes to getting rid of more.)

The last few days in London before coming to Austria were, as usual, rather frantic, full of last minute things to organise and people to see. On 16th January I flew out to Graz and taught for a week in a small town in Styria, which turned out to be a relatively pleasant re-introduction to work after a few months off. Now I’m in Vienna, and will be here for another week before going off in to small town Austria over my (and this blog’s) birthday.

In general, I’m enjoying teaching again, though am finding it quiet tiring. I’m also enjoying Austria (Vienna in particular) even though when wearing what seems like all my clothes to go outside, I’m still cold!

Unfortunately, there’s nothing to update with regards to my goals for 2011, though my plans for spending time in Spain are starting to firm up a bit, and something will get booked in the next month. The idea now is to go straight from the end of my contract in Austria in April to Spain and travel around for a few weeks, then return after the summer to a place that I enjoyed and stay for a few months.

That’s how my January has been, how was yours?

Obligatory shot of the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) from the Siq, Petra.

The above is probably the most commonly taken photo in Petra, and perhaps even all of Jordan. It’s the Treasury, as seen in many films, and even if you’ve never heard of Petra, you’ve probably seen this picture or something like it.

Petra is the most visited site in Jordan, and for good reason. Walking through the Siq and out on to the Street of Façades at sunrise can be magical, but the experience can be somewhat spoiled if you don’t know what to expect.

Prices

[Note: at time of publishing, 1 JD is worth almost exactly €1 and approximately £0.90]

Entrance to the park is by ticket only, and these tickets are checked both on entering and sometimes at random in the park. The price you’ll pay will depend on how long you’d like to be able to visit; there are options for 1, 2 or 3 day passes, all of them very expensive. In 2010, the entrance price increased three times and is currently 50 JD for 1 day, 55 JD for 2 days and 60 JD for 3 days. (For Jordanians, it’s 1 JD and for all children under 15, entrance is free).

There are options to hire guides at the Visitor Center, but I personally think this is an unnecessary expense (I overheard someone being quoted 50JD for a guide for one day). Use a map instead.

What to see

The Monastery (Al-Deir)

At the far end of the park from the entrance through the Siq is a fairly obvious path up to the Monastery, a bigger, better version of the Treasury. At the bottom there will be plenty of men on donkeys trying to persuade you to hire them to ride uphill to get to the Monastery, but it’s only a 20-30 minute walk, even though they will tell you it takes at least 1 hour. I haven’t included a picture of the Monastery here, because seeing it for yourself is a much better idea. I had no idea what it was before I went there, and literally had my breath taken away by seeing it.

While you’re up there, it’s also worth following the path away from the Monastery and following the sign to “the view of the end of the world”. This will lead you to a viewpoint where you can see down over the mountains below and off to Israel in the distance.

The Royal Tombs, Jebel al-Khubta & the Treasury from above

Coming out of the Siq and on to the Street of Façades, pass the Theatre and turn right to get to the Royal Tombs. After a short way, there is then a small sign steps up to the top of Jebel al-Khubta. From the top, you’ll have good views down on to the Street of Façades and the Theatre. The path ends here, but if you keep going straight on, past the small hut-like structure at the summit, through the bushes between two mountain sides, after about 5 minutes, you’ll come to a place where you can see the Treasury from above. The views here are much more serene and certainly less crowded than from down below at the mouth of the Siq. There is no way to get down to the Treasury from here, so you have to backtrack.

The High Place of Sacrifice

To the left of Qasr al-Bint, one of the only free standing structure left in Petra (all the others were carved in to rock faces), there is a path that leads uphill a little way to a single column. Follow the path past this north-west through the valley and after 20 minutes or so, it will you’ll pass some other carved buildings, notably the Garden Triclinium (pictured below). The path will then turn in to a set of steps, which, after 30 minutes or so of climbing, will get you to the High Place of Sacrifice, from which you have views down over the Street of Façades and the Royal Tombs. From there, there is then a path down to the street below.

My best piece of advice for anyone coming to Petra and wanting to see all of these things and more: arrive at 6am. And do so every day that you plan to spend in the park. The gate to the park officially opens at 6am (as does the ticket office, but I found it empty until 6.30am on my first day) and apart from the people looking after the horses and setting up their stalls, there’ll be no one else there. Going straight up to the Monastery on my second day and descending at around 9am as the first trickle of visitors were starting to go up made me realise how worth it getting up at 5am was!

The town (Wadi Musa)

Accommodation

As Jordan’s most popular tourist attraction, there is unsurprisingly no shortage of accommodation in the town of Wadi Musa (Moses’ Valley), the modern town that has sprung up next to ancient Petra. There are a few hotels clustered by the Visitor Center and entrance to the park, though these tend to be the high end places, with prices to match. The cheaper accommodation is found a 20 minutes up-hill walk from the park entrance along the main street, around the roundabout (there’s only one) and beyond. By bargaining, I got a twin ensuite room with breakfast included for 22 JD per night at an average place on the west side of the roundabout (that is, nearer to the park entrance).

Eating

Again, there is a plethora of place to eat in Wadi Musa, though prices of even the cheapest things are inflated. The most expensive places to eat are on the street by the park entrance (near the fancy hotels), while simple falafel and kebab joints can be found on the roundabout.

Internet

Surprisingly, there are very few internet cafes in Wadi Musa. On the roundabout, there are two charging either 1.5 or 2 JD per hour (in the rest of Jordan it was usually between 0.5 and 1 JD) with acceptable speeds. Several of the restaurants along the main street by the entrance advertise the fact that they have wifi. I only tried one, and despite asking before sitting down whether this was included if I ate there, the owner seemed to have regretted saying that when I came to pay and threatened to charge me 7 JD for 2 hours usage, which I of course, didn’t pay.

Transport

The bus station in Wadi Musa is a 5 minute walk west of the roundabout. Finding a bus to and from Amman shouldn’t be difficult, otherwise there are irregular minibuses to and from Aqaba which leave when full and cost 5 JD per person (which, I unfortunately discovered, is twice the fare for locals).

Although I’ve had this blog for less than a year (and there have been some glaring gaps in the schedule of posts during that time), I have been doing annual reviews for about 3 years, and this year wanted to share it. You know, public accountability and all that; I’ve heard it’s great for motivation, so here goes.

Accomplishments in 2010

• I started this blog
• I got my first teaching experiences since becoming qualified
• I had my first Couchsurfing experiences
• I went on my first family holiday in 7 years
• I climbed the highest mountain in Britain (on that family holiday)
• I travelled to 5 new countries (Slovakia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt)

I’m pretty pleased with this list. There’s nothing major here, but all the things mentioned add up to a year of finding a new direction in teaching and some not insignificant travel.

Disappointments in 2010

• I didn’t learn as much Arabic as I had hoped to during my trip in the Middle East (however, I discovered that I was OK with this, and realised I didn’t really want to be learning a new language at the moment)
• I didn’t add any money to my savings (though this wasn’t a goal from the previous year, so it wasn’t a failure, just would’ve been nice if there had been something left over)
• I’ve had a boring tax issue hanging over me since early 2010 which I didn’t get any closer to solving

Again, I’m quite happy about this short list. Since the first two items turned out not to be too disappointing at all really, and it’s just the last one that deserves a firm place here, I’m OK with this.

Goals for 2011

• solve that boring tax issue mentioned above
• make my first £10 online
• post at least twice a month on this blog
• spend some time in Spain, improving my Spanish

This was the hardest part to write. I was very careful to write only things that are specific and that I therefore can say at the end of 2011 that I either did or didn’t achieve them. The only one that doesn’t really fit in to this category is the last one, which I am intentionally leaving vague.

I know some might argue that this is a bad idea, but I feel I have a valid reason for doing so; I have various plans for making this happen, but at the moment, the different scenarios depend on other things happening or not happening, and they are not all within my control. I realise that the phrases “some time” and “improve my Spanish” are very vague, so I will consider this goal achieved if I spend anything from 2 weeks to 6 months in that country, and if I come away from that experience with anything from a renewed enthusiasm for the language to fluency.

With regards to posting here at least twice a month, I’m hoping it will in fact be more often, but I’m setting the bar reasonably low to avoid disappointment (which perhaps I shouldn’t when setting goals – any thoughts?) and to account for times when I may not have internet access or time to write (for example, when teaching). That said, I would ideally like to post here twice a week, as I did when I started, but I don’t want to post for the sake of posting and put out something of no value simply to fulfill a preplanned, self-imposed requirement.

Thanks for reading, and here’s to a happy and successful 2011 to you all!

I am quite particular about keeping track of all my expenses, in every day life and when I travel. I often find it useful to see what other people spend on their travels, and since I have all this information readily available, I thought it would be a waste not to share it. So here, for your reading pleasure, is a summary of how much my most recent trip from Athens to Sharm el-Sheik over 80 days cost me.

(All prices shown with ‘£’ are GBP. Other currencies are indicated by their currency code, and conversions to GBP are based on what my bank charged for me to withdraw local currencies in each country I visited.)

Total spend: £1869.32

Daily average: £23.37

I have broken down my spending in each of the 5 countries I visited to include all in-country expenses (accommodation, food, transport and activities), but not the costs of the things I had to arrange before starting the trip like visas, insurance and flights; those are, however, included in the total spend above.

Greece

I was in Greece for a total of 13 days, 12 nights. I was travelling with my partner for the first 9 days of that (though the total below is only my half of the expenses), and I couchsurfed a total of 6 nights during my time there, so only 6 nights of accommodation were paid for. I did, however, take three ferries between various islands, and these were not cheap (about £25 each journey, averaging 3.5 hours each).

Total spend: €442.49 (£362.70)

Daily average: €34.04 (£27.90)

Turkey

My stay in Turkey lasted 15 days, 14 nights, of which I couchsurfed 3. I was travelling alone, and paid for private rooms with bathrooms.

Total spend: 751.28 YTL (£336.90)

Daily average: 50.9 YTL (£22.46)

Syria

I was in Syria for 32 days (31 nights) and spent 3 nights of that couchsurfing, during which time my host didn’t let me pay for anything (and since he lived in a small village outside of Latakia, there were very few opportunities to spend money anyway). The rest of the time, I was travelling mostly on my own and stayed in a mixture of private rooms (with and without bathrooms) and dorm rooms. My biggest single expense was €55 for a two hour camel ride out in to the desert where I spent the night in a Bedouin tent and was given two meals and a ride back to town in a truck the next day.

Total spend: 34,705 SYP (£478.82)

Daily average: 1084.53 SYP (£14.96)

Jordan

My stay in Jordan lasted 15 days, 14 nights, and I travelled the whole time with one other person, so we split the cost of a double or twin room, shared food and transport costs. Twice we hired a private car to take us from one place to another (via a third sight) because public transport either didn’t exist or involved multiple changes and very early starts, which worked out to be about 20 JOD (£18.30) per hour. My single biggest expense was entry to Petra at 60 JOD (£54.90) for a 3 day pass.

Total spend: 412.65 JOD (£382.08)

Daily average: 27.51 JOD (£25.47)

Egypt

My visit to Egypt was limited to only two places on the eastern Sinai peninsula: Nuweiba and Dahab, and between them I spent 8 days, 7 nights. Again, I was travelling with another person, so we split costs again. The cost of the ferry ticket from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba, Egypt is not included below; it was $70 USD one way for a foot passenger.

Total spend: 1070.50 EGP (£120.15)

Daily average: 133.81 EGP (£15.02)

Visas

The cost of visas have not been included in the above totals and averages. Of the 5 countries I visited, I had to pay to enter 3 of them. Of course, I didn’t have to pay (or even get a free stamp) to enter Greece, as it’s an EU country, and I have an EU passport. The stamp I got upon entering Egypt from Jordan was free, but only allowed a 15 day stay on the east coast of the Sinai peninsula from Taba (on the boarder with Israel) to Sharm el-Sheik, including a visit to Mount Sinai. On the boarder at Turkey, I paid €15 for a 90 day multiple entry visa, and on the boarder to Jordan I paid 10 JOD for a single entry visa which did not specify for how long it was valid, but from what I read, seemed to be valid for 1 month.

The situation for Syria was slightly more complicated and the rules seem to be changing every day, so I will simply relay here what I did. I decided to get my visa in advance of my trip at the Syrian embassy in London. This required filling in a form, several passport photos, a letter from my employer to say that I was employed (I wrote this myself as I am self-employed, and this was acceptable), my passport and £30. I then took this to the embassy one day then returned several days later to collect my passport.

I had specified on the form that I wanted a 1-month visa, so was surprised to see that the visa I had been granted was only valid for 15 days and was told that I would be able to extend the visa in Syria at any passport office in any of the larger towns. This I did in Hama’s passport office (see Sunday), having already used 15 days of my original visa and was granted 30 more days at the cost of 150 SYP (£2.07) and a whole page of my passport. I did, however, meet other travellers in Syria who had completely different experiences of this (Wandering Earl has a useful post on this as well as general costs for Syria).

Monday 20th December

Dahab proved of little interest once I had taken a walk down the main drag and seen, it would seem, the entire town in 20 minutes. I  continued wandering along the coast however, and soon got out of the main town, filled mostly with over-priced tourist traps, and was interested to see all the seafront apartments for rent for (what separate advertisements implied) less than £70GBP a month. This kinda blew my mind, but then I realised the only reason I could think for renting an apartment in such a place would be to learn to scuba dive, something which doesn’t interest me. Later, in the evening, I went out for dinner with my travel companion to an Indian restaurant by the sea, where we were swamped by cats scrounging for food.

Tuesday 21st December

The morning was spent taking a walk in the other direction to the previous day along the coast to a very, very windy and flat peninsula where much windsurfing was taking place. I fought against the wind coming back and then finished off my packing before having a final lunch of falafel, saying goodbye to my travel companion and taking a pre-arranged taxi to Sharm el-Sheik airport for my flight back to London. Upon arrival at 4pm, however, I discovered that my flight that was scheduled to leave at 6pm was delayed by 3 hours because of snow in London. I checked in then rationed all the things I could possibly do at the landside of the airport for a good 2 hours before going through passport control to airside. Once there, the flight was delayed by a further hour, and I (along with all the other passengers on the flight) was given a voucher for a small meal at one of the airport restaurants. Finally, at 11pm, we boarded the plane and were told that there was both good and bad news: the good was that we would indeed be leaving (hooray!); the bad was that they weren’t sure where we’d land (oh dear). We eventually did land at the airport we were due to arrive at and I was shocked at all the snow.

Wednesday 22nd – Sunday 27th Decemeber

The next few days entailed all the usual post-trip and Christmas happenings; washing clothes, sorting photos, cooking food, eating food, playing games, chatting with family, reflecting on the year that’s almost over and planning for the next. (That’ll be coming soon!)

*Thanks to all those people who’ve been reading along with this journey; it was a great ride, and I’m glad to have had people to share it with!

Monday 13th December

Leaving Petra on a cold, foggy morning was supposed to be quite easy. After enquiring at the bus station, I was told a bus would leave at 11am. Returning in time for said bus, we proceeded to wait more than an hour to get going, as it was in fact a “leave when full” service, which is fine, but then don’t tell me it leaves at 11! We then finally arrived in Aqaba, and after driving through the desert, where we had seen sprinklings of snow, we were surprised to find it considerably warmer by the sea. After some walking we found a decent place to spend the night and went in search of ferry tickets to Egypt for the next day. We then walked down by the seafront as the sun went down and rounded off the evening with a fancy dinner at a fancy restaurant to see out our last evening in Jordan.

Tuesday 14th December

After breakfast and packing, we were driven to the ferry port by a Jordanian taxi driver who somehow managed to tell us what seemed like his entire life story in the space of the 10 minute ride. Once there, we then went through the (unstressfull) bureaucratic dance of immigration and boarded the boat and sat in an area full of middle aged Jordanian men who stared at us unabashedly. We eventually moved to sit with all the other foreigners. The journey went smoothly, but once we landed in Nuweiba in Egypt, we were shocked by the relative disorganisation compared to the Jordanian side. We were loaded, balancing precariously in the aisles with our luggage in peoples’ faces, on to a bus that took us all of 2 minutes to the ferry terminal, another forum of chaos. I took out cash and waited for my companion to have her passport blessed by the immingration officers then we braved the scrum to get through the x-ray machines and metal detectors. Slightly to my surprise, we were ushered through in favour of Egyptians, then disgorged in to the mayhem on the other side. Finally we made it out, I with a huge grin on my face. We then negotiated for a taxi and found a basic but pleasant place to stay by the beach. In the evening, we walked along the coast for a short way, surprised (and somewhat pleased) to notice that we seemed to be the only foreigners staying in the whole town. Later, we took full advantage of the free wifi at our camp.

Wednesday 15th December

I began the day with a tasty bowl of fuul by the sea, then did some work things online for the rest of the morning. Around lunch time, I strolled south along the coast in to the town and walked around the dusty streets before sitting at a very basic eatery and tucking in to two falafel and fried aubergine sandwiches. Back at the camp, I lounged in the shade and read for a short while, then tried to go for a swim in the Red Sea. This proved more difficult than expected, because even 20 metres out from the shore, the water was no more than waist high. I stood instead, the just-warm-side-of-cold water lapping at my naval, looking out east on to the mountains in Saudi Arabia seemingly walking distance away. The rest of the afternoon was then spent showering, washing some clothes and lounging some more, and the evening wasn’t too different.

Thursday 16th December

A wonderfully lazy day, spent almost entirely on or by the beach. We had a long, lingering breakfast, then spent the entire afternoon reading and doing this and that online. Just before sunset, I went for a walk along the beach in the direction of town, and headed back as the sky was turning pink. We ate at our camp and then did a lot more of very little.

Friday 17th December

This was meant to be the day we left Nuweiba for Dahab, but our plan was thwarted. I had my usual bowl of fuul for breakfast, then splashed around in the sea for a while, trying to drown out the awful singing voice of the guy doing he endless call to prayer. In the afternoon, I read then packed to leave, and we walked uphill to the main road to wait for the bus. We waited about 40 minutes longer than the time we had been told it would come before giving up and heading back to our camp. By that point, the idea of staying in Nuweiba a little longer had grown on us to the extent that if the bus had turned up at that moment, I think we still would have decided to miss it and stay anyway. Back at the camp, we unpacked (again) and lounged before a dinner of freshly caught fish from the Red Sea.

Saturday 18th December

We decided to stay put in Nuweiba for another day because it was easier than tackling the bus again, and we were getting used to the quiet. More lounging ensued, and just after midday I ventured in to the town again to find cheap falafel and reliable internet. Coming back along the beach, I had to fight against the wind to stay upright as I watched the waves crash dramatically, with satisfying thuds, in to the sand. The evening was much the same as the previous couple.

Sunday 19th December

Resigned to leaving Nuweiba, we got up and breakfasted unhurriedly, as usual. Then, after some reading, packing and settling the bill, we were driven down to the windy, dusty, almost deserted bus station and waited for more than an hour for the bus to arrive. We drove inland, past deep red dunes and mountains in the fading light and arrived in Dahab once it was fully dark. We found a place to stay, settled in and went in search of food, I excited for my imminent return home.

Monday 6th December

In planning to leave Madaba, we realised that our only real option was to hire a car and driver to take us south, as public transport (at least according to word of mouth) seemed to be nonexistent or unreliable. So, we set out in the morning with our hotel manager/driver, headed for the Dead Sea. The descent from 800m above sea level to 400m below made our ears pop and the scenery around us became more baren the further we went. Even the weather changed. In Madaba it was cold and raining (apparently for the first time this year), but down by the Dead Sea, it was warm and sunny. Upon feeling how warm the water was, I quickly removed all my clothes and changed in to my swimming trunks and carefully got in. Our driver reminded me to go in back first, and immediately I was floating with absolutely no effort. When I got out, the driver took us to a hot spring waterfall where I was able to wash the salt off. It was possibly the best shower I’d ever taken. After that, we continued on our way south along the Dead Sea coast and in to a valley with some of the strangest and most beautiful rock formations I’d ever seen. In the afternoon, we arrived at our destination, Dana Nature Reserve, where our driver helped us get a very good deal on a room. After settling in, we walked around the tiny village, home to only 9 families, and watched the sun set from a cliff edge overlooking the valley below.

Tuesday 7th November

The aim for the day was to see how far we could get along the trail that snaked through the valley below the town, so after breakfast, we headed out. The scenery was just out of this world for me, as I’d never been anywhere like this before. We were surrounded on both sides by mountains made of layers of differently hued red rock, and the sky was an electric blue. We walked and talked through the valley for 6 hours, stopping to snack and admire the beautiful surroundings. We were making our way back to town as the sun was setting, turning the rocks before us an almost luminous orange. After a hearty dinner back at our hotel, we went back out to the cliff edge to stargaze. We could just about make out the Saggitarius arm of our galaxy, something I had only once before seen in my life, 12 years ago in Crete. This pleased me greatly.

Wednesday 8th December

An early start was in order to have more time outside during the daylight hours than yesterday. We had arranged to be driven to another valley to go walking, but when we arrived we were surprised to discover that it was a much steeper descent than we had been led to believe. At least that’s how it looked from the top. In fact it required quite a lot of concentration, but wasn’t as bad as I had feared. Once in the valley, we walked along what must at some time have been a river bed, though now was nothing more than stream of pale sand. The landscape was completely different from that of the previous day, with much less red sandstone, and more pale, almost spherical rock formations stacked one on top of the other either side of us. Coming back up out of the valley was much more straightforward than we had imagined, in part because we had a very distinctive landmark at the top of the valley where we had come down from; a large, phallic thing that we refered to as Penis Rock. Back at the top, we sat in a tent of a camp up there and drank tea with the aimiable owner, who, refreshingly told us about his travels rather than the other way around.

Thursday 9th December

We breakfasted lazily and talked briefly to some new guests at the hotel, one of whom, a British guy, was on his way from Cambridge to Cairo by bicycle. Somehow, we then managed to fill the rest of the morning with repacking our bags and before we knew it, it was time to leave. We were driven south from the nature reserve by a friendly Bedouin, and stopped briefly at Shobak castle, a ruined Crusader castle, perched atop a lonely hill surrounded by endless, sandy rolling hills and silence. We continued south through the beautifully desolate landscape and arrived quickly at Wadi Musa, the modern town next to ancient Petra. We found a hotel, bargained to get a 40% discount, then walked downhill to the entrance of the park to enquire about tickets. After eating simply, we settled in our room and set alarms for 5am the next day.

Friday 10th December

The reason for waking up before sunrise was to be able to enter Petra at opening time, 6am, when it would not be too hot and mostly empty. We were slightly delayed by not being able to buy tickets at opening time, but not by too long. Once in, we walked through a narrow, snaking passage between cliffs of red rock and stumbled upon the Treasury, the most famous sight in Petra. I was slightly underwhelmed, but it was nice to be underwhelmed with no one else around. We walked further in, past the Royal Tombs and up Jebel al-Khubta, from where we had good views of the park and started to figure out where we were within it. Once we descended the moutain, it was getting much hotter and busier, so we started to make our way back to the entrance and to our hotel where breakfast waited for us, and we ate it as lunch at midday. We then rested a while in the room and went out again at around 3pm to see the sunset from the park, and we ended up staying until it was almost completely dark because we had underestimated the time we would need to take the route we had chosen. Once back in modern civilisation, we sat down at a restaurant near the entrance simply because it had wifi. The food was uninspiring and overpriced (which I had expected) and the wifi was almost uselessly slow (which I hadn’t). I guess that’s what I get for chosing a restaurant right by the entrance to the country’s biggest tourist trap.

Saturday 11th December

I left the hotel at the same time as yesterday, but alone, as my travel companion wasn’t feeling very well. I took the same route in as yesterday and powered through to the other side of the park, about 6km from the entrance in less than an hour and started the easy ascent to the Monastery. I arrived at the top by 7am and my breath was taken away when I saw what the Monastery was. Unlike the Treasury, which I had seen many photos of before going to Petra, I don’t think I’d ever seen this, and having little or no expetations made the experience that much more enjoyable. I sat on the sand in front of the massive façade carved in to the red sandstone for a while admiring it in complete solitude but for a few donkeys waiting for their owners to arrive. From there, I took another short path out to what billed itself as ‘the view of the end of the world’ on a sign indicating it. The view over Wadi Araba and towards Israel was quite spectacular, though I believe that sign may have overdone it a little. I lingered for a while again at the Monastery on the way back, just when the first few sightseers (after me) came trickling in. At the bottom, I decided to take a longer route back via the High Place of Sacrifice, unsurprisingly on top of a mountain. The views both along the way and from the top were just wonderful, but upon my descent, it started raining and so I picked up the pace in order not to get soaked to the bone. I failed somewhat, but eventally made it out of the park (at which point the rain turned to hail) and took refuge in the Visitors’ Center. It was only just after midday by then, but I was mostly done for the day. Back at the hotel, I washed, changed and read for a little while before there was a powercut. Later on I found shawarma and internet then had another early night.

Sunday 12th December

I set off once again before the sun had come up, and walked up the mountain that we had ascended two days previously in order to take another path down to get a view of the Treasury from above. It was rather more impressive from up there. I then climbed back down, the wind working against me and strolled slowly along the main street of the ancient city before heading back to town for lunch and a rest. Later I met up with my travel companion and we decided that we would leave Petra the next day, then spent some time using the free wifi at the Visitors’ Center before relaxing back in our room, and planning the next part of our adventure.