Omens in Amman. Finally safely back down at reception with our luggage Mr Bassam introduced us to our guide for the trek - Eid, who has wonderful English and is a delightful, distinguished 55 year old. We drove out through central modern Amman but didn't see any old characterful sights. After about 40 minutes we got our first glimpse of the Dead Sea and we reached the Dead Sea Spa Hotel around 10-30am.
Much floating and mud annointing took place. The dead sea mud has to dry on you for around 10 minutes for its therapeutic qualities to work their magic.
Should have left it on longer maybe! We rinsed, showered, swam in the pool, sunlounged till one then had a huge buffet - all in the name of serious training for the trekking starting tomorrow. We travelled through very differing landscapes after the Dead Sea - towering cliffs, flat plains where strong winds swirled the sand around into dunes then we turned east back towards the mountains past a dusty rock strewn landscape where I spied the first camel - as Pollie was asleep at the time. Mr Bassam left us at the Feynan Lodge reception, as we had to transfer to a 4WD to get us up to Feynan Eco Lodge . We'll see him again in Petra as he'll be driving us back to the airport. We checked in at the Lodge around 4pm, dumped our bags and got ready for the Sunset walk with Mohammed, one of the Lodge's guides.
We were accompanied by his small nephew and friends,
and called back at his brothers tent for sweet Bedouin tea.
The ladies were amazed by Pollie's bright red lipstick, and my dyed red hair which is apparently, in Bedouin terms, a sure sign of a woman looking for a new husband. Probably best to wear a hat tomorrow then. The lodge only has electric light in the bathrooms, and everywhere else is candle lit- after an excellent vegetarian dinner, we stargazed briefly from the roof, then made our way through the gloom to bed. It was 9pm. Early start tomorrow on our trek.
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