Day 10, Monday, March 12, 2018 - Wadi Rum, travel to Dead Sea

Our main activity today was to Wadi Rum, a high desert area in southern Jordan.

One of the more interesting things that we encountered by chance was a simulation of Lawrence of Arabia's attack on the Ottoman train. The road to Wadi Rum runs along the old Ottoman train line that ran from Istanbul to Aqaba, Jordan. We passed beside the steam train billowing black smoke, carrying passengers and Ottoman soldiers in an open car. Simulated gunfire came from the hillside towards the train and then we saw "Lawrence of Arabia" and his troops riding horses, firing guns and brandishing swords!

Wadi Rum, "Sand Valley", it a high valley surrounded by rugged sandstone mountains ranging up to 6000'. The fine sand is a reddish color that has blown into sand dunes in spots. Our tour included a trip in 4x4 trucks, mostly beat up Toyota, Nissan and Isuzu truck which had bench seats for 6 in the back. Our group of 24 had 5 trucks in a "caravan". The trucks charged across the desert and came to a sudden stop at the top of a sand dune. The Wadi Rum has been used as the site of numerous movies, including "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean in 1962, the recent "The Martian" with Matt Damon and Will Smith just finished filming "Sinbad" which has not yet been released.

We stopped by a Bedouin camp with many camels and get an explanation of the special camel anatomy that allows them to live in the desert, including going without water for 40 days and without food for a long time. We also also saw petroglyphs etched on the rocks by bronze age people living in the desert. We stopped at another Bedouin camp where we had tea and an opportunity to buy souvenirs - I bought a small ceramic bowl. Outside the camp there is a rock carved with the faces of Lawrence of Arabia and King Abdullah I in recognition of their efforts to defeat the Ottomans.

Along the way to Aqaba we saw large wind turbine and photo-voltaic energy facilities. Jordan currently imports most of its electricity from Egypt which is very expensive. Aqaba is on the Aqaba sea, an extension of the Red Sea where one can see Jordan, Israel and Egypt from the same point. We just had lunch there without time to visit the area.

From Aqaba, it was a 4 hour drive through the southern Jordan valley along the border with Israel just a short distance away. For over 100 miles it is desolate desert with high mountains in Israel on the left and Jordan on the right. It is the rift valley between two tectonic plates, the right moving north-east and the left moving south-west, pulling apart in the middle, resulting in the low elevation.

Along the way we passed the cave where Lot hid with his children which is now a shrine. We also stopped to take photos of Lot's wife who turned to a pillar of salt when she turned to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah. The palace of Herod Antipas was in the mountains above - this is where John the Baptist's head was delivered on a platter.

We were fortunate to be there just as the sun went down over the mountains on the other side of the Dead Sea. The road that we were taking along the shore was only built 22 years ago - 40 years ago it would have been under water but now the water level is 50-60' below. Too much water is being taken from the rivers that supply the Dead Sea, causing it to drop by 2-3' a year. There is a "Red to Dead" proposal, to pipe water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea to keep it from dropping further.

Zach, our tour guide, described his background. He graduated with BA and MA degrees in economics but enjoyed guiding and got his guiding license. After serving in the Jordanian special forces and a couple years guiding, he got work with ABC prior to the Iraq war and went there to report for a one month assignment. He ended up staying for 9 years!

He also spoke about the situation with ISIS in Jordan. ISIS has not been very successful in Jordan especially since a Jordanian pilot was captured by ISIS, put in a cage and burned alive. King Abdullah II piloted the first attack against ISIS in Iraq and fired the missiles against ISIS. Both the current king and King Hussain were pilots. The king daily flies his helicopter from the palace outside Amman to his office at the government center in Amman.

We are staying at the Movenpick Dead Sea Resort which is quite luxurious. There are a number of spas and all sorts of spa treatments available. The water and mud from the Dead Sea is said to have very therapeutic qualities.