Jordan (1) | Aqaba and Wadi Rum

Our first introduction to Jordan is the coastal city of Aqaba. We recover from the events in Israel/Palestine by lazing on the beach and snorkeling in the Bay of Aqaba. Our next stop is Wadi Rum, a greater contrast is hardly possible, a desert of stone and sand with mountains and camels.

The journey from Aqaba to Wadi Rum.

At the end of this blog two more fun videos, watch!!

More details of our trip at Sonja’s Polarsteps.

Table of Contents

Aqaba

Israel-Jordan border crossing

We leave Israel/Palestine via the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing. The Israeli side is going well, we completed all the paperwork in half an hour. We only need to buy a person ticket (220 shekels for 2 people).

The Jordanian side is a bit more hassle. During the inventory check, the customs officer noticed our Spot X, which he says is an illegal device. I explain that this is only a GPS tool and that we cannot communicate with it. I refer to the homepage of Spot-X and show that this is absolutely not a short wave radio. Unfortunately, my plea is to no avail, the Spot-X is confiscated and I receive a receipt in exchange.

I can pick up the Spot-X again at the Aqaba border crossing with Saudi Arabia when we leave Jordan, I’m curious.

The further procedure is quite straight forward. We bought a Jordan Pass for both of us (JD 75 including entrance to various attractions and parks and 2 days of Petra). This also gives us a visa for one month. We only have to buy car insurance (JD 36 for a month) and pay road tax (JD 28 for a month). After we have passed a few counters, we can drive into Jordan about an hour later. Most of the time was spent talking back and forth about the Spot-X.

The city of Aqaba

We drive on to Aqaba and immediately feel like we are back in the Arab world. The city is reminiscent of Turkish or Moroccan cities, with a somewhat chaotic traffic pattern, pleasantly messy streets and a more creative level of finishing of streets and buildings.

After doing some shopping we drive to South Beach and find a spot near the beach (coordinates: 29.423101, 34.973870). We meet Ayesh, a young man who rents snorkels and diving goggles. He is crazy about our car and our lifestyle and wants to know everything about it.

Along the way I noticed that Milady is losing some diesel, and together with Ayesh’s friend Tasir I go to investigate this. A hose from the tank appears to be leaking, luckily Tasir has a hose of the right size with him and we can replace it together, with a lot of fiddling.

Together with Ayesh we will go to Aqaba to buy contact lenses for me and to visit a hairdresser.

The rest of the time we laze on the beach, do some snorkeling and mainly process the events of the last few days in Israel.

Wadi Rum

Our second stop in Jordan is Wadi Rum. Through Ayesh we came into contact with Ibrahim, the owner of Wadi Rum Fire Camp. We can camp with him with our Milady Landy.

On the way to Wadi Rum we stop at the Wadi Rum station on the Hijaz railway line to Medina.

At the park visitor center we buy an entrance ticket for our Milady (JD 20 per 24 hours), our entrance is included in our Jordan Pass.

Ibrahim picks us up in the village of Wadi Rum and indicates on my offline OsmAnd GPS map where the camp is located (coordinates: 29.489275, 35.430634). He also gives us some tips for beautiful locations to visit, including a beautiful sunset spot where we meet Salim.

We can also eat at the Fire Camp with the Bedouin meal that is prepared for the guests. Ibrahim gives us some tips for the next day and we sit by the campfire for a while, where Suleyman tells strong Bedouin stories and we enjoy the starry sky. After a quiet night we have an early breakfast at the camp and leave for a day trip in Wadi Rum with our own Milady Landy.