After spending to 2 nights of sheer luxury at the Marriott Hotel on the Dead Sea and having done all the usual touristy things, we fully intended to head straight for Petra. But the beauty of this trip is that unexpected things crop up. The route to Petra was longer than we anticipated so as the light faded we had to find a camp for the night. Basically we were in the middle of desert, and we headed down a dirt track, hoping to find a good place to wild camp. Quite by chance we came across a Bedouin camp site over looking the Dana Nature Reserve and Gorge. This was the real thing and was developed by two brothers trying to make a living. One was an ex Army sergeant, and his brother the local teacher. In the evening, whilst we were all sitting around the camp fire, a Bedouin shepherd came to ask to use a mobile phone, as one of his pregnant sheep was having difficulties. While he was waiting for the vet he began to recite Bedouin poetry and sing, which the campsite owners not only joined in with but started to dance as well. It turned out that all the poetry and songs were about a horse and not about women, as we imagined. (Chris thinks that Arabs have got their priorities right) The next day the ex army man took us for a 3 hour hike in the hills. The only sounds were the sounds of the goat bells and the fierce barking of shepherd dogs which greeted our arrival at each Bedouin encampment. These dogs are bred to keep wolves at bay so there was no question of a “here boy” and a quick scratch behind the ear. Next night we were joined by 4 other travellers, and naturally the singing and dancing went on all night. Chris’s rendition of Ilkley Moor brought tears to the Bedouin eye.We were christened London Bedouins, and this accolade was to bring untold advantages as we travelled onward through the land of the nomad.Next day we bade “ Mahsalaama” to our new cousins and set off to Petra. All we can say is that it was brilliant...lots of hard walking but brilliant. Now that we had a few Bedouin phrases under our belt, the time came to test them out as we breakfasted at the 5 Star Petra Movenpick. Our waiter was in fact a Bedouin from the tribe of the Hashemites, a very regal tribe, and he admitted to us that he was actually the owner of the Movenpick chain, and was not going to charge his London cousins for any food. We made sure that the Maitre “D” had knocked off for the day before settling for a compromise of paying only for one breakfast. Petra was in fact very cold at night and this makes camping a bit miserable as you shut yourself away as soon as it gets dark.We hoped for more clement weather in Wadi Rum, which reputedly has the best desert scenery in the world. We drove about 15k right into the desert and just camped. The silence was deafening, the stars majestic. By accident we had stopped on highish ground with a wonderful panoramic view over all the routes going through...camel trains during the day and 4x4 convoys at night. They must have been 1 or 2 kilometres away but we had perfect visibility. Interestingly two days later we visited a “Jordan Experience” Centre which showed clips of all the Hollywood Films made in Jordan. As the opening titles came up for Lawrence of Arabia the cameras were positioned exactly where we had camped. Our final port of call in Jordan has been Aqaba, famous for its scuba diving. Apart from the wonderful coral about 50 metres off shore Aqaba has little to boast except amazingly a genuine Safeway Supermarket. Quite which business development executive suggested they open a rep office in Aqaba I have no idea but he probably doesn’t work for them anymore.Jordan has been good, and the Jordanian people are more Westernised in their outlook than most others, but its off to pastures new, and to see how the Egyptians respond to being told that Janet loves them. We arrived safely in Egypt, and formalities were surprisingly easy. We are camped on the Red Sea at Nuweiba. Will update everything in about a week | 