Hurry up and wait!

Today the universe tested our patience as we crossed the border from Israel to Jordan.

We left our Tel Aviv hotel at 8:30, after a final meal with some of our tour-mates. Our new Belgian friends joined us in the dining room for more travel talk, food and frivolity.

We were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Mr M!!!! There he was, waiting for us to catch our ride to the border. We were sad to find out today that the Ms are not on our tour of Petra, but hope to spot them from the distance. And if we see Mr M, sweating it out in weather that's "hotter than bloody Broome!", we will squirt him with our water bottles to cool him down.

It was a rush to get out. Yes, Nur, I forgot my toothbrush! Luckily, a certain someone does a scan of the room (several times over) before checkout to make up for my inattention to detail.

So... our driver was snapping his fingers, telling us to hurry up. And hurry up we did. We had a two hour drive to the border. Two. Hours. In hot weather.

Once we arrived, we did the typical tourist thing, got our luggage out of the car, took the obligatory photo at the border sign, were asked if we were hiding weapons (we were tempted to say our scintilating personalities were our weapons of choice, but didn't think that the border control people would be too amused by that answer...)

We crossed through in an uneventful fashion and waited on the other side of the gate. We're in Jordan, we thought! Then, after turning down a ride on a bus because we were waiting for our tour guide and spotting some Israeli flags flying we realised.... Oh. We're still in Israel.

We blame the lack of sleep over the past few weeks, and the stress of actually trying to figure out how the hell we were going to cross from one country to the other.

Finally we boarded a bus, crossed the border (basically the carpark. Yes, that's the border) and found ourselves in another country.

Our guide was there to meet us, took control of the situation, and had us on the road in no time -- after we waited in a badly airconditioned room with the rest of the plebs for a taxi to take us to the outside gate... and his waiting car.

The scenery was similar to Israel, but around the border, the poverty was obvious. Further in, things changed and we were seeing huge houses, mosques, and a general show of how the other half lives in this part of the world.

Amman? One word. Well, two, actually. Traffic jam! That was our first experience of this city. And despite there being lanes on the roads, it seems they're used only as guidelines as people weave in and out with no use of indicators. Hence the two accidents we saw -- one of which resulted in a Merc coming off second best to a truck!

The driver played Bedoin music before putting on a little gem from the late '90s --- Barbie Girl by Aqua. It is now stuck in our heads. It won't go away. Someone please make it go away! He was clapping along as it played, while we waited in a traffic jam...

Our hotel is... incredible. There's a massive foyer with a huge chandelier. We have a view of the main road, but our room is nice. Oh, and here's what's on offer in the little basket of goodies (which you of course pay for on checkout) -- two packets of chips, one packet of nuts, one packet of lollies, and ... two packets of cigarettes! What the???? There is also a warning on the back of the hotel room door not to smoke in bed.

We're not in Kansas (or Melbourne) anymore!

Right now, we're trying to use the slowest computer on the planet to update our blog (two updates in one day! This is what we call dedication -- or perhaps boredom!)

We're off to have a look around the immediate neighbourhood around the hotel -- much to Nur's despair. She would rather sleep!

We're hoping the food will be good. There's a lot to live up to after the offerings of Israel -- especially the kibbutz (and we don't mean the manager man...)

Anyway... we are off to see if we can at least cross a road out there, though given their lack of attention to road rules, we don't like our chances.

If you don't hear from us in the next few days, we may be flattened outside our hotel....