With many of our UAE friends and workmates being Jordanian, we felt it was time to visit this wonderful country.  Not enough credit is given to Jordan for the humanitarian burden it has taken on by opening it borders to refugees. For a country with a population of 9.5 million, there are 2.1 million Palestinian and 1.4 million Syrian refugees living here. 

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We started in the capital Amman.  This city has some history - the first human settlement here was as early as the 13th century BC!.  It was actually named Philadelphia by Ptolemy II.  We traveled North to the amazing Roman city of Jerash.  Then spent a few nights in the Ajloun Forest Reserve where we hiked the Soap Trail - an old track which local village ladies would use to forage for herbs in making soap.  We then drove to the very tip of Jordan, where on a clear day you look across the Sea of Galilee and you can see Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.  We then made our way down the Jordan valley and swam in the Dead Sea, which is so salty you can't sink.  It also happens to be the lowest point on earth (423m below sea level).  We freshened-up by visiting the nearby Ma'in thermal waterfall.  Yep, the hot water from a thermal spring flows over a cliff and drops onto very welcoming bathers.  From here we drove to the hidden city of Petra.  Built, or more accurately carved, by the Nabataean's, at its peak it had 20,000 inhabitants.  Abandoned around the 8th century AD, the city remained unknown to world for  more than 1,000 years until it was 'discovered' by a Swiss explorer in1829.  Our final, and favourite, destination was Wadi Rum.  This place is breathtakingly beautiful and surreal. We camped in Bedouin tents in the blood red desert.  T. E. Lawrence took a liking to this place, as has Hollywood (Transformers, Dune, The Martian, and two Star Wars movies have been shot here).