Jordan April 6

Balloon trip
I was looking forward to this morning, because I had booked a hot air balloon over Wad Rum. These rides are all dependent on the weather, so you never know whether it's a go until that morning. 
I was lucky, it was a go, and I was picked up at 6:15 am. Driving through the desert is another experience. There are no roads, and rocks and mountains are the only guideposts. We drove for about half an hour, and then watched as they prepared the balloon. It's, first laid out, and a couple of big fans blow air into the envelope. When the balloon is almost full, a couple of burners are turned on. This raises the balloon upright, and we got in the basket. There were five of us, and the captain.
We spent over an hour floating above a surreal landscape. It was like a different planet. We rose to over 4000 feet. At that height the balloon could be moving at 100 km/h, and you don't feel a thing, because the air is moving at the same speed. Everything is very quiet, the only sound the occasional turning on of the burner. You can't steer a balloon, all you can do is go up and down. Our captain has been doing this for 16 years, so he is very familiar with the air currents.
Where you land varies from day to day. The trucks follow on the ground, and meet the balloon wherever it lands.
We had some tea and biscuits while the crew wrapped up the balloon, and then we drove across the desert back to the camp. The whole thing took three hours, but it was a fantastic experience.
The rest of the day was going to Amman and then to Jarash. The 12 o'clock bus was full, so I had to take the 2 o'clock bus. That made it a bit tricky because, once I got to Amman, I had to take a cab to another bus station, and catch a bus to Jarash, an hour and a half away. I knew it would be getting dark, and I didn't have a reservation.
The bus ride from Aqaba to Amman was one of the worst I have experienced. It was supposed to be a Deluxe bus, a gross misnomer. My seat was half broken, and kept sliding forward. The man beside me was portly, and the air conditioning worked at 30% capacity. The scenery was another thing. Once you get an hour out of Aqaba the mountains stop, and for the next three hours all you see is dirt. They say Eskimos have a hundred words for snow; well Jordanians must have a hundred words for brown. Everything is flat and is in varying shades of light brown. Even the occasional blade of grass is brown, because of the dust. Sheep are brown, again the dust. When you see a town, all the buildings are a drab brown.
The Desert Highway is well named. It's a four lane modern highway, but there are things you wouldn't see on the 401 in Ontario

. Rarely would all traffic stop to let a herd of sheep across the highway. I also saw, on separate occasions, camels and donkeys grazing on the median.
To add to the fun there was Arab disco music on the intercom, no way to turn it off. After a couple of hours they started to play a video, but it kept freezing, so it was back to disco.
Another interesting observation; when the bus stopped for a short break every man, except me, got off for a smoke. Not one woman. Every man here smokes, even some of the women. There is no such thing as a smoke-free zone, not even cabs.
We finally arrived in Amman, after five hours of torture. I couldn't face another bus ride, and arrive in Jerash after dark, having to take another cab to get to a hotel, so I threw my frugality out the window, and I took a cab from Amman to Jerash. (I know some of you will be shocked by this behaviour, uncommon to me, but it's the truth)
The whole story does have a happy ending. I arrived at the hotel I was looking for, and it is lovely. It isn't ritzy but it is spotless, has a hot shower, fridge, and WiFi. The gentleman at the desk was great. He even made me a cup of Arabian coffee, and then told me all about the restaurants in the area.
It has been a long day