The Dead Sea
Trip Start
Mar 02, 2006
1
18
20
Trip End
Mar 23, 2006
Amman, Jordan
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Whilst we were walking around we could hear bagpipes at one point playing Scottish music - not quite what you'd expect in Jordan! We found the players in one of the roman theatres. Richard got very excited - being a Scot! Apparently the soldiers learnt the bag pipes during the war when they were posted with a Scottish regiment and bought the tradition back home.
After Jerash those of the group who were off to Syria had to say goodbye and the rest of us had a highlight of our trip to look forward to - bathing in the dead sea.
Before our 'swim' we had a huge buffet lunch at the dead sea resort (no danger of drowning here so I guess it's OK) and then went to get changed for our 'swim'. We made our way down to the beach and carefully got into the sea. Katie had warned us that the crystalised salt on the bottom of the sea was very sharp and she wasn't kidding. Once in the water we laid back and let the water take our weight - a very strange sensation! Of course the water is incredibly salty and what we hadn't appreciated is quite how painful this is on any slight cut or if any got in your eyes. The experience was therefore not quite as pleasant as it looked and after a while it actually became a bit unpleasant. However the pain was worth it for the fun. We tried synchronised swimming and of course, had the ubiquitous photograph taken with the newspaper, or in Richard's case 'Hello' magazine! After a bit of floating we decided to go for the mud pack and smeared ourselves in the mud - supposedly very good for the skin but again, a bit uncomfortable after a while! The aussies found it a bit cold but being hardy brits, used to swimming off the British coast it was practically tropical for us and Richard and I were having too much fun to get out - despite the pain. Eventually we could take no more and headed for the showers to wash the salt and the remaining mud off. Floating in the dead sea is an amazing experience everyone should do once!
