The end of our trip is approaching rapidly now that we have arrived at our last destination: Jordan. Having visited countries where the major world religions are represented with their inherent distinctive cultures, we felt the need to experience an Islamic country as well to complete the picture under the motto 'equal opportunities'. And because of the fact that most countries in the region are hard to get into, due to strict visa regulations, Jordan was the best option. After having survived the chaos of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (Nepal) we boarded our Air Arabia flight to Sharjah (one of the United Arab Emirates) where we were welcomed by a breathtaking temperature of 40 degrees Celsius and a McDonald's, which was a blessing after 4 weeks of Nepali curries.... The cooling airconditioning and mouthwatering Royal Burger transformed the burden of waiting -so to speak- into a true pleasure. And then, after half a day hanging around at Sharjah airport having tried all perfumes in the duty free shop, it was finally time to board our next Air Arabia flight to Amman (Jordan).

Having arrivedat Queen Alia International Airport in Amman in the middle of night, having paid our 10 Jordanian Dinar for a stamp (you know the ones for postcards...) for visa purposes, we searched for our airport pickup service which we arranged from the first hotel in Amman which we booked ahead. But no one there.... Later the hotel staff explained: 'Sorry, no driver. Insha' Allah! Welcome to Jordan!'

Amman is an ancient Roman city formerly known as Philadelphia ('The City of Brotherly Love'), but except the impressive Roman Theater, the Jebel al- Qala'a (citadel) and the name of a major buscompany there is nothing left that reminds us of its glorious past. Amman is a schizofrenic city, roughly divided in east and west. The east side is the more traditional, but definitely most charming, downtown area. Here you find the sandcoloured concrete ramshackle box- shaped buildings, the jewelry souqs, the men- only coffee and tea houses (but sometimes also women- only), the local markets with the most delicious fruits and veggies we ever saw, the ultrasweet minttea and ultrasour lemon tea, the famous and teethache-causing sweets from Habibah bakery, the shish kebab and shish tawouq served with huge portions of the everpresent ubiquitous a' aish (= 'life' = Arabic bread!), the smell of spices blending in with the sweet perfumes and tobacco of the nargileh, the imam screeming his 'La illaha illa Allah Muhammed ur- rasul ullah' at 4 o'clock in the morning calling his followers to prayer including non- muslims like us, the mostly traditionally dressed women in full-body covering black chadors completed with the face- covering hejab (veil) with just enough space for the eyes to prevent them from falling from the sidewalks, men dressed in typical white djallabas and red-white 'Lawrence of Arabia'- headscarfs and some provocative 'No Terrorism'- TV commercials with clowns threatening to blow themselves up in a crowd

(curious? Checkthecommercial on our blog under the header of 'video's'). And not to forget the old lady inviting us in her home to come and see her Jesus- collection, after she double- checked that we were Christian as well... and of course we are... In short: downtown Amman has a warm hospitable typical oriental atmosphere that we did not expect in a capital with around 2.5 million inhabitants. Here is where you feel that you are in the Middle East, be it with a 21st century flavour. However, the west side of the city is where the more rich and 'modern' quarters of Shmeisani and Abdoun are located. Although especially Abdoun is nice, it could be pretty much anywhere in the world... no veils, no chadors, no nargilehs, no men (just women), no Lawrence of Arabia nostalgia, but lots of make up, sexy clothes, trendy bars and cafes and prices like in Europe... Although Amman is probably not the most exciting city in the Middle East nor the most beautiful one, it was a great place to experience our first sample of the Orient.

As the public transport in Jordan is pretty much non- existent we hired a car for a week. Being excited to drive after almost a year not sitting behind the wheel we headed for the desert in our shaking and hardly breaking Toyota Corolla. Firstly we headed for the desert castles of Qasr Kharana, Qasr Al- Azraq and Qusayr Amra in the Eastern Desert sandwiched between Syria in the North, Saudi Arabia in the South and Iraq in the East. The castles were impressive huge sandcoloured buildings in the middle of the desert evoking images of crusaders on white horses fighting with whoever comes too close (though it has never been proven that these castles where used as defensive forts...). Spending the night in the desert town of Al- Azraq 'close' to the abovementioned Islamic superpowers, with its extremely friendly locals, with a lamb kebab we never had before, with the local butcher proudly showing us the head of the lamb he had just killed (very 'halal'...

), was truly a memorable typical Middle East experience.

The next morning we left for the village of Umm Qais. After a few hours driving and getting adjusted to the Jordanian way of driving (driving in Poland will be peanuts from now on...), we arrived in Umm Qais, an unknown hidden gem in the North of Jordan. The ruins of the ancient Decapolis city (once called Gadara), situated on a hilltop, overlooking the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, Syria and Lake Tiberias (a.k.a. Sea of Galilee)in Israel, were a great place to spend some lazy afternoons in the sun eating spicy olives, drinking fresh lemon juice with mint, watching the sun set behind the plateau and being fascinated by the local 'pilgrims', mostly of Palestinian descent, coming here in the late afternoon to catch a glimpse of their former homeland. And Umm Qais itself? With buying ingredients for our homemade salad with labneh (cream-cheese dip), resulting in free 'life' (after having insisted that we really really really just needed one piece), free samples of local fruits and lots of 'Welcome to Jordans', we immediately felt at home. So we decided to make Umm Qaisour base from which to explore the region around it the day after as well. From Umm Qais we drove through the lush green Jordan Valley along the Israeli border, passing numerous 'check'- points with bored police officers not checking anything just wishing us a hearty 'Welcome to Jordan', to the famous ruins of Jerash. The plan was to arrive in Jerash very early at least before the tourist busses would arrive. Unfortunately, on the one hand, the road to Jerash took a few hours longer than we planned. Fortunately, on the other hand, instead of arriving early we drove through some beautiful countryside and along the way we had the chance to do something in return for the friendly locals (including a policeofficer) by giving them a ride to their home villages. Finally arriving in Jerash was a little disappointing at first sight as it was packed with tourists and tourbusses and the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Gerasa are located in the middle of the modern town of Jerash. Not really what we had in our minds. After satisfying the need to have a chitchat with the officials because of their attitude and the highly awkward location to purchase tickets, followed by an energy- wasting and useless walk back all the way to the well- hidden ticket booth, just to get tickets which are not even being checked, we finally entered the site. And it was beautiful. Although stones are stones, the stones at Jerash were kind of fascinating and well- preserved. It was not too hard to imagine how the city looked in Roman times. Just erase the loads of tourists and locals with badminton rackets and there you go...

Our afternoon hiking plans in the Ajloun Nature Reserve, close to Jerash, also ended differently than intented because of the fact that we forgot that it's friday (the Muslim equivalent of Sunday). That meant that literally every free tree in the Reserve was occupied by a Jordanian family each having their car, sofa (often more than one), BBQ, nargileh, teapots and pans with them. Everything for a shady forest picknick. As we came here for some peace and quiet, we decided to skip Ajloun Nature Reserve. Our search for some silence and solitude ended at the local kebab eatery in Ajloun. However, the peace was shortlived ... The volume of the TV, showing the Haj in Mecca 'live on air' accompanied by the hypnotizing sounds of the imam reciting Qur' an texts, was turned up to the max, with the connected ceiling speakers making us almost feel like actually being in Mecca... Today no peace and quiet. Insha' Allah!

Leaving Umm Qais with sentiments we headed south, along the Jordan Valley, to the town of Madaba. Madaba is a unique town in Jordan as one- third of the population is Christian and two- third is Muslim. On the surface they seem to live together peacefully for centuries already. But based on our 'quick scan' of Madaba, 'living together' may better be replaced by 'ignoring eachother'... Though Madaba will not be our favorite town it was a good next home for a couple of days as it had some nice affordable hotels which are virtually non- existent elsewhere in Jordan, its good location close to the Dead Sea and, because of its good share of Christians, there is beer! Good old Jordanian brewed Amstel beer... According to the shop attendant in the Jordanion version of the 'off- licence' shop, 'Everybody in Jordan drinks beer. Muslim not muslim. No matter...' But Madaba is foremost famous for being the city of mosaics. The famous mosaic map on the floor of the St. George's Church is nice, but for the rest Madaba has nothing to offer. At least not for us... However, holy Mount Nebo, just 10 km from Madaba, was a nice afternoon side trip. Mount Nebo was the place where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land, a land that he himself was forbidden to enter. Unfortunately, the Moses Memorial Church was being renovated and the extremely hazy weather was not really cooperating to let us enjoy the grand views of the Dead Sea, Jericho, Ramallah, Jerusalem (just 46 km away!) and the Jordan River. The next day however things all cleared up and we sat on the foot of Mt. Nebo watching a fabulous sunset over a moon-like landscape.

From Madaba we day-tripped to Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan (Al- Maghtas), the place where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. As it was not allowed to visit the Baptism spot by ourselves, which is not that strange when you realize that Jordan is just separated from Israel here by the 4 meter wide Jordan River which functions as a natural border, a safari- like tour was included. Although the biblical overdose, or maybe the lack of knowledge, making Marco sceptical, it was a special place surrounded by some mysticism. Around the Baptism spot itself churches from all world- religions are being build as a symbol for religious tolerance. An elegant gesture, but we are afraid that buildings won't do the thing...

From Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan the Dead Sea Highway lead us to the Dead Sea where we celebrated Lina's 30th birthday in the Dead Sea Spa Hotel with a rejuvenation treatment consisting of applying healthy black mud on each other's bodies, then baking in the burning sun like pottery until you feel your skin could break like china, and then rinsing everything off in the salty water of the Dead Sea. Having repeated this ritual 3 times, our skin will stay wrinckle- free forever...

Between treatments there was time to just float around in the water (sinking is not possible with salinity levels being 9 times higher than a 'normal' sea), reading a magazine and do nothing but enjoy the sun, the sea and each other.

From the Dead Sea we drove to the town of Karak, on our way down to the ancient city of Petra. Arriving in Karak, being all covered in a yellow haze, was a little surreal. Again. It looked as if a sandstorm had covered the city in yellow dust, but then without dust... An evening walk through the town center made things even more 'interesting'as we witnessed the sexual frustration (or curiosity) of Karak's youth: touching titties

, and then running away, seemed to be the highest achievable goal... But hey, it's not that strange if you imagine that most women here wear body-covering chadors hiding all the contours of the female body... After spending the night in Karak, and having visited Al- Karak castle early in the morning, we continued our way south to Wadi Musa, the village that has sprung up around Petra.

Petra, the red-rose city, a well- hyped worldclass attraction and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. As the area is huge and we didn't want to rush through the city, we bought a 3-day ticket for the steepentrancefeeof 43 JD per person (1 JD » 1 Euro). This was far more economical than a one day entrance ticket which costs 33 JD. With prices even doubling next November we were kind of shocked and lucky at the same time. For once: right time right place.... A little sceptical about where all the fuzz is about we started our way through the 1,2 km long Al- Siq, a steep-walled canyonlike passageway into the city, very early in the morning when most people were still asleep. At the end of the Siq the Treasury (Al- Khazna) appears. It is impressive (and picturesque) especially because of the fact that it was built somewhere between 600 and 100 BC by the Nabataeans, however the impact was less intense than we hoped for. Is it because of the hype? Or maybe the extensive media attention? Or just because basically everyone says it's 'awesome'...? After being lucky enough to take some tourist- free pictures, we started our hike & scramble up to Al- Madhbah, the High Place of Sacrifice, from where we left the beaten track and continued our Indiana Jones adventure to a more or less hidden place. Reaching the spot, after a true navigational challenge, felt like a victory and the views of the Treasury from high above were the best imaginable reward. So we did not leave this place for the next few hours... Another highlight from Petra was Al- Deir (Monastery). The walk to this huge building, which was even bigger than the Treasury but less refined, was challenging. Not in the last place because of the big groups of old(er) people for whom it is actually too heavy and too hot to make the climb out there in the middle of the day, but also because of the many donkeys and their drivers recklessly running up and down the stairs. However, arriving at Al- Deir and finding another quiet place from where we could absorb the surroundings consisting of canyons and the fertile Wadi Araba from a distance, read our book 'The art of Travel' by Alain de Botton and watch the sun set over Petra giving the monastery a softtone ochre yellow colour, made it all worth it. The attraction of Petra is not only the Treasury and the Monastery, but the collection of hidden tombs, garden tricliniums, a theatre, etc all gathered in one ancient city. Off- the- beaten track Petra reveals its true beauty. Hiking and scrambling around the many 'jabals' (hills), finding a peaceful spot for yourself without anyone in sight and finding the peace to take in the surroundings was for us the most rewarding way to experience Petra. And Wadi Musa... there is nothing more to say about Wadi Musa than that it is functional, expensive and extremely touristic. But even here the friendly Jordanians offer us free rides up (and down) to and from the center of the village. Jordanians would definitely win the price for most friendly and hospitable people we met during our trip.

Although we initially planned to go to the desert at Wadi Rum after Petra, the fact that it was so expensive and the desert experience was so not authentic with so-called traditional Bedouin camps even being equipped with swimming pools

, we decided to skip Wadi Rum and head straight further south to Aqaba on the Red Sea. With a busdriver scared to leave Wadi Musa leaving passengers behind we left the village three times and came back three times, before finally heading for the Desert Highway to Aqaba. After leaving the mountains around Wadi Musa behind us we apparently crossed another climate zone with temperatures approaching the 45 degrees Celsius. Probably it can not get any hotter than this ... After spending two days in the town of Aqaba proper being fascinated by the Muslim(public)beach- culture with fully dressed women going for a swim, with sheiks smoking their nargileh and 'tourist camels' completing the picture, we moved to the luxurious Radisson Blu Tala Bay resort,south of Aqaba just 5 km from the Saudi Arabian border, where we spent our last week (and money) away from it all. Just doing nothing. No worries whatsoever. All we did was editing the mental motion picture of all the experiences of our trip, our year, so that we can download it on our own mental harddisk, save it as 'The Big Trip' and watch it again, again and again...

On the 27th of May, Royal Jordanian and British Airways will have the honour to fly us home. From Amman we will fly to London and then, if the announced strike of BA cabin staff is not taking place

, continue to Amsterdam where we are supposed to land at 22.00h local time. With touching Dutch ground a fantastic year has come to an end. A fact hard to realize and accept but at the same time it feels good to go back home. Home sweet home.

We hope to see you all very soon!