May 2023

In May 2023 we were invited to travel with our humans to Jordan in the middle east. One of our humans had always wanted to visit Petra and to swim in the Dead Sea. Our other human wanted to see Wadi Rum. It was here, that Rey from Star Wars had been running the desert and made a stunning backwards somersault to avoid being run down by a hostile spacecraft. Check out the map to follow our route.

Click each photo to enlarge

The Holiday Inn was located near the northern end of the Dead Sea. From a tower we could see the coast. We could also see the delta where the almost dry Jordan River ended in the Dead Sea. The area beyond the Dead Sea had been subject to many disputes beetwen Palestine and Israel.

Petra, Jordan, May 2023

From the Dead Sea we headed south. On the way we stopped at an old crusade castle near Snobak. Then we arrived Petra! It's an ancient city believed to be around 2000 years old.

We checked in at the Petra Moon Luxury Hotel.
Dr. Bath was all excited and he wanted to buy many books about Jordan and in particular about Petra.
"Calm, calm," said McBear. "Our humans always worry about the weighing scales in airports.
"I presume their worry is reasoned when it comes to human sized books, but howabout bear sized books?"
"Good point," said Roger. "It's just that bear sized books about Jordan and Petra are fairly rare..."
"That's right," McBear agreed. "but if you can find 50 bear sized books, I'm sure our photographer will be over the Moon - our lady human, not so much".

To get to Petra we had to walk through narrow gorges of sandstone. It seemed that Petra was a top tourist attraction as it was very crowded to walk.

Petra, Jordan, May 2023

We reached the Treasury. It seemed like risky business to be standing among the crowd, but our photographer found a reasonably quiet spot.

To reach the Monastary, one has to walk up 900 steps. Rumours had it that it was a long ride filled with uneven steps, sheer drops and large crowds. We had an internal negotiation process going on until we voted in favour of a lift in our human's rucksack. The downside: we'd get squashed as per usual...

Petra, Jordan, May 2023

It turned out the lift was worth it all. Sure, the steps were uneven, but the path was fairly broad and the sheer drops were few. It would have required quite an effort to get injuried.

On the way back, we stopped once again at the Treasury. The sun had now moved behind the cliffs and it left the front of the Treasury in a shadowy, almost reddish glow. And it was much less crowded.

Wadi Rum, Jordan, May 2023

From Petra we headed south on the motorway until we reached Wadi Rum in the south. To get to the camp site we had to drive. The coach could not enter the desert, so we were going to sit on the back of pickups.

Someone asked about the bears. Our photographer had his doubts, because not all guests might approve of our presence...
But Fiacra didn't see this as an issue at all. He reached out to support Roger.
Roger felt very grateful. Afterwards he told us it had been the drive of his life...

Wadi Rum, Jordan, May 2023

We reached our camp site. One could sleep in tent-like huts or in a panorama dome. Dr Bath wished to stay up to look for beary constellations in the night sky.

McBear and Roger wanted to explore the desert, where Rey from Star Wars had been running and made an impressive backwards somersault to avoid being hit by a hostile spacecraft.
"It was SOOO cool," said McBear.
We nearly got lost - well, we got lost in time and were running late. So when we returned, we apologized for any inconvenience to the other guests...

Aqaba, Jordan, May 2023

From Wadi Rum we went to Aqaba, the port at the Red Sea. Here, we stayed one last night before going to the Aqaba airport. It was a small airport. Here we are waiting on our flight. It was the very last flight this day - at 2 am! - and the two next flights on the monitor wouldn't depart until the next morning.