Jordan - 2009

This waterfall is 50 degrees – that's Celsius, not Fahrenheit. In Fahrenheit, that's over 120. We swam here. It was hard going. It was very hot. We didn't swim in the next one. It was 65 degrees! Hot hot hot!

Deema, Michaela, and Jo were posing for a photo on the swing chair. Osama thought the photo would be enhanced with his presence. Happy photo!

Yes, Jordanian hospitality extended again, as we ate pizza at the home of Osama and Janet, uncle and aunt of Khalil from the Queen Ayola Hotel.

The colonnaded oval plaza of the Roman city of Jerash, in northern Jordan.

11 of the 12 pillars at the Temple of Artemis in Jerash. The temple went through a number of different incarnations, but the pillars remained in each of the different eras.

This street in Jerash was lined with columns, behind which would have stood all sorts of buildings, and under which would have traded all sorts of goods. The paving stones are rutted by the passing of thousands of chariots. This would certainly have been one very impressive street.

A pair of kittens to win the hearts of anyone and everyone.

We sat down in a typical café in downtown Amman to smoke a nargileh (peach flavoured in this instance) and drink some mint tea. It turned out the café had wifi, enabling us to check our emails. A classic merging of the traditional and the progressive.

Jo in front of the Monastery at Petra.