Sorry ...

I have heard a wild rumour that it is tad nippy in the UK (is it really -9 in Yorkshire? officially brassic ...), so I can only apologise for the following blog - it is not meant to make my beloved UK-bound friends and family feel rubbish and I so so wish they were all here with me ...

Anyway, I'll jump straight in with a photo of the hard life down in Aqaba this weekend, on the coast of the Red Sea ...


As you can see, bit of a change from Amman - in fact I spent most of the weekend feeling like I was somewhere with shades of Indonesia (coral reefs, palm trees) and the Cote d'Azur (luxury hotels, private beaches and the mountains tumbling into the seas like they do around Nice and Monaco). It does have a few remnants of older culture, like the Ummayid fort (in the background on the right) which is about 1300 years old, and they are currently digging up the remains of a 3rd century church (possibly the first purpose-built one?). But unfortunately the lure of tourist cash has taken hold, and there seems to be endless construction outwards and upwards, mainly consisting of massive ugly luxury hotels and (really, do they need more?) malls selling really rather expensive stuff apparently 'duty free' ...

But there are nice sides of the town and the area, especially the coral reefs down the coast at Tala, and of course the sea ... spent an evening sipping wine by the marina at the Royal Yacht Club (am investigating boating options with them for the future, sailor friends!) and ate some reeeeeeeeally good fish ... I fear I may be heading down to Aqaba fairly frequently over the winter, at least until Amman warms up again - boating, swimming in the sea, fish and sunshine, what's not to like?


Oh, and did I mention it was 27 Celcius there? OK, OK, I'll stop now ....