Who “killed” the Dead Sea?
Is the first question when anyone sets foot here. It is not by chance that the sea is called the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is located in the basin between Jordan and Israel. Millions of years ago, due to geological formations, a long crack called the Great Rift Valley appeared, stretching from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey to the Zambezi Valley in southern Africa, "isolating" a large lake. Or did this lake itself "selfishly separate itself" from the Mediterranean to form a large salt lake 76 km long, 18 km wide at its widest point and 400 m deep at its deepest point?
It is this “selfishness” of the lake and through many geological and climatic changes over thousands of years that the water in the lake has become so salty that no animal or plant life can grow. The sea no longer merges with the ocean, the sea has killed itself. The sea now only has the flow of the Jordan River still altruistically merging into the sea. To save the sea from dying a second time, due to rapid climate changes in the future, people have come up with a grand plan to dig a canal to bring water from the Red Sea, run across Israel and pour into the sea to “feed” it.
The sunset here is very strange! The sun is hidden somewhere behind the misty clouds, glowing with streaks of orange-red at the end of the horizon. At 7 pm it still feels like daytime, but quickly fades away when the sun decides to go to sleep. Crowds of people still flock here to immerse themselves in the sea. Not because of the beautiful sunset scene but because of the natural chemical nutrients in the sea water that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, because we know that the Dead Sea at its lowest point on the earth's surface is 9 times saltier than normal sea water. Many tourists want to feel the feeling of floating, lying down reading a book on the sea surface without needing a buoy or being a great swimmer, on a sea surface nearly 500m lower than sea level.
Wadi Rum “Valley of the Moon” and the Sound of Silence
Once, my lover asked me: “What are the sweetest words of love?”. I immediately replied, go to Wadi Rum, the red desert corner also known as “Moonlight Valley”, to hear the echoes of the night. Sometimes, the purest sound is silence.
You must have heard about this strange desert corner or seen it on the big screen because it has been the setting of so many famous movies. From Lawrence of Arabia, to Indiana Jones's Last Crusade, and most recently, The Martian with your favorite actor - Matt Damon.
Wadi Rum is captivating because of the unique reddish-brown color of the geology here, making anyone feel like they are lost in Mars. That color is created by a chemical composition called iron oxide. This largest desert of Jordan is located in the southwest of the country, more than 300km from the capital Amman and just over 100km from Petra. This corner of the desert has been recognized by UNESCO as a world natural heritage and is the second favorite destination of tourists in the Mediterranean region, only after Petra.
Wadi Rum transforms during the day with the strange shapes of the cliffs and fossilized rock columns, under the sunlight: from orange yellow, red brown to black. The strange, magical images captivate any tourist who once set foot here and experience their journey by means from modern like jeep to primitive like horse or camel.
This tolerant desert has been home to many primitive peoples since ancient times. The proof is that in Jebel Khazali, an impressive mountain dotted with the beautiful Little Siq canyon, people have found on the cliff, above a natural lake in the canyon with many shapes of ancient people's activities carved here. Perhaps this lake was the source of life for them millions of years ago, for the ancient Nabatean people, for the nomadic Bedouin and for the beautiful wild fig trees that grow all around today.
It is the stars at night, not the desert sand, that people think is the most abundant here. It is the silent silence that is mysterious and alluring when we let our souls wander under the night sky, not the loud or sweet sounds that we hear so often that we become addicted.
I did not miss the opportunity to spend the night in the desert. I jumped out of the Bedouin-style tent with soft blankets and warm mattresses, and a bathroom with hot and cold water, all carefully set up (by the thoughtful and professional Jordanians in tourism). Thanks to that, I was able to touch the sound of the night. “The deep silence in the desert in the middle of the night sky is the most wonderful sound that anyone would want to hear once, more than a million times more than the words of love.”
Finally, Petra's love
When in love, who doesn't want their love to become immortal? The proof is that many couples in love carve their names on cliffs, trees, or more civilized and modern, they attach locks to love bridges (they believe that one day the lock is still there, they will still have each other).
There are many lovers, people still live and love each other. But what is immortal needs to be verified by time. Unfortunately, those who carve their names on cliffs and trees when traveling rarely come back to "search" for proof of their love. Those who attach locks on bridges, when they break up, will they have the courage to come back and unlock them?
Petra is very "reticent". No need to show off but still elegant and splendid. Proof that time is enough for Petra to become immortal. Therefore, there is a place I want to take my lover to, both of us will hold hands and... be silent. There, I believe no lens can capture the beauty better than the eyes and sympathize with all my heart: Petra!
Petra is as beautiful as a goddess, mysterious and challenging. Nestled in the heart of a mountain created by the Nabateans, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan is famous for hundreds of elaborate and magnificent structures carved into granite.
If in love, the nuances of love are when we are sulking, angry and happy, then Petra is a typical example of those nuances that you can feel and touch. That is when this ancient city changes its colors spectacularly from orange, cream, red to dark brown.
When you think of Petra, it is the image of a girl wearing a colorful outfit of mountain rocks. Perhaps that is why people often call Petra by the beautiful name of the city of red roses, “A secret makes a woman woman”. This mysterious “girl” has made people feel like they have to understand her more than once, and then no matter how hard they try, they cannot describe her with the most beautiful words. So they can only admire this wonder with their eyes, and be silent because of the greatness of the work.
Our love is the same. And I will tell my beloved: There is a Jordan like that, do you know? Full of passion and allure. Like the indescribable emotions and indescribable words, when you go through the days of love and the days of Jordan, when we reach the end of the ancient beauty of Petra.
MORE INFORMATION
+ Visa:
- This is the biggest obstacle for those who want to travel on their own at low cost. Currently, if you apply for a Jordan visa yourself, you can only go to a second country (most people choose Malaysia) to submit the application. This is quite expensive unless you combine it with a trip or have work in this second country.
-However, if you contact local travel agencies and register for a tour through their company, you only need to send a passport photo 3 weeks in advance. When you arrive at the airport in Jordan, the company will pick you up and process your visa for you. You will see how professional, polite and quick they are as soon as you arrive at the immigration counter at the airport.
+ Arrival and departure:
- You can buy a 1 to 3 day tour if you come from the Israeli side by land. If you come from Egypt and want to experience the ferry, you can buy a ferry ticket in Taba from the Sinai side. The ferry takes 1 hour to take you across the Red Sea and to the port of Aqaba on the Jordan side. However, the ferry may cancel if there are not enough passengers. Therefore, the option to come and go by plane is still faster and safer.
- There are many airlines operating flights to Amman, the capital of Jordan. Depending on your time and budget, you can choose the appropriate flight. Of course, if the flight only connects at one point, the price will be much higher than if you book separate flights and stop at many points. You can consider airlines such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, EgyptAir (transit in Cairo).
- Tip: The experience to "hunt" for airline tickets of these airlines is that you book flights on flight booking applications departing from an airport other than Vietnam such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, or even Doha. Then you book a separate flight from Vietnam to these airports so that you can connect to the flight.
+ Time:
The best time and peak tourist season in Jordan is in the spring, from March to May. Summer falls from June to August, the weather is very hot, sometimes the temperature during the day in some places reaches over 40 degrees Celsius. The remaining months from September to March have relatively pleasant weather, very ideal for you to make a trip here. For tourists who like diving services in Aqada, from October to December is the most suitable time because at that time, the sea water is clear and the sea water temperature remains around 26-27 degrees Celsius.
+ Other notes:
- Spend at least a full day to visit the ancient city of Petra. Bring snacks and some snacks as well as drinks to eat along the way and save money.
- Camel and horse riding inside the citadel is very expensive, from 20-40 USD per person and one way use.
- You should buy a SIM card when you arrive at the airport to use. The price of the SIM card is about 20 USD (450,000 VND) for 5Gb of internet and calls.
+ Accommodation:
The tents in the desert are quite well equipped. There are bathrooms and hot and cold water inside the tents.
