We left Dahab in the morning and made our way to Nuweiba to catch the ferry back to Jordan and luckily this time the customs officials were awake and everything went to plan, so we made it to Aqaba in the early afternoon, spending a couple of hours looking round and then getting an early night.

The following day we left Aqaba and headed to Wadi Rum, we met up with our guide Zidane and then headed out into the desert on a jeep safari.  The scenery is was stunning, ranging from deserts and sand dunes to mountains.  Towards the end of the evening we arrived at a bedouin camp were we were spending the night and climbed up onto a small ridge to see the sunset which was amazing with all the different colours changing as the sun came down.  We then spent an enjoyable evening playing cards in the tent before hitting the sack and then we were up again bright and early at 5:30 to see the sunrise which was even better than the sunset.  Wadi Rum has been one of my favourite places on the whole trip and I cant wait to get my pictures onto the screen as they are some of the best shots I have taken.

From Wadi Rum we headed towards the Syrian border and found a place to bush camp so that we could cross over early in the morning.  All was going well untill just before we went to bed a man comes over to tell us to watch out for all the scorpians and snakes as there are lots around here, he then pulled out a gun and said dont worry, if you have any problems give him a shout while waving his gun around and then stumbling off into the distance.  Needless to say that none of us had the best nights sleep we have ever had!

As we all woke up early we had breakfast and gave Paul his birthday presents before heading off to the border to enter Syria again, the border was painless and we then had about a 45 min drive to get to Bosra, where there were some ruins which were a bit crap to be honest, except that they did have quite a good amphitheatre.  From there we headed back up to Damascus.  The lads spent the afternoon chilling at the campsite and the girls went into town to get their hair done!  In the evening we all headed into the city and had a great meal out to celebrate Pauls 22nd birthday.

We all headed off early the next morning for our daytrip to Lebanon and Beirut.  It took us quite a while to get accross the border and then about a 2 hour drive to get to the ruins at Balbaek which were great.  After lunch in Balbaek we had another 2 hour drive to get us to Beirut.  Beirut is a very modern city and has a very western feel to it, however, there are still a lot of buildings that have bomb damage and bullet holes from the civil war.  There is also a small section of the city which has been sealed off due to the assination of the president which happened by a 400lb bomb going off in February, the damage is incredible.  When we arrived in Beirut we had a couple of hours to walk around and see the place before we headed back to Damascus, not getting back until about midnight.

In the morning we left Damascus and headed to Palmyre which has some of the best ruins we have seen so far on the trip.  While we were getting lunch in Palmyre a newspaper reporter came up to us and interviewed us for an article and took pictures of us by the truck (not sure which paper it was though), but I have been scanning the local papers and we have not appeared yet.  Not too sure what the article was about either as the reporter did not speak much English, so it was either about our journey and views on Syria or it could have been an article on Vallerie who was wearing her Hesbollah t-shirt which she got in Lebanon yesterday!  After lunch we spent the rest of the day looking at the ruins and toombs before heading off into the desert for a bush camp.

We packed away our camp in the morning and headed to Aleppo in the north which was our last stop in Syria.  Aleppo is the second largest city in the country and has a very western feel to it.  We arrived in Aleppo in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day chilling out before going out for another birthday meal, this time for Valerie who was celebrating her 27th birthday.  We had a great night eating in a great Italian restaurant which serves the best food I have eaten outside of Italy.

At 9 the next morning we headed off for a tour of the city, seeing the main mosque which is closed to the public at the moment as they are just finishing off the rebuilding of it, and it looks great.  We also saw the souk which is one of the best ones I have seen and had a look at the citadel which towers over the city and gives great panoramic views.  The rest of the day was spent chilling out and watching films as we had cable in the hotel (luxury after so long with Arabic TV).

We left at 5 the next morning as we had a very long 2 day drive into Turkey and around the Med coast to Olympos, breaking up the journey by camping by the sea half way.  Before we got to Olympos we stopped at some old ruins in the hills called Termessos which were stunning, just left there in between the trees for you to wander over.  We arrived in Olympos at about 5 the following afternoon and spent a great night at Kadirs Top Tree House which is where we were staying (I can highly recommend this place to anybody who finds themselves there).  Olympos is a stunning part of Turkey, the coast line is beautiful and they have old ruins which lead down to one of the nicest beaches I have seen.  I spent the following day chilling out on the beach which was fantastic.

Our next port of call after Olympos was Saklikent Gorge which was also fantastic, the gorge is 18km long and has a river running through it.  We arrived there at about 3 and then went tubing which is where you get a big rubber ring and a paddle and then hurl yourself into the fast flowing river and make your way down stream getting absolutely soaked in the process, stopping along the way to cover yourself from head to toe in clay.  Because the river water comes down from the mountains it is also extremly cold!  We had a great night there and me and Joe got up early to walk into the gorge.  The river covers the full width of the gorge, so to get along it you have to wade through the freezing cold river and clamber up waterfalls - absolutely brillaint fun.

We left Saklikent yesterday morning and came upto Oludinez which is quite a touristy place on the coast.  We spent a couple of hours on the beach and I came into town to watch the FA Cup Final.  Unfortunately it went to extra time and penalties, so I ended up drinking more than I had planned to, still never mind.  When I got back to the camp another overland truck had turned up so we spent a very good night last night getting hammered.  Today I am taking it easy recovering, I also managed to find a bar doing Full English Breakfast - my first one in nearly 4 months!

Tomorrow we carry on up the coast eventually getting to Istanbul on the 26th where I will write another update.