'South' beach, Rovers Return and not much else

Ready for the desert......King Abdullah in his Arab gear
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Day 40

Neither Aqaba nor Wadi Rum were on my original itinerary. I thought that Aqaba might be a nice break from travelling around and that I could spend some time on a beach and, given my current predicament, some quality time on a toilet in an ensuite room. In addition, the Israel border with Jordan near Aqaba was meant to be the easiest to cross.

In the desert, it was not possible to tell which country I was in. However, in Aqaba, I could tell that I was still well and truly in Jordan due to the amount of pictures of King Abdullah and the very high flying flags of Jordan in the skyline.

Old Aqaba has more charm than new Aqaba
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I had a walk around Aqaba and it was not that interesting. The beaches looked rocky and crowded. Its ruined old city was nothing special. Its other ruins, which were a couple of old churches, had been turned into a dumping ground for rubbish. Its palm tree lined boulevards were lacking charm. And the best possible places for getting a panoramic view of the bay of Aqaba were blocked off and access to them not happening.

I was hopeful that the beaches on the other side of Aqaba would make up for my initial disappointment in the place. These beaches were known as the South Beaches. The guy at the hotel told me where to catch the bus to them and said that there should be no problem asking the driver to drop me off at them. Unfortunately, the driver and none of the passengers on the bus spoke or understood English or what 'South Beaches' (said at different speed and decibel levels) meant.

Ready for War.....King Abdullah in his army gear
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The bus passed a couple of beaches and, rather than get dropped off miles away, the next time that I saw a beach, I just asked the driver to drop me off and he duly obliged. To this day, I still have no idea as to whether this beach was a south beach or not.

The beach was not that good either as the sand was full of stone chippings and the swimming area was a let down as it was stoney and  rocky underneath. Also, when the water got to chest high and I decided to swim out further to sea, I suddenly encountered waist high coral. As such, I was only in the water for about 10 mins and spent the rest of my 1 hour at the 'South Beach' on the beach not getting a suntan.

Both the sun and me have had enough of Aqaba
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Later in the evening, I went out and found a Rovers Return pub. I thought that beer would help sort out my stomach (and it did).