(CNN) -- The secret to traveling in Jordan is to sit back and let your expectations be defied. Expect the unexpected in a country that offers glorious contradictions for the traveler to experience. The Jordanian state, for example, is less than a century old, but its history is ancient. The country contains the sandstone city of Petra, built and abandoned by the Nabateans and lost for a millennium after that, alongside Roman ruins, crusader castles, and mountains where prophets lived and listened. The Jordanian summer is long, hot, and dry, but it is still possible to swim and climb through the country's river canyons throughout. The winters are freezing, but thermal waterfalls offer relief. The Red Sea at Aqaba offers exceptional marine life, but no fish or plants can withstand the intense salinity of the Dead Sea, which allows the visitor to read a book whilst floating, even if the water itself is hundreds of meters below sea level.
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Wadi Rum is a vast area of protected desert in southern Jordan
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Tourists can take five-day camel treks across the desert
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Camps offer tents or under-the-stars accommodation, and meals cooked in the Bedouin style
I tried to learn a little about the Jordanians by traveling across the southern desert, from Wadi Rum to @placeholder by camel.