Advertisement
Published: August 11th 2007
The Treasury
Here is the money shot. Ahnet was gracious enough to pose with me. I have had people tell me this was a really good photoshop because they didnt believe I was there, hah!First, let me apologize yet again for the lack of updates. Its nice to know people have been asking around and are worried because they havent heard from me through this. Part of the reason is that the site experienced some technical difficulties and lost a critical data. About the only thing I lost were some photos from Turkey and all of them from Romania. I'll be able to replace those soon though. Now back to the show...
So
now I feel like im in the Middle East. Royal Jordanian Air was a first-rate airline that truly lives up to its royal name. Somewhere thousands of feet above Syria I was very pleased to find out while reading a Jordanian newspaper that Petra was just listed as one of the new modern wonders of the world. It was a pretty big deal and the whole place really was buzzing with excitement about it. Arriving in Amman I quickly realized that I was quite literally in the middle of nowhere, with the desert landscape surrounding me for miles around. The capital of Jordan doesnt really offer much for your typical tourist but I did get a chance to take in what
Dramatic Entrance to Petra
There is about a 2 kilometer walk from the Visitors Center to this place, half of which is through an incredible gorge. few sites it did offer. My hotel room cost me about $8 bucks, which is about 1/4 of what I was paying in your typical hostel in Europe, a
very welcome change to be sure. The next morning I got a taxi to take me to the bus station to take me to Wadi Musa, the small village that sprang up around the Petra site. I was fortunate the taxi driver was there, because there was no way I could figure out which bus went where; everything was in Arabic! The bus system was pretty curious as well, apparently the busses dont leave until they are full, the times listed are only educated guesses. Luckily my mini-bus was almost full when I got there and we departed shortly after I arrived. I was easily the only tourist on board as everyone else was wearing your traditional Arabic clothing. Fortunately I was sporting a slightly longer beard than normal and had quite a dark tan so I blended in pretty easily.
After checking into my hostel in Wadi Musa I quickly made my way towards Petra. I only had two full days here and I intended to make the most
Ahnet the Camel
This big guy took me on a 1km trek through the ancient city. of it. Entrance fee's were about $30 bucks for two days access, pretty steep but you really do get your money's worth. Now you have seen the photos and many people still remember the scene in Indiana Jones where it was featured, but nothing can quite prepare you for when you first see Petra. You first walk through a 1.2 km narrow gorge that finally leads you up to the famous building. The anticipation builds with every corner you pass thinking the Treasury is just beyond the next turn and when you finally get there it just floors you. As you walk out of the gorge and see this huge building
literally carved into the mountain you just stand awe-struck. This is more than 2000 years old and you just stand amazed at how this was ever concieved, much less constructed. Camels are walking around, horse carriages are carting people around, and the native Bedouins are everywhere trying to sell you a cheap souvenir, it makes for quite a scene. I was a little bit dissapointed to see that there really wasnt much to see inside the building, it was just one big empty room. The Treasury is the only
Halfway up the Sand Dune
We first tried to walk up this with sandals but quickly realized just how hot the sand was. It is NOT easy climbing up these dunes. building that people really know of, but Petra is actually a huge ancient city with many other similiar buildings and an amazing desert landscape. I walked a good 4km to the other end of the city and up a staggering
800 steps up a mountain to reach the Monastery and the lookout points over the valley. I didnt think the walk up would be that bad so I decided against renting a donkey from one of the Bedouin kids thinking it would be just as expensive as the camel rides (expensive in relative terms to everything else).
Bad idea, it turns out that after some haggling you could rent a donkey all the way up for only about 5 bucks. The excruciatingly tiring walk did allow me to appreciate the views more once I got there, but I dont think I have been more tired on this trip after I was done. The Monastery was almost as impressive as the Treasury and the views a little further up were just amazing, I heard a few people next to me compare it to the Grand Canyon, it was that good. After the punishing walk home I had a good dinner and
Footprints in the Sand
The climp up took about 20 minutes. The run down literally took about 20 seconds, and it was a whole lotta fun. took a long cold shower. My shoes turned a slightly pink color walking through all the rose-colored sand, which almost a month later now, I still havent fully gotten rid of.
The second day was much like the first, only somehow I managed to get lost,
again. Seeing as how I saw the two major buildings on the first day I set out to explore some of the unchartered territory. Oh sure there was a trail, in the beginning. I should have taken a hint when I didnt see any other tourists going my direction. At first there was still a few of the natives in some of the spots along the climb of the mountain, then all I began to see were empty tents. Then I saw a few tents that seemed to have been abandoned quite a long time ago. When I finally made it to the top of the mountain, or very large hill, I was treated to another spectacular view and even managed to find a few tourists here and there. After hanging out for a bit I noticed they all left through the same path we got there on. I figured there had to
Cruisin in the Desert
This Toyota Land Cruiser circa 1980-somethin took us through the desert. There was nothing that could get in its way. be another way down so I went the back way. Once again there was a trail, at the beginning. When I got to the bottom I didnt see anyone else around, or a clear way back to the ancient city. So I walked some more, and got further away. There was a good hour stretch there where I didnt encounter a single other person or even camp. I literally saw the skulls of mountain goats on the desert floor and something that resembled tumbleweeds blowing by. So after about half an hour I began to get a little worried, nothing but desert all around me and the mountain I climbed was getting further and further away. I contemplated going back, but figured there had to be a way back to
some trail. After an hour passed I started getting
really worried, I had run out of water and still hadnt encountered anyone or anything for that matter. Going back was finally starting to look appealling but I finally came across an old trail that was used by the Bedouins to bring supplies to their tents. It was like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert, only it wasnt
Tomb of Unkown Soldier
There was plenty of little spots like this in the back part of the city. The hike to get here was pretty intense. water but I was still in the desert. 30 minutes walking down the path and I finally came towards the center section of the city. I was relieved to say the least and cursed my newfound talent for getting lost, which had proved to be useful in the past. It was an experience at least, definitely not something I'll be forgetting anytime soon. Back at the hostel I signed up for a 4x4 tour of the desert with a chance to camp under the desert night. I was hoping more people would sign up but there turned out to be only one other, a Korean who went by the name Egon, "you know, the one from BusterGhosts, the guy with glasses" as he said.
I still dont know if he called himself Egon because it kind of sounded like his hard-to-pronounce Korean name or because he kind of looked like Egon from the movie
GhostBusters. He didnt know much English and our Bedouin guide only knew slightly more than him. So here I was stuck with two people I could hardly converse with in the middle of the desert out of contact with anyone else, all for the next
Sunset
Absolutely without a doubt one of the most dramatic sunsets I have ever seen, the colors were just breathtaking. 36 hours. Turned out to be kind of a mixed blessing, as it kind of added to the eerily silent desert atmosphere and Egon turned out to be a pretty fun guy. The next morning, at 6am, we boarded an ancient Toyota LandCruiser and made our way through the desert. Before we left we stopped at a gas station in the nearby village to fill up. This "gas station" turned out to be a Bedouin chain smoking in a corner with about 10 containers filled with gas. There was no pump, not even a funnel, so about 1/4 of the gas was on the floor and on the side of the LandCruiser. One of the stops included a rather large sand dune, now I had climbed a few sand hills when I was a kid back in South Padre Island, but that was nothing compared to a real desert dune. Took us about an exhausting 20 minutes to go up, then an exhilarating 20 seconds to run down. The rest of the day involved a midday snack beneath the shadow of a huge boulder, mosquitoes feasting on me, a few choice rock climbs, mosquitoes interrupting an impromptu siesta, more rock
Admiring the Landscape
There was no one else for miles around and the only sound that could be heard was the wind rustling. climbing, and yet even more mosquitoes annoying the hell out of me. The mosquitoes were bad, and they had an amazing talent to buzz just a few centimeters from my ear despite my incessant fly swatting. I thought I wasnt going to be able to sleep later that night, cause if there is even 1 mosquito within a 15 foot radius of where I lay, then Ill be awake all night. Once we made it to camp our guide bgan to cook a wonderful Bedouin barbecue dinner as we climbed a huge rock to admire the sunset. That was definitely one of those experiences I mentioned before that just stand out from the rest of the trip and a sunset I will never forget. The rose colored sand slowly morphed into a purplish hue as the sun set over a small mountain range, it was the stuff of poetry. The dinner was quite good and our guide set up a campfire where he banged out a few tunes with a drum he brought along. Despite our language barrier, the three of us kind of just clicked at that moment, appreciating the beautiful desert night and swapping stories about our respective
Egon and Ed
After dinner. He didnt know much English but we got along famously. countries as best we could. Luckily we setup our mattresses on top of a small sand dune and since it was pretty windy we were free of any mosquitoes ruining a good nights sleep. That night under the desert was without a doubt one of the most relaxing nights I have ever experienced. I had never seen so many stars in my life.
The next day we got an early start and I got on a bus that took me to my next destination, Israel. There are no busses or trains that actually go into Israel from any other country so I took the bus to the Israeli border and made my way through with the stories of my brothers 4 hour ordeal in the very same border crossing fresh on my mind...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0254s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
phil
non-member comment
looks likr youre havin a fab time!! Good for you! I'm now in indonesia, doing pretty good! Take good care man!