Wadi Rum and Petra!

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Patrick and I hired a taxi driver named Moosa to take us from Aqaba to Wadi Rum. He was a really nice guy, but a bit too talkative at times. He took us to his brother's restaurant for breakfast and we ate virtually for free.

The drive to Wadi Rum was great. It was through the desert and very scenic. Once we arrived in Wadi Rum, we went into town and Moosa dropped us off at our guide's house. We then met a Swiss brother/sister duo and they joined us for our night into the desert.

The four of us rode in the back of a pickup truck for a four hour tour of the desert before arriving at our camp. This is Lawrence of Arabia territory so we saw Lawrence's house (which was nothing more than a crumbled pile of stone blocks) and Lawrence's spring. Some people were drinking from the spring but I opted not to. We also saw a rock arch that was much hyped but ended up being rather disappointingly small.

We got to the campsite and it was what I expected: just a dinner tent and a toilet. We relaxed for a bit and then went on a suicide climbing mission for the sunset. We were literally abseiling up the sides of this mountain just for a glimpse of the sunset that I'm sure would have been jaw dropping from the desert floor. The Swiss due were climbing experts and they put me to shame. We were separated somehow before sunset so I was left to descend alone in the twilight. It was tough to trace my steps on the way down so I got cornered a few times. On top of that, I was trying to avoid my camera hitting the rock walls as I was inching down the steep walls while on the verge of falling to my doom. I promised myself I wouldn't do any amateur rock climbing for a while.

After the terror, we all met up back at camp and were joined by a large group of Italians. We had a really good dinner, a traditional Jordanian dish that begins with a "G" but I haven't managed to remember the name just yet. It's chicken in a really good gravy with onions, tomatoes, and potatoes all mixed together.

We decided not to sleep in the tent and so we dragged our mattresses outside and slept under the stars. Apparently there are rather large spiders and snakes that wander around but we didn't see any. Sleeping out there was beyond awesome, but there was no chance of sleeping through the sunrise and the swarms of flies that accompanied it.

We had a quick breakfast and got back into town where we temporarily parted ways with the Swiss duo (his name is Pierre, but I can't remember her name... it's a long and Swiss one). We had Moosa taxi us over to Petra while they took the bus, but we planned on staying at the same hotel, the Petra Gate.

Again, Moosa was great. He stopped at quite a few good photo stops and bought us drinks even though we insisted that he didn't have to. I swear, the Jordanians are super friendly. Moosa dropped us off at the Petra Gate and we said goodbye until the next time we are in Jordan. He was completely confident that we would be back someday.

We got some good dinner and a hookah or two and met a seemingly nice group of Jordanians. One by one they all left until it was just me and one dude. He gave me this sob story about how his dad was demanding 100 Dinars from him and he didn't have it. He actually wanted me to lend it to him and told me he would pay me back the next day (100 Dinars = about $150 US). I politely refused and got out of there.

Today we woke up early and went down to Petra, one of my most anticipated places of my whole trip. It did not disappoint! First, you walk through the famous siq (the one from the Last Crusade) towards the Treasury. The siq is 1,200 meters long, which was a lot longer than I expected, but it added to the anticipation of seeing the Treasury. We spent all day wandering around and we did make the climb up to the Monastary (after Kili, I can climb anything now). The museum was a little disappointing but it didn't matter because everything else more than made up for it.

Tonight the four of us are going out for dinner and hopefully we'll find something else to do afterwards. The Swiss duo is heading to Israel tomorrow and Patrick and I are either going to go back into Petra or head to the Dead Sea.

I guess that's it for now. Hope everyone is well back home.

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Photos

Wadi Rum
Just after entering the desert

Swiss
Me and the Swiss Duo

Sunset
The Sunset from my suicide perch

Bridge
Me standing on a wobbly bridge

Treasury
My obligatory picture of the view of the treasury through the siq

Camels
If you need a camel or a donkey, Petra is a good place to be