Blogs from Petra, South, Jordan, Middle East - page 8

January 3, 2013 - We arrived in Petra around 5:30pm and were originally scheduled to be at a Jordanian cooking class at 6. Since it had already been a long, busy day and the class was a little pricey, we decided to forego the Petra Kitchen and enjoy the buffet at the hotel instead. But before dinner, the hotel was running a special for their Turkish bath that was attached to the building. For only about $18 we sat in a steam room and then each had separate massages on hot slabs of marble before being doused in hot water. It was a pretty relaxing end to the day. After dinner at the hotel we flipped on a movie in the room and were sleeping by around 10 or 11. We woke up early again the ... read more

After two hours of walking through Petra, I turned a bend on the dusty road and this beautiful little boy came into view. He was sitting all alone in the desert wearing a bright orange sweater of all things and a heavy cotton hat. Set before him was a sheet of cardboard covered in rocks for sale. My first thought was how ingenius this was, selling rocks in the desert. He had plentiful inventory, zero overhead costs, and a never ending stream of potential customers walking right past him all day. My second thought was, "Where is your mother young man?" I have a seven-year-old son myself. I put him on the bus every morning and send him to school where he gets a good education. He came home recently telling me he knew what he ... read more

Bus to Petra It all started with a public transport bus packed with a few tourist groups and then one big group of 17 loud, fun arabs. I was in the latter. The 3 hour bus ride to Petra from Amman seemed short with the different arabic songs being sung and plenty of new people to get to know. The group was made up of a lot of Laila's friends I had already met, but a few new ones as well. By the way, I heard horrible things about Jordanian Public Transportation, but they must have really upgraded their buses and infrastructure since these reviews because it was a very smooth, comfortable trip - and only 8 dinars as well. It was a great deal so I'd recommend it to anyone going to Petra, Wadi Rum, ... read more

Jordan is amazing. I've been out of touch the last few days, running around the country. I found myself in a bedouin camp (tourist friendly of course), and now while im the airport waiting for a flight to cairo, I have time to reflect on the past couple of days. I've seen more roman ruins, with better access to them, here in Jordan. In Jeresh, an ancient city, we walked through a huge complex of ruins, noting these magnificent columns, huge amphitheater (everywhere Rome went, they created these huge theaters it appears), and the tracks of wheel carts from time gone by set in the stone. Quite magnificent. Castles litter the country side and are fun to walk through. Jordan was an important place in regards to religion and trade, and ruins from the crusades and ... read more

Finally arriving somewhere that you have long wished to visit can put you a little on edge. We walked down the long siq towards the famous and much photographed canyon like entrance to Petra wondering could it be as impressive as the pictures and other people say. When we turned that final corner and came upon the gap with the rose coloured façade of the Treasury peeping through all our concerns vanished. Much as with other well photographed icons such as the Taj Mahal there is nothing to compare with being there and seeing it for yourself. The Treasury is truly impressive, carved out of the cliff face rising to a great height and in a beautiful soft colour is something very special. This of course is not all there is to Petra, it’s a huge ... read more