Blogs from Wadi Rum, South, Jordan, Middle East
April 8th 2012
Today we ventured across the red sand sea to visit Wadi Rum. Thamodians (pre Nabatians) are Bedouin and Nomadic tribes who crossed over from Saudi Arabia, roaming the desert in search of water and pasture. Eventually the Thamodians settled on Petra and built the Pink City. A 4 hour jeep tour took us through some spectacular scenery and we visited many sites said to have been significant to Lawrence of Arabia's campaigns against the Turks. The most interesting was the Khazzalah Siq (canyon) which was where sharp shooters were placed on the mountains, while the rest of the army climbed the mountain and circled back around behind the Turks to slaughter them. Last stop for the day before reaching our desert camp, was a massive sand dune embedded to the side of a mountain. It's funny ... read more
April 7th 2012
As soon as you enter the area of Wadi Run you can’t help but be impressed by the magnificent scenery. We had booked a 2 day one night 4WD tour with Rum Tours. We were met by our Bedouin guide Suliman at the visitors’ centre and spent the next two days with him in an old blue Pajero. We spent the first day driving around from one beautiful scene to another, getting out of the car for short walks up dunes or rocks for better views. Had a taste of history with ancient Nabatean writing guiding caravan traders on rocks and the adventures of T E Lawrence, who spent some time in the area in the Arab Revolt. Suliman made us an excellent lunch sitting in the shade enjoying the vista. The night was spent at ... read more
January 15th 2012
After breakfast in Wadi Musa we met our guide, Jame, who took us in his 4x4 to Wadi Rum. As we left Petra and went higher up, we were reminded how cold it had been with snow still on the mountains. About an hour later we arrived in the desert in Wadi Rum. We went on safari through the desert for about 3 hours stopping at various sites such as Lawrence's House and the 7 Pillars of Wisdom. The sits themselves werent that great but the desert and the scenery were spectacular. We ended up at the camp and tried to get up a mountain for sunset but were about 15 minutes late. Back at the camp we were joined by a German couple who were doing the safari the next day. Other than that the ... read more
May 29th 2011
yesterday we took a bus from petra to wadi rum and it wasnt that bad as we traveled in the morning so the weather was still cool and we went with a south african called ryan who was training to be a war photographer so he was in libya just 2 weeks ago! when we got wadi rum bus stop we where still 4 miles from rum village and it was through dessert so we hitchiked to the village in a japanese womans car. at rum village we hired a tent and left our stuff in it so that we could go and have a camel ride to lawrence springs and back through the dessert. after the camel ride we went to the shop and got some food and settled down to eat it then went ... read more
May 18th 2011
Crossing the Gulf of Aden is always a bit tricky especially this year as there has been a surge in pirate attacks. But between the presence of the Coalition forces and the preparations that Regent makes, we feel quite protected. After we left Oman we developed a generator problem so we weren't able to travel at full speed as is recommended by the Navy. As a result we had five sea days--which is great. It is a good time to get caught up on things, attend lectures, work on our blog, make cards and play tennis. Pam and Richard are on board now and they are ardent Hand and Foot card players. So we have been able to get a few games in. There is a special event taking place on board put together by PTV ... read more
March 11th 2011
A belated entry but here it goes…. After singing the theme tune to Indiana Jones for the last two days it was now time to turn our attentions to Lawrence of Arabia (or as Michelle likes to call it Lawrence of Saudi Arabia!). We were heading to the scene of one of the all time great movies, a place where T.E. Lawrence described as echoing, spacious and godlike, Wadi Rum. It has to be said that most boy’s at some stage of their childhood will dream of an adventure through the desert and sleeping under the stars around a camp fire. I can imagine it was probably not Michelle’s, but true to form she knew it would be something I really wanted to do. Our guide picked us up off our bus at the tourist centre ... read more
January 21st 2011
En route to Wadi Rum I was able to take a panoramic view of the canyons that conceal magnificent Petra. I was able to identify the Siq that the earth ripped asunder, forming the grandest natural entry to a city I have ever wandered through. This early morning viewing took me back to the previous day's exhiliration and I recalled all that I had seen, touched, scrambled over and ascended. From here it was due south to the desert sands and surging rock formations of Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum was brought to prominence in the western world primarily due to the writings and exploits of T. E. Lawrence who, for a time, lived and fought in these Arabian lands. I just wanted to immerse myself in a natural desert landscape and hopefully meet a Bedouin or ... read more
December 24th 2010
See the world through the eyes of your child. This is a true blessing we share every day at home or on the road, with it's great moments, as well as the steps of becoming a man for Leslie. During this trip, we have the chance to witness every day through Leslie eyes the wonders of Jordan, and this is simply amazing... For our second stop in Jordan, we are staying two days and one night in the Wadi Rum. We are following like many before us the steps of Lawrence of Arabia. The Rum is only an hour by taxi from Aqaba, or just a 30usd ride. No real need to rent a car here. We have arranged for a taxi driver to drive us here early morning, and come to pick up us the ... read more
December 2nd 2010
It was a bit of a rough first week back in Jordan, I don’t think anyone was ready for break to be over. It was fun to hear everyone’s stories from their travels though, through Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, India and a few even managed to get Syrian visas. So everyone had stories to tell and gorgeous pictures to share, not without some comparison between the glamorous places they had visited and Amman however, which now felt somewhat dreary by comparison. It was a bit of a collective slump, not helped by the fact that we were all struggling through piles of homework with finals less than a month away. Thanksgiving was therefore a welcome distraction. About a dozen of us got together at one of the apartments for dinner on Wednesday. But first we had to ... read more
End of my stay in the Wadi Rum village
Published: September 9th 2010Middle East » Jordan » South » Wadi Rum
September 9th 2010
Annnnnd Ramadan has officially ended, after some excitement the last few days about whether or not it would end a day early depending on the moon (it didn’t). But I managed to survive the whole 30 days despite being sorely tempted to cave and eat on a few occasions, especially one instance when the toddler I was holding while feeding fruit to decided it was a fun game to try and feed me his snack instead. (Two side notes on this, first I added a picture of the fruit which grows in the backyard, I have no idea what it’s called in English if you happen to recognize it let me know, I’m curious, they’re quite good. And second, said fruit eating toddler learned my name! It’s especially sweet since he’s at an age where his ... read more
