Blogs from South, Jordan, Middle East - page 7

It was an early breakfast this morning as the plan was to head out with Kevin and Patrick to hike into Petra via a much longer and less traveled route. However, at breakfast I just wasn't ready to head out at such an early hour so I took my time eating breakfast and let Kevin and Patrick head out with Brent, Jocelyn, and Ronan. It was quite the sight to see Brent and Jocelyn dressed up as the characters from Indiana Jones as they set out for today's hike. I would find out later that there was a reason to this. I wasn't disapointed in not joining them as it would be nice to just go at my own pace and have a little alone time to enjoy Petra all by myself. I eventually headed out ... read more

After a rather uncomfortable night of sleep where I probably got no more than 4 hours of total sleep time, Kevin and I awoke and made our way over to a nearby rock to catch the sunrise. To our surprise, Sophie was already there with the same idea and the 3 of us enjoyed the peaceful calm of a desert sunrise. Today, we were to set out for a long day hike out into the Wadi Rum desert. We set out just after breakfast and already the morning had become quite warm. Heading out into the desert, it was pretty clear who would be leading the pack. Kevin, Ronan, Patrick, and myself lead the way while everyone else seemed to linger towards the back of the pack. This was one of the highlights for me during ... read more

We've had another wonderful day today in Jordan. We left the hotel in Wadi Musa at 8 am this morning, for the drive along the King's Highway to Shobak Castle, a Crusader castle built in 1115 CE. The drive took maybe 45 min or so. Sami parked the mini bus and we walked uphill to the castle. The castle is quite imposing, perched on a hill. The sun was behind the castle so the light wasn't good for photos, but you can get the general idea. The castle was built by the Crusader king Baldwin I, and it withstood attacks from Salah al-Din before falling in 1189 after an 18 month siege. It was later occupied by the Mamluks in the 14th C. Some of the castle is restored, having been damaged by earthquakes in the ... read more

Today was a highlight for me: camel riding! We slept well in our tent in Wadi Rum and got up around 7, for breakfast at 7:30. Susan and I had a Turkish coffee with breakfast. I'm getting used to having several Turkish coffees a day! I left the tent for the bathroom last night around 11 or so and the campsite looked magical with the small lights around the tents and on the paths. The moon was super bright. We left the camp about 8:45 this morning, and got back into our jeeps for about a 15 min drive to where we met our camels. Everyone but Louise got on their camel for our 1 hour camel ride, though Jill didn't last long on her camel and was picked up by a jeep. The camel ride ... read more

We were up, packed, and breakfasted, ready to leave at 8:15 this morning. Mohammed and Sami (our driver) were a little late picking us up at our hotel (Mohammed spent the night at the other hotel where 4 other new members of our group were staying). We met another new member, Patrick, from London, this morning at breakfast. The other four new members are a family from Brazil: Paloma and her mother Sonia, and Paloma's aunt Marisa and uncle Luis. Unfortunately we had a very sad incident this morning. I had just got into the mini van when I heard some commotion outside and people were staying "it's broken". I left the mini van to see Patrick on the ground, with one foot stuck out in a very unnatural position. He had tripped and fallen while ... read more