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Published: November 6th 2008
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What's not to love about Petra, with all the buildings carved out of the rock face. Well there are a few things not to love about Petra, like the town nearby Wadi Musa, for some unknown reason any great monument around the world has an incredibly dodgey town nearby that exists purely as the bunion on the toe of a marvel of the world. Then there's trying to get out of Wadi Musa, there's buses, taxis and service taxis combined with a few too many people trying to extract the hard earned from you as you flee the town for places further north. Oh and Petra involves walking and more walking, plus climbing more stairs then go up centrepoint tower. But apart from that it's an amazing place.
Now how did I end up in this part of the world on an aimless tour in the complete opposite direction to the normal direction that you're meant to go? Well blame the published world adventurers Colvinyeates (they're on travelblog as well), after watching their adventures last year I decided to add a couple of their destinations to my very misguided jaunt around the middle east. As it turns out it hasn't
been a bad thing.
This year has been a year of man-made world wonders with Ankor Wat in April and now Petra. As you may have worked out Petra is an ancient "village" carved into the rocks that covers a significant amount of landscape. When you arrive you walk through the Siq which was formed by a bit of tectonic movement a while back. The canyon is just over a kilometre long, although when you walk back out it's like way longer. As you turn the last corner through the gap the Treasury emerges (Indiana Jones fans will know this one). The thing is massive, all carved out of the sandstone, it's a shame I wasn't around in the 3rd century BC when some great architect said see that cliff over there well we're going to carve out this building about 40 metres high and as much wide. Yeah we're with you on that one where should I start. After the treasury you continue strolling past the camels, donkeys and fifty or so Bedouin kids and their parents offering some necklaces for 1 dinar or if you knock them back 2 for a dinar or if you keep walking
3 for a dinar (they haven't really sorted out the bargaining thing yet) you arrive at the street of fascades, the Royal tombs and a theatre. After that you get keen and decide that the Monastry would be a good thing to see, it's conveniently located closer to Israel then Jordan or at least it feels like it after you trek up hill and dale past all the little market stalls clinging to the side of the cliffs. But once you arrive there the view is incredible as too is the monastry, sort of reminds me a bit of Abu Simbal in Egypt and equally as impressive.
The other highlight of Petra is Petra by night which is a must do if you happen to be there on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday night. You arrive at 8:30pm and then walk into Petra along the Siq which has candles every couple of metres til you get to the Treasury where there's a few hundred candles laid out in front of it. The locals serve you tea and then they crank out a few tunes on a voilin type number and a flute thingy. After the first couple of bars
The traditional Arabic coffee requires you drink the washing up water as it probably tastes better
Most of you would know that the morning stroll is head out the door at home hang a left on the Esplanade past a couple of beaches then hang another left up the hill to that little institution called Grind where I take up residence and everyone wonders if I'm employed or not. This morning's stroll was somewhat longer - walk out door down the hill through the Siq, hang a left sit in front of the Treasury and have coffee. It doesn't compare! I realised it wasn't the monkey and went the ipod option with a bit of Pachabel and his mates cranked up to eleven to drown out the local jam session. This was really cool laying around watching the stars and the candles flicker in front of the treasury, all that was missing was the wine and women (maybe next time). Too bad the photos don't do it justice.
Day two of Petra was only a short one after a huge hitout on day one. But I did manage to trek up a few too many stairs again to get to the top of the cliff a couple of hundred metres above the Treasury. Again the view from this high up was just fabbo as it gives you a real appreciation as to how large the site really is. After wondering back down I'd had enough and decided that I would leave a day earlier then planned and head to Amman with the hope of getting into Syria and Lebanon the next day.
This is where I managed to encounter the joy of waiting for a bus at Wadi Musa, you see the minibuses only go when they are
full. Given my incredible non understanding of Arabic the task is further enhanced, not to mention that a few too many people have a great deal for you. After waiting around for about half an hour a kind scammer pointed me in the direction of the next bus to Amman. He did all the right things, sir this bus is 10 dinar, no mate it should be 5 dinar, oh no sir you have luggage, no mate it was five this morning, oh no sir that's the morning bus after lunch they are more expensive, you must get ticket from me. After a bit of impass he decided that 8 dinar was ok, with me knowing that this isn't exactly what the locals were paying, especially when he says don't tell anyone, but I was over it so time to get on the bus. Me and my new found twenty Jordanian mates off we go north to Amman me paying 8 dinar and them paying 3 dinar, yep I got rorted out of AUD$10 but I'm in Amman now. Oh and there was the slight "debate" with the taxi driver and his offsider in Amman on the way to the
hotel. But in the end it all worked out ok as I only paid AUD$2 more than I should have so all was good, if not interesting for a little while.
All that's left to do is work out how to get over the border into Syria on a Friday, Friday here is like a Sunday, not much happens, oh well stay tuned for the next stage of the road to Damascus.
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