Day 6 - Wadi Rum to Petra

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I managed to wake up at about 6:10, early enough to catch the sun coming up over the horizon and it was very peaceful and serene walking around the desert surrounding our camp site. Lovely brekky in the tent before heading off at 8:30 for our camel ride back to the Wadi Rum Visitor's Centre. Brian and I were not too keen on doing this. The last time I rode a camel was in Egypt in 1984 and I swore I would never do that again, but at least I managed to avoid it for 34 years. As it turned out, it was a very pleasant ride across the desert and I was surprised to learn later that we riding for 50 minutes.

After a short comfort (and shopping) stop at the Visitor's Centre we were on our way for 3 hours to Petra, where we had a very tasty lunch in the adjoining town of Wadi Musa of a traditional Bedouin dish, mansaf which consists of lamb, rice and a yoghurt sauce.

We then checked into the Petra Palace Hotel and Lana took those of us who wanted an extra day in Petra, down to the ticket office to buy two-day passes. Well worth paying for two days as it cost 55JOD and a one-day ticket costs 50JOD. By now it was about 3pm, so we had four hours before it closed. It's about a 30 minute walk from the entrance to the Treasury which is the famous building that typifies Petra for most people. It's an "Oh Wow!" moment as you walk through the narrow canyon known as The Siq and you catch your first glimpse of the Treasury. It's actually even bigger than what I had imagined.

I've heard that many people just get to this point and then walk back, not realising that there is a whole lot more to Petra than just this one building. As we have a full day tomorrow we thought we would just walk a short distance past the Treasury to a cafe called the "Why Not?" and from there we started walking up a trail to a sacrificial site but decided we didn't have time to go all the way. We were also unsure how long it would take to walk back as it is all uphill going back. It turned to be quicker than we expected and we made it back to the hotel at around 6pm. We then had time to relax, shower and rest before dinner at 8pm which was buffet at the hotel restaurant.

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