Sunday, 1 February 2015
I slept badly and finally got up at 5 to perform
prayers. It was oh so cold and I wanted to go back to sleep but finally decided
to view the sunrise. We didn’t have a good view of the sunrise though but had a
fantastic view of the light coming up to touch on the sandstone formations
around us.
We had breakfast at 07:30 and left for the tour an
hour later. We drove to the ‘white desert’ and then on to Jabal Umm Fruth
Bridge. There was a Bedouin tent there and Sabah told me, ‘three cats live
here.’ I didn’t climb up as I knew I would have problems getting down so I
stayed on terra firma and explored the grounds. After half an hour, Che Ta
descended down and we headed to the Bedouin tent where we enjoyed a cat’s hospitable
company and some Bedouin tea.
Friendly hospitable cat making itself comfortable on my lap
We continued on and twenty minutes later, reached
a canyon where we were dropped off. Sabah our driver and guide told us he’d
wait for us at the other side. We set off, walking in between two sandstones,
up some rocks and climbed up into the sand dune before making our way gingerly
down some boulders.
We met up again with Sabah after half an hour and
next made our way to Lawrence’s House (where Lawrence of Arabia stayed) and
Lawrence Place. I had no hesitation and climbed up to look across the expanse
around us. We headed back to the Bedouin tent and had some Bedouin tea before
leaving.
A mere fifteen minutes later, we reached the
Anfashieh Inscriptions – ancient rock drawings of camel riders and huntsmen. We
didn’t stay too long there and were already on our way less than ten minutes
later.
We reached Umm Ishrin, the red sand dunes, three
minutes later. Che Ta went down, I wasn’t eager to get sand into my Converse so
I stayed in. Besides, it isn’t easy to climb up a sand dune and I already
experienced a bit of it at the canyon earlier.
Our next stop was Lawrence Spring, one of the
major springs in the area and still provides water to the Bedouins. We had to
climb up and I climbed up half-way. It was already getting hot with the sun
intense on us. Che Ta climbed all the way up and told me the spring looked
shrunk and shallow. We then made our way down and had some more Bedouin tea. We
were also asked why we were alone and not with our brothers or husbands
(muhrim).
We then drove to Jabal Khazali and had a picnic
lunch. It was simple: some bread, a can of tuna, a tomato, a banana, a
cucumber, a packet of Swiss roll, a packet of juice drink and some cheese.
Sabah then performed prayers and I waited until he was done while Che Ta went
to explore the area.
We left after 35 minutes of rest and drove to the
nearby Khazali Canyon. This narrow canyon contains numerous Nabataean
rock carvings of people and animals and used to be inhabited by
the Bedouin in the summer. We walked in and found some shallow pools.
From there, it didn’t take long to reach our camp.
I wondered how the locals knew their way around. They would likely use the
sandstones as landmarks. We had our shower and performed prayers. I was too
sleepy and took a nap... and when I got up, it was dark everywhere! It was
already sunset (OMG!) and I got up for evening prayers.
We had maqluba for dinner, apparently cooked by
Sabah. Whoa. Is there anything this young man of 20 cannot do??
Monday, 2 February 2015
I woke up at 3 to the sound of wind outside and
went to fetch the underclothes I hung outside to dry. Woke again at 5 to use
the bathroom and perform prayers. We enjoyed a better sunrise this morning and
the finished packing. Breakfast was had in the large tent again where we had
the previous breakfast and dinner. We left the camp after 8 and drove to Rum
Village. About 2 km before we reached the village, I spotted a lone man with a
couple of camels. They were our ride for the remainder of the journey to the
village. Che Ta and I got down and Sabah drove on with our bags.
We climbed our camels (I was slightly terrified by
the one which Che Ta boarded) and after some coaxing, the camels got up and
walked to the village. It took us 40 minutes to get to the village on the
camels.
We met up with Muhammad again and paid him for the
tour and accommodation. He included the Wadi Rum entrance into the tour price.
How nice! We went to use the bathroom before we boarded the bus to Wadi Musa.
The bus was scheduled to depart at 08:30 but it only left at 09:15 (and a good
thing too as we were still riding our camels at 08:30!). The fare was JOD7 per
person.
We reached Wadi Musa bus station just after 11 am
and the bus driver kindly showed us the rough direction to our hotel. Now Wadi
Musa is a very hilly town but our hotel was a manageable walk down so we
decided to walk instead (a cab would cost us JOD2 but we decided we could do
with some walking). It took us slightly over 20 minutes walking downhill
although we did have to climb a hill to the hotel. There was a welcoming committee of four some ginger cats
outside the hotel when we got there. We checked in and paid for the room and
went to the room the porter brought us – which turned out to be wrong room. We
had to go down to room 102 on the first floor. Oh well.
We left after performing prayers and walked to
Petra. It took us all of three minutes to reach the entrance and we bought
tickets for two days. It cost us JOD55 (a one-day ticket would cost only JOD5
less) and we had to show our passports so that our names would be printed on
the tickets (and you have to bring your passport along for identification
purposes when you come the next day). We walked in and entered the site and
walked down past the Djinn Blocks to the winding Siq. We walked about 2.6 km
before we reached Al-Khazneh (Khazanah or Treasury) and we caught sight of Al
Khazneh thirty minutes after we left the entrance. We stopped here for a while
for some Kodak moments before continuing on. It was getting really hot by then
and I had fashioned my long shawl scarf atop my head held down by my hat – my
own version of keffiyeh and agal to ward off the intense sun. I also slathered
sun screen to protect my skin from UV.
We turned right and passed tombs along the Street
of Facades until we reached the Nabataean Theatre. We stopped briefly before
continuing along Colonnaded Street with its ruins of columns. The Great Temple
was there too and we went up to explore it. One thing I couldn’t stand was the
children asking you to buy postcards from them or just asking for food
outright. It was annoying and trust me, it is kinder to ignore them. Be a
responsible traveller at all times, I remind myself, and apply care and
thought. Don’t go off stomping around, don’t go giving out money thinking it’s
kind and thoughtful (sometimes you really have to be cruel to be kind), and
don’t mistreat the poor animals.
We escaped the badgering kid somehow and continued
on to the next temple, Qasr al-Bint Temple. It was still being restored. We
then walked on to the museum, declining offers of donkey rides to Ad-Deir, the
Monastery. Instead, after visiting the small museum, we took the trail leading
to the Winged Lion temple (in ruins and we couldn’t get near anyway) and the
church then continued on across the ravine to Urn Tomb and the Royal Tombs.
Petra map. It doesn’t tell you the distance between the sites though
It was after 5 pm when we finally left the complex
of tombs and walked out. The site closed at 17:30 and we walked quickly to the
exit.
We walked around the restaurants (my, food cost so
much here!) before finally buying a chicken syawarma which we shared for
dinner. We spent some time in the lobby getting connected to the world (no WiFi
coverage in the room).
To be continued
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