After a stopover in the pleasant but unremarkable Jordanian coastal town of Aqaba, where I started to recover from the considerable excesses of Tel Aviv, I headed to Wadi Rum. This is the former stomping ground of the famous Lawrence of Arabia, and the piece of the 'proper' Jordanian desert with sufficient infrastructure (including water) for visits by foreign tourists. I arranged to stay overnight in a remote camp run by local Bedouin people, to which I was taken by Jeep. The drive was breathtaking - the desert is remarkably beautiful, with its cliff faces of varying colours (sandy yellow, through reddish to dark brown... apparently if I'd had the time and budget to be driven around some more, I could have seen white cliffs too), set against the most radiant blue sky you'll ever see. There were also surprisingly plentiful patches of rough green vegetation and some sort of lavender plant too, as the desert had apparently recently had its best rainfall for 13 years. When you're dropped in the middle of nowhere, you're immediately hit by the total stillness - no creatures of any description to be heard. All there was to do was wander around (although not too far, as soft sand is tiring to walk through), finding the best spot to watch the beautiful sunset, and later admire the amazingly bright light, thanks I guess to zero light pollution, provided by the full moon.
In the desert
Our hosts cooked us a lovely dinner the traditional Bedouin way, which involves digging a hole for an oven out of the sandy ground, and told us stories over the campfire. I was shocked to hear that a camel is capable of deliberately killing a human that has mistreated it, by throwing the human off its back, jumping on them and smothering them with its stomach - five years ago in the desert an old man who was getting too severe with his whip suffered this fate, while another man escaped an attempt that took place when he lay down to sleep five days after he had last mistreated his camel.
Early the next morning it was time to head to Petra, a large preserved ancient city in a stunning desert setting, and Jordan's number one tourist attraction. It was originally Nabatean in the 6th Century BC, and added to later by the Romans. I understand that part of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed here and it's easy to see why. Most stunning of all is the 1.2km-long path called the siq, literally just an earthquake-induced crack a couple of metres wide down the middle of a sheer cliff face, which brings you into the city. Most of the city's surviving buildings are not free-standing but carved out of other clay-red cliff faces, notably the Roman Treasury at the end of the siq. The city has been badly damaged by two major earthquakes (overall it's nowhere near as well preserved as Jerash), and you have to work out what you want to get out of your visit to avoid just milling around disappointing piles of rubble along with the tourist herds - but after the siq and the Treasury it comes into its own again if you get slightly off the beaten track and start hiking up one of the many hills. The view that most took my breath away, invoked the Indiana Jones spirit and really set my imagination flowing as to what it might have been like in ancient times, was on the way up to the High Place of Sacrifice. It had really helped that I'd got myself out of bed early the next morning and got there while it was still really quiet - by persevering with this trail (with thanks to Lonely Planet for the excellent coverage) I found the bonus of coming upon a small but very well preserved Roman temple without another soul in sight, and in other parts I only had goats and the occasional genuine local farmer for company. In the end I didn't want to leave as I could probably have spent another couple of full days hiking around - another one for the "maybe I can come back sometime" list. I always said I'd rather leave places wanting more than get bored with them, and I'm sticking to that line for the time being. :)
Petra
I've now flown to India - it may be a while before my next blog post as later today I'm joining a pretty intensive organised group tour for a fortnight around Rajasthan run by Intrepid Travel. But I'm very excited about seeing lots more of India, and quite grateful to have guaranteed company for a fortnight and someone else doing most of the organising for a while. Watch this space.
That camel story is amazing!
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