Eugene of Arabia

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Day 9

Have you seen Lawrence of Arabia? Good, me neither. It’s on my list of films to see.

As of yesterday it is the top of my list, because I spent last night in the desert of Wadi Rum, the home of T.E Lawrence. Only an two hour drive from Petra, this is an amazing patch of desert.

Before setting off for the desert I had to see Petra once more. Matt and I arranged to get to the ruins early in the morning to beat the tourist rush that hits around 11:00. 

It was well worth it.

We scrambled up to the "High Place of Sacrifice", where the original inhabitants dragged sheep and cows to one of the highest peeks in the area to meet a grisly end. It gave a great view of the area. The lanscape is so amazing that it makes you giddy. 

Following a quick snack of nuts, sultanas and bananas, eaten while perched on the base of Roman era columns we decided to head back to town.

You could spend days scrambling around the rocks of Petra, pretending to be Indiana Jones, but we both wanted to head south into the desert and pretend to be Lawrence of Arabia.

As well as bumping into Matt on the way to Petra, the two of us ran into an American named Caroline and a Brit named Eirwen. Seeing as the four of us were traveling solo, we decided to team up and head into the desert.

Wadi Rum is beautiful. The sense of space is staggering, but perhaps what is most striking is the silence. If you hold your breath, you can’t hear a single thing.

After spending the better part of two days in Petra, the four of us children-of-the-nineties had a huge desire to watch Indiana Jones. Luckily we are all addicted to technology and had three laptops between us, with the required film loaded onto one USB memory stick.

After we had shared a huge desert BBQ and a shisha thanks to our hosts at the camp we rugged up, set up a laptop on a backpack and watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade under the stars in the Jordanian desert.

It was a far cry from being T.E Lawrence, but it was still amazing. 

Petra. So fantastic.

There are so many caves to explore. Many were inhabited until quite recently by local Bedouins, but the were booted out when the are became a world heritage site.

Matt on the way up to the "High Place of Sacrifice"

There are heaps of well fed, friendly cats all over Petra.

Horses and cart ferry tourists down the siq to the treasury at Petra.

This old gent has such a great face. He was selling trinkets for tourists. If the antique lamp I bought off him is as old as he says it is, I'll bite my arm off.

One small step for tourism...

The Wadi Rum

This is the camp. We were the only people there.

Roughing it.

Indiana Jones and the Sleazy Tour Guide.

Wadi Masua, Jordan

Day 8

At 5:30am it was time for my last cold shower in Amman. I couldn’t face it so I just splashed my face and brushed my teeth. I didn’t care if I stunk out the three hour bus to Wadi Musa.

Wadi Musa is a small village that is perched next to ruins of Petra.

I’m ashamed to admit it but until reading my Lonely Planet I had just assumed that Petra was a figment of George Lucas’s imagination, like Jar-Jar Binks, only majestic and wonderful.

I had seen it many times as a kid watching Harrison Ford and Sean Connery arrive at Petra to find the Holy Grail at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I had no idea it existed, I had no idea it was in Jordan and I had no Idea it was called Petra.

Anyway, it exists and it’s amazing.

Carved out of huge sandstone mountains and valleys, this ancient city was once, as my tour guide described it as, the Hong Kong or Singapore of it’s day. It was a trading hub for spices coming from India, but when the route changed, the city was neglected and more or less abandoned, except for nomadic tribes of Bedouins who lived in the various small hollowed out caves.

Our tour guide, a local dude who had studied politics at university, rattled off stats and tales about the city with a decidedly bored manner. Every now and again I’d see his eyes track something behind us.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out what he was looking at. He was checking out every female tourist who walked passed. I had to marvel at his consistency. This guy didn’t miss a thing.

After our tour I was free to wander the old city. I’d met an American guy called Matt on the bus, and we climbed to a peak to watch the sun set over the desert.

Petra is awesome. In the literal sense of the word.

The treasury building, as discovered by Indiana Jones.

The monastery building, unfortunately featured in one of the Transformers films

These poor dudes are all over the place trying to sell you stuff, they are pretty relaxed about it though.

The treasury appears after waling through a narrow canyon called a "siq".

The monastery at dusk.