Jordan (Part 2)
Let's continue...
Since Petra is such a large site, we broke it up in two days. There was a trail that went to the "High Place of Sacrifice" which is a long and tough (climbing) trail. We wanted to do it, but figured it'd be too tiring to just add it to our previous day of exploration. And it's better to take an extra day and enjoy the hike, then be exhausted and just go through the motions.
Since this was a "more leisurely" day, we didn't set an alarm, had a long breakfast, and arrived an hour or two later than the previous day. There were already more people, but it was a different experience going through the Siq in daylight.
You could take a random photo and it'll be worthwhile since the scenery is so nice.
We took some additional pictures when we got to the Treasury, but we harassed much more about if we wanted to ride a camel or take the trail to the picture spot. Again, I get that people are trying to make money, but you'd think after seeing 2 or 3 guides ask us and fail, you'd stop asking, but whatever.
We took the High Place of Sacrifice trail, which was lots of climbing. I'd also say we didn't really know where we were going except a "beautiful view". The stairs were plentiful and steeper than the previous day, so we made sure to rest. But even though it was busier, not a ton of people take this trail, which made it private for the majority of it.
Up you go
Like a dork, I imagined we were going into a Elven hideaway (I was re-reading the Silmarillion)
We eventually reached the High Place of Sacrifice, which funnily enough, there was a vendor. Again, like a dork, it made me think of RPGs where you have a store in the middle/end of a dungeon. But this vendor wasn't too pushy and was somewhat helpful. It was funny though that right next to the sacrificial table, there's a bunch of crap to buy.
Pretty dang high, but not being sacrificed
After taking in some views and taking a break for a snack, we continued on the trail. This time it was down stairs so much better. At a point, we saw something and we like "what's that?"
I had a map (in my book) and tried to determine what it was. And we talked about what determines what's a popular location.
In preparation of this trip, we watched the Indiana Jones trilogy. And in the Last Crusade, I thought it was really cool how Henry Jones had a leather diary. So like a dork, I bought a faux leather book before our trip and wrote daily about it, also adding in stuff like business cards and maps. I actually wrote about 50 pages total, and used cursive, which I never use! But anyway, when I took out my book and looked at a map, I felt so adventure-y =P
Continuing on and taking foolish photos
The trail had some additional ruins which were really cool! (Garden Triclinium) There was also a shop inside
And the trail brought us to the Roman Soldier's Tomb, which is what we saw from above. It was unexpected for me so I was pretty excited about it. It's also super dark inside, but had multiple rooms, which I did not explore due to lack of light.
As we continued on the trail, we eventually went around close to local fields where we saw locals working the fields and such. Eventually the trail brought us towards the back of the site. And I'd say this day was much more like... hiking, but with pretty nice sites/views along the way. And obviously, it's not the case, but it felt like you were exploring and discovering things (even though you were in a tourist site on a trail). We also stopped by a church that we missed on the previous day with mosaics (but no cats). And on our way out, we climbed up some narrow areas to see tombs and viewpoints. We took a final look at the Treasury and headed out.
We ate then went to the Petra Museum, which was free, small, but nice. It wasn't amazing, but I do like that the museums would break things up into different periods and such.
After Petra, our next stop was Wadi Rum, which is a desert (stuff like The Martian and a Star Wars was filmed there). We'd be "glamping" in a camping area. We arrived to the office running the camp and were driven into the desert. Our accommodations was basically a very modern bathroom (tile shower, toilet, sink, etc) with a tent built around it. We had running water, heat, and electricity so we weren't roughing it too much. But the camp turns off electricity between 7 am and 7 pm. We had a sunset camel tour, but arrived several hours before that, with no electricity. But it was nice to explore the area (didn't walk too far into the desert by ourselves) and have some snacks in our fancy room. Someone even stopped by to deliver boiling water, which was used for a coffee and cookies snack.
Around 4:30 or so, our tour started. It was basically Angie, myself, and one other tourist riding camels, being led by a guide. It was ~2 hour ride so I felt a little bad for our guide, but it was super peaceful, especially since the other guy wasn't loud and didn't try to talk to us (we were too far away to talk much).
The camels were so cute and reminded me of Alfie! There were several times that the guide would stop and feed the camels. Since I was in the middle, I also got the opportunity to feed a camel. And after the first feeding, when we stopped the second time, Angie's camel darted forward so excited (the first stop, Angie's camel was hand fed; the second stop, it made sure it was eating from the ground).
Hard to take photos while riding, but look at that stupid face =P
The peaceful ride in the desert. I was very surprised that there was so much plant life (although dried out) in the sand.
When we arrived at our destination, we were given some hot tea (Bedouin?) and climbed up a rock to view the sunset. It was pretty nice and quiet, until a very loud group arrived and talked (loudly) the whole time. At least they weren't loud Americans (Italians, I think). One couple, actually left the rock and went to another rock by themselves (we stole their idea on another day).
The sunset in the desert
By the time the sun set, it was pretty cold (~2-3°C/mid to high 30s °F). After the sunset, we were driven back to the base camp. Dinner would be around 7:30 pm. For dinner, they do a traditional Bedouin "barbecue" where they dig a hole in the sand, bury some charcoals, add some food (chicken, potatoes, vegetables), and bury it to cook. So they invited us out to view it being dug up. There was also other buffet items such as pita, humus, rice, lamb (?), and other stuff.
And luckily we had the luxury "glamping" "tents" because it was cold and I assume if you stay in the regular tents, you hang out in the communal area as long as you can because it's warm. There was large food building and a tea/hangout building. Both of them had heating fire things. And there was a fire pit. But we were lucky enough to go back to our heated room to take a hot shower.
The next day, we had an all day tour through the desert. We didn't have an agenda, so we didn't really know what to expect. We went on the tour with another couple from the Netherlands. It was good that they were also quiet and fine with chatting with each other. And they were similar-ish athletic to us.
So the tour was interesting as it was basically the guide would drive us to different sites, tell us a brief blurp on it, and tell us to explore, hike, or climb on our own. And I say that in a non-critical way. I very much enjoyed it and preferred that it was lots of self exploration.
We visited (checking my travel journal):
-Little Bridge, which was a small archway rock formation
-Khazali Canyon, which was a canyon with water and wall carvings
-a large sand dune
-Lawrence of Arabia Spring, which was lots of fun climbing (hand to use my hands extensively) up a rock slide to a spring
-Anfishiyyeh, which were caravan drawings/signage carved into rock walls
-Lawrence House which had a few brick walls and had formations above
-Picnic lunch in the desert (pita, humus, mustardy thing, spicy tuna which was really good)
-Mushroom rock, a rock shaped vaguely like a mushroom
-Abu Khashaba which is a canyon/gorge, also saw Burdah rock bridge which was really high and a larger archway
-Al Mashama Canyon, which we walked/climbed through; on the other side, we tried sand boarding on the dune
-Um Fruth, another archway formation, but we didn't climb since we were low on time
-same sunset area (which we took the previous night's couple's idea and went to a private rock; and this was Valentine's Day so it was a nice romantic ending)
Khazali Canyon with pretty white trees outside
Some of the carvings in the canyon
Climbing up to the Lawrence of Arabia Spring - it was tough but very fun (also dangerous)
Caravan road signs?
This was over the Lawrence House if I'm correct
Not the actual Mushroom Rock, but around it
Um Fruth, which we didn't have time to climb
After the sunset, it was exactly the same as the previous night. Someone was saying that most people only stay there one night, which I can see. But it was fun to do the full day tour and rest before lots of additional driving.
Checking out =P
After we left Wadi Rum, we took a brief trip to see the Red Sea in Aqaba. Basically, we went to the port area and took a look. It was super clear and I was surprised that you could see through it so much since you saw boats and businesses around. But you can see across to Egypt and Israel, which was did. It was also next to the Aqaba Castle which was walked through. It was very small, but had some pretty colorful rock walls.
Rea Sea, not too red
Then we headed towards the Dead Sea. It was a long drive and I got a bit worried since Angie's phone almost ran out of battery (and we were using it for navigation; my phone didn't have international pass, although I guess we could have just paid extra... or switched SIMs). And, I got a speeding ticket! In my defense, the speed was reducing from 100 kph to 80 kph and we were going downhill and I was decelerating (got ticketed at 90 kph). I was able to pay right there and it wasn't too expensive (20 JD so like ~$25), but I did drive like a grandmother for the rest of the trip.
On our way to our hotel, we stopped at the Salt Beach. And it was really salty. Like the sand was covered with a hard salt top and there were salt crystals everywhere. When you walked in the water, it was salt (not sand) under your feet.
Dead Sea, somewhat dead (no fish/plants)
Salt formations on the beach! They are also very pointy so remember your sandals
Salt pellets which were very large and round
We also unsuccessfully tried to find Lot's Cave and Mt Nebo (Moses shrine and in the Bible) was closed. We did see a salt statue of Lot's wife. We had dinner at the Panorama Dead Sea Complex, which was the first place that we had alcohol in Jordan.
The next day, we went to Jerash which was a big Roman city. It's called the "Pompeii of Jordan", but I think of it more as a little Ephesus (although it's pretty big). I'm kind tired of writing at this point so I'll just say it was large with many ruins and it was pretty fun because you are almost walking in an ancient Roman city.
Hadrian's Gate because this guy loves putting up gates to himself
Cardo, the main street which is line with columns
Artemis Temple (apparently Zeus and Artemis fought for who'd be the god of Jerash)
From Artemis Temple to Tetrapylon, but I just like how we look in this photo... also Jabba representation
And on our last day, we took another day of leisure at our hotel. The hotel had beach access to the Dead Sea, so we walked down to it. I'd say it was less interesting than the Salt Beach because it was sandier and more like a normal beach. There'd be sand, but it wasn't as covered in formations. It was also early, so we decided to go back to the Salt Beach that we saw the other day. It was about 30 minutes away so by the time we got there it was later (warmer), but still early enough that vendors and people weren't there.
You don't want to walk over that barefooted!
Ignore the random trash
We both went into the water. The air temp was a bit cold, but it wasn't too bad in the water. And the water was very buoyant! Like you float instantly and even when I balled up my body (arms and legs against my chest), I couldn't sink. For me to scoop the salt from under my feet, I needed to get momentum to reach the ground; I was about chest deep at most. The water is about 9x salter than the ocean and it's density is 1.3 kg/L (normal water is 1). So it was pretty interesting. And after we left, I started to feel the salt sting my face. I even skipped shaving that morning based on advice, but I guess any dryness or slight cracks (my armpits were bad) caused irritation. And when we got back to the hotel, there was very visible salt left on my body (arms, neck, hairline). So it was very interesting.
We hung out by the pool a bit, but that was pretty much our vacation.