Day 2 - Petra

Trip Start Aug 19, 2008
1
9
39
Trip End Jul 04, 2009


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Where I stayed
New Park Hotel
(Petra hotels)

Flag of Jordan  ,
Thursday, October 2, 2008

Day 2 of Jordan took me to Petra, the Rose colored City. It was a long and painful process but we made it there,
a 2 hour drive somehow took about 3.5 hours, I'm not sure if it's because he was driving about 50km in a 100km speed zone or if it's because it's speedometer was broken and never went higher then 0km/hr. We arrived in Petra
around 12:30 and paid my 21 Jordanian Dinars (JD) and saw the Obelisk Tombs before entering the Siq which is a gorge that has been carved out by water. The walk was long (about 1.2 km) but amazing (and a bit dangerous) to walk through, remnants of carvings made years and years ago in the walls of the Siq are still visible.You have to watch out for donkeys walking from the entrance of the Siq to the Treasury or people in carts being pulled by donkeys.
After finally walking for what I thought was forever, we finally arrived at the Treasury (aka the Al-Khazneh), it was a surreal sight to take in, walking around the bend and right before you is the Tresaury and the intricate detail is still possible to see from so far away The drive to Petra
The drive to Petra
 . It was a mind-boggling to try to figure out how they managed to carve such smooth walls and columns in the stone and create such detail that is still visible today.
After spending a couple of minutes wondering and taking pictures we headed on our way and saw more interesting things such as tombs that were carved into the stone, even saw a Roman-style Theatre that was carved into the stone. We saw the tomb of Uneishu and I climbed up towards the area with two other girls. The view up there was amazing but it showed such more that hadn't been explored yet.
Started up the stairs of the monastery and almost all the Bedouin people who were selling items kept telling us that they would see us in 15 minutes...it took a little bit longer then that. The view at the monastery was a bit anti-climatic but the climb/hike up there was amazing with the climb you could really see the valley and see parts of Petra. When we finally made it down we took a camel ride back to the Monastery. The camel ride was a bit different then what I was expecting and a bit scary when the camel would rise or kneel down. When they're rising the back legs stretch out before the front legs, when they're kneeling down it's the front that goes down and then the back legs. If you aren't paying attention it's easy to fall off.
We decided to stay for Petra at Night, this is when they light up about 1500 candles and light a path from
the entrance, through the Siq and to the Treasury. We managed to bump into all the Heritage International teachers that went to Jordan as well. So about 13 of us and the rest of the visitors made it back down towards the Treasury and sat down in front of the Treasury. There we listened to two local Bedouin musicians play a guitar-like instrument and a flute. It a bit eerie like but a beautiful sight to see the Treasury all lit up by candles. Petra by Night ended around 10:30, we said our goodbyes to the other teachers and we headed back to Amman
for the night.
That's all for now.
evelyn
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