Wadi Rum
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2006
1
15
52
Trip End
May 13, 2007
Wadi Rum,
Jordan
Sunday, January 7, 2007
On Friday Jan 4th we got the ferry to Aqaba in Jordan which was an experience in itself !! After waiting 2 hours in departure lounge we were herded like cattle onto a bus and brought to the ferry. Just before we handed in our tickets the gaurd told us we needed to have a departure stamp on our passports which nobody told us !! We were taken off the ferry and sent back to departures (without our luggage) and told there was no gaurentee ferry would wait for us but luckily we made it and then made Aqaba at about 7pm
A Our first view of the desert
.We stayed one night in Aqaba with a couple from The Netherlands (Peter and Stefanie) that we met on ferry and a Ukranian guy called Sergei. Next morning we got taxi to Wadi Rum in the desert and got picked up by jeep and brought 15km into the desert to a tent where a Bedouin family live. This was to be our accomodation for the night and at 35 euros was the dearest place so far but the most interesting. We had no electricity or running water and the people we stayed with had no English, but we were given a lovely meal of rice and chicken and the tent was heated by an open fire and the desert outside was just breathtaking as you can see from the photos !! We went to sleep at 9pm (not much else to do) and got up this morning at 5am. We wrapped up against the below zero temperatures and climbed the mountain outside our tent, lit a fire and watched the sun rise. After breakfast we were collected by pick up truck and brought on a 5 hour trek around the desert and it was an absolutely fantastic day. It was still cold but the mountains (many of which we climbed) and huge sand dunes made the trip worth the money. After the trek we were collected by taxi and brought up into the mountains about 100km to the town of Wadi Musa which is at the site of ancient Petra ( which as some of you will know is where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusades movie was made). On the way up we got our first taste of the snowfall that Petra has had for over a week now and some places it is as deep as one meter. Tomorrow we get up early and spend the first of three days exploring Petra so until next time..............
Comments
hi
Sounds like the best part of your trip so far, Aqaba was in Lawrence of Arabia, the scene of a huge battle. Many thanks for the boys t-shirts, and your car!