Wednesday 04-06 - Petra

We were out the door by 7-30am and waiting outside for the bus to Petra. The bus turned up at our hostel at nearly 8-30. Mostly older. Most of the people on the tour were middle aged or older. Except for a small Polish group, they were all American. We got to the border quite quickly.

We got checked through the Israel side and then walked the space between the two borders. A large road area with tall fences to my left and right and beyond those more bare land. It made me wonder where I would technically be if something happened to me right there. We got to the Jordan border and passed their checks. Another stamp on our passport. Then we looked around the gift shop while the tour guise sorted out the day visas. Onto a different bus with a different guide.

To get to Petra we had to go through Aqaba. Which would have been fine, but they stopped the bus outside every minor point of interest. Near the giant flag. Somewhere else to see the giant flag. Near some sort of mall I think. I really didn't care and just wanted to get there. The guise kept pointing out hospital and well known hotels and things they were starting to build and petrol stations. I really didn't care. Once we got out of Aqaba it takes 2 hours to get to Petra. It took us longer because we kept stopping for toilets and coffee, even though the coaster bus had a toilet.





It seemed like an eternity before we actually got there. When we finally did we were taken to the visiters centre for shopping and another toilet. Then down a long sandy path to the valley entrance. Once at the entrance was an about 7km walk through the valley to the Treasury.





The rocks to either side of us as we walked were so beautiful. They had curving, dancing lines of different colours and contours that reached above our heads. The two sides nearly kissing each other but never quite making it. These valleys were made by earthquakes. They have this mystery about them that a man made passage could never have.







Saying that, their were quite a few human additons, pointed out by our guide. Aquaducts and occasional carvings of a window or a camel. a lot of these had been destroyed by people and time and the flash flooding that threatened the valley before the new damns.

After what seemed at eternity we reached the treasury. This is a building or temple carved into the red rocks. It was used in filming the end part of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as the exterior of the temple. Very impressive. Lots of little inspirations and additions from cultures as they each found the temple.









Also very touristy.

We continued down to the other tombs and homes of Petra. Apparently the last people to be moved out of the caves lived there until mid twentieth century or something like that. I could see why. The heat was oppressive (or ´making us passive´ as Josh heard me say). Inside the cave houses and rooms felt like there could have been heavy air conditioning. It was impressively cold and away from the sun.

Tiny houses dotted the landscape.



We went on a mini hike up one aspect of the area to get a better view and a good look at the amphitheatre. Getting even hotter.



Then down to some caves with amazing layers of coloured stone.





Then, we had to walk back up to the Treasury. Then the 7km to the entrance. Then the trek to the visitors centre. There was some shade in the valley, but no relief from the heat. Thought I was going pass out at one point. Actually at a few points. But I knew I would be ok when we spotted a stall selling fanta. The bus came into view and I stumbled onto it.

We stopped around the corner for buffet lunch. It had the bright yellow custard from Egypt, but less flaky. The whole time there was this one really loud and really annoying older American woman with a strong accent. She complained alot. She loudly made a point of sitting by herself at lunch. I don't know why, but she thoroughly annoyed me.

I must have slept on the journey back because it seemed short. Refreshed, we arrived at the Jordan border. We walked across no man's land, where we saw two dice. Meter high, material covered and possibly stuffed dice. Bizarre. Going back through Israeli customs, there was a sign of things you couldn't bring across the border. Intellectual property theft, porn and gambling and games of chance. The dice must count as enormous games of chance.

It was still light out when we got back, so we picked up Ozy* and walked to a giant shopping center on the beach. We sat near the beach near some grass to see if we could pick up a wi-fi signal. I was thrilled to find we picked up quite a few. Only problem being the rapidly draining battery. We played around with some photo uploading programs that were supposed to work with linux, but were having no luck at all. We booked a hostel for the following night in Jerusalem.

We walked up and down the entire 3 level mall looking for a spot that had 1) wi-fi 2) somewhere to sit and 3) somewhere to plug in. We eventually found all three at McDonalds. I told myself I wouldn't go near a Maccas on this trip, but desperate times call for desperate internet. We sat downstairs and ate chicken burgers and chips and blogged some of Egypt, but no photo update. They kicked us out at 11-30 so we wondered back up the hill. We got back to the Red Sea hotel and fell into bed.

*Ozymandias is the Asus EEE laptop we have been carrying around on all our travels. He is a pearl white 4gb EEE with stickers on him. He is a complete life saver as finding wi-fi is (in theory anyway) cheaper and easier than renting net café time. He is named after a character from Alan Moore's Watchmen.