Petra – 11th January 2006

The day touted as the highlight of the Jordan leg of the tour had finally arrived. After a nourishing 6:30am breakfast buffet (which unwittingly also supplied our lunch) we were off to Petra from Wadi Musa at 7:00am. This early departure proved both fortunate and painful. It was cold - the sort of cold that makes snow men wander inside to sit by the fire and enjoy a warm bowl of potato and leak. It was also drizzling. We managed to pick only the third day of rain at Petra since October. It was fortunate however in that we managed to beat the crowds.

The first stage of Petra involved a horse-ride from the entrance gate about 600m to the start of the canyon. A 600m horse-ride may sound like a waste of time. However it was compulsory for members of groups with a guide to pay the 7 Dinar (about $12 AUD) fee to ride the horses, so we were going to get our money’s worth. We then had to tip the horsemen another 2 Dinar each, which just goes to show that the Jordanians know a closed market when they see one.

Once we untangled ourselves from our respective horses, we began our descent of the gorge itself. Our guide managed to build our anticipation to breaking point by pointing out every interesting geological feature on the way down the gorge, delaying what we knew was going to be a magical first view of the building known in modern times as the ‘Treasury’.

Seeing the Treasury rise into view through the gap in the gorge was like watching a magnificent sun-rise over Uluru. Known as the Treasury because of the 19th century fixation on finding treasure in any mildly ornate looking building, it was in fact a king’s tomb, and later a temple of the Nabataeans, who built the famous city. With two levels above ground, and one below, the scale of the building is matched only by the intricacy of the ornamentation on the façade. An interesting blend of Assyrian, Greek and Roman architecture makes the Treasury a truly unique architectural experience.

From the Treasury, our tour followed the gorge downhill through the necropolis section of the city. The unique thing about the buildings in this part of Petra (including the Treasury) is that they are carved out of the solid sandstone walls of the gorge. The residential section of the city was free standing, and was almost completely flattened by earthquakes. We clambered through caves, taking some beautiful photos of the colourful mineral deposits therein. These caves lead us to the royal tombs. We climbed inside the cavernous space within the ‘Urn’ tomb, so called because of the urn like feature decorating the very peak of the outer façade. The reverb time of the interior of the tomb was extraordinary. Unlike other buildings in the necropolis, the interior of the Urn tomb has been carved out in a totally square fashion. The number of slave hours required for the creation of the buildings in Petra is truly mind-boggling.

The next item on our tour was a 2,400 foot climb to the ‘Monastery’. The climb damned near killed us, but the wonderful condition of the Monastery, and the incredible view from ‘the end of the world’ made the gruelling climb worthwhile. For those interested in seeing the monastery without quite so much pain, it is possible to catch a donkey to the summit. Having recovered sufficiently, aided by the sandwiches we purloined from the breakfast buffet, we descended the mountain. By the time we reached the bottom we had just enough time for a quick perusal of the remains of a Byzantine church. The church had quite remarkable mosaics in the floor.

We then started the long but gentle climb back to the top of the canyon. At the top, we decided to reign in a couple of horses to get us to the gate. We indulged in a Movenpick ice-cream before getting into the vans for the drive to Wadi Rum.

We arrived at the Bedouin desert camp at Wadi Rum around 7:30pm. The Bedouins were very friendly and hospitable and a lively night was kicked off with good food and drink. Once we were sufficiently fed, the band kicked up and the Bedouins showed us some of their funky dance moves; we couldn’t help but attempt embarrassing imitations. The band consisted of a lute like instrument, and two drummers. I decided that I’d prefer performing rather than dancing, and having taken over one of the drums for a couple of tunes, I think the rest of the group preferred my drumming over my dancing too! The Brazilian girl on our trip, Virginia, was showing Maria some of her dance moves. I must say that I was unanimous in my support of that exercise. Female hips can move in so many wonderful ways…

All good things must come to an end however, and the end of our night was met by an incredibly cold bed that even my thick and comforting beer coat couldn’t overcome. So shivering and tired, after a long day of adventures, we fell asleep anticipating the warming caress of the camels that awaited us the next day.

Fletch’s tip for new travellers

On a serious note, the treatment of the animals in this part of the world ranges from mediocre to atrocious. As a case in point, the rather tired looking creature I rode from the top of the gorge at Petra to the entrance gate really didn’t feel like moving along at more than a leisurely meander. This was fine with me as I wasn’t in any hurry. Unfortunately the man leading my horse seemed in more of a hurry and moved to hit my horse across the neck with a length of nylon rope. My advice for dealing with this sort of situation is this: When the cruel ignoramus attempts to hit the horse, gesture that you want the rope so that you can do it for him. Like ignorami everywhere, he is also lazy enough to hand over the whacking duties happily. At this point stick the rope firmly under the saddle and refuse to give it back. When you reach your destination, the driver will be expecting a couple of Dinar as a tip. At this point I recommend waving the notes in front of his face, and then feeding them to the horse. This will hopefully serve two purposes. The first is to show the ignoramus aforementioned that if he wants to make any money then he needs to treat his animals far better. The second is to provide the horse with probably the most nourishing thing the poor beast has had to eat that day.