I really need
to finish these up. The trip was 15 months ago. This is bad. And, as my
brother just reminded me, "your blog indicates that you may have
disappeared somewhere in the middle-east!" That made me laugh and
motivated me. I shall be lost in the desert no longer!
Last you heard from me, I was leaving Wadi Rum. Our next destination was Petra, one of the grandest places in the world. We had arranged transport with Obeid but when it came time to pay Nail for it, Aaron the Asian guy from Richmond said "Nah, don't pay for that. I have a rental car and we're headed to Petra. You guys can just jump in with us." Sweet!
The drive three-odd hour drive there was pretty uneventful. The roads are in perfect condition, but there was barely any traffic and little to see. I sat in the front and BS'd with Aaron about living in Amman while Jess and Peter were passed out in the back. Once we got to Wadi Musa (the town that surrounds the Petra site), we took forever to find our hotel due to the crazy hills and roads there, but we eventually located it. Peter and Aaron didn't have a room reserved like we did and went inside to see if there was something, but unfortunately there wasn't.
Next was the awkward moment where you offer money for the ride, but you're never sure if you're offering enough or not. We were extremely appreciative for the generosity though, so we offered the same as it would have cost us if we had taken Obeid's ride. Aaron wasn't having that though. And after actually getting a Russell Peters joke (he was probably the only other person in the entire country that would have understood one), he completely denied our attempts at payment with a hilarious line:
"Naw man, don't worry about it. You're fellow Canadians, I can't take your money. If you were Americans or Leafs fans though, it'd be a different story!"
I only regret that I forgot to get his email address. Super cool dude, and a reminder of makes traveling so fulfilling. You never know when you're gonna meet a genuinely nice person, and it's inspiration to try and do the same kinda stuff for the people you meet in your travels. Ya know, unless they're from Toronto. Fuck them.
We were there early, so we dropped off our shit and headed immediately over to Petra. For those of you that aren't into the nerdy shit Jess and I are, Petra is one of the most well-preserved ancient cities in the world. It's about 2600 years old, and people have lived in the caves around it until just recently. I had seen many pictures, but they don't come close to doing the place justice. Part of the fun is the insane stuff to see, but another major part is just dealing with the culture and how they exploit tourism. It's pretty damn funny sometimes.
First off, it was 50 dinars (about 70 bucks) to get in. Seriously. I knew approximately what it would be, but I was still blown away. The top area where you buy tickets is surrounded by souvenir shops and places to buy food and drinks. All ridiculously overpriced, of course. Once you go through the gate, you can choose to ride a horse down the first section, or just walk. It's about a kilometer or so, all downhill. No horse needed! Downhill is easy! That'd bite me in the ass later, since I didn't have a return ticket.
Here's a sample of the first part:
Other than that pic, the first section looks at a bunch of rock caves and carvings and stuff. Pretty interesting, but nothing compared to what came later. Eventually you hit a level section with people everywhere, trying to rent you a horse, donkey, or camel to ride down further. This is where the Siq begins. It's a narrow passage between sandstone cliffs that rise about 500 feet on either side, and it winds down to the next major section.The sandstone walls are amazingly colorful, and it's funny watching people have to continually jump out of the way for the camel caravans.
Yes, camel caravans.
If you're too lazy to ride a camel, you can jump in a chariot and have a few camels pull you around. It sounds amusing, but it's way funnier to watch from the outside because the Siq is really, really narrow. When one comes up/down and makes a shitload of noise on approach, a bunch of people have to press themselves against the wall like they're stuck to it so they don't get hit by the chariot. This happens every minute or so, so it takes a while to get through there since it's half a mile long. Here's what the Siq looked like:
It's totally worth it though, because the bottom rewards you with one of the coolest things you'll ever see - the Treasury.
It's been 15 months since I was there, and I got goosebumps just thinking about the first time I saw it when emerging from the Siq. I could come up with something flowery and colorful to explain it, but I'll go with "fucking amazing" instead. Obviously I won't be writing for Lonely Planet anytime soon. Anyway, see for yourself.
After hanging out there for a bit, it was time to continue down further into the actual "city". It opens up a lot when you head down a little further and there are temples, houses and all kinds of things that extend up the hills on either side. Jess climbed a few and checked out the tombs while I sat around and laughed at the cafes ripping people off for pop and stuff. And I watched random animals annoy white tourist folk more than the people selling souvenirs. The people/animal watching was awesome. Here's what the tombs looked like from where I was hangin out:
Once we finally got the very bottom, we had three choices - turn around, take a donkey to the monastery, or grab food at the all you can eat restaurant. The bastard trying to sell us on the monastery thing made us both laugh with his sales pitch though - "You want trip to monastery? (Points at Jess) We get you donkey! (Points at me) We get you...really big donkey!"
After grabbing some food, we decided that I was gonna be way slower than him going back up (remember, it was all downhill, so now I gotta go like 5km back uphill...yeah, I know), so he'd do the donkey/monastery thing and I'd get a head start back to the top. I could have got a camel to take me back up, but fuck that - I was on a mission (and I didn't want to hurt a poor camel). They are quite possibly my favorite animals in the world!
Anyway, I was gonna walk up that sumbitch dammit. And, despite being accosted by probably 50 Arabs with all different varieties of animal transport, I fucking made it! 15 minutes before Jess. Even though I had a 75 minute head start. Shut it, assholes, I made it! Mama did it! The best part was right near the top, when some young kid came up to me and said "Your hat! I'm from Vancouver too!" and insisted on shaking my hand and pointing me out to his family. Small world. We Are All Canucks.
Jess said the donkey ride was along cliffs and it was sketchy as hell (and his "guide" turned out to be a kid), but the monastery was amazing. I never saw this and he'll give me shit for posting his pic, but...here's the monastery:
Pretty sick, eh?
After heading back to the hotel and cleaning up, we decided we needed a drink. Yes, we were in an Islamic country and all, but we were in a major tourist destination and finding a bar is never hard in places like this. Our hotel told us the best place was back at the entrance to Petra in a rock cave, and said they'd arrange a "taxi". The taxi turned out to be some dude in a big Chevy Avalanche, but he was super nice and only charged us like a dollar. It was all tourists inside, but this time it was Jess that was wearing the handy clothes to meet people. Some cute girl from Connecticut saw his Hartford Whalers hoody and was so surprised to see it, she had to take pictures and talk to us all night with her friend. That wasn't terrible.
So that was Petra. It ended up being absolutely amazing and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to go back, even with the steep entry fee and the Hike of Death. One of my top five travel experiences, no doubt. If you're ever in that part of the world, you need to put your preconceptions aside and just go. Jordan is an amazing country in general, and I can't wait to check out the rest of it someday.
Now that I'm motivated again, I'll get around to writing about the rest of the trip soon. My next blog will cover sketchy cab rides, funny border crossings, driving in Israel with lying GPS bitches, drinking during shabbat, epic New Years hangovers, Penguins vs. ragheads, and much much more. Jerusalem was totally awesome and completely insane at the same time.
Last you heard from me, I was leaving Wadi Rum. Our next destination was Petra, one of the grandest places in the world. We had arranged transport with Obeid but when it came time to pay Nail for it, Aaron the Asian guy from Richmond said "Nah, don't pay for that. I have a rental car and we're headed to Petra. You guys can just jump in with us." Sweet!
The drive three-odd hour drive there was pretty uneventful. The roads are in perfect condition, but there was barely any traffic and little to see. I sat in the front and BS'd with Aaron about living in Amman while Jess and Peter were passed out in the back. Once we got to Wadi Musa (the town that surrounds the Petra site), we took forever to find our hotel due to the crazy hills and roads there, but we eventually located it. Peter and Aaron didn't have a room reserved like we did and went inside to see if there was something, but unfortunately there wasn't.
Next was the awkward moment where you offer money for the ride, but you're never sure if you're offering enough or not. We were extremely appreciative for the generosity though, so we offered the same as it would have cost us if we had taken Obeid's ride. Aaron wasn't having that though. And after actually getting a Russell Peters joke (he was probably the only other person in the entire country that would have understood one), he completely denied our attempts at payment with a hilarious line:
"Naw man, don't worry about it. You're fellow Canadians, I can't take your money. If you were Americans or Leafs fans though, it'd be a different story!"
I only regret that I forgot to get his email address. Super cool dude, and a reminder of makes traveling so fulfilling. You never know when you're gonna meet a genuinely nice person, and it's inspiration to try and do the same kinda stuff for the people you meet in your travels. Ya know, unless they're from Toronto. Fuck them.
We were there early, so we dropped off our shit and headed immediately over to Petra. For those of you that aren't into the nerdy shit Jess and I are, Petra is one of the most well-preserved ancient cities in the world. It's about 2600 years old, and people have lived in the caves around it until just recently. I had seen many pictures, but they don't come close to doing the place justice. Part of the fun is the insane stuff to see, but another major part is just dealing with the culture and how they exploit tourism. It's pretty damn funny sometimes.
First off, it was 50 dinars (about 70 bucks) to get in. Seriously. I knew approximately what it would be, but I was still blown away. The top area where you buy tickets is surrounded by souvenir shops and places to buy food and drinks. All ridiculously overpriced, of course. Once you go through the gate, you can choose to ride a horse down the first section, or just walk. It's about a kilometer or so, all downhill. No horse needed! Downhill is easy! That'd bite me in the ass later, since I didn't have a return ticket.
Here's a sample of the first part:
Rock houses, Petra
Other than that pic, the first section looks at a bunch of rock caves and carvings and stuff. Pretty interesting, but nothing compared to what came later. Eventually you hit a level section with people everywhere, trying to rent you a horse, donkey, or camel to ride down further. This is where the Siq begins. It's a narrow passage between sandstone cliffs that rise about 500 feet on either side, and it winds down to the next major section.The sandstone walls are amazingly colorful, and it's funny watching people have to continually jump out of the way for the camel caravans.
Yes, camel caravans.
If you're too lazy to ride a camel, you can jump in a chariot and have a few camels pull you around. It sounds amusing, but it's way funnier to watch from the outside because the Siq is really, really narrow. When one comes up/down and makes a shitload of noise on approach, a bunch of people have to press themselves against the wall like they're stuck to it so they don't get hit by the chariot. This happens every minute or so, so it takes a while to get through there since it's half a mile long. Here's what the Siq looked like:
Continuing down the Siq, Petra
It's totally worth it though, because the bottom rewards you with one of the coolest things you'll ever see - the Treasury.
It's been 15 months since I was there, and I got goosebumps just thinking about the first time I saw it when emerging from the Siq. I could come up with something flowery and colorful to explain it, but I'll go with "fucking amazing" instead. Obviously I won't be writing for Lonely Planet anytime soon. Anyway, see for yourself.
Your first view of the treasury as you exit the Siq
The treasury. Amazing experience to stand in front of it.
After hanging out there for a bit, it was time to continue down further into the actual "city". It opens up a lot when you head down a little further and there are temples, houses and all kinds of things that extend up the hills on either side. Jess climbed a few and checked out the tombs while I sat around and laughed at the cafes ripping people off for pop and stuff. And I watched random animals annoy white tourist folk more than the people selling souvenirs. The people/animal watching was awesome. Here's what the tombs looked like from where I was hangin out:
Royal tombs, up the side of the mountain
Once we finally got the very bottom, we had three choices - turn around, take a donkey to the monastery, or grab food at the all you can eat restaurant. The bastard trying to sell us on the monastery thing made us both laugh with his sales pitch though - "You want trip to monastery? (Points at Jess) We get you donkey! (Points at me) We get you...really big donkey!"
After grabbing some food, we decided that I was gonna be way slower than him going back up (remember, it was all downhill, so now I gotta go like 5km back uphill...yeah, I know), so he'd do the donkey/monastery thing and I'd get a head start back to the top. I could have got a camel to take me back up, but fuck that - I was on a mission (and I didn't want to hurt a poor camel). They are quite possibly my favorite animals in the world!
Camel!
Anyway, I was gonna walk up that sumbitch dammit. And, despite being accosted by probably 50 Arabs with all different varieties of animal transport, I fucking made it! 15 minutes before Jess. Even though I had a 75 minute head start. Shut it, assholes, I made it! Mama did it! The best part was right near the top, when some young kid came up to me and said "Your hat! I'm from Vancouver too!" and insisted on shaking my hand and pointing me out to his family. Small world. We Are All Canucks.
Jess said the donkey ride was along cliffs and it was sketchy as hell (and his "guide" turned out to be a kid), but the monastery was amazing. I never saw this and he'll give me shit for posting his pic, but...here's the monastery:
On the mountain above the monestary
Pretty sick, eh?
After heading back to the hotel and cleaning up, we decided we needed a drink. Yes, we were in an Islamic country and all, but we were in a major tourist destination and finding a bar is never hard in places like this. Our hotel told us the best place was back at the entrance to Petra in a rock cave, and said they'd arrange a "taxi". The taxi turned out to be some dude in a big Chevy Avalanche, but he was super nice and only charged us like a dollar. It was all tourists inside, but this time it was Jess that was wearing the handy clothes to meet people. Some cute girl from Connecticut saw his Hartford Whalers hoody and was so surprised to see it, she had to take pictures and talk to us all night with her friend. That wasn't terrible.
So that was Petra. It ended up being absolutely amazing and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to go back, even with the steep entry fee and the Hike of Death. One of my top five travel experiences, no doubt. If you're ever in that part of the world, you need to put your preconceptions aside and just go. Jordan is an amazing country in general, and I can't wait to check out the rest of it someday.
Now that I'm motivated again, I'll get around to writing about the rest of the trip soon. My next blog will cover sketchy cab rides, funny border crossings, driving in Israel with lying GPS bitches, drinking during shabbat, epic New Years hangovers, Penguins vs. ragheads, and much much more. Jerusalem was totally awesome and completely insane at the same time.
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