The rest of the gang got up before dawn to catch the sunrise. I didn't bother, and was right to stay in bed as the others said it wasn't that great. I got up at 6ish, as it was beginning to get quite warm in the tent. We went on a 4x4 tour of the desert, seeing all thevarious archeological and geoloical sights. It was pretty good, and actually pretty hrd to describe. I mean the sights are all the usual weird rock formations which you see in a desert, but there was something about the way we were being bumped around on the 4x4 that made it more like a roller coaster ride than a trip to see some rocks.
Possibly one of the funniest things was at our first stop, where we were treated to some Bedouin tea. Here there were cats (as there had been throughout Egypt) and one of them seemed to wander off into a crevice and started meowing. The noise of the meow echoing through the desert was hillarious. It is one of those things where you wish your camera has a microphone so it could capture sound instead of pictures (and then you remeber it does after the noise stops).
Anywaythis whole area is famous because it features in the film Lawrence of Arabia, the life story of T.E. Lawrence. I am ashamed to say I had never seen the film, so I can't say I recognised any of it, but I will watch it now, if only to say I've been there (which is something I like doing when watching films).
We made a good choice by choosing to go out into the desert early at 7 until 10.30, as if we had gone out later it would have been very hot. So instead we ame back and had a late breakfast, and then we did a bit more exploring on foot, before we headed off to Wadi Musa, the town next to Petra.
The trip itself wasn't that long, and fairly standard on good roads, although it was quite hilly. In some places it reminded me a bit of some of the trips in South America with the hills and the desert. Or maybe it was the crappy Mexican Pzza flavoured crisps I had bought. We got to Wadi Musa at about 3pm. It too looked very South American, built on the side of a mountain, or to be more precise, two sides, both sides of the valley over the wadi.
Our guide suggested we go to a place called Beidha, or Little Petra, as our ticket for Petra was arranged for the next day only, so we couldn't go for a sneak preview down there. We got there on a roller coaster of a road that actually gave us a look down on parts of Petra. Beidha is exactly like a little Petra, in that it is down a narrow canyon with all sorts of buildings carved into the rocks along the sides. It is pretty good in its own right and served as an appetiser for Petra which we will see tomorrow. It is probably best to view thius site before Petr, as afterwards it just won't compare. One good thing is that it was mostly empty of tourists.
There was one strange thing however, as we walked down the canyon, probably a good 2 km, we got to a set of stairs. Going up the stairs, and around a blocking rock, I walked into a coffee shop. It was a bit strange, all the more so because it wasn't advertised, and was empty. You would easily miss it. I called the others up, and then we realised that the guys running it were off around the corner waiting for the spectacular sunset. We were going to wait, but then we realised that we would have to walk back in the dark, and there was a bit of a tension between the locals and a few German tourists already there. It honestly felt like a fight woul break out. So we cleared off back to our van and the hotel.
After that it was ou for a reasonable meal, although prices are now much closer to London or Dublin than they were before, and back to the hotel for some sleep ahead of the long day in Petra itself tomorrow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_rum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Musa
http://www.grandview.com.jo/little_petra.html
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