20091228 – Wadi Rum

We were up early today for our visit to Wadi Rum. Our bus ride took two hours. We stopped a couple of times for photos and coffee. It was sunny and cool but a little hazy. The panoramic photos I took along the way are a little fuzzy. I tried to capture mountains in the Negev desert on the horizon in Israel.

When we got to Wadi Rum, the six of of plus our guide, Iyad, got into a four-wheeled pickup truck. Iyad sat in the cab while the rest of us sat in the back on face-to-face padded benches. Our driver was a Bedouin in traditional dress.

Wadi Rum is part of an ancient trade route. It is a vast desert with multi-colored sand and amazing rock formations. We made several stops for photos. One of the stops was at a Bedouin tent where we had tea and had the opportunity to buy some souvenirs. The salesman was very laid back and give us no pressure to buy.

Another stop was to look at some carvings on the rock cliffs. Apparently, the traders carved their names and hieroglyphics as they passed through the area on the trade route. We also stopped at a Bedouin camp where there was a monument to Lawrence with his image carved in a large stone. The final stop was at a camp ground. You can stay at this camp if you want to spend more time to explore Wadi Rum. It had a lot of comfortable looking tents. Hot water is available for two hours in the morning.

Our tour took two hours. We were impressed with the different colors of the sand as well as the picturesque rock formations. It is very quiet in the desert – a marked contrast to the noise of the cities with their traffic and calls to prayer.

We boarded our bus and headed back to Petra to have lunch at our hotel and to pick up Beverly who decided not to go on the tour. Then it was a three-hour drive to the airport in Amman.

Ann and I had dinner in the Amman airport. Our flight left around 7:30 and we landed in Cairo 1 1/2 hours later. We checked into Le Passage Heliopolis Hotel for the third time this trip looking forward to to a shower and bed. Unfortunately, there was no hot water.

We got to sleep around 11:00.