Day 9: Wadi Rum

We didn't have anything planned till noon and in retrospect I should have asked to go back to Petra for the morning... but it just occurred to me, months later when transcribing the travel notes!

I spent some of the time taking pictures of the view, and of the paintings by a local artist of Petra found on the various floors of the hotel. Samer actually spent some time sun tanning and swimming in their pool. I wasn't in the mood for swimming.

We left at noon and went back for the last time to the Sandstone restaurant. We drove to Wadi Rum and took a 4x4 ride in the desert. Our truck was a toyota with 2 rows of seats and a back wagon. Samer and our driver sat in back and I sat with the Bedouin up front so I wouldn't be sick! The Bedouin asked where we were from and I said Canada. He said he liked Canadian tourists. Apparently we're nice and friendly. He dislikes the French, Germans and Italians because they are disrespectful and not appreciative.

The desert in Wadi Rum is surprisingly beautiful. It's not endless rolling sand dunes like in Dubai. This was just the beginning of the rainy season so it was the end of the dry season and there were these long white flowers in bloom and all sorts of small brush in the desert. Other then all the rock structures of sandstone, that look like they were carved from the sea. This area of Jordan was part of the Silk road and apparently the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there.

We stayed at Al Zawaideh Desert Camp. While the accommodations were not particularly traditional it was fun. We had a small tent to ourselves. The food was awesome, there was enough food I could eat as a veggie. I even got to sample the Bedouin tea without sugar and it was quite good. I have to google how to make some of it :)

It was interesting, the food [especially lamb and chicken] was cooked in pans that were buried under the sand, just by the heat of the sun. I thought it was a really neat idea.

In the Jordanian desert is where I first experienced smoking a Shisha. I have to admit it was fun. I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but I definitely enjoyed it.