Jordan

[Originally posted Nov 6, 2014]

Jordan.

Jordan is probably the coolest place I've never heard of.  Okay, maybe I have heard of it, but that's about it.  I've heard of it.  But I guess that was more because Indiana Jones shot a couple of nice scenes there searching for the Holy Grail.  And for the older folks out there, a decent amount of Lawrence of Arabia also takes place here.

But, having been there for the past 36 hours (unfortunately way too short of a trip) it is now definitely on my radar.  And after Slovenia probably comes in at #2 on the list of "places I need to return to within the decade".  So what's the appeal of Jordan?  Basically it's like a Southern Utah outdoor wonderland but complete with sandstones, ample wide open spaces, lots of camels and Arabs walking around in their keffiyehs.

Petra, a sandstone city built sometime around the time of Christ.  Also a possible location of the Holy Grail.

Wadi Rum (wadi means valley), some awesome red rock landscape that begs to be explored - ideally on a camel and with a couple weeks to spare.  T.E. Lawrence, as in Lawrence of Arabia, as in the British soldier during WWI who spent his time riding a camel around the Arabian peninsula uniting Arab clans to war against the Ottoman Turks while everyone else was sitting in a filthy trench, spent a good amount of time here at Wadi Rum before the attack on Aqaba.  It's a great movie to watch if you have nothing to do for 4 hours.

The Siq, a couple kilometer entrance to The Treasury.

Mmm.

These horse fellas fly up and down this narrow little canyon.

The first view of The Treasury.

The Treasury, 40 meters tall, it's really something.

Camels. Good old fashioned camels. Although we didn't ride any we do have plans for a camel trek in India, so stay tuned.

Hiking around in Petra.

The Monastery.

Parting the Red Sea gone wrong.

It has to be hot in there.

They said we would stay at a "Bedouin Camp". Right.

Wadi Rum

Sand.

Good thing to remember.

Oasis.

A place to return to.