We had more transportation headaches getting (I think we're a bit jinxed when it comes to buses!) to Wadi Rum from Wadi Musa when the 0600 bus didn't arrive to pick us up as expected (and assured). At 0645 there was a mad dash in a taxi to chase the bus and we got on about 15km outside Wadi Musa. All a bit of a kerfuffle early in the morning but we’re learning that there is at least one transportation drama a day here. Jordan is only a small country so the journey to Wadi Rum took about 90mins and we were met by a Bedouin chap called Difallah. Difallah was the most laid back individual we have ever met (made Euan look like an energiser bunny (Euan made that comparison not me!!)) and seemed like he was in a haze and half asleep most of the time but by God was he sharp! Anyhow, he had 10 kids (6 girls, 4 boys) – imagine it?! Here are four of the girls some of whom had the blackest hair out. It was the weekend here (Friday) so some were still wearing their PJs.
Thanks to our host, our stay in Wadi Rum was very laid back – a bit too laid back even for Euan who, after asking what we were doing shortly after we arrived, got the response “you here to fight or here to travel?”. We eventually decided there wasn't any other option other than to go with the flow so went to check out the animals that were around the place before heading off hiking.
The girls didn’t even get changed out of their PJs
The camel next door really wanted to get hold of some of the chaff the goats were eating.
After hiking up through sand and rocks to see the local spring close to Rum village we got back to find the camels had been saddled and we headed out into the desert to where we were going to camp. Camels are cool to ride but a few hours in you really know about it and its difficult to get comfy. Difallah’s camels were clearly well loved – they didn’t grumble when you got on them, cringe when you went to touch them and seemed more like pets really. Our camels were hooked up to a lead camel so neither of us was going anywhere fast!
We stopped for a breather after an hour and a bit and the camels got something to drink – the one in the below pic was a real character. We got a banana out of our bag and he spotted it and moved quicker than I thought a camel could ever move.
I defended the banana at first
and only gave him the skin
but he actually ended up with a lot more than that
(before anyone has 10 fits, the ring on my left hand is just tat and there for show. I am fed up with being propositioned, getting offers of "well paid" employment, people trying to buy me off Euan etc etc so we thought a ring might deter. We feel like complete frauds but it works a treat).
After a few hours on the camels we arrived at the camp in time for lunch. I hadn’t eaten much meat since we left the UK so to be presented with a plate of lamb that had been killed that morning and cooked in a pit Bedouin-style was just too much. It tasted SO good. Euan is off meat (and food in general at the mo) after some very dodgy food in Petra. The lunch set the tone for the food in the desert and, because there was just Euan and I camping out, we just ate Bedouin food with Difallah and his family. Went off in the 4x4 for the afternoon - Wadi Rum is such a big place getting anywhere by camel or foot is incredibly slow. The opportunities for rock scrambling are huge and if climbing is your thing, there are some amazing climbing sites.
When we arrived at the camp we were very surprised to find a very pale, very American girl already there, dressed in traditional Islamic dress. It turns out that her best mate came here on a school trip a few years back, fell in love with Difallah’s eldest son (who was 15 at the time) and they married a few months later.
I spotted a likeness to the Lion King posters in London in this rock
We were dropped off to watch the sunset which actually didn’t amount to anything so spent a lot of time instead photographing the surrounding rocks, sand formations etc
That night the moonlight was so strong it was like the light in an eclipse and the rocks cast weird shadows on the sand but it was easy enough to see – no torch required at all. It got very cold and windy that night and the camels kept coming over to see whether we were food or not. Euan woke in the morning and had a bird sitting on his foot and the camels were sitting about 7ft from the end of our bed. Very cool.
The following morning we went hiking (self guided of course – our host wasn’t interested in walking in the desert in mid-morning heat!). Walking in the sand is hard work and we realised pretty quickly that Difallahs sense of distance was very very skewed!
That afternoon we hooked up with a large group from Israel who were travelling with their own policeman. We weren’t sure if that made us safe or not but it was cool to talk to a bunch of people from a very different country. Israel sounds like an interesting place and we’d be there in a flash if an Israeli stamp in our passports didn’t meant that we’d be refused entry back into Syria. Now that we can’t travel to Lebanon (the border is still closed) we’ve some time to spare.
The Burdah bridge doesn’t look high but getting up there was a bit hairy and I should have known that I’d struggle to get back down! You can’t see my face but the other pics Euan took shows me chewing my lip, frowning and trying to work out how to get back down. I really was quite worried. Crocs are hardly ideal climbing footwear!
For sunset, we scrambled up as high as we could to catch light
To get a sense of distance, the wee white spec up by the rocks in the distance just diagonally left of my head is a 4x4
That night we crashed under the rock overhang rather than out in the open and had a better sleep as there were no camels at the camp that night but there were mice that were having a ball running round on our packs behind our heads. I was more worried about the mega ants that were zooming around – one of those in the bed would send me over the top.
Out of the desert early the next morning and onto the only bus (0600 again and this time we made it) to Aqaba. From desert to sea in little over an hour.
Thanks to our host, our stay in Wadi Rum was very laid back – a bit too laid back even for Euan who, after asking what we were doing shortly after we arrived, got the response “you here to fight or here to travel?”. We eventually decided there wasn't any other option other than to go with the flow so went to check out the animals that were around the place before heading off hiking.
The girls didn’t even get changed out of their PJs
The camel next door really wanted to get hold of some of the chaff the goats were eating.
After hiking up through sand and rocks to see the local spring close to Rum village we got back to find the camels had been saddled and we headed out into the desert to where we were going to camp. Camels are cool to ride but a few hours in you really know about it and its difficult to get comfy. Difallah’s camels were clearly well loved – they didn’t grumble when you got on them, cringe when you went to touch them and seemed more like pets really. Our camels were hooked up to a lead camel so neither of us was going anywhere fast!
We stopped for a breather after an hour and a bit and the camels got something to drink – the one in the below pic was a real character. We got a banana out of our bag and he spotted it and moved quicker than I thought a camel could ever move.
I defended the banana at first
and only gave him the skin
but he actually ended up with a lot more than that
(before anyone has 10 fits, the ring on my left hand is just tat and there for show. I am fed up with being propositioned, getting offers of "well paid" employment, people trying to buy me off Euan etc etc so we thought a ring might deter. We feel like complete frauds but it works a treat).
After a few hours on the camels we arrived at the camp in time for lunch. I hadn’t eaten much meat since we left the UK so to be presented with a plate of lamb that had been killed that morning and cooked in a pit Bedouin-style was just too much. It tasted SO good. Euan is off meat (and food in general at the mo) after some very dodgy food in Petra. The lunch set the tone for the food in the desert and, because there was just Euan and I camping out, we just ate Bedouin food with Difallah and his family. Went off in the 4x4 for the afternoon - Wadi Rum is such a big place getting anywhere by camel or foot is incredibly slow. The opportunities for rock scrambling are huge and if climbing is your thing, there are some amazing climbing sites.
When we arrived at the camp we were very surprised to find a very pale, very American girl already there, dressed in traditional Islamic dress. It turns out that her best mate came here on a school trip a few years back, fell in love with Difallah’s eldest son (who was 15 at the time) and they married a few months later.
I spotted a likeness to the Lion King posters in London in this rock
We were dropped off to watch the sunset which actually didn’t amount to anything so spent a lot of time instead photographing the surrounding rocks, sand formations etc
That night the moonlight was so strong it was like the light in an eclipse and the rocks cast weird shadows on the sand but it was easy enough to see – no torch required at all. It got very cold and windy that night and the camels kept coming over to see whether we were food or not. Euan woke in the morning and had a bird sitting on his foot and the camels were sitting about 7ft from the end of our bed. Very cool.
The following morning we went hiking (self guided of course – our host wasn’t interested in walking in the desert in mid-morning heat!). Walking in the sand is hard work and we realised pretty quickly that Difallahs sense of distance was very very skewed!
That afternoon we hooked up with a large group from Israel who were travelling with their own policeman. We weren’t sure if that made us safe or not but it was cool to talk to a bunch of people from a very different country. Israel sounds like an interesting place and we’d be there in a flash if an Israeli stamp in our passports didn’t meant that we’d be refused entry back into Syria. Now that we can’t travel to Lebanon (the border is still closed) we’ve some time to spare.
The Burdah bridge doesn’t look high but getting up there was a bit hairy and I should have known that I’d struggle to get back down! You can’t see my face but the other pics Euan took shows me chewing my lip, frowning and trying to work out how to get back down. I really was quite worried. Crocs are hardly ideal climbing footwear!
For sunset, we scrambled up as high as we could to catch light
To get a sense of distance, the wee white spec up by the rocks in the distance just diagonally left of my head is a 4x4
That night we crashed under the rock overhang rather than out in the open and had a better sleep as there were no camels at the camp that night but there were mice that were having a ball running round on our packs behind our heads. I was more worried about the mega ants that were zooming around – one of those in the bed would send me over the top.
Out of the desert early the next morning and onto the only bus (0600 again and this time we made it) to Aqaba. From desert to sea in little over an hour.
1 comment:
Great pictures, story line and all with humour. The Blogs are really fantastic. As a previous person said, I do not know how you get the time. I must log in more frequently. It has taken me half an hour of reading to catch up ( a very slow reader). Peter
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