Friday, September 24, 2010

Jordan Journal Day 6

A rare lie-in as we didn't leave until 10 and thank goodness Mr Mohammed was there to drive us down to Wadi Rum. As we agreed, we were not having lunch today, so there were several surreptitious napkins full of breakfast pastries and fruit! We at last saw the end of the DVD 'Kingdom of Heaven', especially for Mick, making the journey flash by. When we got to Wadi Rum Moe checked in with the authorities and then directed Mohammed down a back road. To start with this was a single track with stone wall edges - so we were very glad no-one came the other way. Moe stopped to point out a rock that was used for the front cover of the T E Lawrence book, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. (Although Keith pointed out that it had little to do with Lawrence!) We found our way to the large camp where we would have dinner. We will sleep at a smaller place - just ourselves. All the bags were downloaded into one 'room' at the camp and we had tea in the shade. Moe explained that we would have a special Bedouin barbie, and showed us where they would be cooking it. Metal bins are buried in the ground and a wood fire is lit inside. When the flames die away trays containing meat wrapped in foil are lowered on top - lamb and chicken. Then a lid is put on and the whole is covered with earth and left for 3 hours.


But before all that we went wadi bashing in a couple of 4WD - a revolution car (Toyota pick-up) and a Mitsubishi. Wendy, Maki, Sian, Jason and we two were in the Mitsubishi. We had a splendid sunshade - we were sitting in the open back - but our seats were quite high and we could look out over the front cab. Definitely the wind in our hair as we sped along. The others sat below the cab level in the Toyota, but their sunshade wasn't as posh as ours! Away we went around the vast area of Wadi Rum. In reality we only covered a minute part of it, as there is a great agri-revolution going on in one area providing plenty of fruit and vegs for Jordan and also for export. We passed by lots of huge rock formations, and we could see plenty of scope for climbing. There were camels all over the place and long Bedouin tents. We did stop at the T E Lawrence monument - a large sandstone rock with two faces carved on it and some Arabic inscription, but not much really. Then we were off again to find the rock drawings of camels, that looked like llamas, ostriches and hunters. The next stop was on top of a sand dune and then the excitement of coming down the steep side. We gave our driver a round of applause as his van is actually not going that well and we were glad it got down in one piece - although really it's ascent that is difficult for it.
By now it was time for a cup of tea, and we arrived at a Bedouin tent where a kind man had some tea ready in an 8L kettle, simmering on the charcoal fire. We were invited to sit around and sip tea and he then gave us a waft of incense from a burner, making A and I think of Oman again, then opened some sort of perfumed block that he stroked across the back of our hands. After all this he sat by the fire and played us a tune on his special rababah and sang a song, too. It was just great. Then he got Alan to have a go with not too great results, but there was a bit of a tune.


Back to the vans and off we sped, this time to some natural arches in rocks. The first was quite high up and inaccessible, but the second one we could climb up to and walk across.. They are quite beautiful. Near the top we found some lilac coloured rock - another colour to add to the greens, pinks, blue-blacks, yellows and whites seen so far. We then drove to a place where we could see how the Bedouin collect water. There is an underground cistern where water collects naturally, but the Bedouins have put in several channels to collect water off the surrounding rocks and direct it into the cistern. This lasts them until the next rains.
We were meant to stay out to watch the sunset before dinner, but the day was very hazy and cloud had formed to cover the sun - no desert sunset for us, so Moe suggested we go back to camp have some drinks and put our feet up. This we did and then some had showers before dinner. We watched the unveiling of the barbecue, then grabbed some seats in the open where there was a little breeze and queued up with various other parties to collect our meals. The meat was very tender and there were the usual salads to go with it. There was also some entertainment from a 'lute' player and a drummer. When the Belgium woman got up and started belly dancing, we decided it was time to head for our own place and an early-ish night. When we got there, there were cups of tea all round, some photos of the moon and then, having dragged the beds out into the open area to catch the breeze, we all lay down for a short night's rest.

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