Day 114: Wadi Rum, Jordan

The natural majesty of Jordan continues.  It doesn't get better than a birthday trip into the mighty sea-desert of Wadi Rum, and while the birthday cake is a nice touch, it's not the most appetising of treats while standing in 40+ degrees of direct sunlight.  Chocolate mousse begins to do funny things in the desert heat, and you can see why it's not a traditional Bedouin treat.

The road to Wadi Rum is like any other in the middle east, flat, dry and rocky and while the desert is always a marvel for a Kiwi boy it's not like I haven't seen it already.  Then, imposing pillars appear on the horizon, turning the red desert sand into a sandy ocean, giant desert mountains acting like drifting icebergs, towering above the desert waves turning our jeep into just another grain of sand.

Often, it is difficult to gain perspective in the desert, but the massive size of the mountains help break up the desert floor and show just how massive Wadi Rum is.  Occasionally, a massive sand wave breaks against the side of the mountain, seemingly a mere splash on the side of the rock but in fact an impressive sand dune in its own right, big enough to sandboard down.

As with Petra, what appears to be an inhospitable and lost site has actually been inhabited and used for hundreds of years.  Trade caravans would pass through Wadi Rum, the merchants leaving their marks on the insides of caves and narrow passes.  While the Bedouin have been here all along, once guiding greedy merchants and Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, and now selling coke and wi-fi internet connections during guided tours for lazy Westerners, who wouldn't last more than a day in the desert.

My only disappointment is being limited to a day here.  I have wanted to spend more time at all the places I have been so far in Syria and Jordan, but none more so than Wadi Rum.  The desert changes so much during the course of the day- cold and peaceful in the morning, unbearably hot during the day, majestic at sunset and other-worldly at night.  I wish I had days to enjoy all these changes.