Petra & Lawrence of Arabia

If you ever mention that you're going to Jordan, the first thing you get asked is "Did you go to Petra?" 

So we decided not to go, but instead go to a little known place instead.

Ahh, The Treasury #nomakeupselfie, not what it looks like in any of the pictures

Just joking.

We were up at the crack of dawn to get to the ticket office to beat the crowds to the Treasury. We were offered a horse ride in, but we decided against it because the walk into the Siq (canyon pass) would build the anticipation. 

The first of the narrow passes, The Siq

The path through the Siq 

The Siq was such a foreign landscape, that we almost used up our camera batteries before we even got in. The last part of the Siq is the most extraordinary as it starts to narrow you can see part of the Treasury in the distance. Then it opens right up, and there, in front of you is the majestic Treasury of Petra.

The final lead up to The Treasury

The construction of the treasury is actually quite remarkable as it was built from the top down. The Nabateans cut a crevice into the rock and carved it from the top down. Legend has it that the Nabatean King put treasure in the pot directly above the treasury, and you can see bullet holes where people have tried to break it.

The spectacular Treasury, Petra

Petra is actually a huge place, and there are hundreds of rock cut outs and caves built into the cliff faces. 

Part of the ancient Nabatean city

We had heard about a place called the High Place of Sacrifice, which we started walking the track to. We were offered donkeys but we politely declined, because we didn't think it'd be that bad. We ended up basically scaling the rock face. I thought Dad was gonna kark it. 

At one point I lost site of him and was yelling out, he didn't answer so I walked down about 50m, and he was just chilling. 

The path to the High Place of Sacrifice; high isn't it

Stairs on stairs on stairs

The top of the High Place of Sacrifice only lived up to half its name, it was very high, but there was nothing noteworthy up there, except exceptionally friendly cats.

Both of us have tight moustaches 

Our next place to visit was the monastery, something about monasteries is they always put them in hard to reach & obscure locations. We were back at ground level, and everything indicated that the monastery was again atop a high place, so we got a donkey up. Some people think donkeys are like the Nickelback of the animal kingdom, but I have to disagree. Like Nickelback, they are just great. Sure, you don't look as majestic as you do on a horse, and they can be quite bad tempered, and those ears can get in the way of a good photograph but they are tough buggers.

My donkey was called Steven, funny that

Ears for days

Dads donkey kept trying to overtake us, this was the moment he boosted around us on a corner

We got pulled over a couple of times by bedouins on our way up for tea with them. Unfortunately, every time we would also have to look at all their stock, and basically their entire back catalogue.

The Monastery from the lookout

Puss and the monastery

When we finally reached the top the monastery we were in a huge clearing. It truly was in a spectacular spot. We went up to the lookout, and the view down again was a beauty. Also, had really friendly cats, one kitten would even climb on my shoulders and sleep.

I was tired, so was the kitten

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the ancient Nabatean town. Dad even took his first selfies with the Treasury which he has forbidden me to put on the blog, but one is on Instagram (@nick_doni).

Dad & I in front of the Monastery

That night we headed to a Bedouin camp deep into the Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Chilling with the bedouins was my kind of jam, we just had teas & yarns by the fire. Talking about family, war, tourism and all the trouble in the Middle East. Our Bedouin translator Aid said that in 2009 during the height of the tourism, there would be hundreds of tourists across different camps in the Wadi Rum, now, he said Dad & I were the only ones.

The small arch, Wadi Rum

Me outside the Bedouin camp

Teas & yarns with Aid and his son

The sleep that night was completely undisturbed, there wasn't a sound as we got into bed, and the sky was alive with stars. I tried taking photos of them but they are all just black.

Me balancing on top of the big arch

The Wadi Rum Desert

The next morning we went in an open top jeep around the Wadi Rum. I've done deserts before but this one was different, the scale of the mountains was unreal. 

The cliff face and mountains in the Wadi Rum

We even stopped at a sand dune and I tried to recreate my picture that I did on the top of the sand dune in Namibia. That Dead Sea mud didn't help me one bit, after two years I'm definitely looking worse for wear.

Two years on, this time in the Wadi Rum

We are off to Egypt next, which is a scary prospect due to the current climate. If you see this post it means we've made it to Cairo.

Lots of love

Nick + Tony