Tue May 27
Take a shared taxi from the Mariam Hotel in Madaba to Petra. Kim, Sanjay and I are car mates for the day. The driver does his best to make the trip along the King's Highway interesting by pointing out dams, Bedouin encampments and other points of interest. Sanjay makes the rest of us jealous as he is a teacher in London and gets 28 weeks of vacation per year. Still not sure how his students get more free days than learning days. Kim is a Kiwi who now works in London at a travel company (but she works on infrastructure, not travel).We stop at Karak for lunch. This is the site of a Crusader castle which the Mamluks later conquered and enlarged, resulting in a well preserved castle of enormous proportions.
The driver does his best to convince us to stay at a particular hotel but it is twice as expensive as one listed in our bible, Lonely Planet. The three of us have him drop us off at the Moon Valley Hotel. It appears at first to be a much better deal, but we discover that there is no hot water, and the cold water runs only intermittently. Sanjay and Kim find the TV broken in their room and the bed is not clean. And the price has increased above what LP says. To top it off, the manager is arrogant and tries to engage you in conversation long past the point when you want to talk with him. I plan to write LP and have this place removed from the next edition.
The driver does his best to convince us to stay at a particular hotel but it is twice as expensive as one listed in our bible, Lonely Planet. The three of us have him drop us off at the Moon Valley Hotel. It appears at first to be a much better deal, but we discover that there is no hot water, and the cold water runs only intermittently. Sanjay and Kim find the TV broken in their room and the bed is not clean. And the price has increased above what LP says. To top it off, the manager is arrogant and tries to engage you in conversation long past the point when you want to talk with him. I plan to write LP and have this place removed from the next edition.
Kim, Sanjay and I head down to the "Cave Bar", which sounds perfect for me. It is built in a tomb and has a special ambience, or so we are told. It is closed for the season, being upgraded like many things in the Petra neighborhood. The day has been very hot (41 C) and we are in the mood for beers. One in four restaurants serves alcohol so it takes us a few tries to find the proper libation.
I spend a good bit of time working out the angle of the sun at different times of day and come up with a plan of where to be at what time when exploring Petra.
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Wed, May 28
I visited Petra last year with Oren Elkayam in a quick 6 hour whirlwind tour during which I arrived at 10AM and left at 4PM. The best photography light is prior to 10AM and after 4PM so I swore I would return. What's it like doing Petra the second time?
I have to say that some of the mystique is missing the second time. I remember being absolutely enthralled when the Treasury came into view as we walked down the narrow the siq. This time, it's more businesslike. Be in the right place at the right time, snap the photo, on to the next location. It's still impressive in its own right, but some of the magic is missing. On the other hand, I do see quite a few things that I did not see last year.
Much of Petra is located in narrow canyons and the light does not reach many of the interesting sights until 9AM or even later. My route takes this all into account, making early visits to high places that do get light, and which have good views of the surrounding area. Another thing I do is hike to overlooks which look down on the two main attractions, the treasury and the monastery. You can be the judge of whether I succeeded or not.
One new addition to this year is trying to get a photo for Niall Battson. Niall travels the world and any time he goes to an interesting place he finds a local beer and gets a photo of the local beer bottle with a famous monument in the background. What could be better than Petra beer with either the treasury or monastery in the background?
By 9AM the light has reached into the "Canyon of the Crescent Moon", to use Indiana Jones' words, and the treasury is in full sun. There are about 50 people milling about in front but they serve as good scale for the giant structure. Now its time for the beer shots. Niall has warned me that it is often difficult to find a suitable stand upon which you can rest the beer while still commanding a view of the monument. I find a small stool from the cafe across from the treasury which is almost perfect. You need to have the image of the beer can balanced precariously on the stool (having lacing for the seat, adding to instability), my tripod collapsed down to its lowest setting and me literally laying full out in the dirt so I can get my head low enough to view the image finder on my camera.
Some older Americans wander past, giggle at this sight and make some comment about the beer. I leap to my feet and in my best Crocodile Dundee accent, "It's naught jest ennee beeeer folks, its Petra beeeer." I tell the story of Niall and pretty soon its, "Can we help you?"
By this time I have my flash out to compensate for the low light on the beer can. I use a stretchy cable to connect it to my bad-ass camera, to increase the separation between camera and flash, thus reducing the reflected glare from the beer can. A clutch of followers starts to gather around this elaborate setup and the American's are whispering, "Yes, he's a professional over from the states making shots for a beer commercial." They also help by shooing people away from the area directly in front of the camera. The whole "shoot" lasts thirty minutes and I'm sad when my assistant's tour group has to leave the area.
There is a Byzantine church in the complex and this means mosaics. The one that really intrigues me is the mosaic showing a woman about to cut off her left breast and cover it with a fish. Apparently some long lost treatment for breast cancer.
An Aussie tour guide tells me over lunch how he quit his secure job and became a tour guide. This is his sixth trip to Petra and he is spending his time smoking and drinking beer in the cafe. I hope my travels don't degenerate the same way. He still enjoys the travel very much, but clearly, much of the thrill is gone for him, replaced by more narcissistic pastimes.
Many travelers cook their buns by trekking up to the monastery during the middle of the day. Me, I just hang out in the cafe under a shady tree, feeling the breeze while smoking cigarettes and drinking beer (just kidding, just watching the others smoke and drink). After the main heat of the day has past I make the thirty minute journey up to the monastery. This is the largest carved structure in Petra, well over 100 feet tall and about 70 feet wide. I'm enjoying a chilled mango drink at the strategically placed drink stand opposite the monastery when I hear one of the locals tell the vendor, "Show time!" She has disdain in her voice.
I look out of the drink tent to find a man holding a Jordanian flag atop the monastery. It's so high up that he is difficult to make out and I whip out my telephoto to capture this lunatic. He sits and stands and waves his flag for about five minutes, then the real fun begins. He comes down. Have a look at the close up and you can appreciate how scary it would be to climb down this structure. After getting onto the broad dome on top the urn, he leaps across a 6 foot gap (at least) which is 120 feet off the ground. Not for me. I'll make a spectacle of myself groveling in the dirt in front of these monuments rather than leaping in the air atop them.
There are various lookouts in the area and I wander for a bit. Any place where tourists frequent, you find a Bedouin stand with jewelry and other knickknacks for sale. I never buy anything from them and I don't see anyone else buying things from them. Musing to myself, I think there must be something more productive the Bedouin can do with their time than sit behind their little stands. The high wire guy probably gets a kickback from the drink stand. Food for future thought.
Sanjay and Kim have dinner with me at a restaurant with a fabulous buffet. It is almost 10PM and very little of this food has been eaten. It is the tail end of the tourist season and I suppose traffic is low. Sanjay is a scotch drinker and discovers that this restaurant will sell you a gin and tonic (which Kim and I sample), but in order to have a scotch, you must purchase an entire bottle! They are heading down to Wadi Rum tomorrow and I will follow a day later. We've enjoyed each other's company for the past couple days.
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Thur, May 29
"Petra by Night", is the main reason for staying an extra day, since it only runs on Monday and Thursday evenings. However, I make the most of the morning by hiking up Wadi Muthlim, a side canyon heading north from the entrance to the main Petra Siq. This is narrower and far more sporting than the main Siq. It requires boulder hopping and lowering yourself down a couple of 6 foot drops. The first part of the hike is through a 2000 year old, 80m long tunnel carved by the Nabateans. They used this canyon to divert water from their main passage to Petra.
You can still see remains of dams built by the Nabateans to collect water in this wadi. They were masters in hydraulics, and made good use of all available water. In some places, you can see their old terra cotta pipes clinging to ledges.
"Petra by Night" is a mixed bag, some parts being good and some less good. Even though it is shoulder season, there are 150 other travelers all gathered at the start of the event. One of the positives is they have it well organized. There are 1500 candles set in paper bags weighted with sand. These light the path and show the way through the Siq to the Treasury. It takes 15 people to prepare and light all the candles.
Participants are requested to walk in single file and maintain silence until we reach the Treasury. We are also asked to refrain from taking pictures until reaching the Treasury, we can take photos on the walk back. This has many positive attributes. It prevents running, keeps the noise down, and ensures that everyone gets to the Treasury within a reasonable time so they can start the evening's program.
It is a magic time. The sky is gradually losing its blue color and becoming darker. Stars are appearing. The enforced silence and peaceful surroundings gently nudge one to think - think about life, how we fit in the world, what the future will bring - thoughts that are several levels above the normal mundane.
The candles actually provide enough light to prevent one from stumbling. In spots with obstacles, the density of candles is increased to provide more light. The most difficult section has large square cobbles, about one foot square, which are lumpy and hard. Fortunately this lasts only 100m.
The first glimpse of the candlelit Treasury through the crack is special. It's similar to the chills I felt a year ago when seeing the Treasury for the first time (in the day). People file in and take their places on Bedouin blankets stretched on sand. Mint tea is served and a short program follows with troubadours playing flute and Rahab (a spike fiddle having a square sound box, a single horse hair string and played with a horsehair bow). A Bedouin follows this with a bit of story telling and concludes by asking us to remain silent for 3 minutes. I look straight up at the sliver of sky visible and see a shooting star whiz by. My lucky day!
Just as people are starting to trickle away, a generator coughs to life and the harsh glare of big lamps cuts through the soft glow of candles. They light up the gift shop and try to hawk some CDs and other memorabilia from, "Petra at Night." What a crappy ending to a beautiful evening. It looks like most people share my thoughts, escaping the harsh light and generator noise to the Siq and the way back to the entrance.
I think a much more effective way to sell stuff to this crowd would be to set up shop on the path back. It would leave the area surrounding the Treasury to remain free of noise and light, and I'm sure most people would appreciate it. Everyone walks the path back and would pass a stand located there. By design everyone is straggling back at different times, allowing the shop keeper to personally interact with every single participant in a meaningful way, "Hi, did you enjoy your evening? Anything that particularly excited you? Interested in a coffee or perhaps a picture of yourself surrounded by candles?..." You get the idea.
I find myself frequently having these ideas on how to improve upon the local selling process. To be blunt, the locals just don't have a clue how to sell to westerners. Perhaps there is a contribution I can make in this area that would help both vendors and customers, as in the example above.
I walk back with an English woman who has been traveling for a few months. She broke off a nine year relationship and is "finding herself". She did marketing for a high tech company but found it to be very stressful and is looking to change jobs on her return.
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