Thursday, I set out with Abu Fares to see Petra. Petra is roughly three hours away from Amman and seeing it usually requires an overnight trip. On the way to Petra we stopped at about 5 bazaars so that Abu Fares could rest, smoke a cigarette, and get a free cup of Turkish coffee from the owners. At each bazaar seemingly knew at least one person who he was "dear friends" with which seemed to me like a pretty good way to repeatedly squeeze a free cup of coffee out of someone. We then stopped at the As Shoubak castle which is a crusader castle about 20 minutes away from Petra. It was the first crusader castle that I had been to. Though most of the castle is gone, I still found it very interesting to walk around the castle and get a little taste of what it was like to be a Crusader. On second thought, I wasn't very successful at this. Though it's cool to look out the narrow windows down to the valley below and imagine Saladin's army attacking the castle, it's pretty hard to get into the mindset of a 12th century knight who has built a castle on a barren hilltop and is trying in vain to recapture the Holy Land. Nonetheless, I find the crusades really interesting and they were pretty influential in shaping the region and people's perspectives of the West.
We got to the town around Petra and I sat in the car as Abu Fares picked a hotel for us to stay in that night. Sadly, he picked the Venus Hotel. I mention the name of the hotel because it was probably the single worst hotel that I have ever stayed in. If you are going to Petra, do not stay in the Venus Hotel. The room was tiny and the only light in the room was broken. The room also had such amenities as a broken refrigerator and dirty water. Also I was 75-80% sure that the bed would have bed bugs so I decided to sleep on top of the bed rather than get inside. Also I tried to cover as much of my body as I could so that I wouldn't get bitten by the bed bugs that were surely living inside of the bed. In retrospect, sleeping on top of the bed would have had no impact on the bed bug situation but at the time it gave me a small amount of comfort.
The point of driving down Thursday was that I was able to attend a tour called Petra by Night. The tour started at 8:30 p.m. and the idea is that you walk from the entrance to the treasury as candles on the ground guide your way. The Treasury is the most iconic and most famous part of Petra. It was featured in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade and is probably what you are thinking about if you are currently envisioning Petra. The treasury is surprisingly far from the entrance. It's about a 2 km walk and the trail leads you through the Siq which is a really cool and surprisingly narrow pass between mountains and cliffs. This was about all that I could see at the time, but I went back to see Petra the next day and was really able to enjoy the site.
Walking through the Siq to get to the treasury is awesome. That word is thrown around casually a fair amount, but in this context I mean it was truly an awe inspiring experience. It's incredible to walk through the narrow pass, waiting in anticipation for the treasury to appear. You walk through one of the narrowest parts of the Siq, until finally it opens up and before you is the treasury: iconic, imposing, and awe inspiring. There were candles across the ground so that you could see the treasury but you couldn't make out many of the details. When everyone had finally reached the treasury, we gathered and sat silently as we listened to live, traditional Arabic music being played in front of the monument.
Seeing the treasury like this made me feel really bad about myself, and just generally inept. I realized that I probably couldn't construct a simple pulley system or a fishing rod in 2012, and these guys could carve out this incredible building out of the side of a mountain with no technology over 3000 years ago.
Additionally, sitting there really gave me the opportunity to reflect back on my trip so far. Being in Jordan was eye-opening, enriching, interesting, and brought with it a whirlwind of new experiences, people, and culture. But, for whatever reason, sitting and looking at the treasury with the candles flickering and the music playing really made me realize how hard it is to be alone. I haven't seen anyone that I know or have ever met before in the last two weeks, and even though meeting new people has been nice, it really isn't the same. Jordan has been an incredible experience, but it really has been hard. Though it sounds about as cliche as you can get, even while surrounded by a crowd of people I really felt alone, and it's a feeling that no texts or e-mails from family or friends can completely alleviate.
Side note: I tried to take pictures while walking in the Siq and of the Treasury but none of them came out well so the only ones I have to post are of the castle.
We got to the town around Petra and I sat in the car as Abu Fares picked a hotel for us to stay in that night. Sadly, he picked the Venus Hotel. I mention the name of the hotel because it was probably the single worst hotel that I have ever stayed in. If you are going to Petra, do not stay in the Venus Hotel. The room was tiny and the only light in the room was broken. The room also had such amenities as a broken refrigerator and dirty water. Also I was 75-80% sure that the bed would have bed bugs so I decided to sleep on top of the bed rather than get inside. Also I tried to cover as much of my body as I could so that I wouldn't get bitten by the bed bugs that were surely living inside of the bed. In retrospect, sleeping on top of the bed would have had no impact on the bed bug situation but at the time it gave me a small amount of comfort.
The point of driving down Thursday was that I was able to attend a tour called Petra by Night. The tour started at 8:30 p.m. and the idea is that you walk from the entrance to the treasury as candles on the ground guide your way. The Treasury is the most iconic and most famous part of Petra. It was featured in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade and is probably what you are thinking about if you are currently envisioning Petra. The treasury is surprisingly far from the entrance. It's about a 2 km walk and the trail leads you through the Siq which is a really cool and surprisingly narrow pass between mountains and cliffs. This was about all that I could see at the time, but I went back to see Petra the next day and was really able to enjoy the site.
Walking through the Siq to get to the treasury is awesome. That word is thrown around casually a fair amount, but in this context I mean it was truly an awe inspiring experience. It's incredible to walk through the narrow pass, waiting in anticipation for the treasury to appear. You walk through one of the narrowest parts of the Siq, until finally it opens up and before you is the treasury: iconic, imposing, and awe inspiring. There were candles across the ground so that you could see the treasury but you couldn't make out many of the details. When everyone had finally reached the treasury, we gathered and sat silently as we listened to live, traditional Arabic music being played in front of the monument.
Seeing the treasury like this made me feel really bad about myself, and just generally inept. I realized that I probably couldn't construct a simple pulley system or a fishing rod in 2012, and these guys could carve out this incredible building out of the side of a mountain with no technology over 3000 years ago.
Additionally, sitting there really gave me the opportunity to reflect back on my trip so far. Being in Jordan was eye-opening, enriching, interesting, and brought with it a whirlwind of new experiences, people, and culture. But, for whatever reason, sitting and looking at the treasury with the candles flickering and the music playing really made me realize how hard it is to be alone. I haven't seen anyone that I know or have ever met before in the last two weeks, and even though meeting new people has been nice, it really isn't the same. Jordan has been an incredible experience, but it really has been hard. Though it sounds about as cliche as you can get, even while surrounded by a crowd of people I really felt alone, and it's a feeling that no texts or e-mails from family or friends can completely alleviate.
Damn,
ReplyDeleteI had a suite booked at the Venus Hotel to surprise Susan on our wedding anniversary. put down a big deposit too. Wait, Molly says she has "an itch" to travel to the middle east again. Got to go and hold the room for her graduation present. Thanks for the tip.
Ps. Stay away from the hookah parlors unless you want to experience the writers disease tuberculosis . Very romantic in an 18th century kinda way,
Pps, did you get a chance to look over any the links or books I recommended ?
Hahaha nice. I will be sure to stay away from the hookah parlors. I was considering trying out tuberculosis but I decided that I would rather not end up like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. I got the chance to check out the links which I really liked but not the books which I'll check out when I get back to LA.
ReplyDelete