Lost in the Desert .... Where is Lawrence when you need him?

Our first big day in Jordan was based around Wadi Rum. This is the place made famous by Lawrence of Arabia who of course was not an Arab but a skinny white English dude. Nowadays it is most famous for the Bedouin tribes who still live in the vast desert. Our group headed into the great openness of Wadi Rum to spend a night 'roughing it' in a Bedouin Desert camp site. Now as most of you know I am not that big on the whole camping thing (in fact I think I can count the number of times I have slept in a tent on my ten fingers and still have a lot left over!). So I had prepared myself for this experience, psyched myself up for it with lots of "you can do it" don't be a girls blouse' and lots of hand sanitizer and hand wipes! But when we got to the camp (after a 30min ride in the back of a 4 wheel drive truck) I was pleasantly surprised. I had a real bed, flashing toilets, running water and hot showers! I was almost dissappointed!



The camp was quite well hidden until you arrived at it and seem to fit in very well with the landscape which was unusual to say the least. The desert in Jordan is very different to the desert in Egypt where the dominate colour was yellowy - you know like sand. Here there is an orange glow on every thing and while a lot of the land is wavy sand dunes and quite flat, you then get these massive mountains that seem to have no way of climb up them. The first 'Bedouin' experience was a ride on a camel.... a first for me, having managed to avoid it in Egypt. As you can imagine there was a lot of squealing and giggling from me!! Especially as my camel decided that it wanted to go first. And when as camel stands up...... interesting experience! Paul, one of the tour groupies did manage to capture the whole thing on his camera and no doubt with be on youtube soon......



We also had a traditional Bedouin dinner that was cooked in the ground but unlike a hangi there was space around the food, and the earth kind of acted like a big oven. The food was great and we were well entertained by the local guides who sung to us and keep us well feed and watered. I particularly liked the sage tea - sage added to 'normal'tea. Something that I am going to try and recreate.
The stars at night were amazing with nothing to get in the way of their light. I am sure that I was not the only one who kept looking up. In Jordan our wee tour family gained two new members, one of whom was a Chief Inspector for New Scotland Yard and she became my new room mate. Very funny woman with a great laugh like me..... you can imagine the noise we made and the fun we had. She did have the interesting habit of yelling in her sleep sometimes. The first time she did it, it scared the crap out of me but the second time was hilarious as she dreamed that someone was coming into our tent and she yelled out in her best British accent "Who Goes There" and answered herself with "It's just you, you stupid cow" Fun Times!

In the morning we went for a walk (unguided) in the desert. We were given the instruction 'Head for that black rock way over there" But luckily we made it safely.



We then had a whirlwind trip around all the key sites eg Lawrence's Spring and house, ancient wall paintings and carving, massive sand dunes,etc and during the whole day our guides were always on their cellphones.... yes vodafone exists even in the middle of the desert.



And yes Horus has done much to improve Aussie/Kiwi relations!