On Friday, the 10th of April, we (Jessica, Jessica, Darren, and I) took the 10:15pm bus from Cairo to the port city of Nuweiba. I was hoping to sleep as it would be a long bus ride, but I did not get my hopes up as last time I took one of these overnight buses, they played action movies all night. Everything seemed peaceful on the bus ride, but then, about a half hour into the trip, the tv screen turned on. Rather than Anaconda 2 or some bad Egyptian action film, the movie was The Way of the Dragon with Bruce Lee. It is hard to be upset about that. After that film, a Steven Segal film came on. Normally, this would be worse than Anaconda 2, but Steven Segal's co-special forces soldier in the opening scene looked awfully familiar.. I could not put my finger on it. Then, the opening credits came on- it was Eddie George. Yes, Eddie George, the Heisman-winning running back for Ohio State was Steven Segal's sidekick- and he got shot! That was disappointing. I fell asleep in shame.
We arrived in Nuweiba in the morning and when we went to purchase our ferry tickets, we were given the option of buying the "slow boat" which would leave at 3, or we could pay $10 more and get the "fast boat" which would leave at 1. We opted for the fast boat. We ate, wandered around the port, and waited and waited and waited. We did not leave board until 3ish and I do not think we left until 4.
The ferry was very nice. It took one or two hours to get to Aqaba, Jordan.
After waiting to get our visas, we took a cab from Aqaba to Wadi Musa (means 'valley of moses') which is the town next to the Petra ruins. That took a few hours.. We went through quite a bit of Jordan, but it was dark so I could not see too much. We checked in to our hostel/hotel and crashed.
We woke up bright and early the next morning (12th of April) and went to the Petra ruins!
Pictures of Wadi Musa from the short ride to Petra:
A much better picture of Wadi Musa (stolen from Darren):
Pictures of the Jordanian king are everywhere- in stores, taxis, along the streets, and at the entrance of the Petra site. The one on the right is the current king:
This was the first cave-like structure we saw. It was very exciting- 8 hours later, it was not nearly as exciting: 
To get to most of the ruins, you walk through the Siq. The entrance is guarded by fake-guards:
It is an incredibly scenic walk:
Remnants of a carving:
Darren, me, Jess (pic stolen from Jessica):
Along the path is this channel that would bring water down to the city:
Tour groups are stopped just before the last corner. Everyone lines up, closes their eyes and walks around the corner. They are then told to open them up. This is what they see:
...it should be noted that we were not a part of a tour group, this is just what I witnessed..
This is called 'the Treasury'. It is one of the more elaborate structures I saw in Petra:
I was very excited to go inside and see an underground/in-the-mountains civilization, but this is all people are allowed to see:
The rocks are a very interesting color, but I was disappointed- I want to know what is beyond that door...
These were the real guards in the site- they have awesome helmets:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #1:
A Flintstones gift shop:
This was in one of the gift shop/markets in Petra. Completely random:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #2:
We climbed (not walked up a path, climbed) up to this:
A look down from where we climbed:
A huge amphitheater:
Petra appears to be famous for its colored rocks and the sand designs that are made from them:
...this is also what it looks like inside of most of the cave-buildings. I read later that the people who lived here used tents for their homes, eliminating my hopes for an elaborate Moria-style city
Scarab beetle (Darren happened to notice it while we were walking):
A look at some royal (maybe?) tombs:
..we did not go up to these
This was the Great Temple, or something to that effect:
I forgot to put on sunscreen, my ultra-pale skin did not hold up too well in the desert-sun. (pic stolen from Darren)
..it was really just my upper arm (the part in the picture that is glowing white) that got burned badly
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #3:
We then began our ascent to the monastery:
..we like to live dangerously
Views from the climb:
As we approached the top, we saw this black building in the distance on top of the mountain- must be the monastery!
..wrong. When we came around the corner, this jumped out at us:
Jessica and I (pic stolen from her):
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #4:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #5
It was (Western) Easter Sunday, so it was only appropriate to eat Peeps in the Christian monastery:
There is quite a bit of graffiti inside of the monastery- I found this one particularly funny/ironic because it is Islamic-graffiti inside of an old Christian monastery:
..oh, thanks.
I was filled with excitement to view the end of the world:
Me viewing the end of the world (pic stolen from Darren):
The end of the world involves mountain goats:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #6 (the view of the end of the world):
We decided to go up the mountain with that small black structure we thought was the monastery:
..turns out it was just a gift shop.
The view from the gift shop:
You could see the town of Wadi Musa from this spot:
Darren and I eating bananas at the top (pic stolen from him):
To get to most of the ruins, you walk through the Siq. The entrance is guarded by fake-guards:
It is an incredibly scenic walk:
Remnants of a carving:
Darren, me, Jess (pic stolen from Jessica):
Along the path is this channel that would bring water down to the city:
Tour groups are stopped just before the last corner. Everyone lines up, closes their eyes and walks around the corner. They are then told to open them up. This is what they see:
...it should be noted that we were not a part of a tour group, this is just what I witnessed..This is called 'the Treasury'. It is one of the more elaborate structures I saw in Petra:
I was very excited to go inside and see an underground/in-the-mountains civilization, but this is all people are allowed to see:
The rocks are a very interesting color, but I was disappointed- I want to know what is beyond that door...
These were the real guards in the site- they have awesome helmets:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #1:
A Flintstones gift shop:
This was in one of the gift shop/markets in Petra. Completely random:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #2:
We climbed (not walked up a path, climbed) up to this:
A look down from where we climbed:
A huge amphitheater:
Petra appears to be famous for its colored rocks and the sand designs that are made from them:
...this is also what it looks like inside of most of the cave-buildings. I read later that the people who lived here used tents for their homes, eliminating my hopes for an elaborate Moria-style cityScarab beetle (Darren happened to notice it while we were walking):
A look at some royal (maybe?) tombs:
..we did not go up to theseThis was the Great Temple, or something to that effect:
I forgot to put on sunscreen, my ultra-pale skin did not hold up too well in the desert-sun. (pic stolen from Darren)
..it was really just my upper arm (the part in the picture that is glowing white) that got burned badlyFun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #3:
We then began our ascent to the monastery:
..we like to live dangerouslyViews from the climb:
As we approached the top, we saw this black building in the distance on top of the mountain- must be the monastery!
..wrong. When we came around the corner, this jumped out at us:
Jessica and I (pic stolen from her):
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #4:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #5
It was (Western) Easter Sunday, so it was only appropriate to eat Peeps in the Christian monastery:
There is quite a bit of graffiti inside of the monastery- I found this one particularly funny/ironic because it is Islamic-graffiti inside of an old Christian monastery:
..oh, thanks.I was filled with excitement to view the end of the world:
Me viewing the end of the world (pic stolen from Darren):
The end of the world involves mountain goats:
Fun with ArcSoft Panorama Maker #6 (the view of the end of the world):
We decided to go up the mountain with that small black structure we thought was the monastery:
..turns out it was just a gift shop.The view from the gift shop:
You could see the town of Wadi Musa from this spot:
Darren and I eating bananas at the top (pic stolen from him):
There were just a few other things that I was not able to get a picture of:
-In the gift shops/markets, the vendors had some sales pitches- "knife for the wife, she says 'no' you say 'go' (then he made a stabbing motion)"
-There were locals around the site renting out donkeys and horse carriages. One of them was wearing an Obama for President shirt.
-As we were coming down from the monastery, a Jordanian rode by us on a donkey and began making fun of Asian tourists that were in front of us- "Why do you cover your mouth!?" (One of them had a mouth-mask on). We later passed him and he told he was glad we weren't Asian tourists and that all Asians should get out. He cited "their technology" as a reason why they should leave. Oh, racism..
That evening, I tried eating gallayah, a bedouin dish with meat (mine had chicken), onions, and a spicy tomato sauce. It was tasty.
-In the gift shops/markets, the vendors had some sales pitches- "knife for the wife, she says 'no' you say 'go' (then he made a stabbing motion)"
-There were locals around the site renting out donkeys and horse carriages. One of them was wearing an Obama for President shirt.
-As we were coming down from the monastery, a Jordanian rode by us on a donkey and began making fun of Asian tourists that were in front of us- "Why do you cover your mouth!?" (One of them had a mouth-mask on). We later passed him and he told he was glad we weren't Asian tourists and that all Asians should get out. He cited "their technology" as a reason why they should leave. Oh, racism..
That evening, I tried eating gallayah, a bedouin dish with meat (mine had chicken), onions, and a spicy tomato sauce. It was tasty.
Thanks for sharing nice pics.
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