Some short notes on our visit as this pc keeps losing our entry.
We set off early today and were in the Siq before 8am, we had the place almost to ourselves but with our fingers tingling with the cold as despite the sun being up the nights are verycold. We reached the Treasury (the carved building you all know at the end of the Siq) even before the camels arrived grunting and regurgitating. We moved once again through the incredible and extensive site of weathered and carved sandstone, sometimes difficult to tell which was mand made and which was natural.
Falling in with Mohammed with the gold teeth leading his small son, two donkeys and a mule we chatted and he must have been a good if quiet salesman because we found ourselves bargaining him down from 50 dinars to 30dinars (still a great deal of money) to go up to the monastery on his donkeys - its one ofthe great buildings but practically inaccessible except for the very fit. So with Tess on the donkeyleading the way andme on the mule off we set.
What an experience, up a winding and very narrow gorge with rocks andsome steps we clung on trying to relax, we were the only ones on the route and eventually got off the animals fora final short walk. The monastery (we will post a pic if we can manage it) is incredible and once again we had it to ourselves. We walked back down to a Bedouin woman and her daughter who had a blackened kettle on a fire and made a place for us under the tent whilst she brewed tea for us.
Setting off back and clinging for dear life it has to be admitted we made our way down - until my mule lost his footing and tipped me off - fortunately onto the rocky track and not down a gorge, i landed not too heavily, just a few cuts on my hands and covered in dust. At the bottom (sweet relief to be off that mule i can tell you) we bade farewell to mohammed and sat down - near a Red Crescent 4x4 so i gave them a bitof work to patch up my handswith iodine and plasters. They finished by taking our picture, giving us a biscuit saying Welcome to Jordan and Donkeys are dangerous - now they tell us!
Brian
The assent was ok, but going down was very scary. On the way up Mohammed showed us th cave in which he was born, though now all the bedou live in a village beyond Petra, built for them by the King in the 1960,s, about 2000 people live there and Mohammed and his wife have 6 children. Childeren go to school fron aged 6 to 18 and all learn English,though Mohammed (aged 35) learned his English from tourists.
Later we met 2 small boys who tried to sell us postcards, we refused, shared our biscuits with them and ended up with the gift of 1 postcard and a small rock and Welcome!!
We set off early today and were in the Siq before 8am, we had the place almost to ourselves but with our fingers tingling with the cold as despite the sun being up the nights are verycold. We reached the Treasury (the carved building you all know at the end of the Siq) even before the camels arrived grunting and regurgitating. We moved once again through the incredible and extensive site of weathered and carved sandstone, sometimes difficult to tell which was mand made and which was natural.
Falling in with Mohammed with the gold teeth leading his small son, two donkeys and a mule we chatted and he must have been a good if quiet salesman because we found ourselves bargaining him down from 50 dinars to 30dinars (still a great deal of money) to go up to the monastery on his donkeys - its one ofthe great buildings but practically inaccessible except for the very fit. So with Tess on the donkeyleading the way andme on the mule off we set.
What an experience, up a winding and very narrow gorge with rocks andsome steps we clung on trying to relax, we were the only ones on the route and eventually got off the animals fora final short walk. The monastery (we will post a pic if we can manage it) is incredible and once again we had it to ourselves. We walked back down to a Bedouin woman and her daughter who had a blackened kettle on a fire and made a place for us under the tent whilst she brewed tea for us.
Setting off back and clinging for dear life it has to be admitted we made our way down - until my mule lost his footing and tipped me off - fortunately onto the rocky track and not down a gorge, i landed not too heavily, just a few cuts on my hands and covered in dust. At the bottom (sweet relief to be off that mule i can tell you) we bade farewell to mohammed and sat down - near a Red Crescent 4x4 so i gave them a bitof work to patch up my handswith iodine and plasters. They finished by taking our picture, giving us a biscuit saying Welcome to Jordan and Donkeys are dangerous - now they tell us!
Brian
The assent was ok, but going down was very scary. On the way up Mohammed showed us th cave in which he was born, though now all the bedou live in a village beyond Petra, built for them by the King in the 1960,s, about 2000 people live there and Mohammed and his wife have 6 children. Childeren go to school fron aged 6 to 18 and all learn English,though Mohammed (aged 35) learned his English from tourists.
Later we met 2 small boys who tried to sell us postcards, we refused, shared our biscuits with them and ended up with the gift of 1 postcard and a small rock and Welcome!!
Tess
1 comment:
Looks wonderful! We're following your progress on Google Earth (look up and wave occasionally!) and it looks very... sandy out there. So, are you going to be bringing any rocks back? ;)
It sounds like scary stuff falling off your mule. Still, it gives you good material for after-dinner speeches. Oh, and Lucy suggests duct tape to repair your torn hands. :)
Check your email for some pics of the cats. :)
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