Sunday, June 18, 2006

Petra & Jordan


The nice Australians I met in the bus station.


The ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba.


"No time for love" taxis, the fastest way from Aqaba to Petra. ;-)


Chris was superduper-happy with the food in the little town outside of Petra.


The mysterious entrance to Petra.


"Gee mate, it's gotta be at least ten cangaroos high in here!"


A first glimpse of the inside...


A second glimpse...


The whole impressive view of the old treasury carved out in rock. At the bottom you can see me with my hands in the air. :-)


The camels were not quite as enthusiastic as the tourists... ;-)


The old amphitheater... Seems most anyone had one in their back yard in those days.


The little stone salesman we met in the amphitheater... :-) Chris got rid of them by picking up stones on his own and offering to them for half the price. :-P


I was quite impressed by the colors in many of the tombs and caves here


Imagine the amount of work involved in carving out a city from solid rock..


The so aptly named colonnaded street. :-P


And the great temple that probably looked a lot greater in its hayday.


The Lion Gate that was on the long and tiring way up to the old monastery.


Chris admiring the view from in-between the two lions


The really cool monastery just popped up around the corner just when you started to wonder how much longer it could be.


Definitely worth the hike up to see it.


It even looked good blurry and obstructed by pink flowers.


Detail of the passage way on the return. You can see the feet and parts of a camel and a man leading it into the city. Supposedly the whole passage was decorated with these figures a long time ago, must have been quite impressive.


Sunset over Wadi Musa. The next day we took an early bus to get back to Aqaba in time for the ferry.


Bye bye Jordan!! This was the biggest flag in the country, look at the palm trees next to it and you'll get an idea.


While waiting in Nuweiba we were joined by a stray camel who gently offered us a meal from his lunch box. We kindly refused however.


The weirdest things happen in Egypt. This was on the way back to Dahab, where the bus driver unexpectedly stopped the bus and started tearing up these bushes from the ground. He was soon joined by several other people in the bus and together they filled up the luggage bins with it. Apparently it has some medical benefit and he was going to sell it later on... Gee...


In the evening, my last one before returning to Cairo and a few days later back to Europe, me and all my new friends met up and had some nice dinner and finished off all the tax free booze we had picked up in Jordan. Pat unfortunately couldn't make it as he was sucking down my rehydration pills and throwing his guts up.


Rumor goes Bobby had to steal some of those pills from Pat later on that same night... :-) And my bus ride back to Cairo the next day was probably more painful than it could have been. But it was well worth it!!! :D

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

jordan seems to be a beatiful country, i like the people there..

i do not know why some photos were really similar to egyptian landscapes!!

i was well annoyed when i saw MUBARAK pic also on the bus station..poooh!