Saludo desde ... بترا [Petra] - English

... little Petra

King`s Highway

Hike distances

I FINALLY had a decent meal after more then a month: chicken, rice and fasoulia [beans] served by an Egyptian [many Egyptians live and work in Jordan]. When I tell Egypyians that I was with the bicycle in their country and name those places I have been they become emotional and they don`t make me pay the tourist price Allah akbar!.

Yesterday I was in 'Little Petra', it was free where the real Petra has an entrance fee of 50 dinar [E50,50] .. 

The King`s highway is quite rough, all the time hiking on tarmac road with occasionally a cruel descent into a desert Wadi [Wadi Mujib], if you get out of it [it took me a day] you will pass the ruins of a 2000 year old Nabatean temple .... IN the wadi everything is irrigated and you find Bedouins living in real tents.

 ... Wadi Mujib

Bedouins, Wadi Mujib

Hiking through towns was quite exciting: often there was no problem but often I got stoned. By boys,  always boys. They yelled `what` s your name ` at me, waited until I passed them and then threw stones at me. In that respect I am hardened by Ethiopia so it was not really a surprise to me but I had to stay very focused.

At a certain point I got tired of being stoned, I have beaten one who came too close, and I began to throw stones myself if they came too close. It also helped that I could defend myself verbally. I now know quite a bit Arabic and can say not very positive things such as: `shut up` and `fuck off``. However not all children were the same: the Bedouin children were quite nice and gave me space to hike and more or less left me alone ...

The Jordanians [adults] are very nice to me. They appreciate it when you have a chat with them and I often do not have to pay the coffee or they want to give me things. Now I manage to have a very basic conversation in Arabic. Many notice I have learned it in Egypt. No one I've met speaks English, besides at the border and in a place like Petra [which is very touristic].

 ... Dana Nature reserve

I have camped out all the time. I hike until it gets dark and then 'disappear'. I have a camouflage tent so there is no way you can see me. Once in the morning they found me. It turned out to be a 'restricted area' a kind of green station of little trees that were part of a 'reforestation project` and meant to be planted in wadis and at mountain slopes [it is for myself often a surprise to find out where I am the next day because I always make my camp in the dark]. Instead of offering me coffee the chief asked me the famous question that is asked to me here 100,000 times a day: `from where?.`

... At Tariq Al Malaki [the King`s Highway]

The raisin in the porridge was yesterday: I left the Tariq Al Malaki [King`s high way] and suddenly found myself on a scenic little tarmac road in mountainous terrain with beautiful views of theWadi Araba [what is the border with Israel], the Dana natural reserve and ... [small] Petra!. The last two days I had to hike in a sweater and jacket because of the harsh icy wind [!] although the sun was shining. 

Little Petra is a narrow canyon where the Nabateans used to live in caves with beautiful facades and with an ingenious water system: the sparse rain water, wadis were channeled into water cisterns [depots] some of them that large containing as much as one million liter!.

... the road to Petra ...

I hiked in with my backpack and stick and attracted quite some attention. A guy with a huge camera started to film me, a Canadian lady started making pictures of me and a tour guide that knew Dutch started to talk to me and finally I was jumped on by human Bedouin flies that wanted to be my guide. In the beginning I was not so nice to them but later I joined them for a `qahwa` [for which I first had to talk down the price from one Dinar to `nos' dinar / 0.50 / ]. Dark types with handsome faces, one looked like coronel Al Qhadaffi  to me.

 ... Little Petra

... `the best view on earth`, little Petra

Eventually it was very nice, they spoke good English, and one even invited me to his house. But I said no: I feel good when I am alone, camping out what I did. I have given them all a handshake and hiked away on the desert road to Wadi Musa [Wadi Moses] where the real Petra is. Just before Wadi Musa I hiked into the desert and camped out in a rock crevice.

 ... camping out, before Wadi Musa

... the `real` Petra, Wadi Musa

Now I'm in Wadi Musa, a town built against the mountain. I still have to think if I will visit the archeological park: the entrance fee is 50 Jod [50E] where locals pay 1Jod and children under fifteen enter for free. I`ll decide later :).

My plan is to hike back to Eilat and cycle to Haifa  trying to hitch a container ship to Turkey. There is a ship company that takes individuals but I do not know how they want the payment and whether you can exit Israel via Haifa.