Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba - Continued

Continued...

Part Three: Riding off into the sunset on the back of a Daihatsu pickup truck

After leaving Petra, we headed to Wadi Rum and arrived late in the afternoon.  The bus dropped us off at a makeshift parking lot - a sand courtyard, and we waited for our ride to the camp.  A pickup truck.  We hopped in the back and off we went to the tourist camping grounds.

The camp was made up of maybe 30 dark camel-hair tents, each housing 3 people, a bathroom hut, a small coffee stand.  In the middle of the camp, there was an open area filled with dining tables surrounded by long open tents with cushioned benches, and a raised circular platform for dancing/entertainment, in the middle of which was what looked somewhat like a May pole.

Scoping out the tent

After dropping off our belongings, we were back in the pickup for a joyride across the desert.

A full tank of gas, no shocks, it's getting late, and we're wearing sunglasses -

what could be better?

We stopped at a maybe 40-50 foot high red sand dune and climbed up for a better view.

The view from above - I wonder who did the donuts?

Wadi Rum

After running down the sand dune, we drove to a rock formation for a good view of the sunset.  Consistent with my obsession for sunset photos, I hereby present the following photo and video dump:

The way up.

Local wildlife

After sunset, we ran back to our Daihatsu and had an impromptu race across the desert back to camp versus the other pickups.  We were in 2nd place around the midway point back, but the truck in front of us suffered an untimely incident (the benches in the back of the truck got loose).  We spent too long basking in their misfortune, as the truck behind us jumped on our driver's momentary lapse in attention and passed both us and the benchless truck.  That's when our driver, in response to our exhortations of "yalla!", gunned it down the homestretch.  After catching air several times while zooming across a few small hills, we passed the our rivals with maybe a half kilometer to go, and rubbed it in their dusty faces with chants of "USA!".  Upon arriving back in camp, we victors rewarded our driver with hearty congratulations (and a small tip).

Next came dinner, and...

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Part Four:  Creeping with a Kweffiyeh

The middle of the camp had a small raised platform for dancing.  We were invited onstage by our tour guide, and began dancing it up with the members of the local Bedouin tribe and a few other tourists.

Some members of our crew were wearing kwefiyyehs they had bought to help keep out the sun and sand (and to play the part of tourist to an Arab country).

A 20-something white wifebeater-wearing Bedu started dancing with us onstage.  He asked one of us for their kweffiyehs, which was duly provided.  Then the fun began.

The Bedu held each end of the kwifiyyeh in a separate hand and twirled it around, as if he was planning to flick it at someone as if it was a towel.  Then, as his hips gyrated, he raised the kwefiyyeh "rope" higher and higher, until it was over his head, then draped it around the back of the waist of someone (usually a guy), capturing them and forcing them to swing within the kwefiyyeh circle with him to the beat of the music until he found another dance partner.  

In some cases, the Bedu lothario would tie the kwefiyyeh around someone's waist, thereby completing the ancient marriage rite.

(I'm joking about the marriage part, I think).

Should've signed a prenup...

After a couple of hours of dinner and dancing, we were pooped and hit the tents.

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Part Five:  Chinatowns are the same everywhere

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast of fuul (boiled bean stew) and boiled eggs with shells that wouldn't come off, and then hit the road to Aqaba.  

In Aqaba, we stopped at a public beach a few km south of the city and beyond the port for a quick swim at a public beach on the Red Sea.  The water was nice and it was good to wash off some of the sweat and sand that were stuck to our bodies.  As I didn't bring a pair of swim trunks, I was forced to buy a pair of black short shorts from the gift shop (the photos of which will be released if I run for political office).

At the beach, we used the bathrooms there.  The old man outside attempted to charge us a 15 cent fee for maintaining the toilets:

We then spent a few hours in Aqaba, eating lunch at a pizza place and taking an excursion to the local Doubletree Hotel.  We had heard that there were nice bathrooms there...and there were.  No charge either.

After that, the bus dropped us off at the "Chinatown" shopping center just outside of town.  As a lot of Jordanians were with us on the tour, there was some shopping time built in (Aqaba is a special low-tax zone where prices are cheaper than in the rest of the country).

The Chinatown consisted of a somewhat reputable store upstairs that was a combination of a TJ Maxx and a Bed, Bath and Beyond - 

• Quick price check:  $60 suits, $10 pairs of business shoes, $2 for 3 dish towels.

And a plaza downstairs made up of a few small shops where old Chinese men were selling knockoff goods, for rock-bottom prices.  

I guess Chinatowns are the same everywhere.

A small juice bar/restaurant was also in the plaza.  While stopping to get a quick drink for the road, guess who we ran into?  Kwefiyyeh Guy!

Time to hit the road and head back to Amman.

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Part Six:  Party Bus!

About 1/3 of the way back, some of us decided to start dancing in the middle of the bus to the songs that were being played.  Soon, everyone was joining in - dancing, singing, and/or clapping.  About two hours of pure fun ensued:

I think the highlight was either "Stayin' Alive" or the impromptu version of the Backstreet Boys.

Anyway, it was a great weekend.

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***Technical note*** - I don't think we were actually in the official Wadi Rum Protected Area, but instead stayed just north of it.  Tribal politics were the cause - there are three tribes in the area - one that controls one half of the protected area, the other that controls the other half, and the tribe that we stayed with, that controlled the area immediately north and west of the protected area.  No complaints, though - we had a great time, paid half the price, and got a better view of the sunset.