It took another 2 hours driving from Araba to Petra. The road between Araba and Petra were pretty dead, there were some scattered houses, temples and bus stops. Otherwise, it was vest landscapes of nothingness against the light orange and reddish sand and stones. It was a Friday, equivalent to the Jordanian weekend, a lot of shops were closed. The Jordanian guide gave us some background of Petra and stories about Moses, and sons of King Salmon (or what is Solomon?). By 1pm-ish, we finally arrived Petra, in the same tour, there were many people actually came from Tel Aviv, I can only imagine for the road from Tel Aviv via Jerusalem (where I joined in) and Eilat/Araba to Petra, they must be on the tour bus for over 6-7 hours already, it got to be very exhausting, I was exhausted due to the lack of sleep and the long ride. And we had about 3 hours hiking in and back out in Petra ahead of us. We were scheduled to have "late" lunch after Petra (3:30-4pm). At the entrance, I got some crackers and juices just to give my legs some extra fuels.


Walking into Petra, the first feeling came to me was that it looked a lot like the America West, in specific, Utah up to The Dakotas area, where the land is dry, with a lot of rock formation/erosion by wind and water. We did pass by some tombs, neatly ornamented at the entrance of the tombs, but not until we reached the Treasury, a really beautiful human-built stone structure, it gave me a whole new perspective of Petra instantly. These stone structures were built 2000 years ago, and it stood still today as strong and as tall than it was 2000 years ago, that is the impressive part. I got why Petra became so famous and listed as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It was truly an amazing experience to see this in person, the camera could help capture a few signature buildings and the stone colors in Petra, but it is hard to capture the magnitude and the magical feelings walking in this ancient path. After seeing the Treasury, now I really wanted to visit the last and the biggest structure in Petra - The Monastery, but as the guided part of the tour ended, I asked the guide whether I had enough time to hike to the Monastery, he said no, since it would take 3 hours to hike there and back, that's why some people were staying overnight in Petra, or others would arrive early in the morning to attempt the Monastery. Damn! That is too bad. There is always a "someday", I guessed, or I can just go watch Transformer 4 (the Monastery was featured in the film). We were given about 1 hour or so we could walk around freely on our own. I liked that time, I could explore and take as many pictures as I wanted. I was amazed that they actually allowed you to get really up close and even stand on these thousand years old stones and structures. Good for me as a tourist, I just worried that someone stupid people would just crave something on the stone, which I have already seen some.


At the border crossing and when we were walking in Petra, I talked to a few more people in the group. It was a mini United Nations, quite a few Americans, Canadians, Germans as well as others. Yehuda, a friendly fellow from Israel, loves to travel and love photography like myself, we talked a bit in Petra and at dinner. I like it when I travel alone, usually that's when I met those travel or photography fanatics. Love them! I have a connection with them obviously. I have also talked some more with Freddie and Rosa on the bus, they sat just behind me. Rosa, in particular, seemed to take interests in me and offered me an orange. That was a very kind gesture. Mothers of this world seems to always like me. I had that kind of faces mothers like, I guess. There was another girl, Amanda, who is also doing a Round-the-World trip at the moment, but hers is 9 months long. I am so beyond jealous! That's what I wanted to do. We were going to stay in the camp site tonight, I was just commenting, I wonder what the camp would be like. She said, "I slept on the floor in Morocco just a couple week ago. So it can only go up." I love it. I just love that attitude. That's my fantasy life. Well, I have not lived it, but have had a taste of it, so I am good with that for now.


On the way to the campsite, a girl lost her passport at out "4pm lunch" place, that was a little bump on the road for our guide. The sun was down, it was all dark outside. Our guide left us with the driver while he got off the tour bus to try to get her passport back without affecting anyone else. I think we were delayed a little bit, but I don't think nobody was complaining. Two vans were sent to grab us (those 15 people who are staying in the Bait Ali camp tonight.) So off we went, arrived at the camp, the camp was much better condition than I thought, there were showers, tents for sleeping outside or just sitting and enjoyed the stars. The lid tents under the moon and the stars were beautiful. Wow! I am like I kind of liked it here actually. Though it was getting a bit cold at night in the desert. I would say it was down to 50F or so, and there was no heat obviously, it was a tent with fabric covers. Under the blanket, I was fully dressed with socks and 3 layers of clothes including my jacket, and between the blanket and myself, I also added my down jacket in the middle. I was warm enough, but I heard that many people found it cold too.


See other photos from Day 8 here.