Day 9: Time Out from this World
Waking up at 4:30am from the Muslim prayer speaker again, though this time it was a much milder and soothing sounds. As I was lying there on the bed trying to fall back asleep (the ear plugs did help), I had some mixed feeling. At first, it was a sense of worrisome all over me, and then I caught myself feeling that way, I quickly adjusted back to feeling calm. Why do I suddenly become anxious everytime I hear the Muslim prayer speaker?! I wondered. I don't think I should feel that way, I don't feel that way with Christian prayers, or Buddhist chants, why should I be afraid of Muslim? I do blame it on the media in the West, whenever they play anything about Taliban or Islamic extremists in the news, they repeatedly play those videos with a shaken town, and the speakers on a pole playing some Arabic preaching or announcement loudly. Even cats would hide under the tables when the speaker come on. For one who does not know the language, it is very easy to get confused and presume all Muslim prayers are bad, at least unconsciously. It builds up unnecessary fear of Islam as a religion. I don't think it is right or it is fair, and it would only make things worst. We certainly have our own downfall in believing whatever the media or the politicians say. I just felt ashamed a little for becoming ignorant and shallow. I need to beat myself if I do that again.
8am in the morning, the camp was pretty quite. I tried to find a corner to organize my photos and catch up with my blog writing. There was supposed to be free wifi in the camp but its connection was rather unreliable. I connected for a while but it didn't really work for me. So, I just wrote. Mr. Serbian/Canadian (his name is Zohan I later found out, a photo fanatic) was carrying his 30 lbs camera equipment and heading up the rock. He knew I also love to take pictures, so he asked I would like to go up there. I packed up my things, and hiked up the giant rock behind the communal tent. It was a rather easy hike with steps, except one section was slightly uneven and with no steps. I managed to follow him up to top. Wow, the view of the campsite was fantastic. It is much bigger than I thought, there was a lot greens, even a theatre stage field, a desert plane, and a swimming pool..etc. Aside from the camp we were staying, there was another town/camp nearby and a railway in the desert. All these facilities seemed to just grow out from nowhere in the middle of the desert, I was kind of amazed by that. I found a flat rock where I can sit on and continue writing my blog. I even take a picture to show to my boss that this is where I want to work from now on. The view was just breathtaking, I could say there for a couple of hours if we did not have to leave. Only me and Zohan were up there for a long time, the other started to come up much later.
Probably 9ish, I got back down to get some breakfast before we headed out for the 2 hours desert jeep ride at 10am, and we needed to check out too. I did not shower last night or this morning because I had no sleepers, it was just not very convenient. But I did change my shirt, so probably nobody noticed that I didn't shower. The breakfast was delicious actually, they had fresh made bread, juices, instant coffee, eggs, cheese and stuff. The yogurt and cheese are not in my regular diet, so I have tried to stay away from them. I didn't want to go for a run every 5 mins. Talked to Zohan and his wife Sanja a little bit more about my round the world trip mostly. They are very genuine people, I like them.
After we checked out and had our bags left in a corner at the reception. Another two Jordanian guides/drivers arrived to take us to have a jeep ride in the desert. I really did not know what to expect. I thought we might see some beautiful landscapes and the locations where they filmed Lawrence of Arabian and The Martian. But it turned out to be so much more. And as a group, we also bonded a bit more and getting to know each other. I have not had that feeling since I went to Peru 6 years ago. That's when I made some friends during my travels. There were 14 of us, we were divided into two groups (there were two guides and two jeeps), 6 people in the back, 2 people in the front inside with the driver. We alternated to be seating inside and outside. Driving in the desert were slow and steady at first, and we speed up a little, we drove around giant stone. The difference between the Judaean Desert and the Sahara seemed that there are a lot more stones (small hills even) in the Judaean Desert, the giant stones gave a great contrast to the vest landscapes of orangy reddish sands. The colors were truly out of this world. No wonder they have made numerous films in this desert.
We were first brought to a sand dune, we walked up the dune, sands entered shoes, it got heavy to walk. Up on the dunes, the view was amazing. The two guides started to wow us with some jumps over the sand dunes. They did it so elegantly. And we started doing that too, it was not a pretty scene, but it was really fun actually. About half of us tried it, me included. We took group pictures with everyone scattered and jumping straight up so many times, it was actually quite exhausting, I started panting. We played at least 30-40 minutes there at the sand dunes. Then we drove around another stones, and we were at the really high dunes, almost like a cliff that was made by sands. We challenged the guides with more jumps, and we took some great shots and videos. Everyone was having fun I think, though some probably got tired after a while. Next, we drove down that steep sand dunes, it was close to 45 plus degree, if not more. It rushed down and continued speeding. It was not scary really, very cool actually.
Next we went to a cave. Not too special, the cave was probably created by wind erosion. The next and final stop we made was at the standing rocks that was featured in the film Lawrence of Arabia. One of the guides even jump on top of that rock, it was really quite difficult to do actually. Zohan tried it with my help and was unsuccessful to get up there. The original 2 hours jeep tour turned into almost 2.5 hours. Everyone was having funs, but we must continue our journey. Returned to the camp, grabbed our bags, we headed for Aqaba where we spent 1.5 hours seeing around this seaside Jordanian town right next to Eilat, pretty touristy. We divided into 2 groups, not intended but it just happened that way. I followed Zohan, Sanja and Rolf (the German) to go to the meat and vegetable market. The other group went to eat and the beach. We took pictures of the spices, the meats, the people, and the kids in the market. The Jordanians seem to love being in picture which was surprising, they even asked to be taken picture of. It was a nice surprise I told to Zohan, how often do you go to a foreign country and everyone loves to be in the pictures, partly probably because of Zohan's giant and very professional looking camera, they might think he is from a magazine or something. They had beautiful smiles. We stopped by the Red Sea, I had my hand in the water. Am I a little holier now? I don't know.
We were supposed to meet at 3pm but the other group did not show up until 3:20pm or so. I was getting nervous since I had a flight to catch at 6pm from Eilat to Tel Aviv, given the tight security, it might be tight. After we had everyone, we crossed border. I rushed to the front almost. This time it went much smoother with the security and passport control. The Araba and Eilat was pretty quiet at 4pm in the afternoon. We made it to the other side, but there was another accident ahead of us (of me mainly) , there were nobody waiting for us. We waited and waited. I ended up connecting to the weak signal from the border control free wifi and called them. They said they would send somebody immediately. Oh my god. I did not get to the airport until almost quarter to 5pm. If I were late, I did have a backup plan, I could have rejoined with the group, and drove back to Tel Aviv with them. They were also returning to Tel Aviv, but will arrive a lot later than me. I was staying in Jaffa (south of Tel Aviv main district). Since I did not know the area, I did not want to arrive so late and tried to find my hotel. Anyway, with the help of the officer who accompanied me through all the security gates, I made it for my flight, and it only took 35 mins, I was in Tel Aviv already. Took a cab to my hotel. The driver was a talker, oh he was, another story of my life, I always bumped into talkers. He was trying to tell me every single hotels on the way to Jaffa, I was like: Oh yeah. Nice. Wow. Yes. Beautiful. Great. Si.... when I got to "Si." I know ran out of things to respond. By 8pm, I was at the hotel. I started to feel tired, probably due to all those jumping over the sand dunes in the day, a blessing of getting old. So, I just ate dinner nearby the hotel and called off the night.
It has just been a really good day. Not only the sights of Wadi Rum amazed me, but the human connection we have built so naturally. I think we are a species that are born to bond with each other, it is in our nature. Only our society has educated us to do otherwise. If we can treat people like when you are in holiday, it might be a better society already. Something to think about for my next flight.
See other photos from Day 9 here.