Evacuated!

“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men...” - Robert Burns



Amy had tripped on the same step we had all tripped on.  But since she was running, she had fallen and hit her arm on a sharp rock and had seriously cut herself.  So bad a cut, that we would have to leave immediately, get to the city of Aqaba a couple of hours away, find a hospital, and get stitches.  Although they have a small clinic in the town here, we both agreed that it was best to get to a modern hospital.

Remember those young nurses from Spain?  They were right there and had a first aid kit and wrapped up Amy's arm really well, so at least it would be protected for our journey.  

We packed our bags, paid for two out of the planned three days, and they put us in the back of the pickup to drive us to our car, about 1/2 hour away.  We said our goodbyes and were soon on our way, driving under the amazing starry sky of Wadi Rum, possibly the most beautiful sky I've ever seen.

“The Bedouin could not look for God within him: he was too sure that he was within God.” - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926

We got to our car and were soon driving to Aqaba.  Amy looked up the hospitals in Aqaba on our phone and found one that looked good, run by the Army.  So with trusty Google Maps, we drove the 1 1/2 hour drive.  Only thing was, the lights on this car were awful!  If you didn't have the brights on, the lights shot straight down so you could only see about 3 feet in front of you!  Needless to say, on a totally dark and unfamiliar road I just left the brights on, to hell with it.  We drove on the small road out of Wadi Rum and soon were on the Desert Highway, the freeway that goes from Aqaba to Amman.  Google Maps took us right to the hospital and after looking around a bit, found the visitor's entrance.

We walked into the hospital and a nice Army guard took us to the emergency room.  Like all emergency rooms, it was busy with all sorts of people milling around.  Men in gelabyas, women in burquas, little kids being little kids.  We walked right up to the front desk and met Dr. Ayman, the emergency room doctor on duty that night.  He spoke perfect english and in fact had lived in Kansas City for a year!  He was very nice and took us right into the surgery room (not really sure if, because we were foreigners, we were not made to wait around, but I wasn't asking questions at this point) where he sewed up Amy with 14 stitches in about an hour.  And because of Amy's myasthenia, she can't have topical painkillers, so the operation was done without anesthesia.  Wow, that's my brave girl!!


Dr. Ayman stitches up Amy at the Aqaba Army Hospital...

Job well done!

“The foreigners come out here always to teach, whereas they had much better learn, for the Arab is generally the better man of the two.” - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926

By this time it was after midnight, but we found a nice hotel in the city, the Movenpick, and got a room.  By the time we got in the room, ordered a room service dinner, and got to bed, it was after 2am.

So even though Amy and I had a huge scare,  it all worked out okay. Except for that 5 hour camel ride that would never happen.


The Movenpick, in Aqaba on the Red Sea...

The Red Sea beckons.  I put my feet in the water, and that was lovely.

But as it turned out, this unexpected event would make our trip even more enjoyable, as we would see things that we weren't planning on seeing.

In the Presence of the Stupendous Hills, Part 2

“Men have looked upon the desert as barren land, the free holding of whoever chose; but in fact each hill and valley in it had a man who was its acknowledged owner and would quickly assert the right of his family or clan to it, against aggression.” - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926


We woke up at dawn about an hour before breakfast and had a look around camp.  Since we had arrived at dusk the previous night, we hadn't seen the camp in the daylight, or the surrounding countryside.  Rum Stars Camp is located next to a huge sandstone mountain at the edge of one of the many valleys of Wadi Rum.  In the distance are some of those 'stupendous hills' that Lawrence talked about.  And in the early morning light, the red and orange of the sandstone was even more brilliant than in mid day.


Rum Stars Camp...

The view from the camp...

Some artifacts we found out in the desert...

Roads in the desert...

“The Bedouin could not look for God within him: he was too sure that he was within God.” - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926

Today, our second day, was again going to be an all day journey in the back of the pickup truck.  Tomorrow we had planned a five hour camel ride through some of the other outlying areas of Wadi Rum.  After breakfast, we loaded again into the back of the pickup, Eid as our guide again.  Raphael and Amanda had gone on to another Jordan destination, so this day we had Elena and Damiano,  a couple from Finland and Verona, Italy.  Our first stop was to be a 4 mile trek up on a hill overlooking valleys and mountains right next to Saudi Arabia.  So after about an hour in the pickup, where we saw more beautiful landscapes and quite a few camels, we arrived at our first destination.

Note: all of the camels here are domestic, none are wild (I don't think there are wild camels in this part of the world).  They are very valuable animals and even though they look like they are out in the middle of nowhere, their owner always knows where they are.

So we hiked up a trail to an amazing viewpoint, overlooking a huge valley with many mountain ranges in the background.  This valley is where they filmed much of the recent film, "The Martian", as it looks more like Mars than almost anywhere else on earth.

The valley where much of "The Martian" was filmed...

Out there n the distance is Saudi Arabia...

Eid and Amy...

Tafas: “Truly now, you are a British officer?”

Lawrence: ”Yes.”

Tafas: “From Britain?”

Lawrence: “Yes.”

Tafas: “Is Britain a desert country?”

Lawrence: “No, a fat country. Fat people.”

Tafas: “You are not fat?”

Lawrence: “No. I’m different.”

 - ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, directed by David Lean, 1962

As we walked along, I noticed many thin rocks on the ground, a lot like flagstone.  Eid picked one up and showed me that on the surface of the rock were many sea fossils.  As it turns out, these hills are chock a bloc full of fossils, this area being sandstone and about 400 to 600 million years old.  As we looked more, it seemed that almost every rock lying on the ground was full of fossils!

”This creed of the desert seemed inexpressible in words, and indeed in thought.” - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926


We walked around this wonderful landscape for a few hours and then drove to another picnic spot.  Eid started talking about lunch and how we were going to have some delicious goat and maybe some camel.  Poor Elena and Damiano looked a bit disappointed and Eid asked if they ate any meat at all, because almost all of the lunch would be meat.  Sorry, they didn't, but they would just forgo lunch.  Too bad.

We got to our lunch spot and walked up next to this huge rock and laid down our straw mat.  The four of us sat there for about a half hour, wondering what Eid was doing, although we could hear him making all sorts of commotion next to the truck.  He soon came up to us, carrying this huge frying pan full of delicious veggies!  Turns out our trickster guide, Eid, was joking all along as we had a four course vegetarian meal of salads and cooked goodies.  And of course, it was all washed down with "Bedouin Whiskey", their tasty tea.

A scorpion Eid found along the trail.  This kind, he said, is quite lethal...

We went to a couple of other nice spots, including a huge natural arch and a large rock that looks just like a chicken.  We also climbed several hundred feet up on a huge rock, where the view was magnificent and we got to do our 'jump' again!

The "Chicken Rock", where we played a game of throwing rocks in that tiny hole in the middle.  Eid won every game...

Then we went to the sunset spot to watch another dramatic sunset.  This one came complete with two Jordanian army helicopters coming from the distant west, circling us at about 200 feet, and heading off again.  Not sure what that was all about.

We met some of the new guests, including a couple of young nurses from Spain.  Soon, the sun was setting, the sky turned a beautiful yellow/orange and we were all in heaven.  But we were definitely ready to get back to camp, have a shower, a nice dinner and go to bed for the big camel ride.

On the way back, the four of us talked about getting to the shower as fast as we could, as there was only so much hot water from the solar water heater.  When we arrived at camp it was almost dark and Amy got out of the truck and started running up to the tent while I was getting our stuff.

As I was walking to the tent, there was a small crowd gathered by the path and Amy was on the ground, holding her arm and wincing.  She had tripped on that same damned step, fallen and her arm had hit a sharp rock and she had a huge cut!

She took one look at her cut, looked up at me and said, "We have to get out of here and to a hospital, right now!"

To be continued......

In The Presence of the Stupendous Hills, Part 1

“Our little caravan fell quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the presence of the stupendous hills.” – T.E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926

Thomas Edward Lawrence...

Ever since I was a child, the story of T.E. Lawrence fascinated me, mostly because of the cinematic masterpiece, David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia".  While historically inaccurate and (as I was to learn) culturally incorrect when it comes to the Bedouin people, the majesty and beauty of this movie captivated me, capping off a few years ago when a new print was released in theaters and I watched it on the big screen.  Especially those scenes of Lawrence and the Bedouin army going through the amazing desert landscapes....I just couldn't get enough of it.

“Dine with Auda, English. Dine with a Howietat, Harieth. It is my pleasure you dine with me at Wadi Rum!” - Auda Abu Tai, played by Anthony Quinn, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, directed by David Lean, 1962

One of the great scenes of "Lawrence of Arabia"...

So when I learned that much of this movie was filmed in Wadi Rum in Jordan, this added to the desire to go to this country.

Lawrence is a big deal here, as many tourists are drawn here for the same reason that I was.  There is the Lawrence Spring, where he watered his camels, the Lawrence house, where he reputedly slept,  and there is the beautiful mountain, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which is named after his book.  Lawrence stayed in Wadi Rum while he gathered his Bedouin army to attack Aqaba, a Turkish stronghold during World War 1.  But Wadi Rum has much, much more than the story of Lawrence.

We arrived at 10am in the village of Wadi Rum to meet our guide for the next few days.  We were to stay at Rum Stars Camp, one of several tent camps run by local Bedouin families.  Rum Stars has great reviews on Trip Advisor, which always helps in picking a place.  For our first day, Amy and I and a couple from France, Raphael and Amanda, were to be driven around in the back of a pick up truck, with a tent like structure on top to protect us from the wind and heat.  Luckily, the weather was really cooperating.  Normally during mid May, Wadi Rum sees temperatures of 100 degrees and more.  But this part of Jordan was enjoying a cool spell and it didn't get above about 80.  

“The wandering Arabs have certainly more wit and sagacity than the people who live in towns; their heads are always clear, their spirits unimpaired by debauchery, and their minds not corrupted by slavery, and I am justified in saying that there are few nations among whom natural talents are so universally diffused as among the Bedouins.” - Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, 1812



We sat in the office for awhile, talking about what we were to do.  Ahmed, the owner of Rum Stars, gave us some tea.  When I mentioned how I always wanted to come here because of the movie, he went on a long talk about how it was a nice movie, but totally inaccurate when it came to the Bedouin people.  He gave me several examples, such as no Bedouin would kill another because he was drinking out of his well (the great intro scene of Omar Sharif) or that the scene where Lawrence executed Gasim would never have happened. Okay, fine, the screenwriters never had Bedouin consultants, and I can understand why he would be upset, but it's still a cinematic masterpiece.

”No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry.. the imprint of the desert… and he will have within him the yearning to return…. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can match. “ - T.E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926

Okay then, off we went in the pickup truck.  Our first stop was Lawrence's Spring,  the place where he watered his camel once or twice and actually a place well used by the local people.  It's a bit of a climb up to the actual spring, which comes out of the side of the mountain, and I didn't get to it, but on the way up are beautiful views of the surrounding area.  Here you see why it's called Wadi Rum, rum meaning rock in some language (not sure which).  Huge mountains, which are solid sandstone, tower out of the flat desert.  Wadi Rum is composed of many of these huge mountains of sandstone which are 400-600 million years old and were uplifted by seismic action more than 100 million years ago.  As we will see later, fossils are easily found here, very old ones, as the sandstone contains literally trillions of shells and other sea creatures.


Lawrence's spring...

Beautiful views everywhere...

In a narrow canyon, complete with water from a recent storm...

All of the pickup trucks follow 'roads'.  This protects the area...

From here we went to the 'sand dune', which is a pretty large one lodged up against a hill and which we had a sandboard for anyone who wanted to sandboard down the dune.  But once I got out of the truck and looked around i couldn't have cared less about sandboarding because there it was in all it's glory, what I wanted to see most of all in Wadi Rum; Jebel Umm Ishreen, the great mountain under which David Lean filmed some of the greatest scenes of "Lawrence".  


Amy and I climbed a nearby rock and just gazed at this marvelous sight.  it was so beautiful that the tiny trucks and people underneath were lost in its grandeur.  I'm sure most of the tourists here had no idea of what they were looking at, as almost everyone I talked to, and most were under 30 years of age, had never seen "Lawrence".  (Note: if you are coming to Jordan, then your homework assignment is to watch this movie!).


Jebel Umm Ishreen...

The same mountain, under which David Lean filmed some of "Lawrence"...

From here we made a few more stops before lunch, including a narrow rocky canyon which contained Nabatean writing and even some water at the bottom from recent rains, and another canyon which we walked through, that had amazing red walls and huge boulders.

A natural arch in the sandstone...

We learned that 'jumping' for the camera is kind of a thing, so we got into it...

Eid, Raphael and yours truly...

Eid next to some Nabatean carving...

Sunlight goes through an arch high up on the hill...

Then it was time for lunch.  Eid drove us way out in a far valley and parked under a large boulder, which provided some shade for us.  We had some pita bread, a tin of tuna, some fruit, a cucumber and tomato.  Also a cookie for lunch.  We had a couple of hours rest here, so afterwards, Amy and I took a hike around the area, which had more of the huge beautiful sandstone mountains, more beige than red here.

In the back of the truck...

Eid making fire for tea...

Our picnic spot...

During lunch, we had a long talk with our Bedouin guide, Eid.  He was only 24 years old and unmarried.  His father is 89 and has three wives.  Eid's goal, he said, was to have four wives. This brought some reaction from the French woman about isn't one enough?  I asked if he had a girlfriend yet, which he didn't.  I mentioned you might want a girlfriend first, as you kind of need one of those before you get a wife, let alone four.  And nowadays, marriages aren't always arranged by families, as they were in the past.  As the conversation went on, I was pretty sure Eid was pulling our legs, as he was quite a joker in the first place.

“The crags were capped in nests of domes, less hotly red than the body of the hill; rather grey and shallow. They gave the finishing semblance of Byzantine architecture to this irresistible place: this processional way greater than imagination. The Arab armies would have been lost in the length and breadth of it, and within the walls a squadron of aeroplanes could have wheeled in formation." - T. E. Lawrence, ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, 1926

After a few more stops, including a beautiful arch and another canyon walk, it was onto the 'Sunset Stop'.  This is the place where Rum Stars brings their guests to view the amazing sunsets here.  And i didn't disappoint, as we were up on a rocky hill and had an amazing view of the distant mountain ranges and the sun setting behind them.

Then it was off to camp for dinner and sleep.  We hadn't been to the camp yet, and it was getting dark.  As I walked up to our tent on a rocky path, the first thing I did was hit my toe (the broken one) on a small, maybe 2 inch high, step.  Well, that hurt.  But we got into the tent, which had a nice light (all the lighting here is solar).  We got a tour of the bathrooms, the public tent, along with fireplace, and the dining area.  Dinner consisted of chicken that is cooked the Bedouin way, in a metal oven that is buried in the sand.  There were also many salads, which, if you are vegetarian, you'd be quite happy.  It was all delicious.


Some of the tents at Rum Stars Camp...

After dinner we were all quite tired so we spent a little time with Eid and the other guides in the public tent, but it was soon time for bed.  As I was walking to out tent, BAM!  I tripped over that same damn step one more time.  I'd really have to be more careful about that.