Wadi Rum

I had two main objectives before coming to Wadi Rum yesterday. The first was to spend a night in a Bedouin style camp, which I did last night, and the second was to take a tour of the desert riding either a jeep or a camel.Mohommad took me back to Rum Village from his camp and after a short hike this morning I met a Polish family at his office who was arranging a tour of Wadi Rum. Traveling solo has plenty of advantages, but there are also a few disadvantages as well. It's bad enough that I have to pay for the full cost of hotel rooms and cabs without splitting that cost with someone else, but I also have to find someone to split the cost of tours with unless I want to foot the bill for the entire thing myself. The Polish family turned out to be perfect travel companions today. A four hour tour of Wadi Rum via jeep would have cost 50 JD, or about 70 US dollars, had I paid for it all myself. By splitting the cost with four others I paid only 10 JD and was off to see the desert in a rickety Land Cruiser.Wadi Rum looks like Lake Powell without the water. Giant orange cliffs tower high above the landscape and bright red sand and a few scraggly green shrubs cover the desert floor below. I knew before I came that what I would see would be very similar to what's in Southern Utah back home, but that's actually part of the reason why I really wanted to see it. I'm used to red rock being unique to Utah. There are very few places on Earth that have such exotic, natural landscapes and I was curious to see how the desert in Jordan would compare to the desert halfway around the world back home.The main difference that I've observed between Wadi Rum and Southern Utah is that Wadi Rum is wide, wide open. The rock formations here rise from the valley floor in large clusters, but in some parts of the desert there is nothing but sand for miles. We spent the day rallying across the bumpy red sand from one point of interest to the next. Most of the sites we visited were wild rock formations, but we also saw an old shelter made of giant sandstone bricks, as well as some ancient rock art depicting camels and a few Arab men. Among the rock formations we saw were a natural sandstone bridge about one hundred feet high, a massive rock that was balanced precariously on two natural columns, and a narrow canyon that let just a sliver of light through to the bottom. Between the rock formations here and those in Utah, I would probably prefer the ones in Utah. Arches National Park, for example, has plenty of geological wonders unlike anything else in the world. Like I said though, I wanted to see Wadi Rum for the Bedouin camping experience and for perspective, not because I was looking for something that would beat the National Parks in Southern Utah. It blows my mind that with all the amazing stuff down there, some people still don't make the four hour drive South of Salt Lake City to see it.Back at Mohammad's camp tonight I climbed a rock made of red sandstone and watched the sun go down with a few other travelers. I originally wanted to take a bus or cab to Petra tonight, but it turned out that it'll be a lot cheaper and easier tomorrow morning. Besides that, I don't mind spending one more night camping in the desert; that's what I came here for. Tonight the Bedouin man set the mood with his crude stringed instrument again and afterwards everyone had another tasty Arab dinner.Of the seven New Wonders of the World, Petra is one of only two that I haven't seen yet (ironically enough the other one is the Mayan pyramid of Chitzinitza, which is the closest of the seven to Utah). If the other five that I've visited were any indication of how impressive those sites are, finally seeing Petra tomorrow should be mind-blowing. It'll be a perfect way to finish off the epic trip.