I can count on one hand the times I gazed upon a view so magnificent it literally took my breath away. The last one before this trip was when I viewed the vast expanse of the Sahara desert atop my camel watching the sun set a year ago and now here, seeing the Treasury at Petra from the brief walk through the Siq (spectacular in itself). I stood there just staring, forgetting my camera for a bit and just absorbing the view. It was early morning and I ventured to go before the surge of tourists arrive around 11am – the time the buses from Amman gets to Wadi Musa. Waking as early as 7am on vacation has never been more rewarding.
Jordan was already on my list of planned travels for 2018 but I originally planned to do it together with Egpyt. However, because there is much I want to do in Egypt, squeezing it with Jordan in 12 days was just too much. In the end, I settled to combining this trip with Rome so I can still hit two new wonders of the ancient world in one trip and decided to push my trip to Egypt in 2019.
I arrived at the Queen Alia Airport in Amman around 6pm and took the local bus to 7th Circle where my Airbnb is located. It is a mini bus used mostly by locals and only costs 2.50JD (one-way). I settled in for the night and prepared myself for a full day in Amman the next day.
If your travel schedules are flexible and you want to save money, I urge you to actually take the local buses to explore the city or take an uber because while uber is not technically legal in Amman, they are still operating in the city. This means that if you do take an uber don’t be surprised if the driver asks you to sit at the front so it would appear they are only picking up a friend or relatives. Because my schedule was tight and I was too jet lagged to drive a rental car myself, I decided to rent a driver and a car. It costs about 120JD and you can decide what your itinerary for the day is. I decided to go to Jerash, Mt. Nebo, Madaba and the Dead sea and used localtrips.net.
The ruins of Jerash is so vast you should allot a minimum of 3 hours of decent walking pace to see the whole place. Jerash is the most well preserved Roman city outside of Italy. My favorite part is the forum – the largest I have ever seen comprised of fifty-six Ionic columns (yes I counted them!) which surrounds a plaza and links to the Temple of Zeus.
Our next stop was the Dead Sea. It has the lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth and for that reason alone, everyone should try to visit it at least once. Can you float in the Dead Sea all year round? Yes you can. Even during the winter months, the water averages about 68F according to my research and when I asked my driver about it he looked at me as if not believing I’m asking this question.
(Mud is not free – you pay 3JD to the only guy in the beach with a large jar of black mud. You can’t miss him!)
You need to bring a towel and your own toiletries if you plan to float like I did. While the entrance fee includes access to the shower rooms, they don’t provide soap, shampoo, or towels. You can also swim in their swimming pools afterwards for no extra fee but we were out of time and I was hungry so we drove straight to Madaba to see Mt. Nebo.
According to the bible, this was where God showed Moses the promised land (Israel) and also where he was buried. Naturally, this has become an important place of Christian pilgrimage. At the site, there is a small Byzantine chapel and is currently an active Franciscan monastery.
In a cloudless (and no fog) day, apparently you can even see Jerusalem, Jericho, and the Dead Sea from this mountain. When I was there, this was my only view (bummer)!
Our last and final stop was the greek orthodox church St. George in Madaba. A formerly Byzantine church, this modest structure houses the oldest map of Palestine in existence on its floors. Crafted in AD 560, the mosaic map shows all the major biblical sites of the middle east.
Much of it has been lost already or damaged but there’s enough left to give you a sense of how huge and detailed it used to be. The entrance to the church costs just 1JOD.
When we returned to Amman, I asked the driver to drop me off the Roman theatre in the center of Amman. It was closed by the time I got there (around 5pm) but I didn’t plan to enter anyway. Afterwards, I had a hefty dinner and had some coffee before taking the cab back to my airbnb.
(Side note: The ‘coffee’ places in Amman besides Starbucks and a few establishments are mostly coffee AND hookah places so if you are looking to sit down and relax, be prepared to be assaulted by smoke!).
That night, I googled the car rentals near my area that opens the earliest and settled with Highway car rental – I couldn’t have chosen better. This company has really good customer service and I can attest to that the day I returned my rental car.
I got there at 8am and was driving to Petra within 30 minutes. If you are familiar with driving in New York or any asian city, you shouldn’t have a hard time driving in Amman. For 25JD per day, it was easily the best option for me. I can control what time I leave and can also do several coffee stops if I want to along the way. The drive to Wadi Musa took 3.5 hours so by the time I arrived, I was starving. There are many good restaurants in Wadi Musa but I highly recommend Al-wadi restaurant. A bit pricey but after that long drive, I figured I deserve it!
Petra is huge – if you want to explore and hike around it, you can’t do it in just one day. With that in mind, I bought a 2-day pass for 55JD (one day pass is 50JD) and walked through the Siq, up the Treasury and then to the Monastery. From the entrance gate to the Monastery is about a 2-hour walk and the best time to view it is at sunset so I figured I’ll do that on the first day and then hike to see the view above the Treasury the next day.
The “Rose City” is aptly named as such. I visited this archaeological city on various times of the day and each time, the colors of the rocks change. Sometimes its blazing bronze or blush pink, the tip of the rocks look like molten gold in mid-day. There is nothing like it.
What makes it even more impressive are the carvings from the top down (wtf, right?), its engineering genius that shows in their sophisticated water system, the hellenistic features of the Treasury and the Monastery.. and with all that, its not even half the size of the actual structure. Apparently in 2016, with the help of satellite imagery, a monumental structure was found still buried in the sand.
The next day, I woke up at 7am to explore Petra before it gets crowded. I needed to be in Wadi Rum by 2pm (and its an hour and a half drive) so I stopped by a local coffee place (1JD for a big cup of turkish coffee!!) and a bakery and resolved to eat my breakfast at the top of the Treasury. This time, I followed the instructions I found on this blog.
There is no entrance fee to this gentleman’s small hut but he sells coffee and tea and for 1JD and with this view, why not?
(Bonus: I get to play with the kitties!!)
With my goal concluded for the day, I took time to sit down for lunch at My Mom’s Recipe – another highly recommended restaurant before I left for Wadi Rum.
I opted to stay at Wadi Rum Dream Camp after reading its impressive reviews in booking.com. Again, this proved to be another great choice for me because not only did our guide happened to be a former professional photographer (YEEEESSSSS!!!), but they upgraded my room from standard (sharing with 1 other person) to private – one huge room and with the best view of all camps where I have unobstructed view of the sunrise, sunset and the stars. When I signed up for the sunset jeep tour, they also discounted it!
Being in Wadi Rum is what I imagined being in Mars looks like – rolling dunes, dramatic sandstone and basalt mountains, stunning rock formations. I can see why it is aptly called “The Valley of the Moon”.
Abdullah, our guide picked me up from the Wadi Rum Visitor Center along with another solo female traveler and he drove us to the camp stopping by the well-known ‘Seven pillars’ for some photos.
After dropping off our bags to our upgraded rooms, we hopped on the truck, and stopped at several locations including where the Anfishiyyeh Inscriptions are. Located on the side of a mountain, this is an especially impressive collection of Thamudic and Nabataean petroglyphs, complete with ancient drawings of camel caravans.
Within a few minutes before sunset, we settled in Um Sabatah which affords gorgeous vistas of the desert.
For dinner, the Wadi Rum Dream Camp served us Zarb (plus sides!), a traditional Bedouin barbeque. Basically they put the meat down the hole and into the sand – an earth-oven! Very fascinating!
With our bellies full, we sat down the campfire, some with hookah, the rest of us with tea and just rested for a bit. Suddenly, they turned off all the lights in the camp and asked us to go to the opposite side of the camp and this view greeted us:
(Too lazy to fish my tripod from under all my clothes in my luggage)
I spent a night in the Sahara and I have seen the Northern lights but let me tell you, Wadi Rum is where I felt like I can literally reach for the stars. The sky was bright with thousands of glittering stars, so bright they seemed so near. Eventually the stars dimmed to give way to a bright, full, moon. It was Christmas Eve then and I cannot imagine a more magical way to celebrate it than sitting there, rocks behind my back, staring at the stars.
The next day we were served a hearty breakfast and me and two other solo travelers decided to hike. We didn’t go too far because it is hard to walk in the sands and it was also very hot and windy. Even so, we had sooo much fun just exploring the rock formations around the camp!
These girls were heading to Petra so I offered to drop them off there on my way to Amman. It was a win-win for me because that means I have someone to talk to for at least an hour and I get to take a break in Petra and grab lunch before heading to Amman.
(Naturally, we stopped several times to take pictures of the gorgeous views on our way to Petra.)
I thought about omitting this next part but I felt like I had to talk about it even though it still traumatizes me.
On my way back to Amman, an hour from my car drop-off location a dog crossed the desert highway in front of me. I stepped on my brakes but I wasn’t fast enough and there was a 16-wheeler truck behind me. Afterwards, I had to stop at the shoulder because I was bawling my eyes out from guilt. I called my boyfriend because I was so scared and sad about what I did.. Afterwards, I went back to check on the dog and he had no pulse. I had 6 hours to spare before my flight so I figured if he was still breathing, I can bring him to the nearest vet. Some locals (and the car company) told me it was likely a stray dog but I can’t be sure and as a dog owner myself, I will be devastated if it happened to my dogs.
I was so distraught that when I got to the rental car office to explain what happened, I cannot stop crying and they had to call the owner (who rented me the car) to try to calm me down. At the end of the day, because the basic insurance coverage doesn’t pay for collision damages, I paid the deductible on the car which I honestly don’t mind – that was the least I can do.
With 4 more hours to spare before I can check in for my flight to Italy, Nedal, who owns the car rental company, decided to cheer me up by driving me to the center of Amman to sample their street food and then afterwards drove me to his home to meet his family. His mom is so lovely and offered to cook me any jordanian food I want when I return, his sister prepared her own tabbouleh recipe and his wife and children were all so nice and accommodating. He also drove me to the airport and gave me some coffee to bring home from his family’s grocery store. Honestly, they were such gracious hosts and warmly welcomed me into their home. Thank God for the kindness of strangers.
After this trip, I realized two things – One, while I love traveling with friends, I still need to travel solo. It’s a very different feeling. I feel liberated, empowered, in tune with myself and free. Most of my 2019 travels are accounted for but for 2 holidays. I will be traveling solo in one of those long weekends. Two, Jordan should be in everyone’s travel bucket list. Your eyes will feast on the ever-changing colors of the rocks at Petra and marvel at the stars in Wadi Rum, your body will thank you for experiencing the healing properties of the Dead Sea mud, sea and salt and your soul will be refreshed as you cut the background noise in your mind, breathe, laugh and interact with one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.
Travel tips
- Within the city of Amman, the metered taxi should cost no more than 3JD so beware! Make sure the meter is on and if it is not, NEGOTIATE the price before hopping on a cab. If you are a man, you are expected to sit in front. Women should sit on the back.
- When tipping taxi cabs in Amman, round off the metered fare to the nearest JD. Tipping in restaurants are usually about 5-10%. Sometimes it’s added to the tab so check your receipt.
- There is a JETT bus from Amman to Petra and its the cheapest way to get there if you are traveling solo. The earliest bus leaves Amman around 6:30am.
- Your entrance ticket to Petra includes a horse ride. However, the tips to the handler are sometimes exorbitant and ‘forced’ upon the visitor that it is not worth the hassle.
- The view on top of the Treasury I went to is free. There is an easier way to go up which takes the stairs on the left side of the Treasury (when you’re facing it) but you can’t make it up there without a tour guide and of course for a fee.
- Stay in Wadi Rum for 2 days – we missed several locations and I didn’t get the chance to rock climb because I was only there for a day.
- For Philippine passport holders like me, the visa process is two-fold; you need a pre-approval and then a final approval. The visa is only single-entry unfortunately (and quite pricy!).
- Always keep small JD denominations. Some cabs and other small businesses do not take bigger denominations.
- Most restaurants take Visa/Mastercard. Gas stations accept card as well.
- Be prepared if you are driving in the desert highway. There were several roads in construction and the lanes suddenly becomes one-way. While there is a speed limit, everyone is overspeeding and big trucks overtake everyone (if they can).
The Travelling Accountant 