Petra, Jordan

Does anyone know what you are seeing here? Do ya, Do ya?

I'll give you a hint: Indiana Jones!.

This is Al-Khazneh (Treasury)

 This is a massive facade 30m wide and 43m high, carved out of the sheer, dusky pink,  rock-face and dwarfing everything around it.  It was carved in the early 1st century as a tomb of an important Nabataean king and represents the engineering genius of these ancient people.

Can you tell that I copied that info from somewhere other than my brain? (Maybe not, I shouldn't tell eh?or should I say Huh?)

 This Nabataen city of Petra made it's Hollywood debut in 1989 in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" starring Harrison Ford! Oh I knew you knew that, but I am just showing off!

 This is just to provide evidence that I was actually there! I'm the one looking at the camera! How we got that picture with just 2 other bodies is beyond my comprehension, there were at least "a million people" there if there was one!

 There is alot of walking to be done in this fine"rose-red city half as old as time". So how should one do that?

 By horseback?

 By donkey?

 I love this picture!

The boys were rushing down to let the tourists ride, (for a fee of course!)

By horse drawn carriage?

 By camel?

 If you look closely, you'll see that I chose none of the above, maybe cuz I'm cheap!

I'm walking by a water channel that was carved out of the rock to get the water into the city. Some very interesting stuff, and engineering that went on in these old cities.

 This is called the Siq, it is a narrow gorge over 1km in length, which is flanked on either side by soaring 80m high cliffs.

Another view of the SIQ.

The couple in red and blue are from Santaquin, Utah, she later came to be known by me as "Pepsi"!

 

 Look at those colors! So Cool! There are hundreds of elaborate rock-cut tombs with intricate carvings- unlike the houses which were destroyed mostly by earthquakes, the tombs were carved to last throughout the afterlife and 500 have survived.

 Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk,spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.

 What does this look like?

 Did you say elephant?

Cool eh/huh? Two elephants!

 Some more of the carved out tombs etc.  We climbed up there and the following pictures are of what we saw from that vantage point.

 I think if we would have followed that road an other km or so we would have found more excavations etc.. it was too hot, too dusty to see more of the same, so we found shade and a lookout and enjoyed the view and the simple fact I wasn't dealing with snow!!!!

 This is the road we came in on, of course we passed vendors doing their thing, there are lots of them that have expensive items when you're coming and rather cheap items when you're leaving. The barter thing can be fun.

 I am pretty, oh so pretty!

 Oh so very, very pretty!!

 Kelly decided she was tired of walking on the hot dusty path, so she chose the CAMEL!

 She is having a blast  on the "beautiful beast"!

 Really? What is that expression really saying to Mike and I as we walk the 2 km back to the Blue Bus?
She had fun watching the camels "run over" the inattentive tourists. She enjoyed the ride for sure!!!

"Have a look!"

 It depends on which way you are going what these little goodies cost! Just a small sample of what was available for the tourist in Petra. Oh barter hard, it's the best part of aquiring such items!!

 Some women taking a break from the heat and the vending thing. They'll be ready when a new swarm of tourists show up.

 Check out the two boys (is it three?) with the man in blue with the white hat!! They are working on him, and oh my he has his hands in his pockets, looks like they may have made a sale!!
The donkey man, worked hard on me to ride his donkey, but no go! So he mounted up and went to look for another target. I hope somebody rode his donkey! Got to make a living, right?

 Look closely, what do you see? Are you seeing it? At the bottom of the hole in the rock!

 There he is! "One dollar! One dollar! Post cards, one dollar!!" Can't let the tourist get away!!

Too bad you can't hear the accent for "One dollar,One dollar!" It's funny, so LAUGH!!!! :)

 These guys are working on making a living too, kinda fun to see!

They had fun with Kelly, Mike got to pay for that one!

Thus ends the morning of Monday 08 November 2010 at Petra, Jordan.