We arrived at the visitor center of the Wadi Rum Desert at around 3 pm. Here, we get to use the toilet and take pictures of a mountain (or hill) called "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". I'm not sure why it's called The Seven Pillars of Wisdom because I wasn't paying attention, but it has to do with Lawrence of Arabia's book of the same name.
The 7 Pillars of Wisdom aka welcome to the Wadi Rum Desert.
By the way, Wadi is Arabic for Valley, so Wadi Rum = Rum Valley.
So, from the visitor center, we drove to a camp in the middle of the road, and there we saw 3 pickup trucks with seats in the back. We were told we were going to be riding in Jeeps, but this was much, much better!
We rode in the pick up trucks for about 20 minutes and then we arrived at a large Bedouin camp. Here we rest and were served tea with sage, cinnamon and a bunch of herbs. The tea was amazing and here we get to see a rock with Lawrence of Arabia's face carved in it. I don't really know much about Lawrence of Arabia and so if you're interested in history, then feel free to look him up.
Lawrence of Arabia (not Jesus)
From this camp, we continued deeper into the desert to go to our private camp. On the way, we stopped for a quick viewpoint.
A view into the desert from a cliff
Behind the cliff.
A short drive later, we arrived at our private camp. There's a water tank for the toilet and a small generator for light bulbs here and nothing else.
Our 5 star rooms.
However, only 1 person (the nerd) slept in these tents. Everyone was sleeping outside in the desert to see the stars. Here was where we talked, ate, and slept:
Our actual beds. Very comfy to sleep on the sands.
At this point, it was about 6 pm, so we had to wait two and a half more hours until dinner. I left with my roommate to explore the desert a bit and tried to climb one of the mountain/hill. I'll let the pics do the narrative at this point. Wish I could show them all because this place is stunning!
Orange sands, unique hills and very quiet due to the absence of insects, birds and people. Mars or the Wadi Rum?
I love walking barefoot in these sands! Soft and cool since it's in the evening
These grass were spiky.
Not mushrooms, but Camel poop. Still beautiful!
The rocks/hills here look like melting ice creams.
White sand near our camp
Please tell me how these rocks/hills were formed. Unreal.
After about an hour of walking, I head back to camp and then immediately, we climbed up one of these hills to watch a sunset. This is the first time in my life that I had actually sat down and watch a sun set. It was an unforgettable moment because I get to feel the Earth and my surroundings. The winds were really strong throughout the view and the temperature drops steadily from about 85F/30C down to about 70F/20C. The sunset took about an hour. Here are some more pics/gifs:
Someone took a picture of me. Stunning picture, thanks!
After the sun has set, we walked back to our camp and then waited one more agonizing hour for our dinner. The dinner was cooked in an underground oven. Basically, they dug a hole, put in hot coal and a metal rack holding the food, and then buried it to let the coal slowly cook the food. I felt bad that the Bedouins had to sacrifice a lamb for us, but the lamb was juicy, tender, and fall-off-the-bones good. Dinner was very good overall, and I think being really hungry adds to that. Here is a video of the guy digging our dinner out:
Dinner, yum!
After dinner, we took out our blankets and pillows and then went to sleep outside. The fire was put out but the generators was still on. We could see some stars at this point, much like the stars you see at home - just dots here and there.
However, when everyone was ready to go to bed, the generator was shut down and WOW. I saw the galaxy. The haze of the milky way, the stars, its planets, moons and everything you can imagine and more in space. It was the most incredible sight I've ever seen, all of which are hidden away from everyone due to light pollution. But there were no light pollution here in the middle of the desert. No lights, no sounds, just the stars. Too bad I slept early because other people saw shooting stars! Unfortunately, no one knew how to take a picture of the stars. Apparently you need special filters to capture the stars because one of the group member had like a $3000 camera but still couldn't capture it.
Sorry, couldn't capture it. Best pic I had. Not even close.
Well, the night was very, very cold. I swore the temperature dropped down to at least 50F/10C. Plus, it was very windy because I woke up like 3 or 4 times because my face was going numb. Great experience none the less.
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