A desert tour in Wadi Rum

Our next destination was the desert in Wadi Rum. Our tour included a trip through the desert in 4-wheel drive jeeps to see some of the sights.

Campbell and Kelly pose on the road to Wadi Rum. There is a whole lot of desert and not a lot else along the way.

Kelly poses on the remains of a temple wall in the desert. We also visited Lawrence of Arabia's home and will now have another movie we need to watch when we get home. The story was really quite facinating and one I never really paid much attention to. Now I would like to.

After sitting in the jeep for quite some time, the kids were let out to climb a sand dune to let off some steam. It is a tough climb up those dunes - one step forward and almost a whole step back in the sand. The videos of them coming down are great.

Even in the desert, Campbell can find something to improvise with for a game of baseball. I'm not sure how long he would be able to swing a bat made of stone. Could be a good exercise for ball practice.

Kelly was happy to take part in a less strenuous activity - sand angels.

There were rocks for the kids to crawl under.

And there were plenty of rocks for the kids to climb up.

This was our "bedouin" camp where we stayed for the night. Although they try to make it somewhat authentic, I'm pretty sure the real Bedouin do not have bedframes and flush toilets. However, we weren't complaining. The tents were very comfortable and we had a tremendous night's sleep out in the desert.

This was our dining tent where we were treated to an amazing lunch, dinner and breakfast. In the evening hours, our hosts gathered around the campfire to smoke their shisha pipes.

There were plenty of places to wander around our camp. Campbell had a great time climbing every rock and cliff he could find.

And there were lots of nooks and crannies to snuggle into as well.

As the sun set in the desert, the temperature certainly dropped. And once the sun went down all together, the stars were incredible. I don't think I have ever seen so many stars.

It was still cool in the morning when we were waiting for our breakfast. But a nice cup of sage tea certainly did the trick in warming us up.

After a wonderful day and night in the desert, we were sad to leave. We headed back to Wadi Rum and traded in our jeeps for our mini van. Then we headed off to Aqaba and the end of our tour.

Discovering Petra

Our nex stop was Wadi Musa, where we would have a full day and an evening to discover the ancient city of Petra.

After a good night's sleep in an awesome hotel, our guide Haleed met us and started us on our tour of Petra. Haleed was a wealth of information and kept us entertained all day. Here are Haleed, Kelly and Campbell heading down the siq (canyon) towards Petra. It is amazing to think that this whole canyon was filled with sand when the city was first discovered. It has taken almost 200 years to uncover what is to be seen at this time and they are still working on it.

This is one of the most impressive buildings in Petra - the Treasury. It faces you as you come out of the siq into a large square. It is even more impressive than it looks as there is at least one more story to the building which is still underground. They have stopped excavating until they are sure they can secure the building.

Kelly sitting in front of one of the columns gives you an idea of the size of the building.,

Our guide Haleed and a soldier within the city.

The colours in the rock are just amazing. This is just one small example.

There were donkeys and camels everywhere for hire. We chose to walk, but the kids couldn't resist at least petting a donkey.

After a full day of wandering the city with excellent naratives by Haleed, we were ready to make our way back to the hotel for a rest before our evening walk.

We met at the visitor's centre at 8:00 with about 200 other people and headed back towards the treasury building. The siq was lit by 1,500 candles all along the way and the square in front of the treasury building was lit by a further 200 or so candles. We were served tea and listened to traditional music and a story for about half an hour before heading back out through the candlelit siq. It was a really interesting experience. We certainly have more research to do on Petra when we get home.

Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea

We arrived in Amman after an uneventful flight from Bahrain. Even Kelly didn't mind the flight. We had arranged a tour through Jordan before we left Canada and it was very nice to have someone meet us at the airport, organize our visas, and drive us to our hotel. Again, we arrived late in the afternoon, so didn't have a lot of time to tour around Amman. In the morning, we were picked up by our driver and guide and we headed to Mandaba, where there is a church with a famous mosaic floor depicting the Holy Land some 2,000 years ago.

It is difficult to see the workmanship in a photo, but this mosaic floor really was an impressive sight to see. It lay underneath the church floor for over a century before finally being uncovered when the church decided to renovate. Parts of the mosaic are either missing or buried below columns of the church, but there is plenty remaining to tell that it is a very good representation of the surrounding area. Mosaics are a very big thing in this part of the world. We were taken to a factory where we were able to see the whole process.

From Mandaba, we drove to Mount Nebo where it is believed Moses died. It was a bit hazy the day we were there, but you could still see for miles across the Jordanian desert.

The top of Mount Nebo is at 1,200 metres above sea level. You can see the road in the distance down to the Dead Dea, which is at 400 metres below sea level.

Kelly and I went for a long float in the Dead Sea.

Then we just had to take a mud bath with the mud from the bottom of the Dead Sea, which is suppose to have some amazing health benefits. Once you get past the idea of covering yourself in mud, which actually looks and feels like cold tar, it wasn't really all that bad.

Once covered, we waited the suggested 10 minutes for the mud to dry on our skin. Then it was back into the sea to try to wash it all off. It took another 15 minutes under the shower to get all the mud off. I have to admit though, our skin felt smooth as silk once we were all washed off.

A quick stop in Bahrain

We made a very quick stop in Manama, Bahrain on our way from Kathmandu to Amman. We only have a few photos as we arrived after dark and left reasonably early the next day. It is certainly a place we wouild all like to go back to and spend some more time, but that would be after winning the lottery. Man, is it ever expensive. But it is very cool seeing the incredibly old right beside the ultra-modern.

Here is a view of Bahrain from the plane as we headed out towards Amman. The main island is onlhy 53 sq. kms. but they pack a lot into a small space.

The best Christmas decorations we have seen were in the Bahrain airport. Seems a bit weird having beautiful Christmas decorations in a Muslim country. We asked a few of the staff at the airport about this and they say they are catering to the Philipino and European tourists. I guess if you have the money...why not?

A photo through the front window of the taxi on our way back to the airport. The city is sparkling clean with wide boulevards, old buildings, ultra-modern building, fresh water, salt water and everything else you could possibly want. Assuming you have money to pay for it all.

Our last days on the trail

After our morning hike up to Poon Hill, we ventured out for another day on the trail. My legs were not all that thrilled to discover that our first order of the day was to climb up another mountain to slightly below 3210 metres. I could have sworn that's where we just came from. Oh well, different mountain, different view. Part of our day's trek was to hike down to a river bed and then back up the other side to the village of Tadipani. (Sorry Heidi if the spelling is wrong. I don't have the map with me.) As we discovered that going at our own pace, whether that is slower or faster, is the best for everyone, Campbell and Kelly took the lead, Heidi and I followed, and Bhola and Dean brought up the rear. The plan was to meet in Tadipani to decide if we wanted to stay there or go on to Gandruk. Heidi and I met Campbell and Kelly in town and then waited for Bhola and Dean. We waited and we waited. When an hour had passed, we decided they couldn't possibly be that far behind. The kids headed back to see if they could find Bhola and Dean. They went all the way back to the bottom of the trail where we had last seen Dean and didn't find them. By the time we realized they had gone ahead to Gandruk without us, it was too late for us to follow. It was starting to get dark and the fog was rolling in so the 4 of us decided to stay put in Tadipani and find Bhola and Dean in Gandruk the following day.

There was no electricity in Tadipani so the kids waited for dinner by candlelight.

The following morning, we got up at 5:30 and we were on the trail by shortly after 6:00. We had only gone about 15 minutes when we met Bhola on his way back from Gandruk looking for us. He and Dean had spent a rather fretful night wondering where we were.

When we were all reunited in Gandruk for breakfast the kids were thrilled to see the biggest marijuana plant I have seen for a very long time. They grow wild in Nepal. I'm hoping this is as close to marijuana as the kids get!!

We took one last group photo before we headed off in different directions again. This time it was planned. Heidi and I opted to take the steep trail down the mountain and back up the other side, while Dean and the kids chose to take the gentle slope back to the trailhead. We were to reconnect back in Pokhara the following day.

Campbell and Dean head down the trail, while a porter with a very large load headed up.

The marigolds were in bloom everywhere and added a real splash of colour in the villages.

Every bit of land is used by terracing wherever possible. It really is beautiful.

The trail leads off around the side of the mountain. This part of the trail was blissfully flat. Nepalese flat: a little up and a little down.

Heidi didn't particularly enjoy the suspension bridge with the rickety wood planks, but she made it across.

This is our guesthouse in Tolka.

A little girl in a village along the way. I think she was trying to laso the cat.

The views were spectacular.

Heidi couldn't help but smile in the surroundings.

The back drop to our trail.

Our last view of the mountains from Australian Camp before heading to the trailhead and taking a cab back to Pokhara. What a tremendous 5 days!!

Poon Hill

At 4:30 in the morning, Bhola, Heidi, Campbell and I got out of our warm beds to walk up 400 metres to the top of Poon Hill to see the sunrise.


This was the best light we had on the way up. It wasn't difficult to find the way as there were about 200 people on their way up, all with headlamps or lights of one sort or another. It was a hell of a climb up, but well worth it when the sun started to come up.

Campbell was well bundled up as the sunrise debuted.

Although the sun had not yet risen, the first light showed the mountains in all their majesty.

Campbell posed in front of the sign showing that we had in fact climbed to a height of 3210 metres. Not bad for 5:00 in the morning!


The sun broke the horizon at 6:18 and began to touch the tops of the mountains, one after another.

The sun kept creeping lower and lower on the mountains. It really was a glorious sight to see.

One final mountaintop and the area was complete with sunlight.

At about 7:00 we headed back down to our guesthouse (somewhere down amongst all the blue roofs) for a much-deserved and welcomed breakfast with hot tea.