Thursday, March 10, 2011

Lost City of Petra

"Match me such a marvel save in Eastern Clime
A rose-red city half as old as time"              
 -Dean Burgon

Petra is one of the great archaeological treasures of the world and as far as I can tell one of the only reasons to visit this part of Jordan.  I am going to tell you that our pictures cannot do justice to the incredible rock formations and carvings.

The Nabataeans were ancient Arab tribes that existed more than 2200 years ago.  They were masters of trade routes that carried frankincense, myrrh, spices, silks, and African ivory and animal hides.  They used their profits to establish a powerful kingdom that covered a huge area.  Culturally, they were a wonderful melting pot that is reflected in their carvings and architecture of dwellings.  They were finally overtaken by the Roman Empire in about 106AD.  At the height of its popularity there were probably about 20,000-30,000 people living in Petra.  It was gradually abandoned and sometime after the 14th century it was completely lost to the West.  In 1812 it was rediscovered by a Swiss traveller named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.  There were some people who lived in the caves until about the 1980's until the Jordan Government evicted them from the caves.

The photo below is the first you see on the way into Petra.  It is Obelisk tomb and you can see the mix of styles in this one tomb.


The Nabataeans used the aquaduct system to get water down into the main city.  These water troughs run the whole way into the city and have filtering holes every so often where sediment in the water could be filtered out.  Very ingenious.
This is the ancient main entrance called As-Siq.  It is a naturally made gorge that is about 3/4 of a mile long and the cliffs are almost 300 ft tall.  You can see the aquaduct (water channel) on the left hand side of the photo below.




We finally got the first peak of the Treasury through this narrow crack at the end of the As-Siq.  The Treasury or Al-Khazneh is the most beautiful monument in the Ancient City of Petra.  It was carved in the 1st Century BC a a tomb of an important Nabatean King.  It might also have been used as a temple after the Romans invaded.
You can see in the picture below how the people are dwarfed by the Treasury.  It is truly breathtaking and it must have been even more incredible before erosion wore away most of the beautiful carvings decorating the front of the Treasury.


These are the tombs that common people were buried in and on the other side (not pictured) were the royal tombs that are much more ornate.  The people were not buried with treasures as in other cultures and were only buried with an oil lamp and usually the tomb had stairs so they could walk to heaven.
This is an example of a cave dwelling used by the Nabataeans.  This one belonged to a very prominent family because of how large it is.  The ceiling looked like it was marble but it just the coloring of the stone layers.

This is a photo of Jeanna enjoying our walk through Petra.  It was FREEZING today!  We had a vest, a down jacket, and a gore-tex outerlayer. . .plus gloves and we were still cold.  Jeanna is sporting a new scarf bought to help keep her warm.  It was a shock to our systems because we have been in relatively warm climates since Turkey!  We did see some people with shorts and sandals ( inappropriate footwear for sure!) and they must have been frostbite.  The wind was very strong and in some places we were getting a free exfoliation of all exposed surfaces!
This is the Urn Tomb, one of the largest Royal Tombs, carved around 70 AD.  They think is was altered around the middle of the 5th century and served as a Byzantine Church.
I am standing in the entrance of one of the caves used for housing.
This excavation was just finished by the students and faculty at Brown University within the past couple of years.  It is believed that about 85% of the city is still uncovered, but they do not have the resources to uncover the rest.
This was a wonderful place to end our Experiences of a Lifetime even though in our short visit we did not get to explore as much as we could have.  We walked back in the afternoon sun and enjoyed the changing light on the rock walls.  We marveled at the carvings made by people so long ago and beauty of the gorge that nature made so long ago.  In the midst of our musings we also realized that we had walked downhill the whole way into Petra and now we had a long climb back to our hotel.  There were donkeys, carts, camels, and horses offered to us as we walked the uphill path. . .we like the option of staying on our own two feet!

Tonight we are off to the nearby historic town of Taybet Zaman for a "festive dinner" with Bedouin entertainment.  We will take our cameras and let you know how festive it really was!

Princess for a Day!

We departed our tent camp early in the morning and headed for Jodhpur.  We toured the fort first, my brother who lives in India visited here a month ago so if you are interested in pictures and the history in general check out his blog for details:  
http://transoceanicdrivel.blogspot.com/2011/02/jodhpur-blue-city.html

We were hot and tired after the visit to the fort and since I did not partake in the brown shower at the tent camp I was desperate to be clean so we headed for our hotel.  The hotel is in the Umaid Bhawan Palace and the royal family of Jodhpur still lives in a section of this magnificent palace.  The palace was named after the present Maharaja's grandfather.  It took 15 years to build and was completed in 1943.  The palace when built had 347 rooms.  It is decorated in an Art Deco Style and our pictures do not do it justice.  I wish we had been here for more than one night because we did not have time to explore all the areas of the palace.

Back of the Palace

Our room was the top 3 windows and our bathroom was in the rounded part
Deb with Doorman
When we arrived to the front entrance (did not have my camera out) we were greeted like royality!  There was a canopy and they were throwing rose petals at our feet (I am not kidding!) and then when we walked in they presented us with leis!
Jeanna at lunch

Entrance hall
Ceiling of entrance hall

Entrance hall
I am not sure how we got so lucky but we were upgraded to a Royal Suite!  We had a living room, small dining area, desk area, king size bed, dressing room, and an incredible marble bathroom!  

Bedroom of Royal Suite
Bedroom

Living room w/ painting of Maharaja
Dining Area
Marble tub (shower behind)
One of the sinks
The view from our window

View from our window
Obviously Trophy Bar

These were on the staircases
Jeanna and leopard
I wish we could have explored the entire palace but we did not have time.  I will say they have a lovely spa and we enjoyed the pampering after our day in the desert.  We got a sanitized view of India this time around and did not get to see, hear, or smell the "real" India that people either love or hate.  I am sure we will be back to see some more of India in our future travels.  We did enjoy being royality for a day!

We are off to Jordan to see the "Lost City of Petra" and it will be the last stop of our long journey.  It is hard to imagine we have been all the places and done all of the things we have done in the past three weeks!  If we didn't have a photo record we would think we were dreaming!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Just Call Me Sandy - Thar Desert

We arrived in Jodhpur on Monday afternoon and then headed about 2 hours outside of the city to the edge of the Thar Desert.  It had been a long traveling day, we had gotten up at 5am in Bhutan, suitcases out by 6am and on the bus by 7am. . . then a 2 1/12 hour bus ride.  We were bitter about being in the group that went to the desert first, the other half of our group was enjoying the the day in Jodhpur.  We got on our bus and headed out. . .first of all, these roads are not made for regular size vehicles let alone a huge greyhound-type bus!  It was a harrowing drive to say the least. . .we dodged people, cows, dogs, goats, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, public buses, carts brimming with grain, and the giant potholes.  We passed many stone quarries on our way, most house are made out of stone not bricks.  There are trees in this desert and because of recent digging of wells and places that collect the rains during the monsoon season there are farms in the desert.  It seems to me they are fighting an uphill battle but they continue to irrigate the desert to grow crops.
We finally reached the Manwar Resort and got ready to head out to the tent camp.  We were going to go out there in open jeeps and stop at some local houses on the way.  The first thing they issued were hospital masks so protect us from the dust/sand in the desert.  I know we looked stupid but they did save us from inhaling so much sand!

Our first stop in the desert was to a blacksmith's house.  His wife was preparing the house for the festival next week by putting a fresh coat of cow dung on the outside walls!  She had a nice big pile of it right there and used her hands to smear it evenly on the walls.
The husband was heating some metal on an open fire and pounding it into a bowl.  The women sitting with him was his daughter-in-law and according to local custom can not show her face to any older male relatives.  She is operating the bellows to keep the fire very hot.
The next stop on our journey to the desert was to a house where all the men from the village had gathered to preform the traditional welcome ceremony with Opium.  Opium has been outlawed in India for awhile now but they still manage to find it to use in the ceremony.  The opium is crushed and diluted in water and then strained through the device shown below.
The first offering is to the highest ranking religious man in the village.  He slurps the opium liquid from the house owner's hand three times.  They make a big deal out of it, first refusing and then saying okay.  The men were very animated in doing this ritual.  They were also smoking raw tobacco out of water pipes and horned shaped pipes.
The man sitting next to Jeanna was very enamored with her and beckoned her over to sit with him when we first came in.  He patted the space on the rug right next to him and had her move to come closer.
They offered Jeanna the pipe first and she tried to pretend to take a puff but ended up inhaling the tobacco smoke!  She was a trooper and didn't choke like a school girl on her first cigarette, she did say that it burned the crap out of her throat. . .so I was glad that I did not partake!
Then they offered the opium mixture to the group, I had a momentary lapse in judgement and sidled over to Jeanna's friend.  He poured some of the dark liquid into his hand and I bent down to slurp it up. . .in that moment here were the thoughts going through my mind "Was that real bottled water that he used to mix this stuff?", "When was the last time he washed his hands?", "If there is real opium in this how long would be detectable in a UA?", and "Take a double dose of Cipro before you go to bed tonight".  I slurped it up and it was very bitter. . .they gave me a piece of raw sugar to eat afterwards and then I did it again. . .I didn't make it the third time I had snapped back to reality and realized that was a crazy thing to do!  No effects from the opium. . .no little buzz. . .nothing. . . it has been over 24 hours and I am okay.  I did take the Cipro though just in case!
We left the men and got back into our jeeps and made our way to the Manwar Tented Camps.  You can see the semi circled of tents in the distance.  They made this to look like a replica of the royal hunting camps from the 18th and 19th century.
We were greeted by music and women who put a tilaka on our foreheads!  The entire inside of the tent ring was lined with camels in their finest decorations with their owners standing beside them.
Camels are not the most cuddliest animals on the planet. . .they bite, spit and kick you.  However, they did look stunning lined up and resting with their owners.
We had a few minutes to freshen up before our camel ride to the cocktail party to watch sunset so we went to explore our tent.  
This is the inside of the tent, the walls and ceiling were a beautiful patterned fabric and we had two single beds and a desk and two chairs in the main room.  There was a bathroom with a flushing toilet and a sink and a wooden platform with to buckets of water sitting on it.  There was a cute watering can-like container on the sink to wash your face with. . .the water from the sink just drained out on the sand.  I am not quite sure where the toilet drained to. . . 
This photo of the "shower" platform was taken in the morning when they delivered the brown tepid water.  I declined the "shower" deciding to wait until we got to Jodhpur in the afternoon. . .Jeanna wanted the adventure!  I was a nice partner and used the small container to wash her hair for her. . .not quite like Robert Redford in "Out of Africa" but I tried! 
Back to the evening before. . .after freshening up we got on our camels.  I do have video of Jeanna getting up on the camel and will put all that together when we get home.  As our friends know who traveled to Morocco the camel is different kind of ride.  When they first start to get up they use their back legs first which throws you forward, then the get up on their front legs which throws you back!!!  Luckily we only rode for about 15-20 minutes so we did not have to use our bike shorts or chamois butter for our sensitive areas!
Here is a look at the group heading to the top of the hill for sundowners!!!
A girl and her camel!
This guy was a riot and stood on his camel like something out of Lawrence Olivia!  He balanced up there for awhile as we all snapped out cameras!
Here is out musical entertainment for the cocktail hour and into the evening!
After sunset we got back on the camels and headed down the hill to dinner.  We sat on carpets and pillows with low tables in two semi-circles.  The fed us various Indian foods and we watched magnificent dancers while we ate.  We are hoping that we will get some pictures because we were in the back row and couldn't get good shots.  Then when we thought the evening was over, fireworks lite up the night sky!!  They were beautiful!
In the morning we had a delightful breakfast,  Jeanna made friends with the camel cart guy and I with the man with the very long mustache!  The Indians LOVE their mustaches. . .the grow them, they curl them, they are a sign of place in society. . .they are everywhere!  My brother lives in New Delhi. . .I am wondering if he is going to sport a mustache soon????

They camels came back in the morning to greet us  as were walking to breakfast.
The other thing to greet us at breakfast was the Dhurri Rug Man and the shoemaker!  Jeanna made fast friends with the rug man and he enjoyed telling us of all his famous customers that he has met in his business!
We liked him so much and his rugs that I am confessing to buying this rug in India. . .Turkey is still a secret!  We are going to use this rug at Chautauqua on the front porch!  


We are ready to leave the desert and head back to Jodhpur to spend the night at the Umaid Bhawan Palace.  It is now we realize how lucky we are to be in the group that went to the desert first!  The desert was an experience of a lifetime but the no running water and no real electricity for a hairdryer would be a REAL bummer if we had to leave from here and get on the plane for 6 hours to fly to Jordan!  We are thanking out lucky stars that for whatever reason the program changed and our group headed to desert first. . . we will spend a glorious night in the palace and then off to Jordon!