Wadi Musa

Two alarms rang across the room as Jack and my phone started to ring. I hurriedly gathered my toiletries to hit the shower, someone had unfortunately stolen my soap and shampoo as well as my supposed breakfast for the day which I bought the day before. Outside, the air was chilly but the sun was already up. Jack had already pre-scheduled an Uber so it was right there on time and we were off to the JETT bus terminal. I bought some sandwiches from the vendor outside for breakfast got on the bus when it arrived. There were three girls who showed up without buying a ticket and wanted to buy on the spot but that wasn't how it worked so they begged and the staff tried their best to accomodate them and with some caveats they were let on the bus where we went to the other JETT terminal. They got off once again and I could see they looked anxious, seems like the deal was they could perhaps get on if there were enough seats after all the people with reserved seats got on. I was quite happy to have a seat all to myself without any seatmates but turns out it would be filled by one of the girls as they were fortunately let on. Horrible planning on their part but all's well that ends well, I guess. The rest of the ride was quite smooth, I put on some tunes to drown out the noise while watching the scenery unfold before me as our bus went outside Amman and into the desert.

A vast expanse of land which was hauntingly beautiful even though it was devoid of life. We made a brief stop at a shop where I resupplied on some food and another stop at a high point for epic views of the desert, there were even puppies playing around which made everything twice as fun. Soon, we were passing through Wadi Musa town where Petra was situated. We all got off and I immediately started to head to my hostel, Petra Cabin which was conveniently located a couple of minutes from Petra. I followed Google Maps but ended up in a pretty fancy looking hotel, the receptionist seemed a bit used to it as he looked at me with a smile and told me "I know where you are heading." It made sense though as the hotel I was in seemed to be very high-end and based on my attire, he could easily tell I was a backpacker. My hostel was on the opposite side of the street, up a small hill and from there I climbed a few more flights of stairs until I reached the main lounge. The music of a strong female vocal singing in Arabic wafted around the room. I was told that check-in was still much later in the afternoon so I had time to spare. My game plan was to wait until 3PM when the heat wasn't too overbearing and to catch the sunset's golden hour while I'm at it so I lazed the day away tinkering on my phone while charging it at one of the nearby outlets. I started to feel peckish as well so I asked the woman for the menu and ordered this dish called Maklubah or Upside-down as they call it as it is a dish that is cooked in a pot, turned over and served upside-down. It was very filling and I actually couldn't finish everything so I had the lady keep it in a fridge for dinner tonight. I was stoked I could save some more money as everything in Petra cost a pretty penny. After an hour more or so, another guy approached me and said he could check me in earlier and show me to my room. I happily complied to another floor which was way nicer than I had expected. The rooms were cool, quiet and honestly not too shabby! I remember I made a special request on Agoda if I could get the window room and it turns out that those were special ones and the owner kindly let me have. It was more spacious, more private and had a nice view of Wadi Musa so I was thrilled at what I got. I got my things settled and took a video of the crib and sent it to Josef so he could get an idea of Petra Cabin Hostel as he still hadn't booked any accomodation as far as I remember. I spent even more time relaxing on the bed until 2PM or so but I couldn't stand it any longer and decided to just go to Petra!Read more