Day 85 ~ Wadi Rum, Valley of the Moon

April 4, 2022

85 degrees and sunny. I carried my yellow umbrella, but had no fear of rain. Only the relentless desert sun on our second day in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

FROM LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 

Jackson Bentley: What is it, Major Lawrence, that attracts you personally to the desert?
T.E. Lawrence: It's clean.

Sam, our guide, told us the building of this railway a hundred years ago meant cutting down 10,000 trees, both for the ties and to feed the steam engine. It's no longer in use except for touristic purposes.

I wished with all my heart that my dad was with us today. Lawrence of Arabia is his favorite movie, and he was a railroader for over 40 years, so this would've been a two-fer for him. We got to ride on the flatbed of a train through the heart of Wadi Rum with men dressed as Turkish soldiers, only to be ambushed by a horde of Arabs on horseback and camel, re-enacting a scene from the Arab Revolution of 1916. It was absolutely thrilling! 

Camels roam freely, finding food where they can. They are branded like the livestock who graze on the free range of the western US, and are worth $3000-$5000 each on average. However, one camel sold for 5 million. Why, you ask? Because this camel is considered "beautiful" and it naturally poses for pictures. I'm not sure what constitutes dromedary beauty. It seems a little like saying someone has a beautiful cow moose, one of the butt-ugliest creatures on the planet.

Our Turkish guard prior to the Arab attack. The Ottomans were allied with the Axis powers during the first world war. Britain wanted to distract them from what was happening in Europe by encouraging the Arabs to revolt and set up their own kingdom in the middle east.

Enter T.E. Lawrence. He was a British officer with a passion for the desert and its people. He always sympathized with the underdog, partly because he was one himself. When he reached adulthood, he learned that his father and mother, strict disciplinarians both, were not actually married to each other. His father had legal wife whom he had never divorced, making Lawrence a bastard. In a culture which valued class and bloodlines even above personal achievement, this was an uncomfortable state of being. 

We had the advantage over our Turkish captors. We knew Lawrence and his Arabs were hiding in the little box canyons, ready to pound across the sand to catch and capture the train. There were some remarkable displays of horsemanship!

The Turks were loaded onto the back of this...I'm not sure how to describe this vehicle actually while the rider in the foreground circled the group with the Jordanian flag. 

The Arab band of brothers lead the way to the stronghold--now turned hotel--where we'll be treated to some Arab hospitality and shade.

I'm not sure Viking know how to arrange an excursion without food of some sort being a part of it!

T.E. Lawrence remains an enigmatic figure. He was a hero to Arabs and Brits alike, but felt his country had let the Arabs down when they failed to live up to their promise of an independent Arab state. He retired from service in 1935 and that same year, died in a motorbike accident at the age of 47.  

This was our second visit to Wadi Rum, and it's still just as fascinating a place as the first time. Jordan is a wonderfully open, friendly country. It's mostly Muslim, but our guide Sam is a Christian and he says he faces no persecution for his faith. Tourism is their main source of income, so you can imagine how difficult the past couple of years have been for them. We've rarely felt so warm a welcome. 

Aqaba is a place I'll always enjoy visiting again and again!