Keraking! Petriffic!

Amman was utterly amazing; unfortunately I couldn't stay there forever. However, now that I've been to other places, it is likely the cheapest place in Jordan for foreigners, or at least the place where you are least likely to get ripped off, especially for food - A meal at Hashem restaurant is 4 JD for a mix of food sufficient for two, while meals for two in restaurants outside of Amman are usually around 10JD.

One of the best preserved castles in Jordan from biblical times is Kerak, an ancient Crusader castle. When you first walk across the bridge over the moat, all you see above you is a great wall of huge sandstone bricks. Inside the massive castle walls, the level of preservation is not as good. The multi-level castle has had multiple levels fall in, although at least three are still present and accessible. The scale of the structure is amazing, and it is hard for me to imagine how any offending army would manage to overcome the great defences of this structure - it's on top of a steep hill, surrounded by a moat, with 15 metre-high walls. Somehow, Saladin still managed to take the castle from the Crusaders - an amazing feat.

Exploring an ancient castle is extremely fun, especially with no idea where doorways through dark rooms lead to. After a fun afternoon adventuring around the ancient castle, we bedded down for the night. The next morning, it was off to Wadi Musa (the Valley of Moses). This is the town nearest to Petra, the ancient Rose City, carven from rock. This was a highlight of Jordan.

A two-day ticket and a bag full of sunscreen and water accompanied me into the ruins. My thirst to explore was matched only by my thirst for water, of which I ran out of early in the afternoon. While Bec rested on rocks, I climbed every set of stairs I found in the place, sometimes rewarded with an interesting carving, but mostly just leading to more tombs. Strangely, while the work on the outer facade is amazing, the insides of the tombs are very simple - a single chamber carved into the rock, sans adornment. I suppose it makes sense for a tomb, as no-one inside has to look at the structure! I still haven't worked out why the Nebateans, the inhabitants of this great city, insisted on continuing to live in tents as the Bedouins do today, instead of moving into the great structures they carved from the rock. A great respect for the dead must have driven this. After ten hours straight of walking up hills and climbing stairs (the climb to the Monastery, the second most grand structure in Petra aside from the Treasury, was the hardest), we arrived back at the hotel. I had a massive headache, and after drinking a tonne of water, fell asleep immediately. The next day, we were able to peruse the Royal Tombs more closely, which were some of the more grand tombs in Petra. Such a great experience, I am so glad to have had the chance to see the great Petra!

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