29th October 2012
Everyone were eager to see what awaiting us. After finish packaging, we took our breakfast which was surprisingly ‘very tempting’ 
The fun stories began, when our tourist guide Salim arrived at the camp. Our first spot of exploration will be to a canyon, then to the Little bridge, the Um Frouth Rock Bridge, Lawrence House, the red sand dunes and finally the map.
The cool morning breeze felt great slapping our face when the jeep move. It’s a great view to see the massive mountains mostly in red colours surrounding us. Driving in soft sands which are deep at times makes us bouncing and slippering from our seats from time to time. Though it can be uncomfortable but it’s the fun part where the kids keep on smiling.
Walking to the canyon…
Graffiti are easily seen..wondering what its telling….
Exploring the canyon….
We reach our first destination which was the canyon which i forgot what the name was. We need to walk between the rocks to see some inscription of the Nabataens which was said to be more than 2500 years old. We need to walk in a single form as the path is narrow and a few small pool of water in between. I decided not to continue the journey with my little boy as it was quite tough carrying him to ensure both of us not to fall down. Hence, hubby and the bigger kids continue their exploration which was fun to them. The graffiti's were easily seen even just as we enter the canyon. We cannot stay that long here as we have more places to go within this limited amount of time.
Salem then continue to bring us to our next destination which is the small bridge out of the three bridges available. Climbing is always a fun to us. As given by its name, the rock formation really is a bridge. Climbing up is easy but we can feel the tense as we are in the middle of the bridge as it is quite narrow. ( I can feel the turbulence inside my stomach when i was in the middle of it with Amzar…scary actually thinking if he tried to push me aside or get loose of my hold to him). We took pictures and savour the beauty from top of the bridge, taking the look of the surrounding.
Walking to the bridge….
Up on the bridge…
View from the bridge….
Enough with the pictures, we continue to explore the next bigger bridge which was the Um Frouth Rock Bridge. This one is more challenging to climb as it is a more higher bridge and the rocks were even more steep to climb. Azim even tried to climb but decide to give up due to it steepness and not much place to hold and set your foot on. Afiq gave a hands up and decided to stay down with Amzar.
The must climb bridge…
Yeah…we’ve made it but not me :-(
Lucky Azim,Salem carried him all the way up shoeless…
I made it myself but down here
Still got time for shopping and a good price as well…
After everyone was down, we decided to stop over at a ‘shop’ own by Salem’s friend…a very young and friendly guy indeed. He gave us a special price as Salem asked him to do so. Well..one thing for sure..I get a bracelet for JD2 from him which i paid JD3 when i was in Petra which the guy said it was the special price for me. I believed him as the price tag there shown JD5. Now i only pay JD2! Well…as this will be my token of remembrance from Jordan, i’ll treasure it to instil my memories of my experiences in Jordan 
After some little shopping to support his friends sales, we were then brought to Lawrence house which we were not that fond of. Well…we can’t say it is a house anymore as it was only some blocks of rocks forming a wall with nothing inside them. Wondering whether Lawrence of Arabia really did stay at this place as we find there were much more beautiful places around this area. Maybe..the location is strategic…who knows. Moreover, we are not a fan of Lawrence
Remaining house of Lawrence of Arabia, nothing much...
Our next destination will be the sand dunes and a barbeque lunch for us as well. We have been to red sand dunes in Riyadh already but being in one never bored us as the experience can never be the same from one place to another. The kids starts to climb including Amzar. It looks easy to climb but it is tiring actually as the sand were very soft and the hills are high. The energetic kids never fail to reach the top..alhamdulillah but their mom gave up…haha. Well, not that she couldn’t but she prefer to accompany the smallest guy who keep on rolling down when he climbs up
A very nice spot for resting…nature is always a wonder…
While waiting for Salem to prepare our lunch, we continue to play in the sand until everyone was tired and the day is getting hotter. We decided to take the shade by the cave where Salem has spread a mat for us to sit down. The smell of the bbq was really tempting. The bbq was delicious but the quantity can be added more
Climbing in the soft sand is quite a challenge actually…
How about this??? He thinks the sand is soft just like the carpet at home
Waiting anxiously for our bbq lunch…
After packing and cleaning the area, we continue our exploration to a place called ‘The Map’. The map is actually a block of flat surface stone with a carving of Wadi Rum map or pictures done by the Nabataens or the earlier generation indicating places in the Wadi Rum. Not much information we got from Salem as he doesn’t know much of the map history himself. So, we just took pictures, making our own stories with the kids for fun and continue our exploration.
The map…have to make our own translation
We ride back on the jeep and continue to take the path to the Wadi Rum Village. We supposed to see the Nabataens temple near the village but we didn’t stop there. We just pass through and continue to head to the parking space to get back to our car.
The tour felt short though it takes more than half of our day going through the places. The wonderful views urge you to ask for more. Well, that is the human nature. We wish to come here again some day as it was a memorable experience for us getting to know another wonder of nature and knowing wonderful people.
We left the area with a smiling face, a warm heart and a memorable day that we will cherish in our life. We then continue to head for Karak, another destination in Jordan we plan to visit…Karak Castle and visiting the tombs of the martyr of the Mu’tah war.
It was already near 3 o’clock and we haven’t had any accommodation yet. So, we continue to drive to Karak taking the Kings highway. As we haven’t had our prayer yet, we decided to find any mosque by the side road. Praying in mosque here was also an experience to be remembered. Remember for what? Haha…please do not expect what of your expectation when going to mosque. What we can say is that we wish we do not need to take our wudu’ in the toilet! Wonder how the people in this area can survive with this kind of toilet in a mosque! Surely, not applying what islam taught us about cleanliness! We hope people take responsible about cleanliness as what our religion has taught us. Remember..we are representing our religion. This saddened us very much even when we are in Saudi….the toilet and the praying place is just the same. We hope other mosque are much better than this. Taking it positively, maybe just this one 
We stop by at a shop nearby the mosque to get some snacks as the kids starts to get hungry already. The things here are much cheaper that the shops in Aqaba or Petra. Maybe because it is just a small town and not a tourist destination. We then continue our journey until we reach Karak which was about 3 hours drive from Wadi Rum. It starts to get dark when we reach Karak. We tried to call several hotels listed n the GPS. Alhamdulillah, we able to get a decent hotel, 3 bedded room for JD40.
The rooms was very nice and peaceful. We do not see any people at the hotel. Maybe not many people preferred staying overnight here. As the kids were tired and hungry, we decided to buy dinner and have it in our room.
My husband and I walk to find any restaurant wishing for some rice. Alhamdulillah, we found a restaurant serving local food and biryanis'. We decided to try local rice called mansaf which is white rice with soup of lamb cooked in milk, biryanis and bbq set.
Mansaf and briyani for dinner…
It was a great dinner except for the lamb soup which were not to our taste. The meal overall was a satisfaction..great taste and at a cheap price. A whole lot cheaper than what we has spent for this couple of days.
With a full stomach and a fresh body from the cool shower, we can end our night for today. Let see what have awaited us for tomorrow to cherish our days in Jordan…. –tw&
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