Reminiscence from the Levant: Part Seventeen – Night in Petra.
A few kilometers before the magical lost city of Petra is a Bedouin village of Wadi Moussa. It used to be small… but now the deluge of Tourists has changed its complexion… it has become one big market place… where everybody is into profiteering. It’s a pity that all the great monuments suffer from this malice…. Its even worse that money, a human invention, has come to command such an authority over humans… we fear for the day when human invented machines will take over… when a SKYNET from Terminator will happen or when a Matrix will happen… and are innocently oblivious that one of our inventions has already taken over.
We all came by the same buses and yet alighted at different stops… as per our requirements of the worldly comforts… the Germans went all the way to a 5-star hotel, the Canadian settled for a 3-star… and I headed straight for a backpackers joint…. It was a conscious decision. I had read so much about sleeping atop a roof in Jordan; I just wanted to enjoy this experience…. In retrospect, I did a right thing… hadn’t I done that, I wouldn’t have met a wonderful Romanian guy Zoltein, who reminded me of my long lost Spanish friend Xavier…. I think this is the saddest part of being a traveler, you meet people who you would love to be friends with, forever… and then you lose them in the dunes of time.
Friends are like love, for which Lord Tennyson said –'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all...
I chose a place called Valentine Inn… located off the main road… near, what I think was called Tehreer Square. I rented a bed at the rooftop… for the sake of experience… in a way it was interesting… Last night, I was in a 3-star hotel… paying right through my nose and today I was barely living. Its fun to be an independent traveler, making eccentric decisions and being answerable to no one. The place was nice… you could see the majestic hills of Petra at a distance, and the sun setting beyond them. The sunset had to be seen to be believed.
However the atmosphere in the Inn was far from laid back, it was managed under the watchful eyes of an Italian lady Valentine, who met the Bedouin guy Atef in Turkey and then as they say the rest was history. Atef was a relaxed, happy-go-lucky kind of a person… but Valentine kept keen eyes on the account books and IOUs, bordering being nagging. So I would be lying if I said that I had a much laid back stay at the place… given a choice, I will try another place next time. Anyway, it was an experience.
I was keen to see Petra by night… Atef told me that I am lucky because it's not everyday that Petra night tour is organized during the off-season times like these. He told me that during the season, tickets of Petra by night are booked weeks in advance, if not months… and it is very hard to do it.
A ticket of 16 Jordanian Dinar (about 950 Rupees), I wondered it if was worth spending that much…. Atef told me something very sensible… if I had come all this way to see Petra, I might as well spend a few dollars more… lest I may regret later in life… he said that for some Petra by night is magical, and for some it is boringly clichéd… but I can decide only after having seen it.
After having a sumptuous dinner at the Inn, I proceeded for Petra by night tour… where I again met the Canadian guy, who was with me on the bus.
Petra by night… is a unique experiment… though lacks finesse and yet is a must to be experienced. The magic of this tour is lost in the cacophony of numbers… of being herded together with 200 odd people… (Some of them Italians who would like to chat at the top of the voice, amidst the forlorn wonder and the night- he, he)
The tour takes you along the path to the Siq (a dramatic gorge that leads you to Khazana, the most celebrated monument in entire Petra) and then you walk through the Siq to reach Khazana where people gather to be mesmerized by haunting Bedouin music. This entire path is lit with candles…
It is often advisable to walk at the rear, behind the cacophony… to relish the magic of Petra by night. Walking quietly among the monuments that have created wonderment beyond words for humans… an entire civilization of very advanced knowledge existed here and created a city, so ahead of times… that we often rub our eyes in disbelief. The civilization of Nabateans, who were a traders by profession and had developed water harvesting, chemical and metallurgical technologies so much ahead of times, that it took us about 1000 years to reach the same level of technical excellence once their civilization and knowledge was lost.
From a distance I could see the town of Wadi Moussa glittering like a plateau of lights… and ahead a road paved with candles. Quietly I proceeded. After a few steps, I started seeing small monuments carved out of rocks… heralding the arrival of the Rose City of Petra… the light from the candles were not bright enough to see and relish these small monuments… and it took me another visit next morning to relish their beauty… a few steps more I was at Siq…
Siq is magical… a narrow gorge that takes you to the Khazana… it was actually the backside of the city of Petra… used for religious and ceremonial purposes… the path way meanders and makes you meander with it… you start wondering after a while, would it ever end… you look up you see a narrow strip of silver-black sky with a few stars twinkling… ahead a pathway of candles… that ends with a sharp turn of the pathway… sideways you see the chiseled walls depicting the engineering marvels of an ancient civilization… (I have seen many other such monuments like Ajanta and Ellora… but they were much later in the timeline… one can only relish Petra if he marvels its timelessness)
And then you see the first sight of the most impressive Khazana… I whispered to myself… you are about to see the place for which you have been wandering for the last few days… I closed my eyes and walked a few steps more and then opened them again… I was standing in front of a monument that I have seen many a times in the last few years in pictures and had heard so much about.
We were made to sit on the floor, in front of the Khazana… before us was a carpet of candles… its light was providing a view enough of the Khazana… the atmosphere was mesmerizing, with a backdrop of haunting Bedouin music… on Rabab and Flute.
It was hard deciding whether to close one's eyes and relish the music or to open the eyes and relish the sight… if you have this predicament… you know you are blessed. I was blessed to have seen an epitome of human endeavour.
That night after the tour I walked 3 kilometers to my hotel… dazed and refreshed.
We all came by the same buses and yet alighted at different stops… as per our requirements of the worldly comforts… the Germans went all the way to a 5-star hotel, the Canadian settled for a 3-star… and I headed straight for a backpackers joint…. It was a conscious decision. I had read so much about sleeping atop a roof in Jordan; I just wanted to enjoy this experience…. In retrospect, I did a right thing… hadn’t I done that, I wouldn’t have met a wonderful Romanian guy Zoltein, who reminded me of my long lost Spanish friend Xavier…. I think this is the saddest part of being a traveler, you meet people who you would love to be friends with, forever… and then you lose them in the dunes of time.
Friends are like love, for which Lord Tennyson said –'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all...
I chose a place called Valentine Inn… located off the main road… near, what I think was called Tehreer Square. I rented a bed at the rooftop… for the sake of experience… in a way it was interesting… Last night, I was in a 3-star hotel… paying right through my nose and today I was barely living. Its fun to be an independent traveler, making eccentric decisions and being answerable to no one. The place was nice… you could see the majestic hills of Petra at a distance, and the sun setting beyond them. The sunset had to be seen to be believed.
However the atmosphere in the Inn was far from laid back, it was managed under the watchful eyes of an Italian lady Valentine, who met the Bedouin guy Atef in Turkey and then as they say the rest was history. Atef was a relaxed, happy-go-lucky kind of a person… but Valentine kept keen eyes on the account books and IOUs, bordering being nagging. So I would be lying if I said that I had a much laid back stay at the place… given a choice, I will try another place next time. Anyway, it was an experience.
I was keen to see Petra by night… Atef told me that I am lucky because it's not everyday that Petra night tour is organized during the off-season times like these. He told me that during the season, tickets of Petra by night are booked weeks in advance, if not months… and it is very hard to do it.
A ticket of 16 Jordanian Dinar (about 950 Rupees), I wondered it if was worth spending that much…. Atef told me something very sensible… if I had come all this way to see Petra, I might as well spend a few dollars more… lest I may regret later in life… he said that for some Petra by night is magical, and for some it is boringly clichéd… but I can decide only after having seen it.
After having a sumptuous dinner at the Inn, I proceeded for Petra by night tour… where I again met the Canadian guy, who was with me on the bus.
Petra by night… is a unique experiment… though lacks finesse and yet is a must to be experienced. The magic of this tour is lost in the cacophony of numbers… of being herded together with 200 odd people… (Some of them Italians who would like to chat at the top of the voice, amidst the forlorn wonder and the night- he, he)
The tour takes you along the path to the Siq (a dramatic gorge that leads you to Khazana, the most celebrated monument in entire Petra) and then you walk through the Siq to reach Khazana where people gather to be mesmerized by haunting Bedouin music. This entire path is lit with candles…
It is often advisable to walk at the rear, behind the cacophony… to relish the magic of Petra by night. Walking quietly among the monuments that have created wonderment beyond words for humans… an entire civilization of very advanced knowledge existed here and created a city, so ahead of times… that we often rub our eyes in disbelief. The civilization of Nabateans, who were a traders by profession and had developed water harvesting, chemical and metallurgical technologies so much ahead of times, that it took us about 1000 years to reach the same level of technical excellence once their civilization and knowledge was lost.
From a distance I could see the town of Wadi Moussa glittering like a plateau of lights… and ahead a road paved with candles. Quietly I proceeded. After a few steps, I started seeing small monuments carved out of rocks… heralding the arrival of the Rose City of Petra… the light from the candles were not bright enough to see and relish these small monuments… and it took me another visit next morning to relish their beauty… a few steps more I was at Siq…
Siq is magical… a narrow gorge that takes you to the Khazana… it was actually the backside of the city of Petra… used for religious and ceremonial purposes… the path way meanders and makes you meander with it… you start wondering after a while, would it ever end… you look up you see a narrow strip of silver-black sky with a few stars twinkling… ahead a pathway of candles… that ends with a sharp turn of the pathway… sideways you see the chiseled walls depicting the engineering marvels of an ancient civilization… (I have seen many other such monuments like Ajanta and Ellora… but they were much later in the timeline… one can only relish Petra if he marvels its timelessness)
And then you see the first sight of the most impressive Khazana… I whispered to myself… you are about to see the place for which you have been wandering for the last few days… I closed my eyes and walked a few steps more and then opened them again… I was standing in front of a monument that I have seen many a times in the last few years in pictures and had heard so much about.
We were made to sit on the floor, in front of the Khazana… before us was a carpet of candles… its light was providing a view enough of the Khazana… the atmosphere was mesmerizing, with a backdrop of haunting Bedouin music… on Rabab and Flute.
It was hard deciding whether to close one's eyes and relish the music or to open the eyes and relish the sight… if you have this predicament… you know you are blessed. I was blessed to have seen an epitome of human endeavour.
That night after the tour I walked 3 kilometers to my hotel… dazed and refreshed.
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