The bus took me to Petra right after I touched down in Amman for the first time, on 14 Sept 2013. I was not alone, though. I was joined by my mother and there were about 40 of us or so from Malaysia. We were on a 14-day pilgrimage tour, which covers Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.
What I see on my way to Petra’s most elaborate ruin in September 2013
The giant red mountains and vast mausoleums of a departed race have nothing in common with modern civilization, and ask nothing of it except to be appreciated at their true value – as one of the greatest wonders ever wrought by Nature and Man. I have been to many amazing places and seen many amazing wonders. But nothing is comparable to standing in front of a mind blowing ancient architecture dated back to the first century AD. Every place has its own unique beauty that one cannot compare and the Al-Khazneh, is breathtaking – a word that came to mind the moment the Treasury Building, as they called in English, was revealed to me as I reached the end of the Siq.
The border immigration, I have to say is the worst. I guess it happens everywhere in the world when you have thousands of people crossing border to another county by road and system gets disorganised as a result of ground staff, who get tips from fellow border crossers, not following rules. I would not know about other places but I had to say border crossing from Jordan to Israel was terrible. You would not understand unless you had crossed over to Israel (or to other countries) by road.
a.geraldine 