We departed Muscat at 6:35 am headed for Doha, Qatar and then it was a quick connection to board our plane to Amman, Jordan. We arrived in Amman shortly after noon and headed to find our rental car. We soon discovered that we were not in Oman or the UAE anymore! Jordan is a very old country and one with not much wealth. The roads were in bad shape and there were significanltly fewer Mercedes and Range Rovers on the road. Overall, our first impression of the country was that it was safe and friendly which really is all that matters.

We drove for about 2.5 hours South of Amman to Wadi Musa which is the town just beside the ancient city and UNESCO Heritage Site of Petra. We got lost as soon as we entered Wadi Musa and ended up in a very small driveway down an incredibly steep laneway. Luckily, a local man was able to let us follow him into town where we found our hotel and got settled for the night. The evenings are much cooler and the wind brings on the chills very quickly here in Jordan when you are used to the 30-40 degree weather in Oman! After a quick dinner of Hummus and Shawarma we headed for bed, we were getting up early to discover Petra!

We awoke at 6:00 and were at the gates of Petra by 7:00 with our tickets in hand. Not many tourists were around, possibly because it was still so cold! We wandered our way past donkeys, horses, and goats along the Siq which winds along a canyon and eventually opens up to the first of the main ruins of Petra, the Treasury. After the treasury we found some steps heading up out of the canyon and decided to walk up them. About 35 minutes later we were greeted by a Bedouin fellow named Mohammed in a leather jacket that took us to his house on top of the canyon. It was breathtaking! We then decided to say goodbye and walked back to the main trail to head around all of the other remains of the city of Petra. At the end of the trail we made the decision to hike up to the Monastery, the largest of the remains of Petra. We were offered many donkey rides up (for a fee) but decided against it. We soon discovered that it might have been wise to ride a donkey...what a hike! After about an hour we made it to the top. It was unbelieveable. We now know what Karl Pilkington was talking about in Idiot Abroad.

It was time to head out of Petra on the trail we came in on. It's a good thing we decided to head out so early in the morning, the crowds were growing larger by the minute. It was an incredible day of incredible sights that we will likely never see again and are all glad we did get to see in our lifetime. Step count on the FitBit was 26, 822 by the time we ended our day tired and dirty in our hotel room. Tomorrow, we are off to Wadi Rum to explore the deserts of Jordan.