After two full days in Petra I’m ready to move on to Wadi Rum.

There’s a bus that goes between these places each morning — it departs Petra at 6:30am and arrives in Wadi Rum around 8am, then it fills up with new passengers to go back to Petra at 8:30am. At $10 one-way, it’s by far the most affordable transportation option. Just ask the front desk at your hostel, motel, or hotel, and they’ll book you on for the next morning. The bus stops at every place in town that has requested a pick-up (…beware that pick-ups start very early, around 5:30, so they have time to get everyone before departing at 6:30).

And I just happen to arrive on the very first day they’re using a new vehicle with spiffy neon lights (which turn off once we get moving). The driver and dude collecting the money are quite excited about it.

Here’s some background info for anyone unfamiliar with this extraordinary landmark — Wadi Rum is a desert in Jordan where they shot the movie Lawrence of Arabia (another flick to add to my growing been-there, must-see list). There are no traditional buildings beyond the Village of Wadi Rum, and zero paved roads — everyone rides in 4WD vehicles over sand or goes the old-fashioned way on camels. Wadi Rum is populated by dozens of Bedouin families who live in tents. Many of these families have their own camping compounds where they host tourists looking to experience Bedouin culture and tour Wadi Rum. The host family picks up their guests at the main entrance, brings luggage to the tents (which have actual beds and electricity; they’re quite nice), and then they take off for a day of exploring Wadi Rum via 4WD. A day-long jeep tour lasts about 8 hours and includes sunset and a home cooked lunch. In the evening, families provide a traditional meal (like chicken and potatoes baked in an underground oven all day long) and a program of Bedouin music and dancing. The next morning, guests either return to the Wadi Rum entrance to depart, or stay another night to see more of the desert and hike or ride camels. More on this entire experience in tomorrow’s post!

I’m staying in Wadi Rum for two days with one of the best camps — Green Desert Wadi Rum. I first hear about them from my friend Melanie in Amman; she stayed here last week and RAVED about the experience. Green Desert has the best reviews on Trip Advisor and when I contact the owner, Nadjah, I hear back almost immediately. My Wadi Rum adventure is set and I can’t wait!

The entrance is sort of a madhouse — various Bedouin families aggressively compete for business. If you’ve already booked a specific camp, just ignore everyone. And if you haven’t booked a camp, well, you’ll have lots of options. In my confirmation email, Nadjah warns that people at the front gate will even tell bus passengers that certain companies don’t exist, have gone out of business, or are in jail (!) to try to steal their business. The bus only stops briefly at the Visitor’s Center gate before moving to the main drop-off area (the Village) where Nadjah greets me and other passengers.

Check out this view…!

We’re waiting for two other girls who will arrive via taxi in 30 minutes. After enjoying a cup of tea, Nadjah points to a historic site very close by so I wander and take photos.

See this paved road below? It ends right there and then everything is sand.

This couple skips the Bedouin experience in lieu of literal car camping. I haven’t seen this set-up before!

When the other girls arrive (Katie and Yasmin from the U.K.), Nadjah takes our luggage to camp while we hop into a jeep with his cousin Hussein, who will be our driver and guide for the day-long Wadi Rum tour. He may be only 20 years old, but he’s extremely knowledgeable about the area, a great driver, and impressive cook.

Our first stop is Lawrence’s Spring, a popular drinking spot for animals. We scramble over rocks to reach the nearly dried-up spring at the top. There’s a pipe that carries water down the hill so that animals have easier access. Again, the views are stellar.

Here’s the watering hole.

Our next stop is Khaz’ali, a slot canyon with ancient markings on the canyon walls.

On our way to the next landmark, I ask Hussein to pull over for a moment because these mammoth stone formations are blowing my mind.

We round a bend and stop at this sand dune for a short hike and photos.

Hussein suggests we climb up barefoot, as it’s easier and the warm sand feels good. I feel like a giddy kid bounding up this dune.

Next we visit more cave markings. Can you make them out? Those long necks and humps indicate camels.

Our next stop is one of my favorites: a hike above Lawrence’s House, pictured below. We park and climb up the path on the left.

A few minutes later we’re rewarded with these views:

We pause for Bedouin tea at the camp next to Lawrence’s House.

Fascinating fact: local Bedouin men are exceptionally good at applying eye liner. A lot of them wear it because it helps protect their eyes from the sun — I’m not sure of the science behind it, but some tourists have said that once it’s applied they don’t have to wear sunglasses the rest of the day. Apparently the eye liner is homemade and includes olive oil, which humidifies and soothes the eye. It’s a variation of kohl, which is a type of historical and homemade cosmetic used around the world.

This guy shows us what he can do:

His handiwork is impressive, right? Check out Yasmin’s eyes:

We get a kick out of the rock formation in the distance — it looks like the Sphinx.

Time for lunch. There are no facilities around; we just pull over and lay down a matt while our guide collects brush to start a fire.

Hussein chops up tomatoes and peppers from the jeep and cooks them while preparing the rest of the meal.

We end up with a veggie stew, tuna, and a creamy dip with tomatoes. It’s simple and delicious. I can’t believe how easily he whipped this up.

We enjoy more Bedouin tea, which we have with every meal plus several other times a day. I LOVE IT. It’s made with a disgusting amount of sugar (just don’t watch them pour it in and sip away obliviously), black tea leaves, and a spice they call marmaraya / maramia, which is technically part of the sage family but it smells like thyme. Hussein has the sugar, water, and black tea leaves on hand, and then he searches for marmaraya leaves growing fresh in the brush.

Here’s what the leaves look like:

After lunch we stop at a few more Wadi Rum highlights, like these odd rock formations.

A shot of our driver and guide extraordinaire:

And my two new friends from the U.K.:

The peek below resembles the Pyramids. Too bad that Sphinx-shaped rock we spotted earlier isn’t close by — next to each other they’d make quite a picture. Both are naturally formed, where as the Pyramids and Sphinx in Cairo took centuries to build!

Later in the afternoon Hussein drops us off in front of a canyon; we’ll walk through and meet him and the jeep on the other side.

We spot these assholes rowdy guys harassing a camel and I get SO ANGRY. The camel is tied to the bush and can’t move while these guys get way too close. The camel snarls and spits to defend itself and the guys move on. I am livid.

Further ahead, myself and the U.K. girls stop to sit in the pink sand. This is something I’d never think to do and I’m so glad they suggest it. We simply sit there for 5-10 minutes, picking up sand and letting it run through our fingers. It’s so relaxing and for the second time today, I feel like a kid again.

We do two other neat things on this day-long tour that I’ll share in other posts this week — we bravely navigate a nearly vertical rock to climb atop a natural land arch and then watch the most impressive desert sunset over Wadi Rum while sipping (what else?) Bedouin tea.

I’ve only been here for 8 hours and I’m already head over heels for Wadi Rum.

Green Desert graciously hosted my two-day visit in exchange for photography services. Opinions are my own and I have no hesitation in saying this Wadi Rum experience is truly fantastic.