Day 6. 25 March. 

I forgot to mention that Hazel’s single supplement could only be honoured in the camp, so we’re back to sharing. I've mastered ear plugs. Hazel was up and out by 7.30am, she said that had made it to the treasury just before 8am! I woke up about 9am and sauntered down to the restaurant for breakfast, where I met Anthea and John. They planned to spend the day back in the site visiting the churches and tombs. I dined on Nesquick (sp?) cereal and coffee. And went back up to my room.  I had some emails that I needed to send and a flight for India that I needed to arrange. I packed my bag and watched Bluestone 42 and watched Fifty Shades of Grey (oh Jamie) on YouTube. I could hear housekeeping getting closer and decided that I should get out of the room sharpish. (sharpish still reminds me of Nisha). I went to a corner shop and bought some water and a Jordian pin to start my collection. (I was going to do sewn on badges but Wilko was already on that). I turned right out of the corner shop and headed towards the cafes lining the road to Petra site. I stopped for tea at Petra Kitchen, which is a cookery school for people to visit and cook traditional Jordanian dishes. Ahmed walked by and joined me (Petra village doesn't have much to it other than the old site). Ahmed was heading for lunch when he met me so I went on with him. As we sat and ordered food Peter walked by. He’d discovered the same thing, Petra village really does not have much to wander around. So Peter had lunch with us too. Ahmed had pizza. I had a local chicken and rice dish. Peter had pretty much a kfc; fried chicken goujons and chips. Terrible.

When I had been in a couple of the souvenir shops I noticed that they all sold henna ink (I don't know if ink is the right word?). One of the shop sellers told me that a lady would come to the shop if wanted and do the henna there and then. I figured where best to get some Bedouin henna than in Petra, surrounded by bedouins. The lady who came was called Nora. That was the extent of her English, which was better than my Arabic, so we pretty much sat in silence for half an hour. 12 JOD, 45minutes later and my first henna experience I leave Nora and head back to the hotel. I grab my iPad and go up to the roof top bar to read.

At 6.30pm we meet all in the lobby and head out for dinner. Ahmed took us to a restaurant really close by and introduced us to ‘the three M’s’ in Jordian cuisine. Magluba- a dish that's served ‘upside down’. It's made of chicken, rice, potato and aubergine and cooked in a large cook-pot, presented in the pot and the pot is turned upside down onto a large serving plate. Mansaf – a lamb, rice, potato and yogurt dish (turns out this is the dish we had with the Sheikh). Musakhan – a pastry dish; onion, aubergine, pepper and chicken encased in a thin savoury pastry. These dishes were all delicious. The lamb dish is usually served at celebrations and the lamb you source shows your wealth apparently. I also tried a local drink of mint and lemon. It smelt of garden, but tasted refreshing- kind of like a mojito without the ice and rum. 

Now it was time for what I had had as my screen saver for the past five months; Petra by Night. Hazel, Peter and I strolled from the restaurant down the hill and around to the right to the entrance of the site. As soon as you turn the corner, passing the the visitor centre, you can see what appears to be lanterns on the left of the walkway positioned 10 feet apart. Upon closer inspection these were paper bags with the tops open but the corners pinched in, similar to the kind of paper used in Chinese lanterns, weighed down with sand and a tall candle placed in side. The lanterns were tucked away high up in the caves and tombs as well. As the 800m horse/human track turned into the siq the lanterns were positioned on each side of the pathway lighting our route. It was beautiful. Some people didn't seem to understand the concept of candle lit and had brought torches with them, granted this was probably to help see the uneven rocks and steps. There was also a guy in a wheelchair manoeuvring himself over the rubble, stones and sand. As before, we turned the final bend and approached the Treasury in candle light. Rows of lanterns positioned in front of the Treasury with parallel lines of rugs along the floor for seating. We’re ushered in like kids coming in for school assembly. ‘Fill all the spaces’…’there's a space here’…’silence please’. The three of us sit cross legged and gaze at our surroundings. Moments later a flute can be heard. You can't see where it's coming from but it's mesmerising. A few minutes into playing the player walks out of the Treasury. Following the flute, another man walks to sit on a stool parked inbetween the candles and starts playing the  rababah (single string Bedouin instrument) and singing. There are moments where you feel as if you have been taken back thousands of years to traditional times in Petra. As he sings men walk along the rows of seated tourists handing out sweet herbal tea. Two little cats weave around and on people vying for attention. The music finishes and there is a small speech, I'm not going to lie, I had no idea what he was talking about. He mentioned a white lady visiting him with wings who claimed to be his mother Petra…I felt like I had gone into a bar and sat alone and an old drunk man has started talking to me about stuff which made no sense. The man finishes and we are left to enjoy Petra by Night. Peter took some great photos which I'm going to steal and Hazel tried in vain to take some photos she was happy with on her iPhone. We headed bank to the hotel and straight to bed.