We slept so well last night here at Wadi Rum. Under a canvas tent in the desert. I woke  early to the Muslim call to prayer, roosters and barking dogs from a nearby small Bedouin settlement and a train chugging along. Sounds float a long way through the desert air. Trains in Jordan aren’t for passengers but for carrying phosphate which is mined and is Jordan’s main export.

Jordan has a population of 6 million and a refugee population of 4 million. From nearby Syria and Iraq. Australia does not have a refugee problem at all. I’m thinking that Jordan has a bigger issue than we do!

Wadi means valley. And Rum means mountains. This area is full of both.  Wadi Rum. It’s probably very similar country to where Moses and the people of Israel travelled through and lived in for so long.  The Edom mountains are nearby. Being here makes the Moses and Israelite story very real and powerful.

I’m not sure why when I think of the phrase “desert experience” my default thoughts are negative. Both physically and metaphorically. Dry. Dessicated. Lonely. Barren. Desert experiences are often like that. But not always. The desert is also a powerfully positive time. Remember Moses and the burning bush. Jesus’s experiences in the desert. It can be strangely strangely beautiful. Strengthening. Awakening.

I went for a walk before breakfast. Up to the top of a nearby shale covered hill and down the other side. When I was at the top I looked down to the other side and saw down below two camels, with a man riding one of them. It was so quiet I could hear the padding sound of the camel’s feet as they touched the sand.

It’s spring here. And in crevices and cracks I discovered pretty little desert wildflowers.

After breakfast in the open dining area, Philip and I and a Korean man went for a ride in the desert on the back of a 4 wheel drive ute. This area has been used for lots of movies – Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, The Martian. Our driver would stop every now and then. We climbed to the top of a yellow shifting sand dune. The driver said the wind constantly moves the sand dunes. This desert seems more barren than the Nullarbor or Arizona deserts that I’ve seen.

The mountains are high and sculptured from centuries of weather – the rain and the wind. We stopped at several places. At one place we were invited to give a yell. Philip did his coo-ee call and it echoed over and over as the coo-ee bounced around the mountain walls.

We went into a small cave at the bottom of one mountain that had once been used as a storage cave for spices, salt and other goods. Philip couldn’t go in very far as the roof was too low.

Sometimes we would just sit still in the shade of some rocks.  The desert was completely silent except for the sighing of the wind. No other sounds. Just a few busy ants or beetles scurrying around. And in the far distance you would often see camels. It was a meditative and reflective calming silence to sit in. Very easy to pray there.

The Korean man didn’t have a lot of English. And we had no Korean. But he expressed how much he enjoyed the space and the silence. He said in Korea it is just so crowded with so many people and it is so hard to find silence.

Then time to pack up and head off again. We were driven to the town of Aqaba, the Jordanian city on the Red Sea. From here you can see Egypt and Syria. And Saudi Arabia is not far away either. We walked down to the Red Sea where there’s some tourist beaches. In Australia we are so spoiled for beaches, that it didn’t impress us. But there were some people splashing around very happily. Even very big boys had swimming rings on as they swam. But I splashed my hands in the Red Sea to say that I had!

Had a great lunch at a fish cafe there and then it was off again to the Jordan/Israeli border. Lots of paperwork and lines again, and walking down the no-man’s land strip 200 metres long with high wire fences on either side of you.

But our booked driver on the Israeli side never turned up. The office we booked it through weren’t answering their phone. After waiting a long time in the hot sun we got a taxi to the nearby town of Eilat to their little airport. We were supposed to have a tour of this little town which is the Israeli beach town on the Red Sea. But as he never turned up, we haven’t had it. A pain really because it was prepaid. But if that’s the worse that happens this holiday we’ll be all right!

I went for a walk and found a museum. But it was closed. We’re making up that’s because of the Passover holiday. Passover is today. We’re sitting in a McDonalds in a nearby shopping mall. Half the shops are shut. But McDonalds isn’t. It means I can get a blog written to you before we walk back to the airport. There’s a nearby beach on the Red Sea. It’s very busy with people.

We’re flying back to Jerusalem tonight. My personal – and very limited – perspective is that outside of Jerusalem there doesn’t seem a lot of interest in practising the Jewish religion. That’s also from talking to people too.  It’s probably like Australia and the celebration of Christmas and Easter. But I’m making all of this up!