that time I went to Mars

If any of you have seen any movies based in Mars, chances are you saw a movie whose landscape has actually been Wadi Rum.

The Martian (2015) source

Wadi Rum, in southern Jordan, is a vast valley cut from the sandstone hills and home to the Zalabian Bedouin, who were nice enough to take us around this breathtaking landscape. Along with our amazing guide, our gang consisted of myself, two other Aussie girls and a Swedish Doctor - poor guys probably had no idea what we were saying most of the time, as our accents took a sigh of relief and and went back to our normal aussie twang. Either way, we all had incredible fun over the two half days and one night spent in the desert.

Our first task after arriving at Wadi Rum was to climb to "The Arch"... and I mean literally climb. I was not warned about this, which in retrospect was probably for the best, but my poor knees and palms took a beating. In the end it was so worth it. 

Halfway up and already an incredible view

I made it to the Arch! 

In prepping for this trip I read a few basic photography blogs - I have decided to make a more concerted effort regarding taking photos which are more than just me doing a stupid pose and instead try to do the impossible and convey the spectacular which is before my eyes for those who are living vicariously through my travels. They said to consider the framing of the picture and place things in context, which I have tried to do in these next two photos. I also downloaded a trial version of Adobe Lightroom - I always find  my photograph colours are not rich enough (probably need to adjust my settings like the f-stop or something but one step at a time). These photos do no justice to the richness of the landscape, nor the immense silence and cool breeze which created the most beautiful atmosphere. 

framing the picture to give context

Capturing the sunlight

So after climbing back down from the Arch (which was a difficult task in itself), we drove around the desert before stopping to take in the sunset. I took about 50 photos but I have restrained myself chosen just one.

amazing

After sunset we headed to the campsite - the Bedouins have set up tented camps throughout the desert for tourists to stay, and I must say they're rather comfortable.Our camp serviced several guides and their groups - there was about ten tourists at our camp, including two American women who were travelling the Middle East whilst their husbands traveled Australia and two Chinese ladies who took photos of absolutely everything. The tents are made from this thick woolen fabric and they provide really thick blankets so you don't feel the cold. The food tent is chill with pillows around the outside and a big fire in the middle - the guides at night sit around and drink tea and play us music... super relaxing. 

Our amazing tour guide playing the guitar like instrument - he was a great singer too

After dinner we went out and viewed the stars and I attempted to take some star photographs... again, these photos do no justice to just how amazing and awestruck it all was, but they're not too bad for my first attempts. I definitely need to invest in a small lightweight tripod if I am going to take more as these pics were taken with a makeshift rock stand (haha).

The next day I was told we were going to walk up a mountain; again  I am glad I was not told the true extent of the climb as I am such a lazy butt but once I was up the top it was all worth it. We climbed the tallest mountain in Wadi Rum, which is on the southern border of Jordan - we all received messages welcoming us to Saudi Arabia! 

Tada!

My trusty Dunlop volleys overlooking Saudi Arabia

I think the worst part of the mountain climb was actually going back down - there were several times where I slid down and/or my knees gave way but thank goodness there was no injuries sustained and we ate well deserved chocolate bars once we reached the bottom. 

The drive back to the Wadi Rum township was amazing - endless red sand with huge slabs of rock in various shapes; some shaped to look like humans, others like a pyramid. 

So that was my weekend in Wadi Rum. Hope you enjoyed my trip, am planning to head to Petra next month inshallah.