A Middle East Expedition

Wadi Rum is a desert valley between sandstone and granite hills. It was the campsite for Lawrence of Arabia during the Arab Revolt of 1917-1918 against the Ottoman Turks.

Jordan began as Canaan, home of the Amorites. Moses wandered through Canaan and crossed the Jordan River to the Promised Land of Israel. One after the other, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arab Muslims, Christian Crusaders, Mongols, and Turks invaded the land. Lawrence of Arabia became a national hero of the Arab tribes when he blew up the Turks' railroad during World War I.

Britain gave control of Transjordan to King Abdullah I, a prince of the Hashemite family of Arabia, after the war. (His brother, Faisal I, was given Iraq.) The king was killed in Jerusalem in 1951, his heir son was declared crazy a year later, and his 18- year- old son, Hussein, took the throne and married an American woman known as Queen Noor.

King Hussein tiptoed through the wars with Israel, the influx of Palestinian refugees, and the democratization of his country. When he died in 1999, his England/USA- educated son became King Abdullah II and married a Palestinian woman, Queen Rania.

Caution! Camel Crossing

Jordan now sits in the middle of Arab- Israeli- American craziness as a friend to all. Jordan is a success story. It has no oil, very little water, and lots of religious fanatics. Nevertheless, the king and his freely- elected parliament are openly building a network of nuclear power plants (with Israel, by the way) that will provide fresh water for drinking and irrigation and refill the shrinking Dead Sea in the process.

King Abdullah II is an adventurer and a film enthusiast. He sky dives, scuba dives, and drives in car rallies. In his eagerness to bring filmmaking to Jordan,

he has acted in Star

 

 

 

Trek movies and loaned

helicopters for Transformer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

movies.

My interest centered on Jordan's historic places, which are many. One of the books that changed my life

Warner rides a virtual camel in the Hotel of One Million Stars. "Hi, ho, Hussein."

was Seven Pillars of Wisdom

 

 

 

(1922) , the autobiography of (T.E.) Lawrence of Arabia. I had to see Wadi Rum, the base of operations for Lawrence during the Arab Revolt of 1917- 1918 and the location of

the movie, Lawrence of Arabia

 

 

 

. The book title was based on a rock formation in Wadi Rum named by Lawrence because it reminded him of a verse

from the Book of Proverbs,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9:1, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars."

Our bus bumped over the Damascus- Aqaba railroad blown up by Lawrence and his Arab rebels to disconnect the Ottoman Turk army from their supplies. A long narrow road led into a desert valley etched into sandstone and granite rock - Wadi Rum, a World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

From the Visitors Center we could see the Seven Pillars and feel the cool March winds blowing off the sand. The incredible beauty of the scenery was shocking. Atop a hill I imagined El Awrence (Arabic pronounciation) sitting on his camel surveying the battlefield. Beneath my feet I observed dung beetles dismantling camel droppings. On the nearby rock walls petroglyphs reminded me that 30,000 years ago, early man invented graffiti.

We drive deep into the desert of Wadi Rum.

Another Jeep ride and we arrived at the Hotel of One Million Stars, supposedly where Lawrence and Arab chiefs sipped tea, ate rancid camel meat, and kept Turkish prisoners of war. His likeness was carved in the wall, modern graffiti to attract tourists.

Our last stop in the park was the Captain's Desert Camp, a rustic, semi- authentic Bedouin camp. As my colleagues drank their fill of water and soft drinks and shopped among the Bedouin arts and crafts, I wandered among the tents arranged in a circle. Some were small with one or two cots, others were huge with rows of tables and pillows. In the center of the circle of tents were tables and chairs, smoking pipes, and cooking pits… but not for us.

This huge Bedouin tent in the Captains Desert Camp may be rented for the night complete with dinner, smoking pipes, and belly dancers.

We boarded our bus and headed back to our ship docked in Aqaba. Along the way we stopped for camels, sheep, and goats crossing the road from irrigated fields full of okra, cucumber, and grapes.

Our guide, Fathi, told us a huge aquifer has been discovered beneath Wadi Rum, enough water for Jordan for 100 years. The problem was getting it out. He said, "Libya's Gaddafi has offered to extract the

water for free if his Green

 

 

 

 

Book were taught in all Jordan's schools. King Abdullah refused and the water is still there… waiting."

Next week: Petra, Another

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonder of Jordan

Our guide, Fathi , explains the history and nature of Wadi Rum. Warner and Linda stand before the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.