Our next big trip was to Petra. This is what I'd been waiting for. A small group of us went the evening before so we could visit by candlelight. There were quite a lot of tourists there that evening, but a couple of us ran ahead of the pack on the 40min walk through the siq so we could get away from the crowds. We were rewarded when we took a seat right in front of the treasury, received some chai and relaxed to some traditional bedouin music played on the rababa and flute. We could see the stars above the sandstone canyon, while the candles reached up just to the top of the facade of the treasury.

Since we were archaeologists, we were allowed free entrance the next morning, but only if we all entered together at 9am. Rather than waste this opportunity, I opted to pay my own way as soon as the gates opened so I could see Petra at sunrise - 6am. Three others were at the gates: two photographers and their guide. We were there so early that when we rounded the last bend in the siq, our first sight of the treasury included a bedou sweeping up some... sand?

I made my way up to the so-called monastary after a quick bite of shrak (bedouin flatbread) and peanut butter. I made it up by around 7:30 and relaxed with a litre of water and a bottle of gatorade. I decided I could make it back to the treasury to catch my friends and explore some more of Petra in company. I definitely preferred it at 6am. By 9am, tourists had poured in and were everywhere. A few of us made our way to the high place of sacrifice, where I had second breakfast (we all lived like hobbits in Jordan). I meandered down the back, discovering a fountain carved from the cliff in the form of a lion, and found my way back to the treasury, where I sat with some of the bedouin and chatted about archaeology. Utterly exhausted, I hobbled back to Wadi Musa for a well-deserved ice-cream and bag of chips to await the bus back to Aqaba.

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