Petra

The Treasury greets one into the whole site, so the magic lasts for the whole day.

The Treasury - A testimony to the wealth of the Nabateans and also of the cultural power of the Ancient Greeks.

In the portico looking towards the siq.

Compared to the rest of the other surviving buildings, the Treasury followed the Greek tradition closest - the proportions and the sculptures were almost perfect.

The native Nabatean style. Not sure whether these are dwellings or small tombs.

The Roman street.

The Lion Tomb.

The monastery. It took me an hour or so to climb the hill to get here but when I saw this, it felt great.

In the horizon - the Negev desert of Israel. I wish I can fly!

No visit to Jordan is going to be complete without Petra. This ancient city definitely lived up to the hype. Everyone who's been raved about it so much so it made me a little bit nervous about whether it really is as good as it sounds. The Malay phrase "Indah khabar dari rupa" (Sounds better than it looks) kept on playing on my mind, readying me for a disappointment. But of course it didn't disappoint. This place is so magical. It's literally a whole city built into canyons and rock formations. The crowds of tourists and the souvenir stalls (in the style of traditional Bedouin tent) didn't bother me either, it's great to have a lot of people and tents around. It made Petra seemed like a real living city.

Most people here stayed more than a day to explore the whole area (it's massive). The first day doing the essentials, the following days for hiking off the beaten tracks. There was so much to see there, to take it all in on one day is physically impossible. I only did the essentials because I only had one day there but even then it took me 12 hours. It was so tiring, few hours of that was resting at the viewpoints and cafes dotted around the site.

When I visit Jordan again, I'd definitely come back to Petra. It's not like going to the Colosseum in Rome (only do it once in a lifetime!). Petra can be explored as two things - one as a mystical dead city, another as a great hiking area. Both ways will provide inexhaustible number of sights and attractions. My next visit to Petra would be to explore the more remote parts of the site, including the Tomb of Aaron, claimed as the location of the Prophet Haroun's grave and the much talked-about Little Petra.