Study Tour - Day Five

For the first time in the tour, we are not travelling today! Instead, we were spending the day in Petra, hiking along the natural path carved through the mountains, heading toward the famous Treasury building carved into a mountain side in Petra. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it is the building they enter where Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, completes the trials and finds the old knight guarding the King's Chalice.

I was really excited about heading out on the day trip, not only to see the Treasury building, but to get a greater feel for the land and conditions that the Israelites might have had to battle during their journey through the wilderness. On top of this, today we would be riding horses through part of the journey, and I have never had the opportunity to ride one, so that was also an exciting prospect.

Last night I noticed a red mark on my left foot, by the time I had finished dinner the red mark had spread across the top of my foot and had swollen quite a bit. I went to see someone in ur tour party that used to be a nurse, and she was quite shocked. I started a course of antibiotics last night, and have to apply hydrocortisone cream to the affected area three times a day. On top of this, she advised me to keep my foot up, because she suspected it was cellulitis.

Based on this recommendation, I was not allowed to take part in the activities for the day and had to remain at the hotel, while most others went to the trail. Needless to say, I was devastated by the fact that I was not given the choice of whether I wanted to go along or not. Rather, I was told I could not go. My frustration and disappointment got the better of me, and I threw my water bottle at the ground and sat on the stairs away from the rest of the group.

A few others stayed behind due to illness, so I had company for part of the day, and alone time for other parts. As the group left, I had time to calm down and reflect on the events of the morning with another that stayed. While he also wanted to go, it was clear that he wouldn't have made the journey, which he acknowledged. I have to say, it was nice not to be rushing around all over the place in the scorching hot sun for a change. The time to rest was probably much needed, and afforded me the opportunity to speak to my son in Adelaide over Skype, which we hadn't been able to do yet. So in one way, I felt lucky to have had the opportunity to sit and relax, and speak to my family, but in another way I felt that I had been removed of my ability to decide what I can and can't do, within the normal boundaries of the trip.

Reflecting throughout the day on this, I recalled Matt Gray's talk on pilgrimage, and if you go back to the third day with our trip on the ferry from Egypt to Jordan you will see that I have spoken about this before. In his talk, he spoke of pilgrims undergoing purgation. Sometimes this is voluntary, and at other times it is forced upon you. On the ferry trip we had our passports taken, this was not voluntary. Likewise, today, I had my ability to decide taken away. On reflection, my ability to decide and my insistence that I would be able to cope with the pain and suffering, most likely equates to pride. In my conversations, my questions centred around the question of whether I was being stripped of my pride as part of my pilgrimage purgation.

Interestingly, my anger and disappointment abated as I reflected on this question, and talked it through with others. Instead, I felt calm and peaceful while I spent time either in solitude or with other members of our touring party that stayed behind.

The most disappointing part of the day was finding out that lunch started at 3pm. While I was excited to find out it was A La Carte, it meant having to hand over money for a meal that was supposed to be provided as part of the trip, and with money having been spent on a doctor and medication that we weren't expecting to have to spend, I wasn't happy with spending money I didn't really have for such a late lunch when dinner was just a few short hours away.

The biggest thing I got from today was the community and friendship that was built by spending time with other touring members that were not able to traverse the arduous path of Petra. In the end, being stripped of control over decisions about whether I participate or not was a blessing, and not a curse.

In some ways, this was confirmed when the first group returned from Petra. While they had a great lunch that I was envious of, the sun was unforgiving and the terrain was tougher than expected. However, when the second group returned roughly an hour or so later, I found out that they had climbed to a "high place", as described in the Old Testament. As I have been studying Amos these last few months, this was a significant find, and something I would have really liked to have been a part of. While I was envious that they had visited a high place, I still felt blessed to have been able to rest and enjoy the company of a few others in relative comfort, after a number of very long days.

Study Tour - Day Four

Today, we really began our journey through Jordan. We would be travelling North along the King's Highway from Aqaba, the major port of Jordan, to Petra, made famous by the Treasury building carved into the side of a mountain, which appears in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. On our way, we would be stopping at another famous movie location, Wadi Rum. This stop appeared in Lawrence of Arabia, and was a pivotal point in the story.

The drive itself was relatively uneventful, but we were afforded the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the landscape and terrain as we went. It was harsh, rocky, sandy terrain, almost completely void of any vegetation. Interestingly, our tour guide, Roberto, mentioned at various times that it was quite fertile land. I was quite confused by his comments, as it looked more like a barren wasteland than fertile ground. Even coming from a country as dry as Australia, it looked very dry. Roberto did make the comment, however, that any vegetation we did see was being watered by underground springs that flow beneath the harsh looking surface.

Eventually, we arrived at our first checkpoint of the day, Wadi Rum. Here we would be experiencing the desert first hand, although we were lucky enough not to have to walk across, or even ride on camel back. Rather, we rode in groups of six in the back of 4WD utes, flimsily fitted with makeshift shade from blankets tied above a rickety rollbar. Without a great deal of suspension, and sitting on the side of the ute tray, although on thin cushions, we felt each bump on the sandy track as we rode across the Wadi Rum.

I took the opportunity, prior to getting on the 4WD to purchase a Jordanian Bedouin headdress to help cover my neck and keep me protected from the sun in such harsh conditions. Our tour guide fitted it for me, and after a group photo we were away.

Our first stop on the Wadi Rum was near a Bedouin tent, which we learned always faces East, that offered us piping hot mint tea and some kind of amber perfume as a display of hospitality. Interestingly, this tent serves as more of a bazaar for the tourists that come by to see the real reason we stopped in this location. Two items of significance were mentioned. The first was the trough that appears in Lawrence of Arabia where Lawrence's Bedouin guide is shot and killed for drawing water from the trough. The second was a nearby rock that still carries the carvings from ancient times, easily showing us how text was written and how the reader could determine the start and end of each word. We learned that words were carved in any direction, and were identifiable by a C with a dot in the centre at each end, with the opening facing the word.

From this tent, we then travelled further across the desert to a crevice in the side of a mountain that is the site of more carvings in the stone. Some of these carvings were in Arabic, which dates them as being carved as late as the 8th or 9th century, whereas the other carvings in the stone potentially date back to the time of Moses. In fact, one suggestion was that Moses found shelter in the crevice we were in, and used it as a refuge to find solitude and time to meet with the Elders.

It was getting very hot in the sun on the Wadi Rum, and the next stop allowed us a moment of respite inside a Bedouin tent where we were able to sit or recline while we enjoyed their hospitality. Here we learned more about the hospitality and customs of the Bedouins, the way the tent is divided into male and female sections, and their willingness to provide temporary refuge to anyone in need.

After a brief rest, we travelled back toward a nearby village that we passed on our way to the Wadi Rum 4WD experience for lunch. Some of us commented on the fact that we were on the back of a 4WD, and glad not to be walking or riding a camel. We reflected momentarily on the journey the Israelites might have taken walking through the same desert that we were now crossing. In the heat of the day, we wondered about water and other supplies, and how they might have travelled through the terrain.

At this point, lunch was a welcome relief for most of us, although some of us were still feeling the effects of changes in diet and water, and chose not to partake too heavily. The village we went back to was constructed by the government to house the Bedouin people, but they are a nomadic people and prefer to live in their tents in the desert. The houses in the village were very rundown, and I imagine would be incredibly hot, particularly during the day. It is little wonder that the Bedouin people, who are used to living in tents, which provide shade and allow a cool breeze to flow through, chose not to completely settle in the village.

Thankfully, after lunch we boarded the bus, which met us at the village took us on the journey to our final destination for the day, Petra.

Study Tour - Day Three

Once again, we got little to no sleep before making our way to the mountain where Moses was given the Ten Commandments, Mount Sinai. With most of us barely awake, we took the short bus ride to the bottom of the mountain and met our Bedouin guide that would take us to the top. We later heard that he had done this journey over 6,000 times!

At 1am, we began our trek from the bus park, up the road that we couldn't see, toward the famous St. Catherine's Monastery. It was far too dark to see anything but the silhouette of the building, but we got an opportunity to take a peek inside when we came back down. I realised just how unfit I really am before we even made it to our first checkpoint, the Monastery. This was also called "Camel Station 1", where those that elected to ride a camel up the mountain for most of the journey were able to purchase a ride. Unfortunately for many that chose that route, they ended up in a world of pain. The camels are pretty unforgiving, and forced many to stretch their legs wider than they were used to, not to mention the tiny saddles meant that the men, in particular, were in for a barrage on their nether-regions! Some chose to get off part way up the mountain because it was simply too painful.

On the other hand, I hiked my way up the mountainside with the rest of the group. We seemed to gather in packs, encouraging each other as we ascended the 2,285m high peak. We came across what were called "coffee shops" along the way, but they were no more than shelters that appeared to have been erected by the Bedouins to offer beverages to tourists that came to climb the mountain. Unfortunately, even though we chose not to ride the camels, we couldn't escape the overwhelming stench that followed them as these stops served as pseudo-depots for camel vendors offering a ride to weary climbers. At times, it seemed a cruel joke on those climbers feeling the hurt that comes with the climb.

On this climb, I was able to grasp a new appreciation for what Moses, not at age 31 like me but in his 80s, endured in the Exodus narrative, not once, but many times! In fact, at the top of the mountain, we gathered as a group and read from Exodus 19, 20, and 33, and realised just how many times it says that Moses climbed the mountain. At that point, the commitment shown by Moses to leading his people was seen with new clarity by everyone that had just endured the climb.

The final portion of the climb was a communal experience for me, as I worked wth some of those in the group that were struggling to continue up the mountain, encouraging them to continue on. Sometimes I tried to point out the path of least resistance, but I honestly think that just being with them was encouragement enough for them to power on through the immense pain and push their way to the top, just in time to see the Sun rise over the mountains. It was glorious. In the word of John Mayer, "You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes. It brought me back to life."

After a time of prayer together, we took the opportunity to take a few snaps atop the peak by the Chapel and Mosque erected there, and began our descent. The difficult trek up the mountain made the already tricky descent quite dangerous. A few slipped and fell, but were usually quickly helped up or caught before falling all the way to the ground. Unfortunately, two of those that I had been helping were among those that fell, one of whom I had been standing alongside just seconds earlier and fell when I turned to ask another hiker how they were travelling. On top of this, the sun was now beating down on those of us that had rugged up for the cold night and high altitude. The beanie I took, but did not wear, would have been happily traded for a wide-brim hat.

At the bottom of the mountain, we regrouped and returned to our hotel to shower, eat breakfast, and prepare for our ferry ride across the Gulf of Aqaba to Jordan from Nuweiba. The ferry was an experience for all of us. It forced us to give up something, something that you do not ever surrender as a traveller, something that is your very lifeblood when you are overseas. We boarded the ferry, and after finding seats and settling in for the journey North, we were informed that we had to surrender our passports to people that didn't speak English, couldn't give us any information on when, or even if, we might get them back, and without a tour guide to help us communicate, we were somewhat stranded on a boat in a foreign country without our most important possession.

Before we came, Matt Gray spoke about pilgrimage and how different people approach it, but one of the key points he made during his talk was about how pilgrims are often forced to give up something, either by choice or by necessity. In fact, Matt spoke primarily of this in terms of choice, but we found out first hand that sometimes God just says that we need to lose something, and then He takes it from us to see how we will respond. It was confusing, frustrating, and terrifying, but we all eventually came through the other side fundamentally trusting that things would work out.

After the dust had settled from the ordeal of having our passports taken from us, we went in search of toilets. After searching the whole boat, finally we found the toilet services for men. I walked in to see men washing their feet in what looked like a trough, and then drinking the same water. I think it was at this point that I was suddenly met with the foul stench that would haunt us all for the rest of the trip on the Gulf. The odour was ghastly, and made my stomach lurch. I held my breath, and briskly made my way to the nearest available cubicle so I could relieve myself. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold my breath as long as I needed to, and I had to cover my face with the two t-shirts I was wearing, and then cup my hands over both my mouth and nose in an attempt to filter the malodour from the air so that it was bearable.

While this smell was restricted to just the toilet before we left the dock at Nuweiba, it spread throughout the adjacent area over the course of the journey, and each time someone came through the doors to the seating cabin, the odour would waft through the cabin with reckless abandon. Those that were already feeling ill had to endure this revolting scent, and fight off the urge to vomit. Perhaps we were learning something new through this experience. For me, the sanitised world of Australia with standards around clean drinking water and hygiene were forced to encounter an entirely different world, and perhaps this world was more like the world that Jesus lived in. Maybe the communal aspect of washing and drinking, the odours and mannerisms, were common place for him.

Finally, after deciding to use the trip as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep, which doubled as an attempt to avoid much of the surrounding turmoil, we drew near to Jordan, eventually docking at the port in Aqaba. Again, this process was one of trust and vulnerability. One of the tour party managed to find someone on the boat that could speak English, and was able to draw some of the details out from him about how the border crossing works on these ferries. While we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited to disembark, we were feeling very isolated and uncertain about how things would transpire. Fortunately, after collecting our luggage from the open shipping container that just anybody could have gone through if they so desired, we proceeded off the boat and onto the dry land of Jordan, where we were met by our next tour guide. Thankfully, he was able to guide us through the next steps of the border crossing, and in no time we were on the bus and on our way to our new home for the night.

We were forcibly stripped of our identity, vulnerable to those with power, in a foreign land with almost no one to help us, and on the other side, everything was ok. We were forced to trust, hope, pray, and rely on not our own understanding or knowledge or strength, but in others to help us, and the Spirit to protect and watch over us. Perhaps this was a small glimpse of what Jesus was doing when He was in the desert for 40 days, that the Israelites weren't able to do for their 40 years in the wilderness.

Study Tour - Day Two

The second day of the study tour saw us travel just a stone's throw from our hotel to the Great Pyramid of Giza. We boarded our bus, albeit a little later than we had hoped, and braved the horrendous Cairo traffic once again, in order to see the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.

When we arrived, I think we were all in awe of just how grand the three remaining pyramids really are. The largest, the Great Pyramid of Giza, has lost its outer casing of polished stone, but is still an intimidating site. With the second pyramid still having the outer casing at the top, we were able to visualise what they might have looked like in all their glory, some 4,500 years ago! To help, some of us collected samples of white limestone from the ground and poured water over them and mock polished them to get a handle on how they might have glistened in the sun in their prime. No wonder the people worshiped the Pharaohs as gods. The sight of a gem almost 150m high and 230m wide glistening in the sun would have been very convincing! The fact that these pyramids are still standing today is a testament to the genius of the Ancient Egyptians. Sadly, that genius seems to have abandoned them in the modern era, most likely due to corrupt leadership.

One thing that struck me during this experience that I had never really considered before, in spite of knowing the timelines since I was a young boy, is that most of the Bible characters that we know and love would have seen or known of the pyramids. Abraham would have seen them when he went to Egypt, Jesus would have seen them as a child in Egypt, and Moses would have grown up with them in his backyard. This never occurred to me. In fact, given their majestic presence, it is inspiring to think that Abraham never considered the Pharaoh to be anything more than a man, and Moses bringing the people out of Egypt was not intimidated or corrupted by the perceived power they had.

This makes me consider something that our tour guide, Moe, said on the first day at the museum. He spoke of three distinct eras, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. These eras were each separated by 100 years of, what he called, chaos. The interesting thing is that Abraham appears in Egypt roughly around the time of the First Intermediate Period, between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. The question was raised about whether Abraham might have had some influence in this period coming about. For me, I have known these timelines for some 25 years or so, but I never connected the dots. It was something of a revelation for me, that the people of the Bible and the history of the rest of the Ancient World overlap. How is it that it took me this long to realise something so obvious?

After our visit to the Pyramids, we began our long and arduous journey across the Eastern Desert toward the Suez Canal and beyond to Mount Sinai. Traversing the long road to Sinai, it opened my eyes to the obstacles the Israelites had to overcome as they fled Egypt during the Exodus. The harsh terrain with almost no vegetation, the rocky mountains, the merciless sun beating down, and no water anywhere in sight, I began to understand why they might have been complaining. They had just come from the most fertile land in all of Egypt, the land of Goshen in the Nile Delta, given to Joseph by Pharaoh. To have to trek across the sand of the desert, I can see how they might have felt that Moses had saved them from one form of oppression, only to lead them directly into another. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, so to speak.

I'm not sure anyone on this trip will ever consider the Israelites to be a pack of whingers ever again. One thing is certain, this trip has and will give us a new insight into just what the Israelites went through on their trek from Egypt to the Promised Land, and likewise the journey Jesus would have made as a child with his family, going from Bethlehem to Egypt, and back to Nazareth.

Study Tour - Day One

The first day was primarily travel... First we flew from Adelaide to Melbourne. From there we flew 14 hours to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and after a four hour stopover, we flew another four hours to Cairo. We were crammed in like sardines on the plane, even though we were flying Etihad, a reasonably well reputed airline. On the upside, the entertainment and hospitality was excellent.

Upon arrival at Cairo, we discovered that two of our tour party had the unfortunate experience of their luggage not arriving with them in Egypt. It appears that they may not be able to retrieve it until we get to Amman, in another five days. Fortunately for Brooke and me, our luggage made it ok, and so far all is well.

From the airport, after a lengthy delay due to our attempts to locate the missing luggage, we met our tour guides, Ahmed and Moe, and began our Egyptian tour right away. Our first stop was the Egypt Museum in Cairo. There is a fair bit of unrest in Egypt at the moment with Presidential elections underway, and many people have been protesting, with the heartland of protest country right on the doorstep of the museum.

The museum itself was a modest building, with no real technology or high tech security systems, but we were forced to pass through two security checkpoints prior to entry. It seems to me that the main reason for these security checks is to prevent people from taking photographs inside the museum, but with mobile phones allowed in the building, it seems that it would be reasonably difficult to police. The other aspect of this is that rather than high tech security alarms and delicate cases behind elaborate barriers, they simply had men wth gun wandering the corridors of the building presumably ready to shoot anyone that stepped out of line.

The pieces within the museum were fascinating. The history, intricacy, and craftsmanship attached to each and every piece is mind-blowing. Perhaps the epitome of this triumverate of characteristics is found in the Tutenkhamun exhibit. While King Tut was something of a "nothing" king, the fact that his tomb was discovered completely in tact, free from tomb raiders and gold scavengers, has made him the most well-known king in the world. The incredible workmanship that can be seen in the exhibit, most notably in the gold pieces, such as his mask, coffins, sarcophagus, shrines, and other accompanying pieces, would be world reknown if it had been crafted in this day and age. The fact that, without any of the tools and technology that we possess in the 21st Century, these items were made almost 3,500 years ago is truly astounding!

We learned that King Tut lived somewhere around 1350 B.C., which is near the time of the Exodus. This means that the chariots we saw in the King Tut exhibit woud have been just like those that chased Moses and the Israelites across the desert and into the Red Sea. Amazing that we still have things that were made and crafted from the earliest days of the Biblical narrative that we can still see today. Unfortunately, we couldn't touch these items, as they were some of the few that were encased in glassed cabinets, nor could we take photographs, but the experience of seeing thing like these, and recognising that other chariots, just like those we saw at the museum, were a part of one of the most important events, if not the most important event, in the Hebrew Bible.

On top of seeing these chariots, our tour guide gave us some suggestions on who key people may have been and which Pharoah may have been in power at the time of the Exodus. Moe, our guide, purported that Queen 'Hat-Cheap-Suit' was the most likely candidate for the daughter of the Pharoah that discovered Moses in the river. One of the key questions he asked in his analysis was a rather simple question: Why would the daughter of the Pharoah take a baby boy she found floating in a basket on the rver as her son? The answer: To legitimate her claim to the throne. Queen HatCheapSuit had daughters, but no sons. Her step-son succeeded her on the throne, and she lived during the window that scholars estimate Moses' life to have fallen within.

We also came across another important figure in Egyptian history that crosses over with the Bible. King Amenhotep IV chose to change his name as he did not believe in the Egyptian polytheistic system of gods. Rather he claimed a monotheistic belief consistent with the Israelites, and chaged his name to Ahkenhaten. He is also the first king to have erected statues and images of himself that may have been considered less than perfect, including bulging curves and less handsome features than those portrayed in the images of previous kings. He did this, as well as present himself as gender-less in sculptures, so as to help his people understand a gender-less and intangible God.

I think I got my second wind, after beng awake for almost 40 hours straight by this point, on our way to the next stop of the tour: a cruise on the River Nile. To get to our cruise, we crossed over the Nile from Cairo into Giza, and pulled up at a rather nice looking vessel called the M.S. Aquarius. The cruise was a refreshing journey along the river, as we meandered up and down a short stretch of the Nile, enjoying the Egyptian hospitality. While we cruised, some of us pondered what it might have been like to see the Nile turn red, seemingly to blood. While we understand today that plooms of algae would cause the Nile to change colour, to the ancient Egyptians, surely this would have been a sign, and not just ay sign, but a sign of catastrophic doom and destruction. An imposing thought. Imagine the very lifeblood of civilisation turning to blood! The Egyptians didn't rely on rain, but the river to irrigate and water their crops, so the Nile turning to blood would have spelled the end of life for them.

We finally made it to our hotel after our Nile cruise, in time to enjoy some dinner at 7.30pm Cairo time. Dinner was a buffet of various flavours, but I have to admit that given the advice I got before coming to Egypt, I wasn't very adventurous with my choices. Even so, I could still taste the flavours of spices common to the region coming through. The aroma permeated the entire room, and coupled with the music playing in the hotel grounds and the apparent festivities taking place under the rotunda by the pool, even after almost 46 hours without sleep the sense of Arabia and Northern Africa was strong.

Within the grounds of the hotel, what you might call a street vendor was showcasing a tattooed camel, offering photography advice and craftily coercing people into photographs with the camel, as well as rides. Some of our group fell for the rouse, and ended up unwittingly taking a camel ride. Of course, the vendor then demanded payment. They are both crafty and persistent which is a good combination for a street vendor, but dangerous for the unsuspecting tourist.

Sadly, I ended up speaking with the vendor, as I was foolishly taking a photograph of the illuminated hotel sign atop one of the main buildings. The vendor offered me advice on the best location from which to take photographs, although I politely declined his suggestions. He maneuvered his camel into my shots, and then grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my head. Before I knew it, the camel was kneeling right in front of me and the vendor was ushering me onto it. I think I was a little shell-shocked, which is probably why I ended up climbing on.

Suddenly, the vendor was holding my phone, with which I was taking my photographs, and giving his camel instructions to stand up. I think he took a bunch of photos, I can't be sure as I haven't yet looked at them, and then took the camel by the rope around it and led it around the grounds, while I was still on it! I called out to him telling him that I didn't want to ride the camel, but he just kept walking. Eventually, he got the camel to kneel, and I was able to alight. The vendor started rubbing hs fingers together as though to suggest payment. I informed him that I wasn't carrying any money, but he insisted that I give him something and suggested that I go back to my room and get something for him.

Fortunately, he gave me back my phone, and I was able to catch up with a couple of people from our tour group by the lift. When I got back to the room, I was distracted, as I often am, by a conversation that I had over dinner where I offered one of those that lost their luggage in transit a power adapter so that they could charge their electronic equipment.

By this point, having been awake for almost 48 hours, I was completely exhausted and went to bed, forgetting about the still-waiting street vendor. I never did pay him... and I will definitely be on guard for future encounters!