Both Arizona and Wadi Rum are deserts with amazing rock formations. I visited both places at different stages of my life.

I traveled through Arizona as a young architect. I was in love with my profession and dreamed about stardom and wealth. It was easy to render the emptiness of the desert with my imagination. I have drawn the following sketch to better describe my state of mind at the time.

Several years later, on my way to Amman from Aqaba, I stayed one night in Wadi Rum.

The rock formations in Wadi Rum are absolutely amazing and the area is a fantastic spot for hiking, something I did immediately after having my accommodation sorted out. My accommodation was a tent pitched in a sandy parking lot with a mattress inside that cost over the odds and after heavy rain became the wettest and coldest place I have ever slept in.

Wadi Rum is located in a valley and as I started walking into the dessert I came to see a large number of rock formations in front of me. I decided to walk towards the nearest one.

… and walked and walked… and kept walking towards it without getting any closer.

When I now consider what it takes to measure distances in the desert I realize how unfit I was for hiking. After a few of hours I found myself in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere and after a look around I breathed the void of the desert.

There is a strange sense of time and place that only deserts can yield. The space is filled with emptiness as far as your eyes can see and walking gives you a strong impression that time doesn’t exist as it takes a lot longer than estimated to reach a destination

Now long afterwards I think about my experience in Wadi Rum and the young architect full of dreams that I was when I visited Arizona. In a way one experience led to the other.

These days I tend to think that times of uncertainty need to be filled with bits of imagination and most importantly, I am no longer alarmed if I still haven’t found what I am looking for.

Use this link to see a dear picture of Wadi Rum.