Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: 1994

Petra, the Rose City. The Treasury/Khazneh is one of the best-known rock-cut tombs in Petra. In the 2nd century BC Petra was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom and as with most of the other buildings in this ancient town this structure was carved out of a sandstone rock face. Most people may recognise it from the final scenes in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which its façade is represented as the entrance to the final resting place of the Holy Grail. The elaborate interior shown in the film doesn't exist. HWW to everyone. Enjoy the day.

On holiday in Jordan we drove out of Aqaba to Wadi Rum about 60km to the east towards the Saudi Arabian border. This is effectively the gateway to the Arabian desert and a wadi made famous by Lawrence of Arabia who passed this way several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917-18. It also featured in the 1960s film.

A traditional Yemeni village near Sana'a. The stone construction of the houses blends perfectly with the rocks of the mountains. The green irrigated areas are mainly vegetables and maybe some qat fields. Jessops screwed up the developing of my slide film by treating it as a colour negative film instead. The colours were hardly life-like and the resolution low. I have spend some time in PhotoShop almost retrieving the colour but can do nothing about the resolution.

Our De Haviland Twin Otter takes off from Aden airport (ex-RAF Khormaksar) en route to Sana'a with Crater in the distance. This view is looking south.

Airborne over Wadi Hadramaut in eastern Yemen. Because of the dramatic relief (up to 300m) between wadi & jebel we used helicopters on the seismic acquisition crew and all equipment was flown out to the line. This is the view as the aircraft tops the jebel. We had one ex-Vietnam vet pilot who used to delight in giving visiting newcomers a gentle take off from the jebel, fly slowly across the edge of the cliff & then immediately drop vertically down 500ft into the wadi. An exhilarating experience to say the least. Unfortunately he was later in an accident when the engines cut-out at about 100ft when he was long-lining & the helicopter fell to the ground. Amazingly he kept the aircraft upright & survived with minor cuts & bruises but shortly after he decided enough was enough & took retirement.

In 1994 it was 27 years since the Brits left and the hotel was a shadow of its former self although from the outside it looks reasonable.