Jordan – Amman, Petra, Madaba, Jerash and Mount Nebo

Jordan is a really historically interesting country, but I can’t actually decide if I liked it or not. While there are certain things I want to go back to do (especially sleeping in the desert under the stars [!!!] and a few days snorkeling at Aqaba) I’m not sure I’m in a big hurry to return.

Beyond a doubt, the culture shock is a little overwhelming at first. While there are nice (ish) areas in western Amman, the downtown area looks a little like a war zone. Maybe not third world, but certainly low second. Garbage everywhere, ripped up streets, filthy old shops selling food that looks like it has sat on the shelves for years (I’m sure it has)…unpleasant smells…and weird men following me everywhere muttering obscenities in Arabic. For some reason I expected Jordan to be a little more westernized then it actually is. I have also learned that when looking for accommodation in Middle Eastern cities do not book anything located in the “historic, quaint old city” as this translates to “filthy dump that smells bad, in a decrepit part of town”. I had booked a hotel rather than hostel, and was scared to even take my clothes off to go to bed. The shower only had ice cold water anyway, so all the better reason to not make skin contact with items in my room. Sick. And my private driver managed to get into a huge fight with the hotel slum lord…the police had to come break up the fracas.

One thing I was amused by is the Jordanian’s widespread posting of cheesy portraits of their King in random places. At a gas station, at the bakery, road side, taped to the rear windows of their cars…large portraits of the man crop up everywhere. And they always look like they were taken in the 1980s. This seems like something a tyranic dictator would force his people to do, although apparently he is far from that.

Forget finding an obvious restaurant or café for dining either. There are some rusty little potential food preppish type places here and there, but nothing obvious – no signs, or menus displayed. I was worried I was going to need to survive off of stale cookies from the filthy convenience store that sold everything from sheep’s heads to, well, stale cookies.

The amount of garbage littering the road sides is shocking – even in the middle of the desert. Apparently there is a strong wind that blows it around the country from the city. But I would be highly surprised if there is any organized garbage collection service. Not with this much strewn on the ground. When you see it blowing around the desert, it’s really quite sad. And then you see the street animals picking through it, scrounging for dinner morsels, which is even more sad.

Amman is actually a pretty bleak city. All of the buildings are greige, and the same height. And while the Western suburbs are considered ‘fashionable’ – they are still pretty bland and do not deviate from the standard colour. I suspect that most of the Middle Eastern wealth you hear about is not found in Jordan. Rather, it is really just a patch of desert between Israel and Iraq, desperately trying to maintain a strong tourism industry as a basis for their economy. They are lucky in that so many major historic sites are located within Jordan’s borders.  They also have their own airline now, Royal Jordanian, which I have flown a number of times on these trips. While the fact that they feed you even on short haul flights is appealing, the planes are pretty old and the pilots are atrocious at landing. At first I blamed the weather, but a pattern started to emerge where by the plane would land by just dropping incrementally from the sky, leaving my stomach somewhere up above.

I was stuck with a chain smoking Jordanian local driver for my three days – he was full of unintelligible stories about his dislike of Russian prostitutes and how ‘welcome’ I was (as long as I tipped him largely). They drive like lunatics in Jordan as well. Not that they speed, but rather they completely ignore dividing lanes on the road. On the highway, you cruise in the incoming traffic lanes half the time, both shoulders much of the time, and right down the centre the rest of the time. It’s a good thing they are never in a hurry – although they also don’t believe in breaking when entering turns. There is literally a police station every 500 metres – but they don’t seem to care about the drivers. Hitch hikers and camels, and shepherds with their goat/sheep herds dot the sides of the highway. Apparently hitch hiking is the main mode of transportation, since their buses are unreliable. If you need to get somewhere, you just wander out to the street and some random pick you up. They are very nonchalant and relaxed about this.

Touring Amman was a bit of a non event – it featured the usual obnoxious markets, garbage strewn streets, and mosques – although the King Abdulah mosque did have a pretty funky teal tile pattern going on. There was one pleasant surprise - an impressive Citadel that towers over the city with a great little archaeology museum featuring some of the real Dead Sea Scrolls, pre Greco-Roman art that dates back some 5,000 years and much more, as well as the remains of a temple to Hercules and a Roman theatre. But most importantly, next up was Petra!

The road to Petra takes you through a couple of hundred miles of seriously unforgiving desert terrain, dotted with Bedouin villages, camel herders, and…garbage (of course).  When we finally arrived, cruising through Al Wadi (the modern Petra village) I received my own private Bedouin guide whose parents were Bedouins who had lived in Petra’s remains until the government booted them out. My guide was disarmingly handsome…perfect white teeth, brooding dark eyes, nice nose…it was really funny, we both started blushing when we were introduced. So my tour involved some flirting, giggling…and if I had been overnighting there…well, I know my mom would strangle me if I told her I was in any way, shape or form spending time with a Bedouin in a head dress. Kerrisdale parents don’t understand these things. But it made my day all the better!

 

Anyway, regarding Petra: it is amazing, awe inspiring, and everyone should see it at least once in their life. No number of photos, or watching Indiana Jones movies can prepare you for just how spectacular it really is. You walk through this craggy, narrow winding red rock gorge for about a kilometre (it looks like something from Utah or Arizona), and then just when you’re about to give up, all of a sudden there’s a break in the rock and the Treasury (the most famous building) looms before you. I defy anyone to not gasp when they see it. As you enter the city, it turns out that Petra actually had a population of 35,000, and therefore is huge. Think ornately carved dwellings and temples all over the red rock hillsides. I don’t think my descriptions can even do it justice, so please look at my photos if you get the opportunity. In my opinion, Petra far outdoes the pyramids for impressive ancient ‘wow’ factor.

I also went on my first camel ride. I know it’s touristy, but why not? I can’t think of a better place to do it. Sitting on the hump puts you so high in the air – not the most comfortable. Getting off is difficult as well. But the camels are so sweet – they have the longest eyelashes!

I have only one complaint about Petra – it is infested with these seriously precocious and annoying little Bedouin child thieves. They will try to rob you at any chance they get, so watch your money and camera very closely. And they’re mean little bastards. They look at you with such anger in their eyes. Beware!

The drive back to Amman was nice – through the desert as sunset. The desert really does have spectacular sunsets, followed by pitch blackness through which the stars which seem to shine all the brighter because you are far from city lights.

Other activities in Jordan included a trek to Mount Nebo – the mountain from which Moses surveyed the holy land in the bible before dying. His body is buried somewhere on the mountain, and they have erected a little church over the spot where they suspect it lies. It’s so lovely, covered in olive trees and pure sunshine…it has a mystical feel to it. And the view is unreal from the top…as you stand where Moses stood to make his survey. There’s just a very peaceful energy about the place. I also went to the old city of Madaba which is famous for ancient Roman mosaics, including one that depicts the entire holy land made a could of thousand years ago. Cute town, and while mosaics don’t blow my mind, they were interesting to see.

Last up was a trip to the old Roman city of Jerash. Along with Ephesus, it is the largest and best preserved Roman city ruins. It’s pretty spectacular to walk the colonnaded ancient Roman streets, see where their market place was, their shops, the city gates, the public baths, the temples…it goes on for miles. My guide and I crawled around in the field and picked broken fragments of ancient Roman pottery off the ground – he gave me some to keep for good luck. I’m not sure that’s entirely legal, but I’m stoked to have them none the less. He said that after it rains, you can often find ancient coins in the field. I had no such luck L

At Jerash, there was a young Muslim family with two children shadowing us during the tour, and he pointed out to me how the parents held their children. When the woman carries a child, she holds its head to her heart as this increases the bonding experience. But when the father carries a child, he holds them away from his heart, as the children are not supposed to develop such closeness to their dad. I found this interesting. Perhaps this is none of my business, but I think that more discipline should be used towards children over here. The boys are allowed to run wild – badly behaved, rude, spoiled…total hellions. I don’t mean to generalize, but over and over I have seen it, as have other travelers I have met. A good spanking is needed by many.

I'm not sure what my ultimate opinion on the Jordanian people is either. To be honest, I don't think they are the most trustworthy. I wish so badly I could understand Arabic.I'm sure I would have heard some pretty ridiculous comments. They are friendly with an edge of sinister-ness, and they constantly have their hands out begging for tips - for the tiniest little thing. Considering what the Dinar is worth, this is pretty cheeky. Such blatant greed is truly sad. Nothing, not even a smile, is for free over here.