Far Flung Forays

As I was riding in the car today we pulled into a checkpoint and they asked to see my passport. Normally this would not appear strange, but this was the only checkpoint in Jordan or Israel where they actually asked for my passport.  I handed my passport to the guard who had a version of an M-16 that was not loaded and he looked at my picture and flipped through it to find my visa.  He then handed it back, said a good-bye in Arabic and off we went to Umm Qais.  I realized that he probably checked my passport because at that point we were probably 5km from the border with Syria, heading closer.  We don’t go to Syria and instead pulled into ancient Roman ruins (are there any Roman ruins that aren’t ancient?) that are intersected by trench lines, pill boxes, and guard towers.

Some Roman ruins at the foot of a manned guard tower.

The reason for the modern military installations is that Umm Qais is a very high point that sits of the border or Israel, Syria, and Jordan.  There is a valley that is not very wide that separates it from the Golan Heights.  It is one place in the country that there is a military presence on the border with Israel.

Roman ruins with imported columns (white ones) with a view of Syria in the background.

An interesting thing about Umm Qais is that the natural rock is black basalt so most of the ruins are made from black rocks.  They appear especially black in this photo since it is raining.

An interesting thing about Syria is that it is possible to go there as a “tourist” with the rebels… (no visa required).  Over the past week or so I have had multiple conversations about Syria and traveling there.  One of them with someone who owned a guest house in Damascus it was offered to arrange for us to get into Syria and drive through it to Turkey.  He did not recommend it though and I tend to follow the advice of someone who has left the country because of the violence.  A couple days ago an English girl just finished going through the country.  My table felt that it was a stupid and foolish thing to do and there is a point when you are no longer “visiting” a place because you can’t see the sights (because it is a war zone) and you are just traveling through.

I left the border of Syria and went to another castle.  Today I chose to do a “tour” (basically a ride around in a car organized by the hotel I stayed at).  Normally you split the cost with other people, but no one wanted to go where I wanted to go so I spent $92 on about 9 hours of being driven around.  It may not seem like a lot, but when you are traveling it is a lot of money.  The reasons I chose to do this is because I couldn’t see all of the sights via public transport in one day and it is my last day and I wanted to make sure I made it to the airport.  This castle was never taken by the Crusaders.

Then I went to Jerash which is a really big area of Roman ruins that was largely restored.  It seems like Jordan is in a rebuilding phase, rebuilding all the buildings that were here 2000 years ago.  I feel like in 500 years when you read the signs it will say built in 100CE as a functional use and rebuilt in 2000CE because they had nothing better to do.

I am now back where I started the day and in an hour I am going to start hopefully only a 29 hour travel day back home.  I have a feeling that since I am entering US customs in Denver they are going to think that it is odd that I am coming from Jordan and am going to have to follow the “red dots” for extra security which could make it longer than a 29 hour day.

I have had a great trip, but it will be nice to be able to use sarcasm again (since I rarely spoke with native English speakers).

Today I headed to Amman for a day trip.  I walked to the bus stop (which was taken over by pigeon, turkey!, and chicken sellers) and asked for the bus to the station I wanted to go to.  They told me to get on the bus that was leaving.  Then they told me to get off of that bus and onto another bus.  That bus then told me when to get off.  I had no idea where I was or what was going on, but everyone on the bus was looking out for the “white person”. To get back to Madaba I took a taxi in theory to the north bus station.  The driver tried to tell me that the bus was not running since it is Friday (their day of prayer and they only run 1/2 the buses) and to take the taxi there.  I said no.  He then pointed to a bus on the side of the road and said that it was to Madaba and let me out.  It wasn’t to Madaba and the ticket boy didn’t speak English, but pointed to another bus on the other side of the traffic circle.  At this point I figured I was on a wild goose chase and he just wanted to get rid of me so I went there and said “Madaba” and I got a bunch of head nods yes so I sat down and off we went.  It ended up saving me time and I really wasn’t worried because if I got too frustrated I could just get a cab and pay the $15 USD to get to town.

A couple minibuses.  Hop on and you might get where you are going?

This is the highest flag pole in the world (126.5 meters, I read the sign).  This is a picture of Amman.  Jordan looks like a very dirty country.  I think this is because everything is made from concrete and is a shade of brown.  The ground is also mainly brown (dirt and rocks, not really sand here).  They do a good job in the streets of cleaning up the trash, but the country side is littered with bags.  There are also not public trash cans so everyone throws the trash in the street.

Some Roman ruins in the middle of the city, not super impressive.

I actually ate somewhere from the guidebook.  There was a line of locals to get a table and it was the best hummus/falafal that I have had. Yesterday I ate at a Lebanese place that was recommended to me by two people including someone who lives an hour away and takes the bus to eat there.  I went for a late lunch and had kofta.  It is a base of minced lamb mixed with herbs and then thinly sliced potatoes, peppers, and pine nuts on top with a sesame yogurtish sauce, it was the best thing I had to eat since I have been here.  I have been eating a lot of shwarma ($1usd) which is very different in Israel then in Jordan, falafel, and hummus (which comes with assorted things to dip in it including falafel).  Also I have been eating a ton of cucumber.

This is outside one of the main mosques in Amman after Friday afternoon prayer.  They cart in loads of cardboard as overflow for the men to kneel on.  You hear the call to prayer all of the time, but I have only twice seen people not in a mosque kneel with their prayer rug.

 I had no idea that there were so many types of dates….

It is hard to see, but those are bricks that are drying in the sun.  An interesting thing about Jordan is that a ton of males smoke.  Marlboros cost about $1.80 USD a pack and there are cheaper brands.  It was explained to me that they can’t drink, look at women (unless they find tourists), or have sex (unless they are married) so the only thing they can do is smoke so they all smoke.  I have only been in one nonsmoking bus and the hotel I am at in Madaba is the only nonsmoking one I have stayed at in Jordan.  I think right now 3 of the 4 people in the internet cafe are smoking and I am told that it is common for doctors to smoke when they see you in the hospital/office.  Talking with a couple people they know that it is bad to smoke, but still do it.  The people that I have talked to that don’t smoke are very vocal about not smoking.

This building, “castle” (whatever you want to call it), is in the middle of nowhere.  It was not in a strategic location, on a trading route, or in a populated area so they really have no idea what it was used for.

This is a 700CE “hunting lodge”.  It actually had a bath with a sauna with incredibly complicated waterworks.  It was the building that was covered in paintings (from yesterday’s post).  It is kind of crazy seeing stuff that is 600-2000 years old.  Some of the stuff has been restored, other things are still standing.

Lawrence of Arabia stayed in this fort, but he had a room with a roof while most of the “soldiers” slept here.

Other then the one taxi driver, the people of Jordan have been very friendly.  I stopped by a pharmacy and was talking to the person working and once they found out I was a pharmacist invited me behind the counter and I looked at everything for probably 15 minutes. It was pretty awesome.  You can get most of the medications in the US without an rx and they are pretty cheap.  A Ventolin inhaler is $5USD, a course of Augmentin is $10 USD, and some eye drops that cost $150+ is the US are less the\an $10 here.  It is crazy to see all of the price differences.

Yesterday I was able to ride horses and go to castles albeit not at the same time.  I rode my horse fast.  My official opinion is that cantering and galloping are a lot easier to ride than trotting.  My second opinion is that my ass is sore after spending 5 hours on a horse.

When I left you last time I went and met up with the group from the previous night but the Aussie was replaced by someone from Holland. We decided to see Petra by Night which consists of walking a mile down the siq (a canyon similar to the ones in Zion) which was lit by candles to the Treasury (which is one of the two main buildings).  After we walked down there was suppose to be some cheesy music and story telling.  We tried to get some beer or wine to make the cheese more palatable, but we failed since it is only sold in hotel bars here.  The show ended up being awesome because there was a wind storm and the candles that were in paper bags started lighting the bags on fire creating mayhem, it was awesome.  Then it started to downpour and everyone started running the mile back up the hill and we just sat there while this guy tried to play the flute like nothing was happening, we had a blast.  We then went to the Cave Bar which is the “oldest bar” in the world since it is in a 2000 year old cave.  The atmosphere was slightly offset by one of the worse singers trying to do the Beatles, but failing with style.

I am sure this is not what you want to see on my blog, but oh well.  If you are a bad traveler you get called an American by just about the entire traveling community.  It is amazing how many conversations I have lately about American politics.  It seems that everyone has an opinion from Israeli taxi drivers to Jordanian guides to fellow travelers.  One comment made was the US President has such an impact on the entire world that the entire world should get to vote (if they did Obama would be elected).

When I last posted I was in Aqaba and I left in the morning for Wadi Rum which is a mountain area in the desert that the Bedouin live in.  I had booked a tour with a guy name Saleeh (Saw-lee) and the morning got off to a little rocky start because I didn’t realize that Jordan was an hour earlier then Israel.  I ended up being like 15 minutes late to the town that the tour started from, but Saleeh didn’t care.  I think one of the main reasons that he didn’t care was that I think I was the first person to go through his service which he just started (he had been guiding for other people).

The jeeps they drive ranged from the 1970’s to the mid 2000s, but my guide had never driven one newer than 1998.  He is also one of 17 children and his father has two wives.  The two wives live in separate houses and his father alternates each house every night.  All of Saleeh’s older brothers are married and it is his turn to get married (they are not arranged).  The process is that if he sees a girl that he likes and tells his sister, his sister will talk to the girl to see if she is interested.  If she is he talks to his mom and his mom talks to her mom.  If that goes well then his dad talks to her dad (they do not have to be from the same tribe) and then the “couple” finally talk.  If they like each other they get engaged and then normally between 3-12 months laters they get married.  Saleeh wants a small family with only 3-6 kids and only wants one wife.  I think that this in the new trend.  About this time in the tour the jeep breaks down, but he is able to fix it in a couple minutes.  After we eat lunch the jeep won’t start and we hop in another one (I saw several other  broken down jeeps during my time in the desert).  After the day driving around in the jeep we arrived at the camp and Saleeh went to fix the jeep and I get settled and scramble up a mountain to watch sunset which was pretty cool.

The next day we drove about a mile from the Saudi border and started a hike up the third highest peak in Jordan and I was cold.  It turned into the third day that it rained this year even though it was just sprinkles. When we got to the top my guide brewed tea with sage and desert thyme which were really good.  That night in the camp there was a french family and a group of Italians and we ended up dancing and carrying on while drinking Bedouin whisky (tea..).

The next morning I woke up and Saleeh took me to grab the bus about 70km north to Petra.  Overall the tour with Saleeh was a decent tour and it was a good one for the fact that he was almost half price as some of the established guides.

The minibus ride was uneventful and about 5 minutes after I checked into my hotel, Cleopetra, I was whisked to the entrance of Petra by a cab ($2) and I paid the crazy $90 USD entry fee for 3 days ($75 for one day).  Petra is amazing and it is one of the new seven wonders of the world for good reason.  That night I ate at the hotel with a Brit, Canadian, and Aussie and we decided to go out for a beer (not a cheap prospect in Jordan).  We end up drinking Philadelphia because it is only 5% (our other choices were 8, 11, or 13% Petra beer).  Today I went back into Petra and explored some of the more remote sights where I was able to get away from the crowds.  It was great!!!  I would include photos, but my camera battery just died when I tried to download them so you are stuck with a picture of a fat guy riding a donkey.  Tomorrow I have a full day of castles and horses planned.

A couple thoughts:

Petra at time seems like Mexico with everything costing one dinar ($1.4 USD)

The pastries in Jordan are great and I somehow ended up with 1/2 a kilo last night (5 dollars)

Everything in Petra is downhill to start and up hill to end the day.  This is the reason they have asses to bring Americans back up along with camels, and horse draw “carriages” that go at a really quick pace.

This computer has a strange keyboard (plus no spell check to alert me of typos) and I refuse to reread my post so it will be filled with typos.

The Bedouin guides I was talking to said that they really liked the king and were able to give examples of why he was a good leader and what he has done for them.  Jordan does not have any oil, but they people are pretty well off compared to some other countries around.  They equated the king to being a very good business man and they have good relationships with the surrounding countries.

I played flip cup for the first time in years at the Halloween party at my hostel in Jerusalem

I will be happy to get back into a country the you can flush the TP.