Jordan

I am writing so much after the fact now. I am lucky to be writing at all.  Spencer and I took a week off over Thanksgiving to go to Jordan.  We flew into Amman, and spent 3 days there, taking day trips from the capital.  We didn't spend much time in Amman itself, just the afternoon we flew in and walking around in the evenings.  Amman is a very hilly city, one rainy evening we went walking on the opposite side of the citadel to an Organic place, nothing vegan, at the Wild Jordan Cafe.  We ate there offering us a great view of the citadel with Islamic and Roman ruins up top.  It was a trendy area, Rainbow Street I think, but not the Rainbow you may be thinking.

Our first day trip we went to Madaba (City of Mosaics), Dead Sea, Panorama View, Jesus baptism site, and Mt. Nebo.  Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, the said baptism site of Jesus by John the Baptist is expensive to visit, and we were rushed through the area by the guide.  One thing to point out, is the fast flowing Jordan River of Jesus' time was a dirty creek, maybe 15 feet wide. We walked to a point in which Jordan and Israel were divided by a pathetic fence in the water. The Israel side of fancy, new looking built with stone, and Jordan was made with wooden planks; Israel had some serious guards as well.  On top of that there was about 10 people dressed in white who were coming to the water, we assumed they were going to be baptised, but our guide was quite insistent and rude, so we were forced to leave.  Seriously, I paid $20 bucks for the tour, I should be able to go at my own pace. 

Madaba was a cool, relaxed town.  It is famous for mosaics, specifically the mosaic map located in the 19th century Greek Orthodox St. George's church.  It is significant because it is the oldest map of Palestine in existence and provides many historical insights into the region.  We returned to the town later in the evening because I wanted to buy a mosaic. Oddly enough we found a shop in our brief wandering whose owner just returned from the USA.  He had been in Utah of all places redesigning a old piece, representative of Jordan, 'The Tree of Life' He was adding a man and a rod to the mosaic.  Spencer and I laughed, we knew exactly what Tree of Life he was now designing.  Mormon world is quite small and is ever shrinking the more international we become. He loved the Mormons. He was willing to give us an amazing deal of a mosaic table, just over 1,300USD, which you may cough, but all had laid small pieces of rock is actually a good  deal.  But we couldn't do it, since we don't really know what our future or our home will be like.  

The Dead Sea visit was expensive as well, not free like the Israel side.  We had to pay about 18 USD each for entrance and we were only there less than two hours.  There wasn't any mud, but it was so crazy to feel the bouncy of our bodies in the saltiest body of water.  We would just bobbed up to the surface.  But I got just a taste of it, that stuff is deadly to the taste.  We also went up a the hill-side to a Restaurant/museum to get a panoramic view of the Dead Sea.

Mt. Nebo isn't really worth mentioning.  It just gives you a view and a map points out various areas in the land. The visit hardly cost anything, so not a big deal. 

The second day trip we went to Jerash, Umm Qais, and Ajloun. Jerash is a decently preserved city of Roman ruins, at its peak had a population of 15,000.  The weather today wasn't agreeable so it was smart we took the 1-2 hr tour, and ended up buying cheap umbrellas. Spencer and I shared a leaky umbrella.  You get what you pay for.  It was a large complex, with large mosaics (all exposed to the elements), a huge 80 meter Oval Plaza with 56 Ionic columns surrounding the limestone plaza.  Several Gates, temples, and a couple theatres.  Ajloun has a ruined castle on the top of a hill overlooking the Jordan Valley. It was built by the Arabs as protection from the Crusader's.  It was one in the line of Pigeon posts from Damascus to Cairo.      Lastly, ending our full-on day was Umm Qais, site of both an ancient Roman city and Ottoman-era village.  From the hill top we could see over the Golan Heights in Syria, the Sea of Galilee of Israel, and the Jordan Valley. Some of the ruins were originally constructed from black basalt rocks.

Then, we rented a car.  We drove along the King’s Highway through the Wadis, stopping to visit a couple Crusader Castles, Karak and Shobak (apparently the most impressive of the bunch) finishing the day at Wadi Musa, for a visit to Petra. We had our friends Johnny, and Tomas with us. It was a fun day.

Wadi Mujib was quite spectacular.  A canyon about 1 km deep,  we stopped to look out and could see the roads winding down into the Canyon valley and back up the other side.  

Castle Karak became a place of legend during the 12th Century battles between the Crusaders and Muslim armies of Saladin.  It was pretty impressive with fortifications dominating the town.  One of the knights was pretty sadistic and would torture the prisoners.  He would throw them off the walls into the valley 450 meters below; he would even had a wooden box built over their heads so they wouldn't lose consciousness before hitting the ground.  

Shobak Castle was our last stop for the day.  It is perched on the hilltop of surrounding plateaus if a more remote and wild location.  It was built by a Crusader, which survived the attacks of Muslim armies of Saladin for an 18-month siege before surrendering. We took a tour of this place as well, which was nice. There is so much more information and stories when walked around by a guide them independently.  Spencer and the guys took the escape tunnel that winds down the hill and emerges outside the castle at the base of the hill.  Spencer said at times it was precarious, scrambling down the tunnel, without any steps, like it had warn away over the years.  

We spent one full day in Petra.  My recommendation if you have one day, take the hike that goes around the back and gives you an aerial view of the Treasury and the hike to the Monastery. The hike to the top is okay, and the view is okay but not quite the highlight as the other two.  

Petra was really like nothing I've have ever seen. It was strange to think of a world heritage site in which the locals live.  Some parts had been ruined by locals building there own living quarters into the old limestone homes.  The whole place was a huge facade.  A magnificent place on the outside, pillars, fake windows, huge carved faced, with bare interiors.  The sad part is the this area is sandstone and there is nothing that they can do to stop the weathering.  We started out right when it opened and were one the first to get through the Siq and catching glimpses of the Treasury (the most well known of all sites of Petra).  

The Street  of facades became a swarming with people by mid-day.  We passed the Facades, High Place of Sacrifice, Royal tombs, colonnaded street, and Temple of the Winged Lions, and hike back up to see the Monastery and 'End of the World,' as the signs said,  views of the valley below. 

  But I found it strange that people stop there, and don't continue to see some of the amazing sites of Petra.  It isn't just the treasury.  We hike around most of the day and I was exhausted and didn't want to sit around and wait for sunset so we got a short donkey ride back to the Treasury, just so we could say we've ridden a donkey. We stayed at a nicer accommodation for a couple nights, Amra Palace Hotel. There buffet was quite nice, and we got a discount one night.  After our day in Petra, we had a Turkish bath experience at the hotel. It was nice to be scrubbed clean, and given a wet massage.  I was very relaxed afterwards.  

Leaving Wadi Musa early we drove the 3.5 hrs to Aqaba.  I wanted to scuba in the Red Sea. I have heard it is the best, but no one ever told me you need a boat trip not a shore dive.  So just like in Saudi I was disappointed. And on top of it, I am not sure my body likes diving, my ears are just not cooperating.  I will go to Sipidan, Borneo but if my ears don’t equalize this trip, I may not waste my time. Some of the best stuff is much deeper than 45 ft, and that is about how deep my ears will let me go without pain.

Anyway the shore diving was average, may have been better is we could have dove deeper, maybe more big marine life would have been there.  

That same day we drove to Wadi Rum, another highlight. Spencer really loved this trip.  We took a jeep tour out into the wadi, hike through a small canyon, sand dune, and stayed at a camp with some of the local Bedouins who have made tourism their lively hood.  We learned that everyone of this tribe, this area of Bedouins are all related. So they would say to us, 'he’s my cousin.' TE Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia wrote about this Wadi Rum, its sculpted rocks, dunes, and Bedouin escarpments in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 

That would end our trip to Jordan, the next day quite early we were driven back to our car at the Wadi entrance near the village and we drove back to the Amman airport.