trashCAN research: July 2016

Let us write about a land today - A biblical land, a land where the seas of Yore – the Dead sea and the Red sea flow, a land where Roman ruins and Bedouin life exist together in an impossible necropolis. A land where you can watch in awe the architecture of Crusader castles of the Middle Ages and Islamic architecture in tandem. A land where you can sit under the stars in the lonely desserts and watch the moon light up the mountains. A land where Time stands still, as you can stand at the precipice of Mount Nebo, and look as Moses did at the Promised Land in the Horizon. There is sometime permanent about this place, something that promises to go on but hold on to its beautiful past, to make us feel humbled that what we know as life is not about decades or a hundred years, it is a multitude of several hundreds of years - where civilizations have stood, risen and fallen; Where man has been tested with the calamities of nature, and in the impossibility of the adversities and mountains, there once stood a rose city, Welcome to Jordan.

Arriving in Jordan - Amman:

This is an account of my backpacking trip to Jordan, just towards the end of tourist season. Arriving in Amman and immigration is a quick and easy affair. For passport holders having Visa on arrival, there is apparently a requirement to have USD 1000 per person hard cash. While we weren’t asked to ‘show’ currency, it is a good idea to have this on you. The Jordan pass is an excellent money saver if you are in Jordan for two nights and more, and visiting Petra. A Jordan pass costs JD 70, covers VISA fee (Otherise this is JD 40), and complementary entries to many landmarks – Petra (JD 50 / 90), Gerash, Madaba Museum, Amman Citadel, Wadi Rum and a host of other interesting places. You need to buy the Jordan Pass online before arrival (you will get a listing of covered places when you buy the pass online).

We landed in the evening and headed to Jordan Tower Hotel, where we had booked two beds in the Dorm. A highly recommended place for backpackers, this lives up to its standards. With complimentary breakfast, clean dorms, an active backpacker community and day trip options, you cant go wrong with Jordan Tower Hotel. The front desk manager – Jihad is a friendly guy and lets you settle in well (We reached the hotel at 11pm and after some dinner took time till 2am to eventually decide our next day’s plan!). JD 8 per person per night – book in advance!

The airport shuttle bus takes you from just outside the airport (there is a small stand). This leaves every 1 hr or so. It isn’t a proper bus, rather a mini bus. The bus goes to two main landmarks – the seventh circle and the fifth circle. They may bunch you into separate buses depending on which point you are heeded. Once you reach either of the places – you can either take a taxi, or a share taxi. Importantly if you take a share taxi – they don’t drop you to your location, but to specific drop points. We preferred to take a taxi as this was our first visit. You have to negotiate hard with the taxi at the points, especially when the taxi drivers know you are a tourist. The fare we started off with was 10 JD for a 15 mins drive, and finally closed at 6 JD (which we came to know later was still high). Irony, that we saw the same guy when we returned. Be cautious with the taxi folks when you pay them, count the change, you will hear a long story about the hotel you are visiting etc - the standard tourist traps apply – Achtung!

Downtown Amman (where Jordan Tower Hotel is located), is a vibrant district with small shops lining the street selling trinkets, brass and copper items, sweet meat shops, frankincense and daily use items. Do visit the two shops just on the street 50 metres behind the hostel (the hostel is in a fork, this shop is towards your left if you face entrance to the hostel). You can get some old currency notes, and Saddam playing cards and a selection of garage items. The owner is an Arabic speaking lovely humorous and energetic old gentlemen, who was a loyal Indira Gandhi fan! (those are rare!).

Within 2 km from the hostel, you will find Hashem restaurant – one of the most well know Hummus and Ful eateries in Amman. You must stop by Hashem to have a bowl of Hummus, sip in some sweet Lemon tea and watch the hustle bustle around (reminds me of India!). Closer to the hotel, there are few options – Al Kit Kat hotel, Jafra Hotel and a bunch of other. We visited Jagar, and it is one of the best restaurants in Amman. The locals love it, it has a wonderful sprightly vibe, with live Arabic music, everybody loving their Sheesha and happy conversations – Must visit! (Liquor is not freely available and only sold in some restaurants) There is a Hammam (Turkish Bath) on the ground floor of the building, we didn’t have time to visit – but seemed quite popular from the outside. After having had a longgg day, we retired for the night but made a quick pit-stop to the hostel’s terrace – a good view to the end the day!

Petra:

The next day, was the Petra day! We took the 7am JETT bus from Abdali bus station (10 minutes’ drive from the Hostel). A 2 / 3 JD fare should be enough for the taxi to get you to Abdali. You cant miss the JETT station, while most of the folks do an online reservation – we hadn’t made ours, so the lady at the counter put our name in the waiting list, and we easily got our tickets (JD 8) and were on the bus (2 hours). You can get personal / shared taxis from the hostel in case you need to be back in Amman the same day. A personal taxi could set you back by JD 100, while a shared trip – 3 pax will set up back by 40 – 50 JD (the hostel will source other tourists and let you know).

Heading to Petra, there is one pitstop at a restaurant come touristy junk mall. This is a major tourist trap, the products look really nice but their prices can be anywhere between 5 – 10 times what they can cost outside. Your best bet is to have a coffee / tea (there is a herb that is added in the lemon tea for flavouring) or if you are lucky like us be asked about Bollywood! (We realised that the best way to start a conversation with most Jordanians is by asking them about Bollywood – 9 out of 10 people watch Bollywood movies / Indian dramas.

Next stop – Petra (Wadi Musa is the name of the town). The JETT buss drops you just outside the PETRA site entrance. A good travel tip is to carry prints Google maps of your hotel with some landmarks on it (easier to locate). We had booked ourselves in Petra Gate Hostel. It is run by a pair of cousins, our host for the evening for a cherubic chap who had lived in UAE and in many places in the Middle East. He knew phrases in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic, Farsi and a bunch of other languages! A terrific guy to have a conversation with. We had booked ourselves in a dorm but were given a complementary upgrade to a room! The hostel is a steep 15 minute walk to the Petra site entrance. The hostel is located in a busy area around the Shaheed roundabout and within a 300 metres radius has - restaurants, currency exchange shops and your regular daily use shops. We refuelled ourselves at the Al-Fandi restaurant, just on the roundabout. The adjacent restaurant (AL XXX) looked busy. The standard fare is Shawarma, and if you are a veg, you ain’t got much to choose apart from Hummus and Ful :) Petra is a straight 2 km walk downhill from Shaheed roundabout. Do carry 1-1.5 litre water packs with you. Water will be your closest friend in Petra – there is practically no tree cover.

If you don’t have a Jordan Pass on you, the ticket is 50 JD if you are staying in Jordan for a night or more, and 90 JD otherwise (many Israeli group tours do a day trip to Petra). As you enter Petra, you walk by 1 km of the approach road with donkey stations on one side. Apparently the donkeys are part of the pass, but for some reason I suspect that. As you walk towards to the entrance of the Siq, you will notice various Djinn formations, the most impressive what I found was the dam that the Nabateans built to divert water from flooding through the Siq. The Nabateans were not only skilled architects but also very good at engineering. The dam diverted the water to the Nymphaeum, fountains and for public usage through a series of underground tunnels. These tunnels reduced the speed of the water and acted as cisterns. At the entrance of the Siq you can see the remains of an arch that once heralded the entrance to the Petra necropolis. Walking through the Siq can seem endless, but the geography of the rocks, the natural formation of this narrow passage, and the dams built at regular intervals by the Nabateans will hold you spell bound. Don’t be surprised to see mules zipping tourists back to the entrance, this is a funny sight for both the passengers and onlookers alike.

This cryptic Siq finally gives way to a spectacular entry to the city that is Petra, and its guardian tomb that is visible at the end of Siq is - the Khazanah (Treasury). This tomb is built right into the rock, and was created over 2000 years back – it still stands! Such is the spectacular masonry of the Nabateans. The tomb was attacked at different points in the history as there was a legend that a treasure was kept here (And so you can see holes created in the rocks to ascend upwards). Nothing of value has been reportedly found here (LINK TO PETRA). The façade, Royal Tombs, the amphitheatre, the High place of sacrifice, the monastery, the Roman street, a free standing temple are fascinating sights to see. The high place of sacrifice and Monastery is a medium – difficult trek depending on your fitness levels, and lasting for 30 minutes one way. Watching the sunset from the high place of sacrifice can be a pleasant way to end the Petra day. We started out around 12pm and were through all the sights by around 7pm – we had walked 25 kms this day, and had trekked up mountains in some cases. If you have a few hours to make it, visit the Treasury, the façade, the Royal Tombs and if you have time, the Roman street. Apparently, Petra is still being explored and new sites are being found here. It is a fascinating piece of archaeological importance that shows how beautifully people lived over 2 millennia ago.

You can buy souvenirs from many of the shops here – especially the sand glass bottles with your name / message on it. Most of the locals selling their wares are not well to do, so we tried to purchase some trinkets from a few of them. Many Bedouin kids like speaking with tourists and you will see a radiating smile on their faces if you offer them some chocolates, they are wonderful people!

While the High place of sacrifice and the Monastery offer excellent views – these will set your clock down by 1.5 hours each. After 25 kms of walking in the heat, we boarded the mules (JD 15 for both of us) to be our guardians till the entrance of the Siq. From the Siq, we took a cab to our hostel and crashed that night. An interesting fare negotiation that we did at Petra entrance was with a cab driver – he asked for 5 JD to drop us to the hostel, he happily settled at 1 JD – that shows how much room you have to bargain with cabbies here :)

Wadi Rum:

For the next day, we had booked ourselves in a Bedouin run camp under the moonlight and stars of Wadi Rum – 40 JD each (dinner and breakfast included) with 5 JD each for transport from Wadi Musa to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a place like no other. What you see in the morning transforms into something totally surreal at night. The barren landscape speaks to your soul and as Lawrence said, the desert does something to you.

Your Jordan pass once again comes handy – else you need to shell JD 30 each. A quick pitstop to the visitors centre, your Jordan pass stamped / tickets purchased, the minibus will drop you to your pickup up (sometimes at the Visitors centre itself). Wadi Rum is best seen in the early morning (starting 8am) and in the early evening. Don’t even attempt of seeing Wadi Rum in the afternoon – with a lifeless landscape the Sun will gleam down on you like no other, you won’t be able to really experience the place well. An early evening (4pm onwards) is the best option. We were taken on a 4X4 and drove around some of the rock structures – Small Bridge, Big Bridge, Red Dunes hill, Lawrence’s house, the seven pillars of wisdom hill. A significant part of the shooting of Lawrence of Arabia amongst many other movies was done in Wadi Rum. Many Martian movies are shot here due to the red sand dunes and the unique topography. Our trip was on a Saturday, and Sunday being a working day, there weren’t many tourists around, lucky us - we got the 4X4 all to ourselves!

The red sand dunes are quite interesting, and we collected some in our bottles for keepsakes. At some of the pit stops – Bedouins sell an amalgam of stuff – Kohl for the eyes, waxed pieces musk and other fragrances to apply, the Arabs are well known for their love of fragrances. We purchased a keffiyah (Arab head gear), adding to my collection of arab wear :) What I loved about their hospitality is that the Bedouins are very hospitable, they never relent from offering you a cup of sweet lemon tea, all in good faith with no expectations. I read somewhere that they do so as they believe you would also do the same if they came knocking in your place.

Watching the sun set between the canyons is a sight that you cannot miss if in Wadi Rum, the sun setting between these ancient canyons – you wonder how many millions years has this gone by? After the sunset, we were taken to desert camp – a fairly decent tent. I was delighted to have a hot water bath after the long day in the desert. When the night is in full bloom, looking at the mountains in the distance and the moon glistening by – the experience is no less than magical. You can hear aeroplanes flying high above, echo in the mountains.

There is a Bedouin village where most of the locals working in the tourist sector stay, which is basically town with concrete homes with ACs, and not really ‘a true desert village’ as you might think. The people as always of Bedouins are wonderful, inviting and soft spoken. We waited the day out in the home of our host (can’t remember his name!), with an afternoon siesta in the sitting room, and bit of village walking. The young Bedouin guides are a fun lot to strike a conversation with – our guide for the day was Abdullah – a young chap of 17-20 yrs and followed Bollywood quite well.

Aqaba:

The next day we boarded the village bus for a trip to Aqaba (the Red Sea port) – 1.5 JD a piece – a steal considering we paid 5 JD for a similar distance trip from Petra. Aqaba is well known for diving, people from all over the world visit this part of Jordan to dive and explore the Red Sea. Unfortunately, we had 4 hrs to spend in Aqaba and lounged with some Sheesha by the local beach (which has clear waters). If you look into the distance you can see the port of Eilat (the Israeli’s side) and a huge Israeli flag. As you would expect at similar borders, to counter the flag Jordan has its tallest flag post at Aqaba – an eye for an eye I guess. There are many tourist shops along the promenade and in the nearby souq – however if you are looking for a good bargain, memorabilia from Aqaba tends to be slightly pricey. There is nothing you get here, that you won’t get in downtown Amman.

Madaba:

There are JETT buses that ply between Aqaba and Amman, however we had to make a pitstop at Petra where we had kept our bags (a detour for a few hours). Back at Amman via the 7^th circle, through some serious traffic jams we reached the Hostel late in the evening, a quick dinner at the YY restaurant to the long awaited comfort of a bed. We had planned a trip to the Dead Sea, Madaba and Mount Nebo the next day (JD 40 each), and were once again lucky to have the taxi to ourselves. The hostel offers various options depending on your preferences (e.g. we chose to skip Bethany beyond the Jordan and decided to spend more time in Madaba). Madaba is a lovely town, and highly underated. For some reason, I felt this town similar to Siena in Italy, a beautiful vibe – narrow streets and beautiful architecture around. The Saint George at Madaba contains a 6^th century Mosaic map from of the Holy lands. Its depiction is quite accurate from a cartography standpoint. The Mosaics from medieval homes and the museum are a must see. It is intriguing that these mosaic still stand the test of time and are as lively in their natural stone colours. You must purchase Mosaics from Madaba (the tree of Life), these are made from the old technique and the new technique. The old technique produces more intricately made mosaics, the new technique produces faster mosaics (stones are glued to a plastic mesh) albeit with larger stones. It is anyone’s guess which is prettier! I visited a boutique at the corner of the entrance to the Visitor centre, and bought my tree of life Mosaic from this wonderful lady – Mariam who was really sweet and motherly :). A tip – don’t bargain too much at the shops, these are painstakingly made by hand. If you have a larger budget you can get large Mosaic table custom made for you, and delivered to your home country.

Mount Nebo:

The Next stop for the day was Mount Nebo – where Moses saw the Promised Land. There is a church maintained by monks of the Franciscan order. The church was being reconstructed, and visitors weren’t allowed inside. You can take in the views from the edge of the cliff with the horizon giving way to the ancient city of Jericho, the biblical Jordan valley and mountains in the distance. A few olive leaves from the sacred site in my pocket and with a wish and a prayer, we set off for our next and final stop for the day – The Dead Sea. Oh don’t visit the ‘museum’ if your cabbie takes you there – it is essentially a mall and they make you feel nice etc, and then lead you to the store to buy – and it is not government owned or supported by Jordanian Queen Rania as almost all such highway shops / museums will tell you.

The Dead Sea:

Unlike how you would imagine a sea – this is no sea – it is a giant lake and is fed by the Jordan River (not any more) and by underwater springs that bring in multiple salts into the Dead Sea. The Dead sea is shared by Jordan on one side, and Palestine and Israel on the other. Due to the high salt and mineral content, the southern part of the dead sea is full of factories making creams, bath products and salts – a bit unfortunate considering the Sea isn’t getting any bigger, the Dead sea is declining a few centimetres every year due to the lack of water flowing in the from the Jordan river, however it is the underwater springs that keep the water levels from depleting fast. You can’t take a skinny dip in the sea from anywhere, as you will need a shower and other facilities. There are a few expensive resorts around, but the budget one (where you will find day tippers) is the Amman beach resort. For a fee of JD 20 (excluding lunch), you can use the resort’s facilities and their beachhead. Well for first – you can’t swim in the Dead Sea, the only way is to float on your back, if you swim with your chest facing down, the buoyancy lifts you up so much that you will end up with your face submerged in the water, which is really not a nice thing in the Dead Sea! The water is incredible salty and heavy to touch, if you have any cuts and bruises on you from your trip – wherever they are, they will ring out loud! If the water touches your eyes, head back and wash it quickly – this ain’t no ordinary beach and that salt ain’t no ordinary salt – it tastes like a cocktail of unknown drinks put together! The salt is so intense that at the beach there are layers of salt and salt rocks – that are large in size but can be chipped away with your fingers.

We took the ‘been there and done it’ floating pictures and applied some Dead Sea mud on ourselves (3 JD each). We let the mud dry and washed it off in the sea – aha – Dead Sea check :).

Avoid buying the Dead Sea products from the resort – they are stratospherically expensive. Buy everything and anything from Amman.

The last day:

The next day we spent time in the Roman city of Jerash and the Islamic fort in Ajloun. Both can be easily done in a day trip with time to spare on the way back to Amman, and a quick visit to the Amman Citadel – all in a day. With that we ended our Jordan trip, and with a heavy back, sleepy eyes, the wonderful land and people in our mind, and a pent up of homesickness – we headed back to the Hostel to freshen up and take a cab to the airport.

Overall this was a splendid trip and with an interesting perspective of Jordanians, who are forward looking Arabs, and wonderfully marry both western thought with Arab values. Men are politically aware and open to conversations of the state of economic affairs, and the women are elegantly dressed with their Abaya sporting spring flowers and beautiful colours. From my experiences across the Middle East, I found the country a progressive Arab country offering equal rights for both men and women. There is broad feeling that Jordan is unsafe and may harbour ISIS and extremist militia, from my experience there wasn’t much truth to that. The only restive area of Jordan is north of Irbid where there is a shared border with Syria. Apart from that, the cities and towns were just like any towns you would visit.

Shukran Jordan!

What to carry and expect:

A recent lonely planet Jordan guide, a Jordan Pass, lot of sun block and lip balm, bottles of water, sunglasses and a cap, and a yearning to understand and do what the locals do. The local economy is going through a tough phase, the cabbies and vendors may sound persistent in selling their products, but if you say no they respect that. Bargaining is fine, just don't over do it.