The bus brought me to Damascus Gate, which a northern gate to the Old walled City of Jerusalem. My hostel is in the Muslim quarter, into which Damascus Gate leads. The Muslim quarter is filled with narrow alleys that are reminescent of souqs and bazaars.
I spent five hours waiting for the Israelis to let me through. They had problems with my Pakistani visa. Most of the people coming through went the passprot control without a problem. The passport control personnel were all Israel Defense Force (IDF) women, and I've gotta admit a few of them were very beautiful, so I really didn't mind the air-conditioned wait. Interestingly, there are quite a few Russians that have immigrated to Israel in the past ten years. The ladies performing custodial duties all appeared to be from Russia.
From the border crossing, I caught a bus to Jerusalem that only cost 30 NIS (New Israeli Shekels). $1=4.5 NIS
This goes over the almost dried up Jordan River, the border between Jordan and the occupied territories in Israel.
I took the local bus to Rama today, then I got a ride to Amman Beach, at the Dead Sea. There, they had showers and a "beach" where you could walk into the water and float. It's actually quite amazing; I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I could float in a standing position with the water up to my chest. It was very easy to paddle out; it was like paddling out on a board. The water was nice and warm where I was at. I spent about an hour there, then had to hitchhike back to the bus stop.
I met some Westerners there who were teaching English on the "Peace Boat" out of Japan. They get to go around the world in 3.5 months for free room and board if they teach and help out. Check 'em out.
They put on a show at the Hippodrome, and these guys looked the part. For added effect, they played the soundtrack to Gladiator. No, I actually didn't watch the show, as you had to buy tickets, and I enjoying being a cheapass.
From the Temple of Zeus, you can look over the Oval Plaza down the Colonnaded road.
An ornamental fountain from 191 AD and dedicated to, er, the Nymphs.
There are loads of columns in Jerash. There are ruts still visible in the original road from the wheelcarts.
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican was actually based on this Oval Plaza. Okay, that was a blatant lie. This place is 90 by 80 meters.
Independent travel in Jordan is deceiving. For the past couple days in Amman, I came to the conclusion there were hardly any tourists here. Even the public bus to Jerash, only 50 km north, had only four other tourists. But as soon as we arrived in Jerash, we noted a bunch of tour buses unloading the hordes.
Jerash is an old Roman city that is still being excavated. It only takes about an hour to walk around there, so it actually isn't that large. It is interesting being in the middle east and seeing examples of European and Roman architecture.
Sweet mint tea is available everywhere in Jordan. It ranges from 15 cents to 30 cents a cup.
This mosque is close to my hotel in downtown Amman.
There are great desserts here in Jordan. The far dish has filo pastry topped with pistachio nuts and drizzled (no, drowned) in a corn syrup. The middle pan has pistachio nut on top of something orange, but the bottom layer is like mozzerella cheese. It is actually wonderful, but equally drowned in corn syrup. I don't know what the bottom dish is but it has very delicate strands of filo dough.
Amman covers 19 hills, but it started on only seven. The one downtown holds the Citadel on its flat top. There are some pretty good views from the top and a museum has some interesting bits including a sample of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In general, the Amman tourist attractions are lackluster, but there are a couple good day trips from Amman.
This place dates from the 2nd century, when this was the Roman city of Philadephia. It can seat 6000 and is still used for performances today. It is next to the Odeon and Forum.
From Kerak, I took a bus to Ammnan, just over an hour away. It was Friday so almost everything was closed.
There are loads more worshippers on Fridays, the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Sunday. The devout even kneel on mats on the sidewalks, spilling out into the streets. There, they listen to what appears to be a sermon for about an hour. This is just after services had completed.
These guys were great. In Kerak, I stayed at this hotel and in the evening these guys, the workers and manager of the hotel, invited us to join them for some food: pita bread, french fries, and fried gizzards. I also had some mint tea with them. I offered to pay, but they refused. Jordanians are really nice.
The Jordanian side of the Dead Sea has a lot of farms. They pump in fresh water for irrigation systems. They even have banana trees, which is strange sight to see in the desert.
The lowest natural point on land, 400 meters below sea level, it's an ear popping bus ride down here. I took a local bus ride down here and then walked a mile to get to the muddy shore. Weng tried to do a Dead Sea Float, but he had trouble getting past the water's edge, the clay was so soft, he sank to his knees.
Like my heel, which would prevent me from venturing into the salty brine.
Kerak was built in the 11th century as one of the crusader castles. These castles were built within line of sight of one another so that light signals could be passed from Aqaba to the Turkish border within 12 hours.
This castle was also depicted in the movie, "Kingdom of Heaven", as its last lord was Reynald de Chatillion, who was killed by Saladin.
Only 22 km away is the southern part of the Dead Sea. I didn't know I would be this close when I went to Kerak.
From Petra, I got on a bus headed to Amman, which dropped me off at the freeway offramp for Karak. I waited around 15 minutes until a nice businessman gave me a free lift to Karak.
You can see the town of Wadi Musa at the top of the photo. This massive wall of rock hides Petra from invaders.
This is how much rock was cut away by the Nabataeans to make the Monastery.
Where is the deep cave from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?! I want my money back!
Early rednecks shot away at the statue for target practice.
Like many of the places in Petra, this place was misnamed. It is just another tomb, but early explorers thought there was loot inside it. It is remarkable well-preserved because it is hidden in a narrow canyon away from the sand and wind. It is the most famous of the facades at Petra.
Al Siq continues for 1.2 km, after which you stumble upon this glimpse of the Treasury. It is actually quite exciting.
Petra was the capital of the Nabataean civilization back in the 3rd century BC. From here, they got rich off the spice and trade routes that passed within its boundaries. Later, they were swallowed into the Roman and Byzantine empires before an earthquake in 555 AD forced everyone to leave. It is the biggest tourist draw to Jordan.
From Wadi Rum, there is one public bus to Petra, but a tour group had somehow acquired it for the day, so a few of us were SOL. We did get a free lift to the highway where we got on the bus from Aqaba headed to Petra. Apparently hitching is absolutely allowed and required for independent travel through Jordan as buses come and go on an irregular schedule, and the number of helpful Jordanians is ample.
Vis-a-vis the tour group, I think it was "Globetrekkers" and essentially they had reserved the bus which seemed incredulous since it was the public bus, but I figure the tour company was too cheap to rent a bus themselves and the public bus operator was more than happy to hire out the bus and his services for a bunch of rich foreigners on a tour. I don't know how legal this is, but what can you do? What was especially helpful was an irate Australia who started to cuss out the tour guide, so they even recanted their offer of giving all of us a lift to the highway. Thanks, dude!
There was a sheer drop to the bottom from here. It was surprising how quickly we ascended just by scrambling up the levels.
