{"id":365,"date":"2011-01-21T23:32:38","date_gmt":"2011-01-22T03:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Sarcastic-Travels.com\/?p=365"},"modified":"2011-01-21T23:32:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-22T03:32:38","slug":"jordan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sarcastic-travels.com\/jordan\/","title":{"rendered":"Trekking Through Jordan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
There are some combinations in the world that are more or less universally known to be unwise such as ammonia and bleach or George W. Bush and oxygen (it allows him to live) and some that are perhaps more esoteric like cesium metal and water (it explodes and catches on fire immediately), and then there is the most dangerous combination of all, me and a copy of Delta Airlines’ in-flight magazine, Sky<\/em>. For it is in this magazine that Delta route maps are to be found and this fires my imagination with the wonderful and unusual places I could fly, such as Amman, the capital city of Jordan. I would go to Amman just because it existed<\/em>, but it was the issue of Sky<\/em> that featured the lost city of Petra, located conveniently in Jordan, that gave me the ability to convince Tim that Amman not only made sense to fly to, but that it was in fact a good idea. That is the power of Sky<\/em>!<\/p>\n The nation of Jordan is a direct creation of Winston Churchill, who drew the nation’s boundaries following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The French and British divided up the spoils in the Middle East, and Palestine (Israel), Jordan, and Iraq went to Britain while Lebanon and Syria went to the French. Brothers were made the kings of Jordan and Iraq respectively and the monarch of Jordan still stands and enjoys immense popularity. Originally, Jordan was the land of the nomadic Bedouin as opposed to Arabs, but successive wars with Israel more than doubled the nation’s population literally overnight as Palestinian refugees flooded in. The Jordanians were not exactly welcoming for many years and tens of thousands languished in refugee camps. Today, Palestinians comprise the majority of the population and increasingly and with government “encouragement” the formerly nomadic Bedouin are becoming village and town dwellers, two forces that have forever changed the face of Jordan as a nation.<\/p>\n In today’s world, it seems that visions of the Arab world are either of oil and money soaked enclaves or of societies in disarray and upheaval. And, in much of the Arab world, one or both of those stereotypes does hold true, but certainly not in Jordan. Jordan has no oil and while it used to be able to import discounted fuel from Iraq (with whom Jordan maintained a historically close relationship based on the founding brothers even though the monarchy in Iraq was overthrown many years ago), the war there stalled that flow and now energy needs must be met at much higher cost through Sa’udia, which is not as friendly with Jordan as it once might have been following Jordan’s economically and socially advantageous détente with Israel. Politically, Jordan is very stable and while it is a monarchy, there is also a parliament and the royal family is deeply beloved by most of the population. The immediately past King, Hussein, was highly regarded worldwide as a peacemaker and master politician. His American and British educated son, Abdullah, who speaks better English than Arabic, continues to bask in the glow of his father and to make his own positive way in the Arab and Western worlds.<\/p>\n It might surprise some to realize that Jordan contains at least half of what is commonly referred to as the “holy land.” In Biblical times, the Jordan River, which today forms the border between Jordan and Israel, was not a political boundary and many of the historical and mythological events related in the Bible either took place, or are believed to have taken place, in what is today Jordan. For example, Mount Nebu from which Moses is said to have looked into the Promised Land, the caves of Lot, and the saline formation reputed to be Lot’s ill-fated wife (a formation which routinely naturally falls and for which tour guides find a suitable replacement with some regularity), as well as, more interestingly, the reputed sites of Sodom and Gommorah, are among the many Biblical sights contained in Jordan. As Amman is in some respects more affordable an arrival and departure destination than Tel Aviv, and since Amman is technically closer to Jerusalem and other Biblical hot spots, Jordan is increasingly a starting and ending point for Bible tours. Of course, anyone who knows me realizes that this information is strictly anecdotal and was irrelevant to my desire to visit Jordan, which centered on Petra as well as on a general fascination with Arab culture and the world in general.<\/p>\n Our original departure to Jordan was scrubbed by the many cancelled flights out of Atlanta and New York-JFK due to the winter snow and ice storms. Even days later, the Interstate to the airport was not completely open and the going was slow at points, but the airport was fully functional once again and we left for JFK without incident. I think it now safe to say that 6 hours more than suffices to exhaust the available activities in JFK although I did find some interest in checking out who was boarding for Accra, Ghana, or Dakar, Senegal, two cities that Delta is unique in serving direct from the US. Our flight crew had to be amongst the oldest living and still working crews in the skies, but I will give ups to the lead flight attendant who took meal orders NOT by seat order but by Medallion status order, which meant that as a Diamond Medallion, I was able to snag one of only 12 of the beef filets on the menu. The annoying gent two rows up from me failed to understand why he couldn’t have his first meal choice until it was explained to him that status has its rewards! And because the guy just annoyed me, I REALLY wanted to eat only about 1\/3 of the filet and then make sure he saw the remains of his desired meal being tossed in the trash just to annoy him…I can be like that sometimes…but I don’t think he was paying adequate attention to notice anyway. The flight was a long 11+ hours, but as is usual for me, I laid back, pulled my duvet up to my chin and was mildly annoyed to be awakened when we were less than an hour from landing in Amman.<\/p>\n Queen Alia Airport is charmingly small and clearly outdated, but the new airport should be up and running in a few years. You can’t really get lost at Queen Alia since there are all of two terminals, one for Royal Jordanian, and one for everyone else. The trip to Jordan would be our inaugural experience of renting a car and driving ourselves in a foreign country (having done it and even having driven on the “wrong” side of the road in St. Thomas doesn’t count as it is technically US territory). To be completely fair, it was Tim who was doing the driving and realistically, it was the easiest way to reach Wadi Musa, the town associated with the Petra ruins.<\/p>\n We found that Jordan had some excellent multi-lane highways and that road signage along heavily touristed routes was adequately signed in English for us to make our uneventful way to Wadi Musa. It wasn’t until we were actually in the town itself that we managed to get turned around and slightly lost, a situation that quickly corrected itself. We drove the very modern Desert Highway for most of the drive, an aptly named route since it is decidedly in the desert of Jordan. Jordan does have rather high mountains, reaching up to almost 5,000 feet. Up in these heights, while it is still dry, there are some trees and a fair amount of scrub brush. Dropping down to the west from here, one falls into the Dead Sea depression, which is the lowest place on the planet, upwards of 1,000 feet BELOW sea level. The eastern desert, where we were driving, is a classic dry, stony, and sandy wasteland that causes one to wonder why in the world anyone would ever bother to fight over it. If I hadn’t known better, I could have believed that I was in the Mojave Desert of California.<\/p>\n The Desert Highway is lengthy to be sure and the signposts indicate that one could theoretically follow it to Sa’udia and Yemen. Of course we wouldn’t be doing that since Sa’udia is one of the hardest places on the planet for which to obtain a visa and we clearly didn’t have time to drive to Yemen, and last we checked, Yemen fell into that category of Arab society that is in disarray and upheaval, especially in the northern areas that the road would have to pass through. But still, it is fun to see signposts on roads that indicate that one is on the path to places that one is likely to never actually see.<\/p>\n Once we found our hotel, the Movenpick Petra, which was conveniently literally right next door to the entrance to Petra (the other upper end hotels were at least 5km drive away from the entrance and that would have been annoying to have to drive and park to enter the site…well at least it would have been for spoiled travellers like us), was outstanding. The Swiss do hotels like they do chocolate: to perfection. The building was designed to blend into the area architecture and had the look and feel of an Arabian palace complete with wooden screens and enormous brass chandeliers. The food at breakfast was nice although everything was of course chicken or beef based, even the sausage and “bacon” in accordance with local religious sentiment. I suspect the male housekeeping staff was a consequence of local cultural norms that wouldn’t support sending women out to work, and especially not in an environment rife with men, and foreign men at that. The shops were very fond of themselves, with a delightful little silver teapot that I thought would make a dandy addition to my souvenir collection until I discovered the $1,000+ price tag!<\/p>\n In general, Jordan was more expensive than its neighbor Egypt, and everything remotely associated with or close to Petra was even more astronomically expensive yet. But other dissimilarities between Egypt and Jordan were delightful. Vendors in Jordan were happy to take your money for anything from pizza to jewelry, but unlike in Egypt they were not pushy, they did not stalk you in the streets and make every walk a game of dodge the tout, and you could walk into a store, look about, ask questions, and then leave without buying anything with no hassle. After the Cairo experiences, this was a breath of very fresh air. If Egypt is your only experience of the Arab world, don’t despair, it isn’t all like that.<\/p>\n The food in Wadi Musa was mostly pretty basic with kebabs or pizza about the only choices to be had, which isn’t a problem although it can get repetitious. But one thing they did have that I loved and could hardly get enough of even though their prices were dear, was the fresh squeezed lemon juice. Note, I do NOT mean lemonade, I mean lemon juice, sold alongside orange juice. You just get the juice which is frothed in the blender for some reason, but even with a slight addition of a pinch perhaps of sugar, you are drinking some seriously sour stuff, which of course I loved as it mimics a habit I have at home of eating lemons like one normally eats an orange (peel and eat, preferably with some salt) or squeezing the lemon like an orange and drinking the juice. Now I know I am not alone in doing this in the world and that I just have some Arab taste buds mixed in there.<\/p>\n But of course the point of the trip was to see Petra, the lost city of stone, established sometime around the 6th century BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans. To see the sights of Petra, one first has to purchase a pass, which is pretty dear at 55 Jordanian Dinar (about $77 USD) each. Tourism is Jordan’s number two money maker (number one is minerals extracted from the Dead Sea) and I couldn’t really begrudge them jacking prices to help make ends meet. And Petra is a truly international destination as we encountered visitors from several nations in Europe, as well as other Americans, along with the usual Japanese ,and our hotel booked in a group of 8 Brazilian tourists while were waiting to ask a question at the desk. By the way, as a measure of economic growth, the amount of increase or decrease in the spending of a nation’s tourists is pretty reliable, and it was recently reported that Brazilian tourist spending abroad increased by over 50% in 2010 while British tourists by comparison actually spent 4% less. Maybe we should all head for the next economic miracle land and learn Portuguese quickly!<\/p>\n We actually received a discounted entry rate over those not staying in Wadi Musa; day-trippers from Amman or Aqaba pay considerably more as a compensation for not supporting the local economy through hotels and restaurants. After passing through the gate, one starts walking as it is a good kilometer at least before you start to see much of anything interesting. Most modern visitors approach the site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge [in places only 3–4 m (9.8–13 ft) wide] called the Siq (“the shaft”), a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. The Siq itself is an impressive walk with tombs, doorways, and the remains of statues. Perhaps most impressive are the remains of the water channels that once carried water into the city. Not surprisingly for those familiar with deserts, which most people assume are always hot, it was COLD on the walk through the Siq, especially since most of it is in shade the majority of the time. To put “desert” in perspective, remember that it is defined by precipitation amounts, not temperature, and one of the biggest deserts in the world is the continent of Antarctica, not exactly a place known for heat.<\/p>\n
\n[set_id=72157625747972785]<\/p>\nNational Origins and Modern Times<\/h2>\n
Where Is the Holy Land Exactly?<\/h2>\n
Travel Delays and Flights<\/h2>\n
Driving Jordan<\/h2>\n
Hotel Bliss<\/h2>\n
Don’t Worry, It Isn’t Egypt<\/h2>\n
Hiking Into Petra<\/h2>\n