Ahlan wa Sahlan

Everywhere you go in Jordan you hear Ahlan wa Sahlan, be it on the bus, in the street, or in a restaurant. I spent my first week in Jordan in downtown Amman, living off shawarma. I followed the Lonely Planet's advice and visited the Roman ruins in the city and even ventured into the vegetable souq, but after Jerusalem it was all a little disappointing. I did however manage to fit in a mushroom double swiss burger at Hardees, which revived my spirits. I also travelled to Jerash, which was very impressive. I spent about two hours wandering around the old Roman city. The experience was only slightly marred by the very irritating fifteen year old who followed me around, insisting that I see the dancing columns - the columns move if you put a coin under them. Not so amazing! I also went to Ajlun castle. The Lonely Planet describes this as an Islamic Fairytale Castle, which I feel is a bit of an over statement but it was interesting all the same. I also ventured into the Eastern Desert to see the Crusader Castles. The first two were decidedly disappointing but the Qasr Azraq, where Lawrence of Arabia spent some time, was more interesting, as were the frescoes at the Qasr Amra. On Saturday I met up with my friend Tamara, who had returned from Hebron. I moved out of my hotel in downtown Amman and into her aunt's house in a rather nicer part of Amman. We visited Mount Nebo, where Moses first saw the Promised Land. We also went to the Crusader Castle in Karak. It was a long journey but the views of the Wadi Mujib Gorge, from the King's Highway, were amazing. The highlight of my time in Jordan so far was almost certainly the Dead Sea. We splashed out and spent a day at the Dead Sea Marriott. It was a great day and floating in the Dead Sea was a pretty amazing experience. The sad thing is that the Dead Sea is disappearing and that in 40 years there will be nothing left. I guess I was pretty fortunate to have been able to see it.

The best thing about being in Jordan though, has definitely been talking to so many different people. At least 70% of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin, and despite holding Jordanian passports, they are treated accordingly. They cannot hold positions in government or in the armed forces, and they have to go to separate government buildings when dealing with matters such as passport renewal. There is a lot of racism in Jordan, which the majority of people outside of the country have no idea about. In addition to the large Palestinian population there are about 2 million Iraqis in Jordan. Saddam Hussein is pretty popular around here! There is so much more to see in Jordan and so much more to learn. I hope that I will enjoy my remaining two weeks here, as much as I have enjoyed the first.

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