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Background: For most of its history since independence from British administration in 1946, Jordan was ruled by King HUSSEIN (1953-99). A pragmatic ruler, he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population, despite several wars and coup attempts. In 1989 he reinstituted parliamentary elections and gradual political liberalization; in 1994 he signed a formal peace treaty with Israel. King ABDALLAH II - the eldest son of King HUSSEIN and Princess MUNA - assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then, he has consolidated his power and undertaken an aggressive economic reform program. Jordan acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2000, and began to participate in the European Free Trade Association in 2001. After a two-year delay, parliamentary and municipal elections took place in the summer of 2003. The Prime Minister and government appointed in April 2005 declared they would build upon the previous government's achievements to respect political and human rights and improve living standards.

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By Olive3188
July 6th 2008

Day 10 - June 30

Middle East » Jordan

Tourist Police at Petra

Today we got up (early once again, quite a remarkable effort for me I must say. Dad, I think you would agree!) We left to go to Petra for the day. And what a day this one turned out to be!!! Petra is an amazing place, if anyone ever has the chance to go there...I strongly suggest it. But be prepared for long walks, many stairs, hot sun and the Bedouins! We started off by getting to the Treasury, then decided to walk up to the High Point of Sacrifice. After many water and rest stops along the way, we made [View Full Entry]

By Olive3188
July 5th 2008

Day 3 and 4 - June 23-24

Middle East » Jordan

Aqaba
View from the Gabriel's place

After still only a few hours sleep in Amman, we woke up and headed off to Chris' parents place in Aqaba (about 3 hours out of Amman, on the coast). Was quite a lazy/uneventful day (as you can imagine after everything that we had been up to), we arrived in Aqaba, and went to the old house of the Gabriel's, then to their new apartment, had a bit of a few hours nap then went and got some dinner in town at a place called Ali Baba's. Then went up to a rooftop bar called Sea View Cafe, met Chris' friend [View Full Entry]

By Olive3188
July 3rd 2008

Quick Note

Middle East » Jordan

Hey Everyone, Just a quick hello to let you all know I'm fine and still alive. Having a blast over here!! Been all over the place, and just got back from a couple of days in Jerusalem!! Very cool and interesting I must say! We are back in Amman now, and will be til we leave. I leave here on Saturday, and have a few (13 hours) to kill whilst in Abu Dhabi airport, so I will try and fill you all in with all my adventures then. And then I'm off to Tokyo and Beijing for a few days each. [View Full Entry]

By cecilmarie
June 27th 2008

Amman, the white city

Middle East » Jordan » North » Amman

DSC04869

Amman is a very typical Middle Eastern city, at least the Middle East I know. It is very clean, cool and nobody is trying to sell you something all the time like Egypt. I spent a week five days in Amman and although there is not much to do beside visiting the old places and the museum, the city is lovely. [View Full Entry]

By amyuyma
June 25th 2008

Border crossing you never want to take

Middle East » Jordan » South » Aqaba

shitshow

If I ever hated anybody enough I would wish upon them a border crossing via ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba, Egypt. A knee in the nuts and voodoo dolls frenzies just don’t cut it once you’ve seen this. Picking up from where I left off last leaving Wadi Rum, my brother and I get to Aqaba an hour and a half late. Our timetable says there is one daily fast ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba at 11am and we had heard from a ton of people that this was an extremely painful all day process. Hey man, that’s cool. Life [View Full Entry]

Steve arm-wrestling a 5-yr old Egyptian girl

I think I see mine, you know the one all the way at the bottom

By cecilmarie
June 25th 2008

Jerash

Middle East » Jordan » North » Jerash

DSC04750

A photo essay of an incredible ancient city. [View Full Entry]

By amyuyma
June 24th 2008

Some like it HOT

Middle East » Jordan » South » Wadi Rum

trekking through the desert

The only way to see Wadi-Rum is with a guide. We book a 4x4 tour from the hostel in Petra but unfortunately it seemed like nobody else was going so we had to pay a slightly higher 45 JD per person for a private car. When we got to Wadi Rum however the guide had a Japanese couple that was to be in our group, but since they couldn’t refund us any money we decided to demand a private car anyways. We justified it by thinking that we would want to hike around and take our time all day at the [View Full Entry]

By FastEddie
June 23rd 2008

Sinai Peninsula / Jordan

Middle East » Jordan

Sinai
A Bedouin looks over the edge of this cliff on an inlet of the Red Sea.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little anxious about traveling on my own. When Charles left Cairo and flew back to New York and our tour was over, I awoke to an empty hotel room and the reality of my new world was unmistakable. There were no longer any friends or family to journey with, or to help do research, or share in the decisions, or simply be there for company. I moved into a hostel and booked a private room. Partly out of fatigue, partly out of apprehension, and partly out of lethargy, I didn’t open the [View Full Entry]

By amyuyma
June 23rd 2008

Playing Indiana

Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra

entrance to Petra, Treasury

After a day or two of Petra, you will have developed a few new skills. You will be able to take on anybody in a camel-and-donkey-shit-dodging relay race. You can say “no” to cute 5-yr old children faster than they can approach you with useless pieces of rock. However your tolerance for fat but scantily-dressed foreigners will have regressed as you probably haven’t seen exposed, cellulited muffin tops in 3 weeks, and you certainly haven’t seen sunburnt man-boobs (yes, some men take their shirts off here...) in too long. I mean what is this, a Six Flags? Your eyes will n [View Full Entry]

By cecilmarie
June 22nd 2008

The Treasure... Petra

Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra

DSC04952

Jordan was a magnificent experience and the city of Petra was one of the most wonderful experiences in the Middle East. Here are some pictures. [View Full Entry]

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Travel Blog » Middle East » Jordan