Thursday,
5 February 2015
We
had decided to go to the Dead Sea today and again decided to take the minibus.
After breakfast, we took a cab to Muhajirin bus station for the bus to Rame
(also spelt as Rahmah). The fare cost only JOD1 per person with change and
again we had to wait for the bus to fill. We finally arrived after 10 am and
the driver told us to get down there as the bus was continuing on to another
destination (which name escapes me now). We got down and were approached by
waiting cabbies. Now, there’s no minibus service direct to the Dead Sea, you’ll
definitely have to take a cab for the rest of the way and back to Rame. We
finally agreed to pay JOD8 for the cab; we told the cabbie we didn’t want to go
too far as we didn’t plan to bathe. We just wanted to see the Sea which is the
site of the ancient site of Sodom. Dad had told me not to be awed about the
place which swallowed so much sin and evil wrongdoings.
It
didn’t take long to reach the Dead Sea. We had to pass a security checkpoint
before we continued on to the public beach next to Holiday Inn. The cabbie
turned in towards the beach and we went out and descended down to the water.
The public ‘beach’ was dirty and littered and you would think many times before
you consider entering the sea. Like I said earlier, we weren’t going to bathe
but we still picked our way gingerly down to the water. And yes, before long,
some kids who really belonged in school came approaching us with their donkeys.
We ignored them.
We
stayed for almost half an hour. There was a light breeze and the weather wasn’t
bad but the sun in that part of the world is just so intense with hardly any
cloud cover so do be prepared with your sunblock.
After
that, we returned to the cab and drove back to Rame. We wanted to wait for a
minibus to Madaba so we waited and waited. And waited and waited. We must have
waited for a good hour and asked a few locals when a bus came but it was full.
The cabbie who drove us to the Dead Sea came back and offered to bring us to
Madaba. We finally agreed on a fare of JOD20.
We
left the village of Rame and drove to Madaba. It was a winding climbing road
and we could see the Dead Sea in the distance. We passed Mount Nebo where
according to the Bible, Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land. There is
a Memorial to Moses here with entrance fee of JOD1; however, our cabbie didn’t
want to wait so we left after taking photos.
We
reached Madaba at 13:15 and went to find the Visitor Centre. We found the sign
misleading and ended up walking a longer route there. We then asked for maps
and the way to the nearest mosque to perform prayers. A few metres later, we
stumbled upon the Virgin Mary Church. We found that we could gain access to
three sites by paying a JOD2 entrance ticket so we decided to buy the ticket.
We spent twenty minutes there before proceeding to King Hussein bin Talal
Mosque for prayers.
After
prayers, we went to find St George’s Church, a Greek Orthodox Church and the
site of an ancient mosaic map of the region. You have to pay JOD1 entrance fee
at the visitor centre on the right of the church. After the church, we went to
find Madaba Museum. Unfortunately, very few people seemed to know where it was
so we walked up and down and finally headed back to the Visitor Centre to ask
for directions. We were not successful in getting the right direction however
(!) and asked at some shops before we were directed to the right place. And we
found that Madaba is yet another of those hilly Jordanian town... We reached
the museum some half an hour later and were given a private tour by one of the
museum staff.
We
stayed more than twenty minutes before we left for the Apostles Church, the
last site on our ticket. We reached there after a ten-minute walk but alas, it
was already closed. I know some places close at 4 p.m. during the winter
months.
We
decided not to turn back and followed the road, hoping it would lead us to the
bus station. And this time, we were in luck for we stumbled upon the bus
station. What a relief! We quickly found a minibus back to Amman and paid JOD1
each. We were dropped at some busy intersection in Amman and spotting a tour
agency, we went to ask for directions. The bloke who attended to us didn’t even
suggest us to take a cab but a blue bus. I looked out and saw one and asked if
that was the right one and he said yes. We thanked him and hurried over to the
bus (and having to cross the busy road too).
We
got down near Al Hussaini Mosque and walked around the shops, looking for
souvenirs. They have abaya with lovely colourful embroidery there and we
admired the beautiful abayas. In the end, I only bought some magnets as I
wanted to be sure I had enough money for the following day before I succumbed
to shopping. We had another chicken syawarma meal tonight. Ditsy me left my bag
behind and only realised it when we were back in our room so we had to retrace
our steps back to the dates shop and the syawarma restaurant before finding I had
left it at the souvenir shop.
Friday,
6 February 2015
We
decided to have a rather late breakfast today at 08:45 as we would be checking
out and leaving our bags at the lobby while we went to explore the part of
Amman we hadn’t yet covered. We left at 09:30 and walked to the Roman Theatre
Complex. We had read that the Roman Theatre opens later on Fridays, at 10:00.
You will first come upon the Roman Forum which was once one of the largest
public squares in Imperial Rome. Only a few columns remain today. The Roman
Theatre is just adjacent to the Forum. Foreigners have to pay JOD1 for entrance
while the locals pay only JOD0.15. Entrance also includes the Jordan Museum of
Popular Traditions and the Folklore Museum which we missed. The Roman Theatre
is impressively huge. We spent twenty minutes there before checking out the
Museum of Popular Traditions.
After
that, we went to the nearby Odeon, a mini version of the Roman Theatre and
built around the same time as its bigger sister and held an audience of 500. In
Roman times it would have hosted small musical or poetry performances or odes
as they were then known hence the name.
After
that, we asked directions for the Citadel from the Tourist Police. They didn’t
seem to understand so I threw in Jabal al Qala’a too. They directed us to a
flight of stairs in the far distance and also suggested we take a cab up. We
decided, well, we’d climbed up to Al-Deir so surely we could climb up to the
Citadel. And so we did and had another good workout by which I mean, panting,
huffing, puffing, moaning and groaning all the way up. We also had to walk
around the hill to the entrance. We finally reached the entrance half an hour
after we started.
We
had sighted the Temple of Hercules when we were walking down Rainbow Street on
Wednesday evening illuminated against the night sky but it was still impressive
to see it up close in daylight. We walked around the temple area before circling
Jordan Archaeological Museum and continuing on to the Umayyad Complex and Mosque
which is the early Islamic part of the Citadel. The mosque remains suggest it
was a considerably large building which means it was indeed the heart of the
Muslim community back then. To the north of the mosque are the remains of a
hammam, a souk and Umayyad Palace with its prominent gateway topped with a blue
roof. Off to the right of the Mosque and Gateway is the water cistern which
held the water supply for the residents of the Citadel. After taking our fill
of the palace complex, we returned to the Jordan Archaeological Museum. The museum
has a remarkable collection of statues and ceramics, jewellery, flint and metal
tools, coins, pottery bowls and remains of temples salvaged during excavations.
Alas, the fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls were not there.
We
walked to the remains of the Byzantine Church and were about to rest when we
were approached by four local ladies with their children clearly on a playdate.
They approached us and in Arabic told us they wanted to take pictures of us and
with us. It was quite hilarious really. We finally left without really
exploring the church remains.
We
descended the hill and found ourselves in one of the roads which we usually
passed in our evening shopping forays. We headed for Al Hussaini Mosque,
stopping by a perfumery and some other shops on the way. At the mosque, we
found there was a room for females but when we asked where to perform
ablutions, we were given a vague direction to the souq nearby. We found a
public washroom but it looked to be mixed (!) so we left and went to find a
hotel where we hoped to perform ablutions. Well, in that part of the world,
hotels don’t necessarily have public bathrooms for guests or visitors. We walked
on and stumbled upon the Nymphaeum. This was one of the main water supplies for
the people in the downtown district. The fountain complex is almost certainly
built over underground caves and streams which in Roman times were seen as
sacred places and dedicated to the nymphs made famous in mythology, hence the
name.
There
was a hotel around the corner from the Nymphaeum and when we explained that we
wanted to use the hotel’s bathroom to perform ablutions, the guard there kindly
took us to a room at the fifth floor and told us we could perform ablutions
there. We then returned to the ground floor and the guard told us to perform
prayers in an office. How kind! ;’)
After
having performed our obligation, we thanked him and left and returned to the
shopping scene. We finally bought a tunic each (me for myself and Che Ta for
her mum) and then returned to the perfumery. The shopkeeper patiently entertained
us and suggested some scents for us and we left with satisfaction over our
purchases. I had bought dates and figs the previous evening and didn’t want to
shop further so after setting aside cash for dinner and cab to the airport, we
went to a moneychanger and changed our remaining dinars into USD. We sat and
chatted before buying dinner (if I ate too early I’d be hungry again by 10 pm!).
We finally returned to the hotel after dinner to freshen up and perform prayers
while waiting for Muhammad, our cabbie from our arrival in Amman, to come at
21:30.
Well,
he showed up at 8 p.m. and we decided we’d leave then as we didn’t want him to
have to come back to downtown to pick us up. The hotel could arrange airport transfer
at JOD25 but Muhammad had offered to take us for JOD20 earlier hence why we
chose him. It took us close to an hour to reach the airport and we passed IKEA
and two universities on the way. At the airport, we went to the bathroom to
change clothes before checking in. Then it was a long, long wait for our 01:45
flight out of Amman...
Saturday,
7 February 2015
I
somehow managed to doze off once or twice before we landed in Bangkok. At Bangkok,
we immediately went to find the prayer room – which turned out to be near our
gate. There was a delay in taking off and we only landed at KLIA at 20:50, half
an hour later than scheduled.
I
had an absolutely fantastic fabulous fun time in Jordan. Alhamdulillah! It’s
just too bad that we couldn’t cross over to Syria because of the war but I’m
thankful nevertheless.
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