Tuesday, 3 February 2015
We woke up early this morning and went for
breakfast at 7. After breakfast, we walked to Petra and were at the entrance by
07:30. We walked and walked, past Al-Khazneh, along the Street of Facades, past
the tombs and theatre, along Colonnaded Street up to the museum. I was
surprised to find the site was deserted this early in the morning. Surely
people should flock to the site now before it got too hot? It took us 25
minutes to get to Al-Khazneh and another 25 minutes to reach the museum. From
the museum, we followed signs and then the steps leading up to Jabal Al-Deir. I
tell you, it’s not an easy climb. I huffed and puffed and panted. The good
thing is we could stop every now and then to draw our breath and enjoy the view
before continuing on as the steps were not continuous and there are breaks
every few metres or so. It took a good hour for an unfit me to finally reach
the top. Hey, we were ascending the treacherous steps ok! We met a loud hungry
bold kitten on the way up and I gave it some bun.
No pain, no gain. This was our reward ;)
Al-Deir or the Monastery was every bit impressive
and fascinating as Al-Khazneh, if not more. We climbed up the nearby hills for
a view of the surrounding canyon, valleys, mountains and faraway desert. It’s
amazing how insanely and breathtakingly beautiful the view was. We were
admiring the view when another cat approached us so I shared some bun with him.
We had to leave though so after 75 minutes at
Jabal Al-Deir, we reluctantly made our way down. We met a lot of other
stragglers only just then struggling up to the Monastery, some on foot while
some others on donkeys. We also met the loud kitten but I had run out of bun by
then. We walked the five km or so out without a word, too exhausted by the intense
merciless sun beating down on us to speak.
We finally reached the hotel drained and knackered
at 11:45 and sat at the lobby, trying to gather our breath. We then made our
way back to the room to perform prayers. We left immediately after prayers as
we had a 1 pm bus to catch. We had earlier discussed and decided to take the
minibus to Amman instead of the JETT bus which would only depart at 5 pm (it
would cost us JOD10 each on JETT bus). The minibus would depart at noon and 1
pm (as informed by the bus driver the day before) and we would reach Amman
before it got dark.
We tried hailing a cab and where was one when you
needed it?? Suddenly, a man in a truck pulled over and called us over. We asked
if he could give us a ride to the bus station and he nodded so after loading
our bags, we boarded his vehicle. It was only a km to the bus station but going
uphill with our bags was not something I would consider. We knew the cab from
the bus station would cost us JOD2 to the hotel so we were surprised when the
driver asked for JOD5 and all because we had luggage. Well, excuse me, if we
had taken a cab, it would have cost us JOD2 with no extra charge for luggage. I
told Che Ta to just give him JOD2.
The minibus to Amman was already waiting and we
had to put our bags on one of the seats. I knew the fare was JOD7 each and
handed him JOD20 for the two of us but he insisted that we pay for the seat
occupied by our bags. When he looked at the money I gave him, he said JOD20 was
fine. I was surprised at this. Sure, in Croatia, I had to pay for storing my
bag in the bus luggage compartment. I paid extra for my bag when riding the
airport bus to Saigon. But the bus driver who took us from Aqaba to Wadi Rum
didn’t ask us to pay extra. I was not happy but we couldn’t do anything.
It took us over three hours to reach Amman and we
were dropped off at the bus station which name didn’t sound familiar to me. A
cabbie approached us and said he could take us to our hotel for JOD5, another
quoted JOD4. We decided to walk out to the main road and asked. A friendly
local helped hail us a cab and a metered one too. We got in and the cabbie
started navigating his way including calling his friends to ask for direction.
I discovered then how huge Amman is. We were in the cab for an hour and we were
still looking for the hotel! I also discovered that people over there rely more
on landmarks and circles (roundabouts) and the hills in Amman (e.g. Jabal
Amman. Amman is a very hilly city. Very). Muhammad Abu Hamdan, our cabbie, went
down a couple of to ask for directions. Finally, we were at Jabal Amman and he
stopped to ask at a pump station and this time, he got accurate direction. We
finally reached the hotel at 17:15 and it was already getting dark. We heard
the call for prayer as we were checking in.
We dumped our bags in the room and went out after
asking for a map and directions from Dia’, the general manager of the hotel.
There were a lot of people downtown, the locals and immigrants and maybe some
Syrian refugees too. We finally bought chicken syawarma for dinner – even a
full menu including chips cost 40% of what it cost us in Petra (!).
We were back at the hotel less than two hours
later.
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Breakfast was served from 8 am and we were at the
table by then. We were going to Jerash today, a city about 48 km to the north
of Amman. The hotel could arrange a tour for us at JOD40 per person if the
number was enough to arrange a trip. I had searched and decided that we could
do it on our own so we decided we would.
After breakfast, we left and took a cab to
Tarbarbour Bus Station which is in north Amman. The cab ride cost us JOD2. It
was a well-arranged and organised station with destinations stated (in Arabic)
but don’t fret if you can’t read Arabic, as the destinations are posted on the
sides of the minibuses. As the case is elsewhere in Jordan, the driver waited
until the bus was almost full before departing. The fare was less than JOD1
each.
It took us close to an hour to reach Jerash and I
had just started dozing off when I was fortunately woken up by the disembarking
passengers and saw Jerash on our left so I quickly woke Che Ta up, got up and
gestured to the driver that we wanted to get down. (As we found later, it would
be a painful climb uphill had we not gotten down there as the bus station was
in the lower part of the city.) We had to walk around part of the site to the
entrance and at the ticket office, paid the JOD8 entrance fee.
We
entered and walked the site and I must say the three hours spent there and the
museum was so fulfilling and satisfying. We first passed Hadrian’s Arch with
Hippodrome on the left and the remains of the Church of Marianos on the right
then we walked to the South Gate where our tickets were finally checked. Temple
of Zeus was on immediate left with the South Theatre beyond while Forum Cardo
was ahead of us. We decided to explore the Temple of Zeus and South Theatre
first then walked to the remains of Peter and Paul Churches to the remains of
the three churches and then the Temple of Artemis. After that, it was the
Isaiah Church and the North Theatre next (the latter being smaller than the
South Theatre). Then we took a leisurely walk back to the Forum Cardo, passing
the other ruins and remains, Nymphaeum, the Baths and a detour to the museum.
We
finally left, almost reluctantly in my case, and asked for directions to the
bus station (this was when we discovered the bus station was at the lower part
of the city). We spotted a bus stop and decided to wait there instead of
walking down. It was quite a wait and finally a minibus came along. I decided
to ask and we were assured, yes, they were heading for Amman but then the
conductor added something in Arabic which we didn’t understand of course.
Turned out they dropped us near the Jerash site and we had to get down and walk
across to the minibus there. A cabbie approached us and said he could take us
back to Amman for JOD2. JOD2 all the way back to Amman? You’ve got to be
kidding me. We decided to take the minibus because we figured it was safer in
number and pretty soon, the cabbie and bus driver were exchanging angry words
at each other. I asked the passengers inside if the bus was going to Amman and
we boarded when we received the affirmative reply.
We
reached Amman and took a cab back from Tarbarbour Station (a challenging task
as it turned out) to the hotel. After performing prayers, we went out. We
bought zinger burgers from a nearby restaurant then walked up to Rainbow
Street. And by that, I mean that we really did have to climb up to Rainbow
Street. Rainbow Street is where the locals hang out at its numerous restaurants
and cafes, something like Bintang Walk here. We walked down to the First Circle
before turning around and walking up the street again. We didn’t walk to the
very end but went down some flights of stairs until we eventually arrived near
our hotel (eh, how did that happen??). We continued on to the downtown area and
decided to try out the dessert from Habibah Sweets.
We
then went around the shops before returning to the hotel.
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