Wednesday, February 18, 2015

A Whole New World: The Sea Of Death. And Then Peace

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.