Jordan

Remains of the columns of the Roman Theater, Amman

During Eid Mubarak last 3days ago, I went to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Thru Royal Jordanian airlines, it is 3hours away from Abu Dhabi and with an hour time variance. Airport immigration is typical as in any arab country, there is just a little incident when my friend travelling with me was questioned more longer because her passport photo looks healthier than her in person ^_^.

150AD Roman Amphitheatre, 6000seats capacity

We stayed at the charming Pasha hotel in downtown. The capital of Jordan is divided into two regions, (1) old and (2) new. Old Amman looks old, smells old and feels old. But the new Amman looks normal, same as Abu Dhabi city.

We had traditional food for lunch & dinner, Mansaf is a delicious tenderly cooked chicken or lamb on top of flavored rice served with yogurt. 

Like all busy cities, the streets are filled with cars, windows open driving in free lanes, vendors are selling various goods like clothes, souvenir items, local perfumes, etc..., some tourists like us wandering around, and many people just strolling and enjoying the holiday.

Remains of the Temple of Roman god Hercules

We met an eager local tour-guide  his name is Steve. We found him sitting at the entrance of the Roman Theater ruins. He said he always guards the coliseum waiting for tourists to serve because it is his territory.

Steve: the best and happiest Tour Guide in Amman

He offered to ride in his car, straight up to see the Citadel on top of the hill.  So, up we go and reached just in time before sunset. At 5pm the entrance was already officially close but he wasta our way in. The citadel is famous for the temple ruins of the greek god Hercules. From the hilltop 360 degrees you can see the capital of Jordan.

Steve's Colliseum

 On Friday morning we hired a taxi to drive us to the very ancient city Petra. For 3long hours in the car we watched the stony, hilly, red dessert of the country. Petra is arabic word for stone. Maybe because the ancient buildings are carved from the huge red stone mountain, history said it existed from 300BC. To see the famous rock-carved architecture, we have to walk more than 1hour in between the very big mountains, the passage is narrow so only horses can be hired as a transport. The horse owners look and talk like pirates so we did not hire any, we just walk happily along with many other tourists. Going back is disaster, we feel very very exhausted, phew! But its really worth it, to get a glimpse of how the early humans live.

The Treasury, 'Al Khazna' Petra

Amazing Ancient City of Petra

Many travellers. from all over the world comes here to visit

sandwiched between mysterious giant red rocks

Israel on the West, Jordan in the East (Jordan River Boundary)

On Saturday morning we hired the same Jordanian driver from the hotel and visited the Jordan River where Jesus Christ was baptized and the Dead Sea.

Dead Sea Mud covered

Blogging at the shores of Dead Sea

The road kept going down-down-down. It  is more than 1000feet below sea level. It is a boundary line of Jordan with Israel on the west side. Mohammad, our local driver said the dead sea is dead because there are no fishes that can survive its very salty water. But it is very rich in phosporous and other dead sea minerals used for skincare. We bought facial and body muds, it is very black.

Happy to travel with great friends!

We left Jordan feeling refreshed by 8PM on the 3rd day.