We spent a couple of days in Amman and didn’t really accomplish much. Quite honestly, I didn’t find the city to be very inspiring and TJ was very sick so we laid pretty low. There were a couple of things in my guide book that I found to be rather amusing. First, we were warned not to trust anyone who told us our hotel had been burnt down. Second, we learned that one of our biggest challenges in Amman would be safely crossing the street. The drivers pose a “serious hazard to your health.” “They have “no desire to run you over; they just want to get to their destination as quickly as possible.” Back in ‘Nam I learned that when the situation looks bleak it helps to find little old ladies crossing the street and follow closelyJ This strategy came in very useful in Amman as well!
Our favorite site was the Roman Theater. We also saw the citadel, the historic downtown area, mosques and markets. We spent the better part of a day lounging around coffee shops in a swankier part of town.
The following day we caught a mini-bus to Petra. After enduring our depressing accommodation in Amman, we decided to skip the backpacker’s joint we’d planned on staying at and upgraded to a 3-star hotel. We arrived late in the afternoon, too late in the day to see Petra. Since the town had little else to offer we settled in to our nice digs and watched movies all night. I know it sounds strange, but sometimes you need a little break from your vacation!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Amman, Jordan
We arrived in Amman this evening. From what I’ve read people don’t come to Amman for its markets and bazaars or mosques. People come to Amman to see a modern Arab city. There is definitely a massive amount of construction going on with new shopping centers, condos, hotels and even a university scheduled for completion. The downtown area we are staying in, however, is far from modern. Agreed, it is not as old as Damascus and other major nearby cities, but I wouldn’t classify it as modern…
We dropped our backpacks and set out for our first meal of the day. Again, we found very few choices that offered anything other than traditional Arabic cuisine. After a less than mediocre dinner we headed back to our “hotel.” My trusty Lonely Planet book raved about the hotel we are staying at. In fact it is listed as “The Author’s Choice” and the author goes on to say, “The Palace is definitely the best budget and lower midrange option in downtown and is worth a little splurge. The rooms are clean and large, all renovated in 2005, and some have balconies with good views of the street. There’s a wide range of rooms with satellite TV and fridge. It has laundry service, free local calls, internet access, a café…” Doesn’t it sound nice? I am feeling very deceived right now because it is a depressing dump! The carpet must be several years older than me and the rest of the room is in a state of despair. I have been carrying around a bottle of wine that I bought a week ago in Lebanon and corked it tonight to ease my depression over this room. TJ is in bed shivering because it is so cold in here as there isn’t a central heating system. I must be getting snobby in my old age because drab rooms seem to have more of an impact on me than they used to!
Tomorrow we’ll explore Amman and will hopefully meet TR here for lunch the next day before continuing on to Petra.
Throughout the three countries we have been to so far I have been discouraged with my Lonely Planet book for advertising some sites as “must see” or unmissable experiences.” I’ve taken the authors raves and recommendations seriously. However, in several instances I have been disappointed with what was promoted. I’ve arrived at “must see” sites and thought, “Uhh, why did I ‘have’ to see this?” I have learned a few lessons here. First, authors have to do their job of writing a book and promoting an entire country. We are visiting countries that are truly off the beaten track to the extreme that there only seem to be a handful of tourists – in the entire country. The authors cannot create sites to see or things to do, so they are left with the challenge of promoting what exists. And, I need to remember that how interesting something is can vary tremendously from one person to the next. The sites promoted may be truly fascinating to some people. My lessons have been to take into consideration where I am in the world and realize that my expectations cannot be too high. I also keep in mind that the journey is often as interesting, if not more interesting, than the destination.
We dropped our backpacks and set out for our first meal of the day. Again, we found very few choices that offered anything other than traditional Arabic cuisine. After a less than mediocre dinner we headed back to our “hotel.” My trusty Lonely Planet book raved about the hotel we are staying at. In fact it is listed as “The Author’s Choice” and the author goes on to say, “The Palace is definitely the best budget and lower midrange option in downtown and is worth a little splurge. The rooms are clean and large, all renovated in 2005, and some have balconies with good views of the street. There’s a wide range of rooms with satellite TV and fridge. It has laundry service, free local calls, internet access, a café…” Doesn’t it sound nice? I am feeling very deceived right now because it is a depressing dump! The carpet must be several years older than me and the rest of the room is in a state of despair. I have been carrying around a bottle of wine that I bought a week ago in Lebanon and corked it tonight to ease my depression over this room. TJ is in bed shivering because it is so cold in here as there isn’t a central heating system. I must be getting snobby in my old age because drab rooms seem to have more of an impact on me than they used to!
Tomorrow we’ll explore Amman and will hopefully meet TR here for lunch the next day before continuing on to Petra.
Throughout the three countries we have been to so far I have been discouraged with my Lonely Planet book for advertising some sites as “must see” or unmissable experiences.” I’ve taken the authors raves and recommendations seriously. However, in several instances I have been disappointed with what was promoted. I’ve arrived at “must see” sites and thought, “Uhh, why did I ‘have’ to see this?” I have learned a few lessons here. First, authors have to do their job of writing a book and promoting an entire country. We are visiting countries that are truly off the beaten track to the extreme that there only seem to be a handful of tourists – in the entire country. The authors cannot create sites to see or things to do, so they are left with the challenge of promoting what exists. And, I need to remember that how interesting something is can vary tremendously from one person to the next. The sites promoted may be truly fascinating to some people. My lessons have been to take into consideration where I am in the world and realize that my expectations cannot be too high. I also keep in mind that the journey is often as interesting, if not more interesting, than the destination.
Damascus - Bosra – Jerash – Amman, Jordan
This morning we set off for Amman, Jordan with stops at the ruins in Bosra, Syria and Jerash, Jordan en route. Our first stop, Bosra, boasts “one of the best, preserved Roman theaters in existence” and it was very impressive!! We cruised around the fortress halls and saw the massive theater, which remains in excellent condition. Consistent with most of the other tourist attractions in Syria, we had the place to ourselves. It was quite a spectacular site to see the dramatic stage and the steep rows of seating where 9000 people enjoyed performances since the 2nd century AD.
We checked out the remains of the old Roman town and then got back on the road and headed towards Jordan. The border crossing went rather smoothly. We bought our Syria departure ticket at a food stall (what the heck?), went through several check points and exited Syria where the official tossed our passports at us. That was not the nicest farewell. Entering Jordan was a little more involved. We had to take everything out of our car so the officers could do a semi-thorough inspection. They didn’t manage to find all of the packs of cigarettes our driver had purchased at duty-free and mischievously stashed throughout his vehicle. It was a fairly slow process but thankfully we were crossing on a weekend and there weren’t any lines!
Our first stop in Jordan was Jerash where the ruins are one of Jordan’s major attractions. According to my Lonely Planet book, the ruins are “one of the best examples in the Middle East of a Roman provincial city, and is remarkably well preserved.” We found it amusing that we saw more tourists at Jerash in the parking lot than we saw the whole time we were in Syria. We are turning into ruin snobs because we weren’t as impressed by Jerash as we have been at other sites, but it is still fascinating to imagine what 15,000 – 20,000 inhabitants did in this city on a daily basis 2000 years ago! We checked out the site then continued on to Amman.
We checked out the remains of the old Roman town and then got back on the road and headed towards Jordan. The border crossing went rather smoothly. We bought our Syria departure ticket at a food stall (what the heck?), went through several check points and exited Syria where the official tossed our passports at us. That was not the nicest farewell. Entering Jordan was a little more involved. We had to take everything out of our car so the officers could do a semi-thorough inspection. They didn’t manage to find all of the packs of cigarettes our driver had purchased at duty-free and mischievously stashed throughout his vehicle. It was a fairly slow process but thankfully we were crossing on a weekend and there weren’t any lines!
Our first stop in Jordan was Jerash where the ruins are one of Jordan’s major attractions. According to my Lonely Planet book, the ruins are “one of the best examples in the Middle East of a Roman provincial city, and is remarkably well preserved.” We found it amusing that we saw more tourists at Jerash in the parking lot than we saw the whole time we were in Syria. We are turning into ruin snobs because we weren’t as impressed by Jerash as we have been at other sites, but it is still fascinating to imagine what 15,000 – 20,000 inhabitants did in this city on a daily basis 2000 years ago! We checked out the site then continued on to Amman.
Damascus, Syria
From Palmyra we headed to Damascus, Syria’s capital. We said good-bye to Abdul, dropped our packs off and headed (I hobbled) off to check out the city and get some dinner. It was rush hour on a Friday night in Damascus and the city was bustling with people coming and going. Our first impression of the city was that it was old, dirty, loud and smelly (imagine the smell of garbage combined with raw meat and urine). Unfortunately, first impressions are often lasting impressions. And gain, it was hard to find anything to eat other than a shwarma! We found a couple of restaurants serving Arabic cuisine but the meat hanging in the window with the organs and intestines exposed and the food that had been sitting out at room temperature all day encouraged us to keep walking. We finally found a juice bar that served sandwiches too. TJ was feeling really sick and my knee was in pain so we headed back to our hotel. We had a huge room with high ceilings in a funky old house. It was spotlessly clean and nice, except freezing! We got in bed early because it was too cold not to!
On our 2nd day in Damascus we wandered around the Old City and saw the Citadel, the Umayyad Mosque, “one of Islam’s most notable buildings” and the souq (market), which sold everything from wedding dresses to perfume and kids toys. TJ was still feeling terrible and my knee pain had escalated to excruciating. Damascus has a rough terrain to navigate with a not so functional knee. My knee had started giving out and as a result I feared I’d done more than bruised it. I felt like I’d damaged my knee’s support system. So, we called it a day and headed back to our digs to take it easy. It is kind of nice to be forced to sit still sometimes. I’ve read a lot, caught up on the news, played my Nintendo DS and have actually relaxed a bit.
On our 2nd day in Damascus we wandered around the Old City and saw the Citadel, the Umayyad Mosque, “one of Islam’s most notable buildings” and the souq (market), which sold everything from wedding dresses to perfume and kids toys. TJ was still feeling terrible and my knee pain had escalated to excruciating. Damascus has a rough terrain to navigate with a not so functional knee. My knee had started giving out and as a result I feared I’d done more than bruised it. I felt like I’d damaged my knee’s support system. So, we called it a day and headed back to our digs to take it easy. It is kind of nice to be forced to sit still sometimes. I’ve read a lot, caught up on the news, played my Nintendo DS and have actually relaxed a bit.
Palmyra
The following day Abdul took us to Syria’s main tourist attraction, the Palmyra ruins. We made a couple of brief stops on the way at ruins of a castle and beehive houses. These little houses looked like they were straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. The structures are constructed to keep the houses cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Today used for food storage more commonly than they are used for homes.
My knee hurt and my ankle was weak, but I was able to hobble around pretty well especially with all the help from T.J. Our itinerary on this trip is a bit ambitious and I didn’t want to miss seeing Palmyra, “one of the world’s most splendid historical sites” that date back to the 2nd century AD. The ruins were very impressive and TJ and I enjoyed strolling through the site. The ruins are like the Las Vegas strip – from a distance it is hard to gage how massive they are in size. It isn’t until you are looking up and walking through the site that you realize and appreciate the magnitude of each structure and contemplate how it was erected so long ago.
My knee hurt and my ankle was weak, but I was able to hobble around pretty well especially with all the help from T.J. Our itinerary on this trip is a bit ambitious and I didn’t want to miss seeing Palmyra, “one of the world’s most splendid historical sites” that date back to the 2nd century AD. The ruins were very impressive and TJ and I enjoyed strolling through the site. The ruins are like the Las Vegas strip – from a distance it is hard to gage how massive they are in size. It isn’t until you are looking up and walking through the site that you realize and appreciate the magnitude of each structure and contemplate how it was erected so long ago.
Dead Cities – Aleppo
Yesterday we met up with our dapper driver, Abdul, again and set off on another day trip. Our first stop was Serjilla, one of Syria’s Dead Cities. There are approximately 600 sites in the Dead Cities and while the remains look like ghost towns, it is easy to envision how the villages thrived 15 centuries ago. Our next stop was another village in the Dead Cities, Al-Bara, and then we headed north to Aleppo.
I was pretty excited to see Aleppo as my guide book made it sound like a very interesting city with many areas to explore. Commentary such as “Aleppo retains the air of an Arabian bazaar city” with “the most vibrant and most authentic souq (market) in the whole middle east” excited me to check out such a unique city. Aleppo and Damascus both claim to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. I don’t really care which city is actually entitled to make that claim – I was just excited to experience a place with so much history.
Our driver dropped us off and pointed us in the direction of the Citadel and market. The Citadel was a massive fortress that was used to protect the city and ward off intruders. We hiked up the stairs and crossed the bridge. In the past, invading forces were subject to being shot with arrows, having boiling oil poured on them and fire shot at them while attempting to cross the bridge. We wandered around the Citadel and admired the panoramic views of the city offered from the top.
It was a nice sunny day and I was finally starting to feel better… Until I fell down the cobble stone stairs when leaving the Citadel. Nope, it was not a very graceful exit at all. If I wasn’t in so much pain I might think it was funny. I rolled my left ankle on one of the uneven stones and fell- down the stairs. My right knee slammed into the corner of a stair to break my fall and jamming my palm on the next stair and jarring my shoulder brought me to a halt. To make things better I managed to land in what seemed to be the only mud puddle in the city. So now my right ankle is swelling while my right knee is bruising and I now have two bad legs and can barely walk. My shoulder made out the least scathed and fortunately it only hurts when I move my arm. The old man next to me said I am lucky to be young as that fall would have broken many bones in his body. He is probably right. I have been searching for an explanation for my sickness and mishaps. Have I been naughty and have bad Karma? Are these signs that I should exit Syria ASAP? If someone knows something I don’t, please tell me.
Due to my inability to walk, we cut our time in Aleppo short and headed back to Hama. Normally, I would ice my knee to prevent and minimize swelling. Unfortunately, ice and other things that are readily available at home are completely unavailable here. There aren’t grocery stores. Meat and dairy products aren’t always refrigerated. I am not sure if it is due to a lack of freezers or what but ice doesn’t seem to exist here.
I was pretty excited to see Aleppo as my guide book made it sound like a very interesting city with many areas to explore. Commentary such as “Aleppo retains the air of an Arabian bazaar city” with “the most vibrant and most authentic souq (market) in the whole middle east” excited me to check out such a unique city. Aleppo and Damascus both claim to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. I don’t really care which city is actually entitled to make that claim – I was just excited to experience a place with so much history.
Our driver dropped us off and pointed us in the direction of the Citadel and market. The Citadel was a massive fortress that was used to protect the city and ward off intruders. We hiked up the stairs and crossed the bridge. In the past, invading forces were subject to being shot with arrows, having boiling oil poured on them and fire shot at them while attempting to cross the bridge. We wandered around the Citadel and admired the panoramic views of the city offered from the top.
It was a nice sunny day and I was finally starting to feel better… Until I fell down the cobble stone stairs when leaving the Citadel. Nope, it was not a very graceful exit at all. If I wasn’t in so much pain I might think it was funny. I rolled my left ankle on one of the uneven stones and fell- down the stairs. My right knee slammed into the corner of a stair to break my fall and jamming my palm on the next stair and jarring my shoulder brought me to a halt. To make things better I managed to land in what seemed to be the only mud puddle in the city. So now my right ankle is swelling while my right knee is bruising and I now have two bad legs and can barely walk. My shoulder made out the least scathed and fortunately it only hurts when I move my arm. The old man next to me said I am lucky to be young as that fall would have broken many bones in his body. He is probably right. I have been searching for an explanation for my sickness and mishaps. Have I been naughty and have bad Karma? Are these signs that I should exit Syria ASAP? If someone knows something I don’t, please tell me.
Due to my inability to walk, we cut our time in Aleppo short and headed back to Hama. Normally, I would ice my knee to prevent and minimize swelling. Unfortunately, ice and other things that are readily available at home are completely unavailable here. There aren’t grocery stores. Meat and dairy products aren’t always refrigerated. I am not sure if it is due to a lack of freezers or what but ice doesn’t seem to exist here.
Hama
We arrived in Hama in the evening and did a little bit of exploring and had dinner. There isn’t much to do in Hama but it is claimed to be one of Syria’s most attractive towns, is known for its ancient wooden water wheels and it is a good base for the day trips we are taking to surrounding sites. We were surprised to learn how much less expensive Syria is than Lebanon - two chicken shwarmas and two sodas = $2. Our hotel is nice and clean with great people working here for ½ the price of our dumpy room in Beirut. After getting settled in our room I started feeling worse and TJ was getting sick too.
Even though I was feeling a little under the weather I didn’t want to miss anything. So, on our first full day in Hama we set off with our driver, Abdul, a dapper little man who was neatly dressed in a cute little Keebler-elf looking suit, to Qala’at al-Hosn, a Crusader castle. The castle was impressive as it has been remarkably well preserved and seems to not have deteriorated much since it was constructed 800 years ago. It looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. It was exciting to walk through the interior wondering what used to transpire between those walls.
By the time we returned to Hama I felt miserable and TJ was feeling crappy too. We had some similar symptoms and some different. I had a sore throat, cold sweats, hot sweats, body ache, stuffy nose and was exhausted. TJ also had a sore throat and stuffy nose but also a head ache so bad he felt like he was going to throw up. We spent the majority of the following day and a half in bed trying to recover. Unfortunately, wretchedly painful stomach convulsions interfered with my ability to rest. It was similar to when you wake up in the night with a really bad calf cramp and you are in intense pain for 30 seconds or a minute, except my pain didn’t go away in a timely fashion. It was awful.
The first night we weren’t feeling well we set out to buy water, Kleenex, throat lozenges and some food. We found everything except food! To clarify, we didn’t find anything we thought we could stomach or that wouldn’t make us more ill. We’d overdosed on shwarmas and the thought of another one made our stomachs churn so we decided bananas were dinner for the night.
24 hours later our stomachs craved more than a banana so we set off again. After a lot of wandering around we discovered that the shops that we thought were only selling fresh fruit had juicers! Yum! Smoothies! We also found a bakery selling normal bread (separate story required) and we even found a shop with packets of chicken noodle soup! What a relief. There is very little familiar food (other than fruits) to us in Syria as there are trade restrictions with the US. As a result, the country has not had the Western exposure that the majority of rest of the world has.
Hama is more conservative than the larger cities. All of the women here have their heads covered with scarves, if they are not wearing a full burqa. I didn’t know women wore burqas without eyeholes until I saw them in Hama. We have seen a couple of other tourists at our hotel, but for the most part I think the local people have seen very few Westerners. Men and women stare at us, me especially. I think it is a combination of being white and not having my head covered that attracts the attention.
Even though I was feeling a little under the weather I didn’t want to miss anything. So, on our first full day in Hama we set off with our driver, Abdul, a dapper little man who was neatly dressed in a cute little Keebler-elf looking suit, to Qala’at al-Hosn, a Crusader castle. The castle was impressive as it has been remarkably well preserved and seems to not have deteriorated much since it was constructed 800 years ago. It looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. It was exciting to walk through the interior wondering what used to transpire between those walls.
By the time we returned to Hama I felt miserable and TJ was feeling crappy too. We had some similar symptoms and some different. I had a sore throat, cold sweats, hot sweats, body ache, stuffy nose and was exhausted. TJ also had a sore throat and stuffy nose but also a head ache so bad he felt like he was going to throw up. We spent the majority of the following day and a half in bed trying to recover. Unfortunately, wretchedly painful stomach convulsions interfered with my ability to rest. It was similar to when you wake up in the night with a really bad calf cramp and you are in intense pain for 30 seconds or a minute, except my pain didn’t go away in a timely fashion. It was awful.
The first night we weren’t feeling well we set out to buy water, Kleenex, throat lozenges and some food. We found everything except food! To clarify, we didn’t find anything we thought we could stomach or that wouldn’t make us more ill. We’d overdosed on shwarmas and the thought of another one made our stomachs churn so we decided bananas were dinner for the night.
24 hours later our stomachs craved more than a banana so we set off again. After a lot of wandering around we discovered that the shops that we thought were only selling fresh fruit had juicers! Yum! Smoothies! We also found a bakery selling normal bread (separate story required) and we even found a shop with packets of chicken noodle soup! What a relief. There is very little familiar food (other than fruits) to us in Syria as there are trade restrictions with the US. As a result, the country has not had the Western exposure that the majority of rest of the world has.
Hama is more conservative than the larger cities. All of the women here have their heads covered with scarves, if they are not wearing a full burqa. I didn’t know women wore burqas without eyeholes until I saw them in Hama. We have seen a couple of other tourists at our hotel, but for the most part I think the local people have seen very few Westerners. Men and women stare at us, me especially. I think it is a combination of being white and not having my head covered that attracts the attention.
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