5 days in Jordan--back to Jerusalem

10, March, 2009 back to Jerusalem

By Judita

It was our last day in Jordan. Oh no! We planned to wake up earlier but actually as always we were so relaxed, had nice breakfast (well, it became boring after all time in hostel), paid our almost last money and went out. We went to post office to send postcards. Surprisingly, stamps were expensive and they even didn’t put real ones. Only some stickers. Boo… Then we tried to catch taxi to bus station, it took long time and the driver again asked too much. But well, what can we do… Our small bus to Madaba was very lousy, it went so slow. But on the other hand, we could see huge part of Amman. We went through some fancy districts with Sheraton, Marriot etc. hotels and so on. Part of people in bus was students. I have to tell that I haven’t seen almost any cute guy guys in Jordan, but finally in that lousy bus I saw one or two J We went through green fields, landscape is different there. In fact, Jordan has many different areas: desert, mountains, valleys and plain fields. We arrived to Madaba – I expected it to be tourist place like Petra because of mosaic stuff but actually it was a bit ugly city, dirty, noisy with some grilled chickens. But we didn’t have any money left! What a pity! Nobody spoke English and we had trouble to find that famous church. While wandering in the streets Joe found shop that sells beer – well, he got some – it’s not 100% Jordanian, because it is Amstel – but it was made in Jordan! Yes! We found one church but it wasn’t right one. After visiting it we went to another one. On the way we saw beautiful mosque too. So we entered finally that church and finally after so long time I saw it! But well, actually, I expected so much that when I saw it – it is just mosaic! Nice and huge and old but for me it looked even better in postcards than real. We didn’t spend too much time because we had to get to Israel. I have to admit: first time I didn’t want to go back to Israel. Amman is huge, noisy, crowded and dirty in some places (although there are a lot of fancy neighbourhoods), but in a way it is very relaxing and easy. Or maybe just because we were tourists… But people are not annoying, they even don’t care about you, at least it seems so. And all that good food. Sweets and Turkish coffee for 250 piastre in the morning in paper “cappuccino“ cup.
Anyway, we had to catch taxi to Mt. Nebus & border. It is so annoying! But no taxi driver can ruin my good feelings about Jordan. We got one and we went to Mt. Nebus. Very beautiful view, more mosaics, sun and Jerusalem feeling (soon). After mountain we got to the border. King (in picture) told “goodbye” to us and we entered border crossing territory. It wasn’t so easy, because we had to pay border tax and so on, they totally robbed us. Good, we had sweets, so we were more relaxed, although still very angry. We crossed border – finally Israel – guy with kippah and so on. At the border check point they took pictures of us and fingerprints. Walla – now we are in database forever. We also had to enter to one machine with blowing wind. Drugs control maybe?.. But we didn’t have any. Only beer. By the way, I forgot to mention that last night me and Joe were looking for Jordanian beer but could not find any (people told, it’s because of prophet Mahomet birthday). But then we got non-alcohol beer, made in Dubai. That’s exotic! And we had famous Palestinian juice (Jews) – really good (carrot + orange). So after all checking we were in Israel, or in fact, in West Bank. (I have to tell the truth: when I entered bathroom there with toilet paper, clean and nice, I had a thought: “I still like Israel in a way”...) Again terribly expensive sherut drivers (how can they add money for bags?!). So we took this sherut and reached Jerusalem. Home feeling indeed! Good dinner in Arab restaurant in Old Town, bus to home. Tel Aviv is so American/European/West – bus driver listens to radio; it plays Rihanna, no ethnic/Arabic music, malls, Purim costumes. So familiar. On the other hand, I miss this simplicity of Amman, different smells, Arabic writings on the buildings, king’s pictures and real Middle East atmosphere. More more more!





By Wing

Today is our last day in Jordan. We planned to rush to Madaba to see the St. George's church with a famous mosaic map on the ground, and catch taxi there to Mt. Nebo and then cross the border back to Jerusalem.

After we had breakfast as much as we could as usual, we set off to post office. I had 5 post cards, Judita had 3. It cost us 0.8 JD for each postcard--what a big sum of money! That made us very carefully and nervous when we chose which mail box we should throw our money to.

Though we felt more familiar with Amman, the fact is you can never figure out this huge city. We failed to get a local bus again, and had to take a taxi to Abdili bus station. I don't have any memory on bus--for me, just get on, close eyes, someone wakes me up, open eyes, get off, that's it.

Madaba is a small town with dusty road, tiny shops and dirty restaurants. Nobody speaks English, and there is no sign on the streets. Jordanian tour departments always want foreign tourists to pass their geography exam before they can see the attractions. We walked up a steep uphill, and down a steep downhill, after we went into another church by mistake, we finally found the right church--the mosaic map on it's ground is the oldest one of Middle East. I never knew that people use mosaic to make map before, I only knew that my grandma use them as a nice house decoration--especially in bathroom.

We bargained an extremely expensive taxi from 30JD to 15JD, which was still expensive. We rushed to Mt.Nebo, where Moses died at 120 years old. The view was wonderful. I can see Dead Sea like blue glass, behind the big shadow given by clouds on the land.

The border is in desert. We had our passport checked for countless times, and also had our money robbed by border officers again. In the Israeli side, we were taken to all kinds of high-tech equipment to make sure we were innocent. When we back to Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, all I and Judita thought was good chicken. We had our happy hour on food in a nice restaurant in Old City, but poor Joe, he is a vegetarian and always has to eat like a rabbit. I think I will be a monk for my next life, which can only eat vegetables like Joe or rabbits, so I should eat as much meat as I want in my present life.

Our Jordan trip was perfect and we were a perfect team. I don't know who/what Judita and Joe will be for their next life, anyway, I hope I will meet them again, after 100 years.