5 days in Jordan--Jerash

08,March,2009 Jerash

by Judita

So we are sitting now in Jafra (Gafra/Jaffra) bar/pub (?). It’s my turn to write. Joe just gave me and Wing smoking instructions. The place is really cute, kind of meeting spot for different people. Nargilah, drinks and talks about life. You even can sit down on sofas and read books. But! No alcohol! Anyway, coffee seems good and fruit – mix – cocktail is marvelous. I feel like in one of the main and hottest spots in young people’ Amman. We should talk about serious/smart/intellectual stuff, but well..
Today we went to Jerash, ancient Roman city. It was nice experience to get there – Wing asked one guy how to get to bus station and he helped us to find taxi etc. then we got local bus to Jerash. No tourists-nice! The moment we got from bus and went to city was also without tourists. When we came back, it was so difficult to find places we needed. Amman is so huge, no signs, no directions. I still didn’t figure out its whole picture. We saw Blue Mosque and then we walked back to hostel. In one street we heard thousand offers to go to Damascus. Shitty Israel stamp in our passports…
Being here I feel really close to “mysterious” Middle East. There are many shops/hotels/companies like – Iraqi airways; Riyadh hotel/Baghdad hotel and so on. Israel’s “middle easterness” looks so faked now… (I am waiting trip to West Bank – how it will be there). In fact, we didn’t see anything famous in Amman yet, but well, maybe tomorrow. Today we enjoyed Jerash which is not so far from Syria (around 50 km). And also delicious food in unknown place, recommended by funny man who (according to him) works in Aquaba and has Lithuanian girlfriend (haha). Anyway, food was great, later Joe danced Arabic dances in hostel’s room; I and Wing enjoyed it a lot.
My mind is scattered like Middle East, it went away with nargilah smoke… This place is very mixed: locals, tourists, families, girls with covered hair and girls with no covering; guys with latest fashion shoes and student look and guys in traditional dresses.
Amman is weird. Sometimes we go to the same street 10 times and can’t recognize it – it’s the same. All places look similar – shops, mosques, churches, buildings (well, except burnt cinema, maybe…)




by Wing

Jerash is an ancient Roman city ruins. It is the very right time to come because green grass and little yellow flowers make the huge old gray stone columns, temples, churches and theatres a very nice scene. Both historical and vivid.

When we stopped at a gorgeous temple ruins, I felt magic because it looks exactly the same as what C.S.Lewis wrote in his book The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The four kids didn't know that hundreds of years had passed since they left Narnia. They sat on the ground of a palace ruins wondering where they were without noticing that it was there palace long time ago. Here, in Jerash, at the corner of the ruined stone temple, is a wooden door also--a treasure chamber is hidden behind?

We decided to have lunch there. Actually, that's a really bad decision. As a famous temple, so many tourists holding cameras were coming all the time. I felt sorry for them, probably they will have to use photo-shop to remove us and our food from their travel pictures--"what stupid kids!" They might think.

At night, after a cheap but great dinner--bread with lamb in a local restaurant, we made up our mind to go to Hussein Cinema, the only cinema in downtown. It would be pretty funny to see Brad Pitt speak Arabic in a Jordan cinema. It was my suggestion but to my big surprise, it was not a cinema at all. An old building looks like just be burnt by a fire, at the back of street without any lights or signs, that's it. Beyond imagination. After a while, some Arabic men came, they opened the door, turned on the light, and welcomed us. I saw there were stairs inside, and every inch of the wall was covered by movie posters, from 1990s' to the latest Bolt.

"We have Jackie Chen, Iron Man." He spoke in Arabish, "1JD each person.” I guess we were the audiences and we gave up our plan of Brad Pitt. It's the most special cinema I've ever been--really wonderful.