JORDAN: some impressions

JORDAN: some impressions

Jordan is one country in the Middle East surrounded all around by turmoil yet it appears quite and at peace within. Jordan doesn’t seem to be influenced or affected by either the barbaric ISIS (Daesh) ideology or the Saudi type of fundamentalist Islam. Here one can see women in modern western attire sporting choicest accessories and make up, drive cars (unaccompanied) and visiting markets and malls on a shopping spree. To me Jordan appeared an open, secular, and a tolerant society. Palestinians and Syrians abound Jordan mainly the northern part including Amman. I found groups of teenagers in Jerash either selling souvenirs or just begging with the same catchy line; ‘no mama no papa, brothers and sisters to support, give me something, help me’. Then there were Palestinians I met in the Square in front of the ancient Roman Amphitheatre in downtown Amman. People gather there to chat, idle around and / or smoke ‘Shisha’ – the traditional hookah (water pipe). It is tobacco mixed with herbs in a flavor of your liking. I saw many women over there smoking the water pipe.

Friendly People

Women with the water-pipe (hookah) in
the Amphitheater Square in Amman. 

Wadi Rum desert

I found all Jordanians and Palestinians that I met to be very friendly and helpful. Whenever information was sought or directions were asked I found many youngsters coming forward to help and those who knew English willingly acted as interpreters. I refrained from discussing religion or politics during my stay in the country. Both these topics are very sensitive particularly in areas like the Middle East. Since most of the time in the open I wore the chequered head scarf (the traditional headgear in the Arab world) and I sport a beard as well, I was easily taken for an Arab. When I told them that I was from India they addressed me as ‘brother’. Once while sharing a taxi with three Arab youngsters I was asked about my religion. They were one Jordanian and two Palestinian. One worked and the other two were students. The Palestinian who worked there asked me if I was a Muslim. What do you think, I retorted back. Yes, you look like one and he continued in the same breath, “How are the Muslims treated in India, brother?” Of course, all Indians are equal and there is no discrimination based on religion or anything else and India has a very large population of muslims, more than 55% of the whole of the middle east and northern Africa put together. The chat was limited only to this much. The taxi stopped at the North Bus Station and my friends took me to the bus to Jerash ensuring that I occupy a seat before they waved good bye and I said ‘shukran’.

Don’t point your camera towards women

A woman tending her camels

I made it a point to not do any street photography for obvious reasons though I found people hardly noticing any camera pointed towards them. In the desert (Wadi Rum) where I was frequently asking the Toyota driver and my hired tour guide Raezd to stop so that I shoot photos, I was repeatedly told not to point my camera towards women. There were women with camels or goats in the scorching desert but Raezd told me that their menfolk were always around and they can shoot without asking questions. However, the risk taker in me prevailed as I couldn’t resist the temptation of a photo opportunity. I stole a few shots. Raezd kept warning me, “brother, don’t do this. You are in the Bedouin territory and your camera can land us in serious trouble”.

This woman seems pulling an obstinate animal
that doesn't look healthy either

Rip off, scarce water, and one dinar

The first day of a tourist in any new destination is invariably a rip off. However, a seasoned traveler gets wiser by the second day while a novice may continue with the costly affairs for few more days. Taxi drivers do most of the cheating. While I had to haggle it down to JD 5 from the 10 he wanted for taking me from the north bus station to downtown Amman, my trips thereafter would cost me just half a dinar from my hotel to the north station. It is a sharing taxi, they call service, and the price is half a dinar.

Water in Jordan, like elsewhere in middle east, is a scarce commodity. Hotels and big restaurants will charge JD 1.25 for a bottle full of 1.5 L water while in shops it is 0.5 Dinars. As a matter of government policy all the hotels below 5 star rating have only showers. Bath tubs and swimming pools are now a luxury only to be experienced at 5 star levels. In the ‘hotels only’ area around the Dead Sea there are plenty of swimming pools. The Dead Sea Spa Hotel has three.

The Monastery, Petra

While in Cambodia ‘one dollar’ is the usual call one hears from vendors, here in Jordan it is ‘one dinar’. In Wadi Musa I went to buy toothpaste and found India made Close Up brand carrying a price tag of Rs 17. The shopkeeper asked for 1JD. After much haggling I paid half a dinar (nearly Rs 50).  ‘It is not India brother, it is Jordan’. The shopkeeper said smilingly. I thumbs-upped him in response.

The Dead Sea is drying

The dead sea is not only receding but receding alarmingly. There are mark-boards with information on water levels in 2000, 2010, and 2017. “The Dead Sea water level was here in 2000” says one board. The dead sea (actually a salt water lake) is located at the lowest point on the earth, some 400 metres below the mean sea level. I made a guess that the marks showing the levels in the year 2000 and year 2010 are about 60 metres apart while the path distance between the marks of 2010 and 2017 appears to be 120 metres or more. The water level difference visible over the 17 years could be anything from 20 to 25 metres of vertical height.

Sunset over the West bank, Israel, at the Dead Sea as seen from the Jordanian side

The next time I plan to visit it from the Israel side.

Sand dunes Wadi Rum

The Treasury, Petra

Looking at the Treasury from Danqur al-Khazneh - the rock facing the Treasury.
One needs about ten to fifteen minutes of steep and slippery walk up the rock

At the Castle of the Lawrence of Arabia

(This was in the March of 2018)