Jordan
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Jordan |
Our journey through Jordan (borders are in green, our journey is in red)
| Into Jordan : feeling at home ! |
| The day Christian's parents
left for Belgium, we headed straight to the Jordanian border as we didn't
wish to pay for another week's worth of Syrian diesel tax at US$ 100 a go.
Leaving Syria went smoothly and entering Jordan even more so. Recognising
a uniform of British origin worn by the Jordan border officers (as in Hong Kong !)
somehow made us feel at home. Our first stop was the northern city of
Irbid where we headed almost straight to the local McDonalds. The next day
we were in for a surprise, guess what.
After 2 weeks of uninterrupted sun with Christian's parents, it's started to rain and fog set in
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Foggy in Jordan (centre), looking across the Jordan river into civil war-thorn Israel was a strange and unpleasant feeling (right).
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| In North Jordan we headed for
the vast Roman ruins of Umm Qais, one of the cities of the Decapolis. The
Romans introduced this association of cities both to unite Roman
possessions and to enhance commerce. "The cities were linked by paved
roads that allowed wagons to circulate rapidly. At Umm Qais and Jerash,
the ruts carved by these wagons can still be seen in the stones of the
city streets" (LP). In Jordan, the main Decapolis cities were
Philadelphia (Amman), Gadara (Umm Qais) and Gerasa (Jerash). About
30 km south of the Golan Heights, the views over Israel, the Sea of
Galilee and the Jordan Valley were meant to be breathtaking ! That day
visibility was down to less than 100 meters ! We slept in front of Ajlun
Castle that night. The castle used to be a stopping point for pigeons
commuting between Cairo and Baghdad several centuries ago. That night it
rained so hard that our tent was drenched and we decided to head for Amman
where Christian's friend Kais had welcomed us.
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The paved streets of Umm Qais are made of stunning black basalt stone
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| In Amman, Kais gave us a set
of keys to his home and a funny thing happened. I took us no time to get
used to the little habits (and luxuries) of living in a house : warm water
and a shower every day, being able to get up at night without making a
fuss, preparing food, washing clothes and being able to connect to the
internet. This last point was particularly useful as we updated our web page
with both Lebanon and Syria (the last update was done with Christian
spending 2 hours in a Beirut shop selling buttons) and we started to write
around to inquire about how to obtain a Libyan visa. As I write this one
month later, we have still not
obtained these and there is a chance we'll never get them. From Amman, we
did a day trip North to the Decapolis city of Jerash.
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Jerash : The graceful Oval Plaza is 90 by 80 meters big (left), a fallen fronton (right)
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Sights of Amman : coffee is sold everywhere using (left), the splendid Umayyad Palace on Amman's citadel (centre), Amman by night (right)
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With sisters Josephine who is from Lebanon (centre) and Annie from Belgium (right). They have been helping the poor in the region for more than 15 years.
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| Amman is a city that has
grown so fast in the last 50 years it has very little character. The
original Jordanians are Bedouins who are nomads. Since the 1967 war with
Israel, Jordan has seen a massive influx of Palestinians that were offered
the Jordanian nationality. Bedouins now only account for 40% of the
population. Amman has no old souqs as other large cities in the region
(Damascus, Cairo ore even Aleppo). From Amman, we also took a trip out
into the Eastern desert. The wetland of Azraq. Only some 50 years ago,
this wetland was more than 12,000 sq km and some 350,000 migratory birds
would stop here each year on their way between Europe, Asia and Africa.
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Some people say the "V" shaped border of Jordan and Saudi Arabia was "Winston's hiccup" : Winston Churchill drawing the boundary of Transjordan in 1920 after a "more than satisfactory lunch in Jerusalem" (LP). The real reason is less interesting and involves territory staying in Saudi Arabia...
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| Unfortunately, the wetlands
are an ecological disaster. Since the 60ies, the Jordanians have been
pumping water from the wetlands to irrigate fields and supply Amman to
such an extent that only 10% of the original area remains. Some of the
water was "fossil water", perhaps 10,000 years old, that was
only being replaced half as quickly as it was being pumped away. A
generation ago, there was still surface water. In the 90ies, the level
dropped to 10 meters below ground and salt water seeped into the wetlands
making the water unpalatable for wildlife. 95% of the birds have not
returned.
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Buildings in the Jordanian desert : Qasr al-Azraq (left) is made of stunning black basalt stone and is where Lawrence of Arabia stayed for 4 weeks before his final assault on Damascus, Qusayr Amra (centre), the most intact of the desert castles, was a hunting lodge cum bath and has some 350 sq m of frescoes ! Qasr Kharana, beautifully isolated in a treeless desert plain.
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| After another few days
"at home" in Amman (thanks Kais !), we left for Madaba and the
Dead Sea which, at -409 meters below sea level, is the lowest depression
on earth. Troopie will have gone from the highest point accessible by car
(more than 5600 meters in Ladakh) to the lowest. The Dead Sea is
called like this because of its high level of salt (30% or between 6 and 7
times higher than ordinary sea water) that doesn't allow for any marine
life. The concentration of salt has nothing to do with the fact that the
sea lies below sea level. It is caused by the fact that only the Jordan
River flows into the Sea (none flows out) and its flow is not sufficient
to combat evaporation. This phenomenon has been exacerbated by diversion
for irrigation by both Israel and Jordan. For the last 20 years, the level
of the Dead Sea has gone down by 5 meters per year !
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The mandatory dip in the Dead Sea (left), white salt formation (centre)
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Driving down to the port of Aqaba (left), taking time at the Royal Jordanian Diving Club (centre) and bordering a ferry for Egypt !
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Not a single woman in sight (and literally hundreds of men) on the deck of the Sainte Catherine sailing to the port of Nuweiba, Egypt
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| Here is the first of our extra pages on Jordan : Mosaics and biblical Jordan |
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We are doing well !
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| Coming from Syria | Back to Trip page | Heading to Egypt |
