Whilst planning my flight back from the UK to India, I decided to make a stop-over. Given the paucity of time, I couldn't have applied for a visa anywhere (for which I would have had to go to London anyways) so I started scouring for countries in between UK and India for which Indians don't need a visa. Apparently very few of those countries exist and after a bit of research I narrowed down on Jordan. Well, Jordan had two things I really wanted to see - Petra and their Queen (who, I think, is easily the most beautiful person in the world!).
As per the various websites I scoured, Jordan gave Indians a visa on arrival. Not wanting to take any chances, I double-checked with the Jordanian embassy in London and they confirmed that I would get a visa on arrival in Amman.
Confidently armed with this knowledge, I landed in Amman and stood in the queue for visas. When I reached the counter, the gentleman there had one look at my dark blue passport and asked 'India?'.
When I proudly replied in the affirmative, he gave me a look that said 'A-ha! Finally for some fun today!'.
He asked me to wait on one side and dealt with the others in the queue (fortunately not too many of them). When he finally called me again, he took me to a room where there was a serious looking senior officer under a picture of Kings Abdullah and Hussein. He asked me why I was visiting Jordan (duh?) and what I did in life. Given my occupationally fluid situation (I had quit my job in Scotland and didn't have a job to go back to in India), I had a tough time convincing him. Anyway, this senior officer didn't turn out to be senior enough as he took me into another room where I was asked to wait. Then this senior senior took over and asked me all sorts of questions - what did I plan to do in Jordan? Where was I staying? Return flight? When I produced all the relevant documentation, he took them to yet another officer (senior senior senior?) and asked me to wait - after a nervous 15-20 minutes he finally came back and said 'Ok' (no smile nothing. As if he was doing me a big favour).
So after I finally got a visa, I had to stand in the immigration queue (which was by then down to a trickle). When my turn came, I proudly brandished my passport (with my hard-earned newly-minted visa). The immigration officer looked at it from all sorts of angles and then called a colleague. Here we go again, I thought.
The colleague looked at the visa and asked me 'What flight did you come on?'. I showed him my boarding card. The he asked 'What was the name of the captain of the flight?'. For a split second I was taken back, before I realised that he was pulling my leg. After having spent nearly an hour for my visa, I was in no mood for humour.
That unpleasantness behind me, I collected my checked-in bag (it was a miracle that it was still on the conveyor belt), and took a cab to my hotel.
'Hotel' is probably an ambitious term for this establishment where I found myself in the middle of the night. The Rough Guide calls it 'an unexpectedly good backpacker style hotel'. It was a pretty run down place. Since I was staying there for 3+1 nights only I decided to rough it out (no disrespect to the Rough Guide).
Jordan is a very easy country to navigate. It is really small (a wee strip that runs north-south with Amman in the middle north). So while I was based in Amman, most of the places to visit were a day-trip away.
The first day, I visited Madaba which is a small dusty town south-west of Amman. The claim to fame of this town is the St. George's Church on the floor of which is a reasonably well-preserved 6th century byzantine mosaic map that shows the 'holy land'. Originally this 'mosaic map' had over 2 million stones. With my guide book in hand, it took me quite a while to get the proper orientation in the map and to mark out the various landmarks like Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho, and Bethlehem. From Madaba I went to Mt. Nebo (apparently where Moses spent his last days) from where one gets spectacular views of the surrounding countryside including Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Unfortunately I carried my Scottish-weather-bad-luck with me and it was cloudy and raining and one could hardly see anything. From Mt. Nebo, I then went to the 'Baptism site of Jesus'. Apparently this is where Jesus was baptised by St. John the baptist. Many modern-day churches have been built around the site. The river Jordan flows through this area. We went to the banks of the river and at that point the river was very narrow (about 30 feet). On the other side of the river was Israel which was being guarded by intimidating looking guards.
My last stop for the day was the Dead Sea. No matter how much you've read about the sea or how much you've prepared yourself mentally for it, you just can't get over the fact that you can float in the damn sea. Now I'm not a swimmer and I'm reasonably petrified of water but I slowly waded into the water and then as if by magic, something swept me off my feet and there I was floating comfortably in the water. Don't panic I told myself. After a few minutes I settled down mentally and started to enjoy the fact that I wasn't drowning. Slowly, without realising I had reached quite deep but I didn't panic as there was no way I could drown! There were people reading newspapers whilst floating (not actually reading but just posing for the iconic we-floated-in-the-dead-sea photograph!). The mud on the shores of the sea is considered to be therapeutic and I lost no time in smearing myself with it all over my body. Needless to say, I was emboldened to do this stupidity as everyone around me had caked themselves with mud. I'm still waiting for the therapeutic effects to kick in.
Next day, I visited Umm Qais, Ajloun castle, and Jerash. Umm Qais is known for the Decapolis city of Gadara. This 'city' was originally founded in the 3rd C. BC. The ruins are quite evocative and one gets wind-swept views of the Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights from there. As we (me and a Hungarian couple) left Gadara it started pouring cats and dogs and continued right through our drive till Ajloun castle. This 12th century castle was first a monastery which was later re-built as a fortress. There were amazing Christian and Islamic motifs in the castle (which itself was deserted). One couldn't get any views of the outside of the castle as it was unbelievably foggy.
Our next stop was Jerash - which is one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the region. I found Jerash to be more awe-inspiring than Pompeii or Ephesus. Even though I had already seen so many roman-city ruins, I was still taken aback by the sheer grandeur of the ruins there (despite the fact that it was raining incessantly and I was wet and miserable). After a quick buffet lunch at the 'Resthouse' where I cleverly had beans and rice and pretended it was Rajma-chawal. Then I set about exploring the ruins - Hadrian's Arch, the Hippodrome, the 3 theatres, and the Temple of Artemis. As I waited for my taxi back to Amman, there was a TV blaring from a nearby shop and a man seemed to be giving a highly emotional speech in Arabic. I went to the shop to see who this orator was. It turned out to be Gaddafi. A man standing next to me tut-tutted and said 'he mad!'.
On our way back into Amman, we ran into protests at Nasser Square - so I can say that I also witnessed the 'Arab Spring'. The protesters here seemed quite tame compared to what one had been reading about in Syria and Bahrain (the King is extremely popular in Jordan). It seemed like a festive atmosphere with people taking photographs / videos on their cellphones. As our taxi drove back into town towards my hotel, I spotted an Indian restaurant and decided to spoil myself that evening. The restaurant was called, with dashing originality, 'Indian Restaurant' and there were no Indians I could see there. The person who was serving food to me, a Jordanian, after the meal asked me 'Kaisa tha?'. Even though the food was nothing to write home about, just because he managed a sentence in Hindi, I was effusive in my praise of the Chicken Curry and the yellow daal. I visited the place again after a couple of days.
The taxi back to my hotel asked me if I was amriki (American). Till date, I am speechless (and insulted).
The next day I took a taxi to the Wadi Musa (the town near Petra) through the King's Highway. This ancient highway passes through some of Jordan's most beautiful countryside. I was able to see Wadi Mujib - Jordan's 'Grand Canyon'. From the highway one gets amazing views of the barren landscape. We stopped by a Bedouin tent for tea, the tea-stall owner, when he found out I was from India, refused to take payment for the tea. 'You are our brother' he said!. Our next stop was Karak castle - a castle from the Crusader times. In this castle, there was a large French tourist group - it felt a bit odd to be hearing French in a 12th century Crusader castle in the heart of Jordan. I was bored of castles by now and didn't spend too much time here - also because it was freezing cold there. As we moved on, we passed through Dana Natural Reserve. I got to see zilch as it was ridiculously foggy throughout. Oh well, next time perhaps!
The end of my day-long taxi ride brought me to Wadi Mussa - a small town that is famous because it lies at the gates of Petra. Not wanting to waste any time, I dumped my bag at the hotel (yes, this time it was a real hotel) and walked the short distance to the Petra gates. I decided to go in for a 2 day pass (which was priced at 55 Jordanian Dinars, as against 50 JOD for a one day pass).
So much has been written about the 'rose city' Petra which is one of the 'new' seven wonders of the world. You would remember shots of the Treasury in Tintin's Red Sea Sharks and one of the Indiana Jones movies. This entire city was carved out of Rock by the Nabateans during 1st C BC - 1st C AD. It was 'rediscovered' by a swiss explorer Burckhardt who brought Petra to the attention of the world in 1812.
As one enters the main gates one is overwhelmed by the stench of horse droppings. Tourists can take horses or horse carriages till the 'Treasury'. How far can it be? I thought and decided to give a horse ride a miss. It turned out to be quite far - three kms from the main gate to the Treasury! But in retrospect am glad I walked it as I was able to enjoy the views of 'The Siq' (a natural split in the sandstone rock through which one walks). Suddenly one gets a view of the Treasury (Al Khazneh). This facade, carved into the sandstone rock, is very well preserved because of its unique location that prevents erosion. There is a huge sandstone urn on the second level of this facade and, according to legend, bandits used to hide their treasure in this urn (hence the name 'Treasury'). Since I was in Petra for for two days, I was able to see the Treasury early in the morning and late in the evening too when sunlight falls on it through the gaps in the surrounding facades.
From the Treasury one walks towards the rest of the 'city'. Petra is a huge site and one day does not do justice to it. Atleast two (ideally three) days are required to explore Petra in detail. Every where one looks there are carvings and facades and buildings. It, deservedly, is a wonder of this world.
Another to-do in Petra is the steep (and feet-killing) climb upto the Monastery. This, like the Treasury, is a beautiful rock-cut facade. Many people ride a donkey upto the top but I decided to walk it ('I am young, after all'). Though the views were beautiful and ever-changing, the walk itself turned out to be quite tiring. But the Monastery itself is so beautiful that the steep climb is definitely worth it.
As I sat at a Cafe in front of the Monastery, admiring its view and resting my legs, I heard Hindustani being spoken by a young couple. I immediately went upto them and introduced myself as a fellow sub-continental (I could guess that they were from Pakistan). Inevitably our chat meandered to cricket and who would win the upcoming India-Pakistan world cup semi-final match! In retrospect Ha!
Finally, with my feet killing me, I reached back into Wadi Musa. There were Jordanian flags and photos of the King everywhere. On asking about, I found out that the King was soon visiting Petra. I would have loved to see him, but I was headed to Wadi Rum.
Wadi Rum is a desert area with a moon-like rocky landscape. It has been made famous by its association with TE Lawrence (of Arabia) (in fact, parts of 'Lawrence of Arabia' were shot here). I took a jeep trip of the desert and admired its granite, basalt, and sandstone mountains. On one of the sandy mountains there was a young boy who was snow-(sand?)boarding. When he found out I was from India, his first question was whether I knew Preity Zinta.
On my return back to Wadi Musa, I saw people lining up the streets - The King was just about to leave WM. So I asked the taxi driver to drop me at a vantage point. After a few minutes of waiting, the King's convoy passed by and I was able to catch a glimpse of the King (driving his own jeep!). Sadly, the Queen was not with him.
