Amman and Jerash

Christmas Eve 

24 December 2012

Amman and Jerash

The first day of our tour was spent in the local Amman area, starting off shortly after 8:00 AM at the Citadel.  It seemed like a repeat of last year in Cairo as I started my tour in a place of the same name in that city!  After that, we took a short tour of an ancient Roman theater on the outskirts of town.  Neither of these activities really meant much to me, but I wasn’t disappointed, as I did not really expect too much from Amman; I had come to Jordan to see Petra, so these were mere bonuses.

To my surprise, the afternoon trip to the ancient Greco-Roman city of Jerash was very interesting.  I had not heard of it before, so the size of the city as well as the relatively intact nature of much of it was impressive.  The contrast between Roman and Greco influence is becoming more clear to me as I travel and see them side-by-side, and the basic layout of the temples is the same here as in Egypt, with the outer layers open to the public and the inner layers becoming more restrictive, leading to the holy of the holies at the deepest part.

It is rather amusing to see all of the pictures of the monarch, King Abdullah II, everywhere.  There is no particular message associated with them, not even words, just various, random pictures of him in anything from a western business suit to an army uniform.  Unlike the UK, where the Queen is revered but without any real governmental powers, Abdullah actually does yield political power, appointing his own prime minister and cabinet.  I remember seeing him on the Jon Stewart show some time back, and candidly it was interesting to see a Jew and an Arab leader sharing the stage so gracefully.

Our tour guide is an interesting chap, Muslim, only 40 years old but looking much older.  One of his laments is that Jordanian tourism has not really caught on, with most people in very much the same mindset as I:  Jordan per se doesn’t really interest us, and it really was Petra, and Petra alone, that brought us here.  We came to see a single site, not a country.

To some extent I understand his lament, as there surely is more to see here than just Petra; the trip to Jerash proved that to me.  Having said that, if they do indeed want to make this a tourist destination, they need to meet the world halfway and make it seem like one!  Jordan doesn’t understand tourism, as they don’t even understand the idea of having snacks at the roadway stops.

One thing they did seem to learn from other countries such as Italy and Egypt is the notion of pay to pee.  This is a real pet peeve of mine, annoying at a minimum.  Candidly, I have gotten to the point that if I do not have change in my pocket I don’t care; although I generally try to live by local customs, I really challenge them to arrest me for failing to pay to pee.

Being back in this part of the world has started to remind me that while the US is one nation of many religions, the Middle East is a many nations of one religion.