Another early morning, good breakfast and ready for an awesome day, visiting the reason why I picked Jordan as a location: Jerash. A big ruined roman city in a very good state. I needed to get to Tarambour, the north bus station. In Jordan you have all different kind of ways to get around, taxis, minibusses, normal busses, local car drivers & cheap taxi's called Servii, they drive to one location but you can hop off along the way but they only leave if the car is full. Since the were very cheap I went for this option. I walk to a Servii station, guess what.. nobody speaks a word of english I try to speak the arabian name for the bus station which I repeated 500 times in my head during the walk over there but ofcourse I pronounced it all wrong. I hop in a car full of Jordanian local people who dont speak a word of english drive for a while and get to some local market where the guy points his finger toward a location. Not really understanding what just happened I walk along a street market. After a few minutes I see another Servii station. This guy smoke english and asked me 3 Dinar. I knew that was way too much so said no and he offered 1 Dinar. Still being ripped off I agreed and suddenly the guy calls 3 other people to drive along. Guess who paid their ride with that 1 Dinar. Arrived at the bus station, how will I ever find the right minibus here. Those minibusses don't have a sign, and they don't have signed stops, only locals know where they stop between start and finish. I asked a bit around but no bus to find and suddenly I notice 3 tourists and some taxi driver talking to them. They had to be on the way to Jerash. Yup! Lucky as I am they were on the way to Jerash and we shared a ride to Jerash and teamed up for the rest of the day.
After a drive that was not as long as I expected I catched the first glimp of Jerash, a beautiful roman gate! This was what I dreamed of! Arrived there we first had to cross a market with lots of different shops to end up at the ticket office. There is was, the entrance to Jerash! If everything behind it looked as good as the start it would be a very promising day. Just behind it lies a roman circus, also in a pretty decent state. We just missed the horse show but to be honest I doubt it would have been that impressive. Strange was that the real entrance to the site had yet to come. Just before we walked thru the second gate the ticket control started, behind that gate lies an unbelievable square of columns that instantly made me think at the vatican, only this looked better to me. Before we crossed it we visited a great looking amphitheater where people were playing music and all the locals clapping their hands and dancing. Everyone seems to know that song, except we ofcourse and a big temple which gave a great view on the square with the columns. Time to make our way down to enjoy the square. Once again some local kids came to say hello and wanted to be on pictures. The square is connected to a wonderful long road of columns, it really takes you back in time walking around there. I could continue and name every single thing thats there to see but it wouldn't be that interesting to read, watch the pictures instead. On the way back some older man with a family stopped us, he asked of his young daughter could talk to us. She and her brothers and sisters were so excited and shy to talk to us, very cute! Such friendly people, I can't say it enough!
Time to make our way down, while walking along the streets to find a place to eat locals started shouting to us, they offered a very cheap drive back to Amman in a local car, ofcourse when we got in they tried as usual to make more money. Driving like a maniac we made it to Amman and I had one last local dinner and coffee (tea for me) with my new Italian friends, Beppe, Carlo and Lia who I hope to show Brugge in the future. What none of you know is that I tried a full week to meet with a local girl to have a conversation because its very hard to get in touch with them. I really wanted to get to know the person behind the mysterious way of living. Sadly enough it never came to that point. I do hope to met a local Jordanian girl at another time in my life to have a deep conversation. After another wonderful day I decided to have an early sleep, tomorrow would be another travel day.
Rise and shine, time to get my paperwork done for my travel in the coming hours, I open my email and 4 flight times have been changed in one morning. Good thing my hotmail account was working again! I wasnt able to do an online check in for egypt air but there was an egypt air office next door, running down there only to notice that they couldnt have me with the ticktet error either. Ah well, we'll see at the airport. I decided to do one last decent visit to the roman amhpitheater, what I didn't tell you before is that the city of Amman used to be Philadelphia in the ancient times. I didn't have much time left so climbed the amhpitheater and yet again local boys come ask for a selfie with me. I don't know on how many selfies with local people I am by now but its quite funny.
Time to get to the airport, find another taxi with a super friendly driver who I wanted to give a tip but he gave me a discount even with his meter on. The airport bus stops at the North bus station as well and takes about an hour to the airport. What I noticed is that its a lot easier as a (european?) tourist to travel in Jordan. Local (arab?) people get controlled everywhere, passports, bags,.. while I seem to pass everything with a smile, even at the egypt air check in, I went to the business class desk and got helped there while the economy class (what my ticket actually was) had a massive line. I was done in about 3 minutes. Sitting in the airport I found a mc donalds and they tasted differently then ours. Yes, one a weak fast food is allowed in my scedule. I can notice the rolling eyes on your face. Just before I enter the flight to Cairo, everyone gets checked once more, except me, the tourist.
Before I close the Jordan chapter, I want you to know that my experience with this country was amazing. My view on the country: its super safe, the people are super friendly, the touristi sites are wonderful, the weather is perfect and its a cheap country (except Petra). I do hope that I inspire some people with my travels to actually visit this wonderful country. Since most people have the wrong idea about it, its pretty empty for tourists, they need tourism so come visit Jordan.
Next update will be all about Egypt, stay tuned!
