Kingdom
of Peace
The
Middle east is a conflicted region at the moment. Some places are at
war. Others are recruitment grounds for dissidents hellbent on
supporting violent causes. But of the countries that are in the
region, many remain stable. An example is the Hashimite Kingdom of
Jordan. Under the rule of King Abdullah and his father before him,
the country has had calm since making peace with Israel in 1994. In
contrast to its Arab neighbors, Jordan is not blessed with oil
reserves, yet in a way this is good for Jordanians because foreign
powers are less inclined to interfere in their domestic affairs.
Jordan also receives foreign aid from the United States and has
maintained good relations with the West for decades. This means it is
not dangerous for Westerners to visit. Be that as it may, tourists
have stayed away due to the fighting in Syria. However, the war's
violence has not spread with the refugees fleeing into Jordan, and
the sites that are most breathtaking--Petra and Wadi Rum--are in the
south far removed from the borders of Syria and Iraq. It is there
that I began my travels.
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| Jordanian Flag |
Old
Capital
Having
arrived in Jordan at the Itzakh Rabin Border Crossing from Israel, I
took a taxi to the southern town of Aqaba, and then a minibus to Wadi
Musa. The small town of Wadi Musa is not an interesting place in of
itself, but it is a major tourist spot because it sits right outside
of Petra Park. Beginning in the 1st century BC the Nabatean people
made Petra the capital of their wealthy empire. It sat on two major
trade routes extending from Africa and the Arabian peninsula
northward to Europe and elsewhere in Asia. The most valued good
coming through at the time was incense which people used in
ceremonies and rituals. Originally, it came from the frankincense and
myrrh trees in the Arabian Peninsula via camel caravans that carried
it across the desert to Petra. The Nabatean Empire thrived charging
taxes on the routes. They also maintained ports on the Mediterranean
and Red Sea. The Romans who ruled nearby Judea at times looked east
with covetous eyes, and the Nabateans appeased them with diplomacy,
gifts and intermarriage. It was not enough. At the beginning of the
2nd century the Romans took the Nabatean Empire and Petra along with
it. They maintained Petra as the capital of their annexed province of
Arabia Petraea until an earthquake in 363 led them to abandon the
city. After that the trade routes shifted north. Soon forgotten, only
local bedouins knew of Petra's location which they kept a secret from
outsiders. Then in 1812 a Swiss geographer pretending to be a Muslim
rediscovered the site for the Western world. Petra has since become
one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Middle East.
Geologically
speaking, the Nabateans built Petra within several interconnected
sandstone canyons. The entry, known as the Siq, is a narrow slot
canyon that goes for 2km before arriving at the Treasury. The
Treasury is Petra's most famous tomb, an impressive 30m high
Hellenistic facade carved into pink colored sandstone. Steven
Spielberg used the Siq and Treasury as a shooting location for the
Temple of the Holy Grail in his 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade. Currently, historians are unsure of who's tomb the Treasury
is, though they think it was built for a king. The Bedouins for
centuries had believed the tomb belonged to some great pharaoh who'd
hidden his treasure in the stone urn near the top of the facade.
Bullet holes remain from when they'd tried to break it open. To this
day little is known about Petra's society because most inscriptions
and documents from the Nabatean era didn't survive to modern times.
As for me, after spending a half hour contemplating the beauty and
history of the Treasury, I continued along the main road. It went on
past countless other carved tombs and into an open area that had been
the center of the abandoned city. Some ruins lined the road,
including a colonnade from Roman times. Then the road wound up a
canyon to the Monastery, another tomb built in the same Hellenistic
style as the Treasury. A bit further on were rock summits with
panoramic views of the canyons and surrounding desert peaks.
I
spent two days touring Petra. I needed to get my money's worth
because the entrance fee was over $80. That was the most I'd paid to
see an archeological site during my first year of travel. And I did
not spend a penny more. Bedouins in the park were not pleased. At
every turn they'd set up stands selling postcards, guide books,
artwork, jewelry, magnets and more. "Free to look," they
kept saying. Others had camels or donkeys for hire. "No thank
you," I'd say, and to a degree I felt bad refusing them. The
people were clearly in need of money. I kept thinking back to the
Navajo indians in Arizona. When I'd gone to that part of the States,
they too had set up stands in places like Monument Valley. The deep
canyons, tall buttes, and orange-pink sand of the Colorado River
Basin were not so different from the terrain in Petra. But the
ancestors of the Native Americans had not carved elaborate tombs. Nor
had they done much irrigation work like in Petra. The Nabateans had
developed a complex system of canals, clay pipes, cisterns and dams
which made it possible for them to have water year round while also
preventing seasonal rainfall from flooding the city. In the desert
they'd hid cisterns as well to allow for alternate travel routes in
times of need. Simply put, the Nabateans were a knowledgeable people
who'd adapted to a harsh environment and then thrived within it. But
like so many others in antiquity their empire collapsed before the
might of the Romans.
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| Siq Entrance |
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| Treasury |
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| Bedouin Girl |
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| Petra Terrain |
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| Old Tombs |
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| Mosaic Floor |
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| Treasury from Above |
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| Arched Doorways |
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| Dusty Dog |
Deep
Desert
The
second popular tourist destination down south is Wadi Rum. With a
name like that I couldn't help joking about it. "I need a drink,
" I said to Ahmed, my Bedouin guide. "Where's the rum?"
The man didn't understand. I had to explain that rum was a type of
spirit made from sugarcane. And in Wadi Rum there was no rum, at
least not that I discovered. I stayed for a week with Ahmed,
splitting my time between his cousin's bedouin camp and the park's
one village. Tourists came from afar to see Wadi Rum's desert
scenery. I had a second purpose. Ahmed had written in workaway.info
that he wanted someone to help him build a website for his guide
services. That and he had asked if I could teach English to his
cousin's son. I agreed knowing I could be of help in both areas. But
there was not much pressure to work at the beginning. The first day
we spent in the Bedouin camp. It was out in the desert beneath a
natural rock enclave. The camp had a kitchen, large tent, and smaller
tents where guests could sleep. The fabric of the tents was made of
black goat hair. A plastic tarp lined the inside to protect against
rain. When night fell the temperature dropped, and we huddled around
a fire pit inside the large tent. Masar, a man from Sudan, worked as
the camp cook. He prepared kabsa for dinner. The food was a Saudi
dish consisting of chicken and rice. Masar used a lot of oil to cook
it. This was the case with most the food we ate.
Wadi
Rum is Jordan's largest valley. In 1998 it became a protected area
covering 720 km² of land
consisting of limestone, granite and sandstone rock towering over
sand. Some rocks climb up from the sand 200m in height or more, the
tallest of which is Jabal Ram mountain, reaching 1,743m above sea
level. Ahmed took me to the sites of interest--Khaz'ali Canyon, the
small rock bridge, the red sand dunes, and various lookout points.
The biggest draw however was the desert itself. Due to its aridness,
color and scope, Wadi Rum has often served as a film location for
desert epics and the planet Mars. For example, when making the 2015
film The Martian, director Ridley Scott shot several scenes in the
park. Another famous film made there is the 1962 classic Lawrence of
Arabia. The British officer portrayed on screen by Peter O'Toole did
in fact visit the area while leading a campaign to disrupt Ottoman
supply lines during the first World War. He later said of the place
that it was "God-like."
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| Wadi Rum Desert |
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| Camel Skull |
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| Camp at Night |
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| Kha'zali Canyon |
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| Flowers in Bloom |
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| Camels on the Move |
Ahmed's
people, the Zalabia Bedouins, have inhabited the area in and around
Wadi Rum for thousands of years. Traditionally, they herded animals
such as sheep and goats, depending on them for their survival. To
feed the animals they moved from place to place in search of
vegetation. Despite the harsh, dry climate of the desert, plants are
found throughout Wadi Rum year round, particularly after seasonal
rains. There are also natural springs that provide a constant source
of water for livestock. The camel is another animal that is of great
importance. Their domestication has allowed Bedouins to travel across
vast stretches of desert and live in the most inhospitable of places.
The animals can transport people, food, water and other supplies.
Moreover, they use their hair to make fabric for blankets and
clothing, while camel milk provides much needed nutrition. As a
Bedouin, Ahmed had his own camels for producing milk. There were
others for the tours. But the most prized of all were for racing. His
cousin Attayak trained several and raced them at a nearby track. For
the short races the camels no longer carry jockeys but rather a
little machine with a speaker and a lever arm to whip the animal's
hind. Attayak hoped to produce a fast camel he could later sell for
good money to a Saudi or Emirati.
One
afternoon I joined Attayak to see his camels. He'd hired a Sudanese
man to look after them in the desert. The purpose of the trip was to
give the animals an injection to protect them against parasites and
disease. To do it Attayak and his Sudanese helper had to force the
camels down one by one, then tie the front legs while bent. This way
the animal couldn't stand back up. Attayak's son helped too by
holding the camel's head in place. When the animal was ready, Attayak
pinched a piece of skin and stuck in the needle. With the young
camels it was difficult because they would not kneel down and fought
against being tied up. Then, as soon as the needle went in, they
screamed and moved. In the end I had to help by keeping my weight on
the hump so they couldn't get up on their hindquarters. As for the
largest camel, we didn't try to inject it. The male was Attayak's
racing camel and it was mad with lust because the nearby females were
in heat. When I went near, the beast raised its head and foamed at
the mouth. From time to time it inflated a piece of its throat that
came hanging out like a second tongue. Attayek had a total of 17
camels. Once he was satisfied that they were in good health, he made
a fire and we had dinner under the stars. Nobody needed to say it,
but I knew--this was the true Bedouin way of life.
Webpage
Reloaded
In
Jordan I made a tourism webpage for the second time. First, I needed
to put together the content. I began with the photos. This was easy
enough because I was going around with Ahmed in his truck and every
which way I pointed the lens I had something beautiful to shoot.
Next, I had to write the information. This took amore work. Webpages
need original articles to come up higher in search engine results.
But so much had already been written about Wadi Rum. I needed to be
careful not to word things too closely with what I'd referenced.
Another difficulty I had was with my guide. He didn't have his own
company but instead worked for his cousin and brother. In spite of
this he wanted to present the website as if he were a one man
operation. So he asked that I give the impression he had his own
Bedouin camp, when in fact he did not. I didn't mind lying. But I
needed photos of something to put on the webpage. And I required
detailed information about how a camp fit into his tours. In the
meantime I had to keep the site a secret from Ahmed's family. If his
cousin or brother knew about it, they would be displeased, and
possibly stop giving him work as a guide.
I
also helped another man in the village. He was Ahmed's friend. Then
again, everyone was a friend, because in Rum Village, the small
community of people all knew each other. No one recognized me though.
It didn't matter that I looked Arab and had a thick beard, if I
walked the village alone someone always asked which guide I was with.
I didn't really go around that much. I did the work for Ahmed's
friend in his family's house. He wanted me to make some adjustments
to his brother's website. Then I opened them a Tripadvisor business
account. In return they brought me lunch, and as I was about to leave
afterwards, they asked me not to tell others about the website. So
many secrets, I thought. But I could understand. Tourism was the big
source of income in Wadi Rum and everyone had to compete for a slice
of the money pie. And things were worse than ever with the amount of
tourists being far less than usual. The guides and camp operators
could only hope that the situation would improve across the border in
Syria. Maybe then people would feel comfortable coming to see Wadi
Rum again.
As
for Ahmed's webpage, I focused on making it appealing to prospective
visitors. I used a simplistic layout, relying more on photos for
impact than the webpage design. In other words, I kept the background
white, and limited the colors of the text and headings to just grey
and blue. Next, I went into the search engine optimization settings
and added keywords. Most importantly, I set a page title and
description to help the homepage come up in searches. The rest of the
work I left to Ahmed. Wix.com, the site I used, has a free hosting
service but one that is limited. To get the full benefit Ahmed must
upgrade the account and assign the page a unique domain name.
However, he would first need a credit card to pay for it. When I
explained this to him, he assured me that he would get one soon. I
wondered how. It wasn't as if the area had any banks or credit
lenders. Rum Village didn't have as much as an ATM. Another point for
him to be aware of was to keep the page updated. Inactivity would
otherwise drive it lower in searches. At any rate, it will be tough
for the website to do well because a dozen other Wadi Rum tour
homepages exist, and they will continue receiving most Internet
traffic.
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| Website Homepage |
Hostel
Time
came for another pitstop. I traveled north to a hostel in the town of
Madaba. Again, I'd arranged to do some volunteer work. The hostel
owner, Fadi, needed me to look after the place while he was busy
elsewhere during the day. He began by showing me where to clean, how
to change out beds, and the way to check in guests. One thing I
thought odd was that he didn't change sheets between guests, granted
the sheets smelled okay the morning after. By American standards that
was pretty bad, but for a hostel in Jordan it might have been the
norm. I also did stuff like prepare breakfast for those who paid. The
food was typical Jordanian fare--egg, hummus, sour cream, jams and
bread. And that was about the extent of my responsibilities. Most the
rest of the time I sat around on my computer catching up on editing
my photos, writing this blog and other Internet work. I didn't mind
that I was really not doing much in the city. After the amount of
traveling I'd already done, I wanted to slow down. And I figured it
would do me good before I went to Africa. That would be the next
stage of my around-the-world trip. In the meantime I got vaccination shots at the hospital for yellow fever, meningitis, tetanus and
diphtheria. One can never be to careful while visiting the tropics.
The
guests who came to the hostel were few. Of them I'd say the majority
had either just arrived in Jordan or were about to leave the
country. Madaba was quite near both the airport and the capital city
of Amman. The guests came only spending a night or two in the
hostel. One guy, Pradeep, was an Indian who had studied in the United
States. I learned from him that Indian nationals had become the CEO
of both Microsoft and Google. Pradeep also said that an Indian man
had invented the hookah. We were smoking from one at a cafe near the
hostel when he told me. The tobacco inside had the flavor of apple.
Another guest I met had come from Spain. He too was only in Madaba
for a short time. I went with him around the city center and we ate
shwarma sandwiches at a deli-like eatery. Then we sat a while and had
a talk in Spanish. I told him my views on the lack of gun regulations
in the United States and also about my disappointment in the
administration of former president George W. Bush. It may seem bad of
me but I'm often willing to criticize my country's shortcomings when
conversing with foreigners. Besides, I like talking in general, which
made volunteering at the hostel good for me. If only more people had come. Fadi said check ins were at an all time low.
Speaking
of Fadi, he too was an interesting man. An Arab Christian, he had
been a police officer who'd retired some 5 years before. While on the
force, he'd joined two UN peacekeeping missions, one in Kosovo and
the other in Darfur. For a time Fadi also lived in Moscow where he
studied the Russian language. He had very much become a man of the
world, and this was why he'd wanted to operate a home stay, so that
he could continue to meet people from different countries. Now when
they come, he gladly serves as a guide, showing visitors places that
are not on typical tours. He always said his dream was to have a
million friends. I helped build him a website for his hostel to bring
in more. But by the time I started I was rather bored with the task,
seeing how I'd just done it a week before for Ahmed. And a hostel
website was not as interesting as a tour guide service page. I
procrastinated some yet finished the job before leaving Madaba. Fadi
was pleased. In his outspoken way he praised my work. But that's how
he was with everyone. Talking to him, you at once felt like he was
your best friend.
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| Hostel Room |
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| Shwarma Meal |
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| Having Lunch |
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| Fadi |
Madaba
About
50 years ago Jordan had a population that was a third Christian. The
percentage has since dropped to 2% with most the remaining Jordanians
being Muslims. But in Madaba 20% remains Christians. This makes Madaba
a place where Muslims and Christians live together side by side
without problems. Fadi in part thanks the king of Jordan for keeping
the peace between the two religious groups. Going back a thousand
years to the time of the Byzantine empire, it was nearly all
Christians in the town. The Byzantines constructed churches with
elaborate mosaics. A short walk from Fadi's hostel was the Church of
St. George. The church's floor had a famous mosaic of the oldest
known map of Jerusalem. I took a look, but to be honest, mosaics have
never much impressed me. So I preferred another nearby Catholic
church that had a shrine dedicated to the death of John the Baptist.
It's tall bell tower gave the best view of the city. To the east, a
large mosque shared the town's skyline, and both buildings could be
seen from the terrace on top of Fadi's apartment building. This was a
rarity in the Arab world--to have a large mosque and church in the
same place.
About
10km outside of town was Mt. Nebo, a place mentioned in the Bible. It
was there that after 40 years of wandering the desert, Moses at last
saw the promised land. But God told him he would never set foot in
Israel, and the 120 year long life of Moses came to its end. I went
to the top of the mountain. A great church had been built and
abandoned in the spot. Renovation works were underway to preserve
some of the mosaics and foundations. I walked past the gated off
areas and stood at a lookout point that faced west. On a clear day it
was possible to view Jerusalem from Mt. Nebo, but on this day it was
hazy. I could barely make out the Dead Sea and Jericho. How odd I
thought that two months before I was staring up from Jericho at the
mountains across the way in Jordan. At night the high ridge had come
alive with city lights. Now I was in those same mountains gazing
downward. If Moses really had lived and carried out God's will, he
too would have seen Jericho, or rather, the smaller human settlement
that had preceded the city. I often take great pleasure in visiting
places of historical importance. I somehow feel I am reliving the
past.
Had
I travelled another 20km past Mt. Nebo, I could have visited the Dead
Sea. But I'd already been to the Israel side and had no interest in
seeing it again. The area had other sites of interest including the
remains of a Roman military camp, a fortress and some temples. I
could only reach them by taxi, which I didn't want to pay for, so I
didn't see them either. The weather too became a deterrent. I had
gone to the Middle East in winter thinking it would not get cold. I
should have checked the climate first. Once January arrived the
temperature dropped to near freezing levels and I didn't have the
type of clothes needed to brave the outdoors. Plus, it rained for
days on end. I was hoping it might at least snow. That way I could
have taken some nice photos. But it didn't, and after two weeks in
Madaba I got few pictures of the area. There was good reason for me
to stay indoors. In the hostel I had blankets and a gas heater that I
could use in the evening. Sometimes I still needed to go out to eat.
I frequented a shwarma restaurant that sold the meat wraps nice and
fresh, right off the spit. For about three dollars I could get a big
order with a side of fries and veggies. That was plenty to sate my
evening hunger.
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| Madaba Town |
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| Church of St. George |
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| Interior |
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| Local Kids |
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| Church Bell |
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| Madaba Mosque |
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| Desert Flowers |
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| From Mt. Nebo |
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| Old Military Plane |
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| Hookah Smoke |
Christmas
and New Year's
For
Christmas day, I did what I hadn't done for years. I went to church.
The idea was to observe how Arab Christians conduct mass. But I
didn't know the starting times and showed up while mass was underway.
An usher placed me in one of the few open seats. It was behind a
pillar. I couldn't see the altar very well and I understood nothing
of the sermon. The minister was giving it in Arabic. But some of the
songs I recognized. From what I could make sense of it didn't seem
that different from the masses I'd attended as a child when my
parents had made me go on Sundays. Then came the best part--the
taking of the host. As a kid I'd looked forward to it every time,
because it meant the mass would soon be over. I lined up, stood in
front of the minister, and received the white wafer with the wine.
After the mass had ended I lingered to take photos of the Christmas
display by the altar. Some tourist taking selfies got in the way. I
eventually managed a few decent photos, then went outside to
photograph another larger nativity scene. Churchgoers stood nearby to
listen to a group of university students perform Christmas songs on
the bagpipe. The group began with Jingle Bells. It felt like a good
ole merry time, and it was the closest thing to a real Christmas I'd
had in years.
Around
this same time I ate mansaf, a traditional Jordanian dish prepared on
special occasions. Fadi's wife had made it for Christmas dinner. The
food had rice, goat meat, and a goat milk sauce. Because the
ingredients were expensive, it wasn't easy to find a restaurant that
prepared the dish regularly, and I was lucky to have it when I did.
The plate of food tasted divine. I chalk it up to the quality of the
meat. Arabs really know how to cook it nice and slow to get the best
flavor. Fadi's family made mansaf a second time for New Year's Eve.
That same night I went to dinner party at a fancy restaurant in
Madaba. But when I arrived at 9pm a waiter told me the event had been
cancelled. I was disappointed and went back to the hostel where I
drank alone, mixing vodka and soda. Then right before midnight I
returned to the restaurant. Even if there was no party I thought it
better to spend the countdown out in public rather than by myself. I
heard music coming from upstairs when I arrived. It turned out the
party was going on as planned. I tried to join but a waiter refused
me, saying it was full. That was unacceptable. I found the manager
and told her how I'd made a reservation then been denied entry twice.
She explained that there'd been a misunderstanding, and that the
staff had been a little suspicious of my beard and appearance.
Apparently, it's ok to have a nice cropped beard in Jordan, but not a
big bushy one like mine. It gave me the look a terrorist. Anyhow,
with everything cleared up, the manager let me go upstairs.
The
entire 2nd floor was decked out in tables full of food and people. In
the front played a live band, and before them an open space served as
a dance area. It wasn't long before the staff were handing out party
hats, masks and whistles for the countdown.
I thought it amusing, how one day a year we find significance in the
fact that we've made it through another twelve cycles of the moon,
all while looking ahead to the future with high hopes. Well, I was
still damned happy to be around to welcome 2016. The earth--that
small blue dot in the universe we call home--is an incredible place
full of many wonders. I love to be a part of it. I love life. I love
the promise of the journey ahead. And with that attitude I danced up
a storm. The people around me were mostly local Arabs. They moved
with their arms wide apart, index fingers up. I too felt the music
flow through me. The band's arrangement of drums brought the entire
place to life, and of all the people present, a group of Saudis
seemed to enjoy the dancing most. They invited me to their table to
smoke from a hookah and drink whiskey. I stuck with them most the
night. Then, as the party winded down, they invited me to drink more
at their hotel. I might have joined them, but once outside, we
discovered that they'd locked their car keys in the trunk, and after
smashing a back window, still couldn't open it. Not wanting to wait
longer in the freezing rain, I slipped away without a word and
returned to my hostel.
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| Christmas Tree in Town |
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| Catholic Church |
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| Prayer Candles |
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| Nativity Scene |
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| Bagpipe Music |
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| Christmas Display |
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| New Year's Fun |
Star
Wars
Being
at Fadi's hostel for two and half weeks, I had plenty of time to
catch up on the recent films I'd been wanting to see. I had no
difficulty finding them on the Internet, yet the new Star
Wars movie,
I was determined to see on the big screen. Because Madaba had no
cinema I needed to take a bus to Amman. One place had it in IMAX 3D.
In the same mall there was a Carrefour Supermarket. I popped in
before the movie started to buy some snacks. The selection was
impressive. I paced two aisles stocked high with nothing but sugary,
diabetes causing goodies, and at last selected a bag of m and m's and
a pack of gummy bears. Then I entered the theater and took my seat as
the pre-movie trailers were about to finish. Only eight other people
had come for the early showing. It was eerily quiet when the screen
went black. A few seconds later John Williams' iconic score came
blaring through the sound system and the opening crawl fed upward at
a trapezoidal slant. A little tingle ran up my neck. I was finally
seeing the movie I'd been looking forward to for ages.
I'm
not sure how much of a Star Wars fan I am. What I can say is that I
loved the original trilogy, and I'd highly anticipated the prequels.
The first one, The Phantom Menace, I saw on opening day May 19, 1999
at a theater in the desert town of El Centro, CA. Why I was there
instead of San Diego, I can't now remember, nor do I recall my
initial impressions of the film. But like for so many other fans the
prequels grew to leave a bad taste in my mouth. I blame George Lucas.
He created something brilliant and then took it in an odd direction,
assuming too much control of the production while likely ignoring the
input of others. Later, when Lucas sold off the rights to Disney, my
hopes rose. Flash forward to two years after that. I'd made it to the
theater late--two weeks after the film premiered--and people who'd
seen it were saying the movie was good. So as the opening crawl
finished, my expectations were as high as they'd ever been for a
movie. How could The Force Awakens possibly live up to them?
Somehow
it did. First off, the film made for an all around good watch. It had
action, thrills and laughs. Most importantly though, director J.J.
Abrams captured some of the magic of the original trilogy. I have to
hand it to him. He stepped up and revitalized the Star Wars saga the
same way he'd revitalized Star Trek. I'm now wondering what other
Sci-fi series he might breathe life back into. The Matrix anyone? I'd
see it if Abrams directed. As for The Force Awakens, it was only the
beginning. A new Star Wars film will come out every year
indefinitely, and the next entry I expect to watch in San Diego. But
thinking back to the one I just saw, seeing it in Jordan didn't seem
so different from experiencing it in an American theater. Still, it
would've been better to go with a friend. I'd've been able to talk
about it afterwards. Since starting my travels, I don't have a buddy
to do these kinds of things with. The last guy I really hung out with
was Calvin. But we parted ways in Kyrgyzstan. Had he still been
around, I'm sure he would have enjoyed the movie with me.
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| On the Bus |
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| City Mall |
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| Movie Poster |
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| Ticket and Snacks |
Empire
In Ruins
The
Romans were perhaps the greatest empire builders in history. Wherever
they went, they not only subjugated the people, but also developed
infrastructure and policies to ensure their new territories would
prosper. In the Middle East, the Romans built ten frontier cities
they called decapolises. Philadelphia was one. It stood amidst seven
hills. On the largest the Romans constructed a mighty fortress with
an intricate water system that depended entirely on rain. When the
Byzantines rose to power they too built fortifications on the same
hill, as did the Muslim Umayyads. Today the remnants of the three
eras remain on what is King Hussein Hill in Amman. I went up with my
camera, and the ruins aside, the views of the city were impressive.
Like a forest of trees that had swallowed up the surrounding hills,
blocky brown buildings covered everything. Also below was a great
Roman amphitheater. I checked it out next. For a two thousand year
old facility the amphitheater was still in good condition. I later
read that the semi-circle could accommodate 6,000 spectators, and to
this day, was used for events.
The
rest of the city was a confusing jumble of roads and intersections. I
visited from Madaba five times, and more often than not, I sat
looking out the window of a bus. Amman was not the type of place to
explore on foot. Only the city center made for a good walking tour.
It had plenty of shops, eateries and stall lined markets. While I
usually never buy souvenirs, one shop attracted my attention. The
owner had dozens of types of foreign currencies for sale. I rummaged
through the stacks of bills and saw money no longer in print. For
example, there were Yugolsav dinaras. Yugoslavia had split in 2003,
and the countries that emerged in its place each created a new
currency putting to an end to the dinara. The money was interesting
because it had become hyperinflated. At the shop, I bought a 50
billion dinara note worth less than an American dollar. Other bills I
got were Iraqi dinars with the face of Saddam Hussein, and from
Libya, a 1 dinar note featuring Muammar Gaddafi. The money is now
with the rest of my collection in a small folder I like to show to
others.
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| Roman Temple |
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| Gate Entrance |
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| From Outside |
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| City Buildings |
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| Amman Amphitheater |
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| Street Block |
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| Modern Mosque |
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| Foreign Currencies |
To
the north of Amman was another decapolis named Gerash. The modern
town of Jerash goes by the same name still (but with a J), and at its
center, a collection of ruins form one of the most complete Roman
cities outside of Italy. The ruins are famous for a large oval plaza
which is uniquely unsymmetrical. One side was elongated to join two
roads that met at an angle wider than 90 degrees. Moreover, the city
has large temples dedicated to Zeus and Artemis, as well as two
amphitheaters, all of which remain in one state or another. But the
city is not what it once was. Over time, when subsequent
civilizations discovered the Roman ruins, they used the old stones to
make new buildings. An earthquake in the 8th century also caused
severe damage that ushered in Gerash's decline. So we are left with
dozens of skeletal buildings. More prominent are the city's hundreds
of remaining columns. In fact, Gerash's nickname could be the City of
Columns. Many of them were from the Roman era, but the Byzantines
added more, and they line the plaza and main avenue. As always I
wondered what the architecture had looked like in its heyday. Even
better, I wished I could possess a superpower that allowed me to see
into past, but in a way that wouldn't interfere with the universe's
space-time continuum. I wouldn't want my actions mess up the present,
you know, like in that movie The Butterfly Effect.
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| Gate to Gerash |
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| Temple of Zeus |
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| Old and Modern City |
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| Fountain |
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| Columns to the Sky |
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| Kids at Amphitheater |
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| For Sale |
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| Corinth Capital |
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| Columns Galore |
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| Oval Plaza |
Farewell
The
world is a big place--too big for me to spend very long in any one
region. So after three and a half months I said farewell to the
Middle East and boarded a plane for Africa. As I left I thought about
all I'd seen and done in Israel and Jordan. I hadn't covered a large
area like I'd done in South East Asia or South Asia, but from the
coast to the big cities to the desert and mountains, I'd experienced
a side of Mother Earth that reminded me of Southern California. And
though my desire to return home remains strong, I still want to
travel more. It's about gaining perspective. And by that, I'm
referring to the history, culture and views of a country. I'm
particularly driven to those places that the American educational
system and mass media have failed to teach me about in an unbiased,
substantial manner. My journey now brings me to the land of Uganda.
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| Making a Friend |
