Grand Palace Amman

... of the stove without cringing and feeling like you should immediately shower. I probably scrubbed years of grease off that thing, good lord. My nails were like coated in nasty black grease by the time I was done. Ick. Then I moved on to my laundry sick I was no longer residing in the bathroom like the day before. Two and a half hours later all my laundry was clean and hanging out on the line. Reward: another fresh batch of pasta, Wall-E (sooo cute), a third ...

... and de-grossified. Eventually we met up at The Basement with Adib, Bashar, Yoichi, Masashi, and their friend Mango who has a Scottish accent when we speaks English and their half-Jordanian half-Japanese friend who think Jordan is just a pile of rocks. It was a good time. Most everyone was super cool and we had a yummy a3rgileh. The Basement also makes really good American coffee so props for that, and the owner is really cool. He sent some figs over to our table that ...

... only in hotels and certain restaurants, except when in Aqaba or Amman, where a handful liquor stores are operated
~It getting cold enough for my fleece an hour before sunset while relaxing on the terrace of our hotel in Petra (new city) and still getting a little cold during our barbecue dinner after sunset
~For all of $2 US, buying on the street in Petra a ½ rotisserie chicken with fresh peppers, tomatoes, spices ...

... desert and can go east for the sun or west for the clouds,” he says.
“I like the scale of Amman. Downtown is like a hole, surrounded by steep hills. It feels communal, you can see friends’ homes across the valleys. There are the contour lines of the hills and vertical lines made by the steep roads and footpaths. It feels like snakes and ladders. I feel claustrophic in the West Bank.”
The hilly downtown area called Jebel Amman recalls ...

... camp for you I guess... Then she tried again and the same thing happened...you'd think she'd learn to put a little muscle behind it.

To get a better view of the sunset we had to walk south from our camp. We climbed up on another high rock and got some awesome views across the desert. I honestly didn't think the desert could be so beautiful, but it certainly was. Henry was right, the evening and night is the best time to be out in Wadi Rum.

Dinner wasn ...

... lang und fuehrt an einigen verratzten Bedouinen-Zelten vorbei, in denen sogar Leute wohnen. Die laden einen die ganze Zeit aus reiner Freundlichkeit zum Tee ein. Wenn man die alle annehmen wuerde, waere man wahrscheinlich drei Tage unterwegs. Jedenfalls war ich nach fuenf Stunden endlich an besagter Lodge, liess mir ebenfalls kostenlos eine Orange und einen Apfel geben, und bin dann den ganzen Weg zurueckgelaufen. Sowohl mein Reisefuehrer, als auch die Typen im Hotel ...

... and the remains of a roman aqueduct on the side of the highway, towards the castle at Ajloun. Hungry, we pulled over in a town for a quick kebab, only to pass through a few minutes later the charming town of Salt, with lovely cafes along the main road. Pressed for time now, we lamented our impatience and continued on our way. We made it to Ajloun castle just minutes after closing time so, disappointed, we decided to just keep going to ...

... the corner from where I was staying. It was a fairly small place and closed off to tourist. I thought it would be a lot bigger from the way that people talked about it, but at any rate it was still a sight to see. The streets around the King Hussein mosque were filled with people, shops selling bric-a-brac items, and several bootleg DVD shops. I went into one of these bootleg shops that claimed that they were the best bootleg shop in all of Amman. I ...

... propos de mon arrivée à Mascate (avion, pas avion ?) sont venues rappeler que la fin des vacances n'est pas loin. Les quatre prochaines semaines seront à peu près également consacrées à la visite des deux derniers pays arabes (Syrie et Liban) ainsi qu'à la découverte de l'Iran. Reprendre l'étude du fârsi m'excite, mais, honnêtement, pas vraiment plus que l'idée que je me fais de Damas, de Palmyre ou de Beyrouth. Il reste un bon mois !