Holiday Inn Amman

... it, one of the malls had closed their bookstore for renovations, and the other two weren’t going to open until 9:30 pm (ashan Ramadan)! Let me just add that there really aren’t a lot of bookstores in Jordan. DVD stores, everywhere. Books, not so much. So I was so annoyed and tired and hungry and it took forever to hitch a taxi because it was time for if-tar and the street are empty at that time. Grrrrr. I decided to sleep off my bad mood and when I woke ...

... as part of wedding ceremonies
~Visiting the Greek Orthodox church in Madaba which housed one of the oldest maps of Palestine – a floor mosaic no smaller than 20' wide and 15' tall
~Taking in Jordan's archaeological and cultural history at the antiquities museum at Amman's Citadel (which overlooks the city as well as an impressive amphitheater dating to Roman times)
~Taking the 45 minute drive (via the car of ...

... br>
Fra Amman tok vi en dagstur til mosaikkbyen Madaba, Mt. Nebo, hvor Moses tittet mot det forgjettede land, og det utrolige fenomenet som Dødehavet er. Det er beliggende på jordens laveste punkt, og har et saltinnhold som gjør alt liv der umulig. Et saltinnhold som også innebærer at man flyter som kork der. Utrolig festlig (spesielt for Stian, som alltid synker i vann). Det er imidlertid ikke et sted for svømming ...

... Queen Rania, are found in every office and public space but few Jordanians mock this. Rather, there is widespread support for his modernising agenda, which is coupled with controls through the security services over many aspects of society, such as the media or the mosques.
Dissent exists as, more worryingly, does support for jihadi extremists, but the authorities are trying to contain it. According to the Jordan Times, parliamentarians reacted with a ...

... just some guys playing dress up, but I'm still not sure. I just don't get it. It's hard for me to understand because for me it looks so hot and uncomfortable, but for a Bedouin it may be prefered. Or would they rather leave the long keffiye at home in favor of a New York Yankees baseball cap? And if that is the case...why do they wear it around Amman? What is going on?

It's also interesting to note that pictures of King Abdullah of Jordan are everywhere and ...

... nichts-Besuc her sind besonders eifrig im Hervorheben, wie viel besser Israel eigentlich sei). Nur an ein paar Sachen kann ich mich nach wie vor nicht gewoehnen: Zum einen die geschaetzen sechshundertdreiundvierzig Millionen Bilder von Strahlemann King Abdullah ueberall, und zum anderen die Tatsache, dass es "den" Jordanier eigentlich kaum gibt - mehr als die Haelfte der Einwohner sind Palaestinenser. Man koennte jetzt meinen, dass man das als Auslaender gar nicht merkt ...

... we walked past the reconstructed hippodrome, where a re-enacted chariot race and gladiator fight was taking place. We caught the last few minutes by sneaking around to the side of the audience bank, so didn’t feel as if we’d missed too much by skipping the show (and the extra entrance fee). We wondered whether the charioteer who lost loses every time, or if they take it in turns...

Jerash contained the ruins of the Greco ...

... 5 Euro) die Nacht in ein Schlafsaalbett gehauen hab und eingepennt bin. Gestern kam dann endlich eine SMS von Angelo: Er hat sich bei der Handynummer um eine Ziffer vertan und will unbedingt, dass ich doch diese Nacht bei ihm bleibe. Keine Einwaende! Zuerst aber machte ich mich mit Hostel-Bekanntschaft James aus London nach einem guten kostenlosen Fruehstueck auf eine kleine Erkundungstour in die Innenstadt auf, die abgesehen vom Rumlaufen und SIM-Karte-Kaufen sein ...

... for a second because I’m not that fond of heights but IT WAS AWESOME!!

It turns out that the bus that you take down to the Dead Sea stops running at about three o’clock (which would have been nice to know earlier). Again luck was on my side as I was leaving I noticed that the girls I had met earlier on the bus were outside of a health spa wondering how to get back. Since there were three of us, a cab wouldn’t have been such ...