The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Complete)

[Jake]

So, me and Gayvin minced to the Middle East this week. We got back to Brighton at 3am this morning, after a disgustingly long Easyjet flight and a burdenous rail replacement bus service.

We were there for 4 nights, with 3 full days.

Day 1 - Creds and tourist stuff in Amman, the capital.

Day 2 - Petra

Day 3 - Dead Sea


Day 1.

There are 5 creds in Amman according to RCDB, 3 of which are shopping malls with 1 cred each and one of which is an actual outdoor 'park' outside the city. Due to it being winter, we expected the outdoor park to spite us and unfortunately we were right. On top of that, one of the shopping malls was impossible to find, leaving us with just 2 creds. Obv, the creds were just a bonus and not the focus of the trip, so whilst it was spiteful it didn't really matter.

We got up at about 8am and headed straight for the bus station, where we booked tickets to Petra for the following day. As taxis were so cheap, this was pretty much how we got around in the city. Within half an hour or so we were at 'City Mall', a new western style shopping centre complete with cred <3.

The cred...

It actually made me feel quite grotesque, maybe because it spins loads but doesn't actually DO anything else. The 3 circuits were NOT appreciated.

After the +1 we grabbed another taxi to 'Amman Mall', an older and more ghetto mall somewhere else in the city.

People were openly smoking in all public buildings and areas including malls, shops, hotels, busses etc.

The second (and final) cred of the trip <3.

The name of the cred made us chuckle...

There were a capple of other rides...

By this point it was nearly lunch, so we hung around for McMurder to open. This sounded amazing but was pretty grim...

Once the creds were done, we minced back into the old town area to see the Citadel and the Amphitheatre. As the Citadel was up a huge hill, we got a cab up there first and then walked down to the Amphitheatre.

The Citedal was quite fab...

This flag was excessive.

Dome thing...

Looking down at the Amphitheatre...

More views...

Ok, Theatre time <3.

Totes caught this kid stacking it <3.

Looking back up to the Citadel...

So that's our first day. I was suprised how nice the people were in Jordan, after having lots of bad experiences in Egypt and Morocco. Don't let the dumpyness of the city fool you, it's fab <3.

Thanks for reading!

 

[marc]

Jordan

Lol the kid part made me laugh

 

[Ben]

Re: Jordan

That Spinner's so weird, the Middle East just loves messed-up Spinners <3

And that child <3

 

[Jake]

Re: Jordan

Day 2 - Petra.

We'd booked our bus tickets the day before, which were about £15 return for the 3 hour (each way) trip. Not bad seeing as it was an actual direct coach. Plus, it didn't stop off at a carpet factory owned by the bus driver's brother, which was a bonus.

Ticket prices for a day in Petra are around £50, basically doubling in the last couple of years. This resulted in the obvious 'dirty, evil robbing bastadz' expression being overused.

When you enter the site it's VERY Star Wars...

You then get to a gorge which guides you the rest of the way...

This shows how huge it is (see the people at the bottom)...

After around 15mins you reach the end, leading to stunning views of the Treasury.

<3

After the Treasury there's another path leading towards the 'city centre', going past the amphitheatre and some other tombs...

Gavin suggested doing a bit of a detour and doing a 'hike' up one of the mountains. This turned out to be a good idea as it was epic.

Getting higher...

Higher...

Mincing...

Looking back...

At the top. Random couple sitting on the edge...

'Photos of us on high ****'. You can't really see in these photos, but this is right on the edge of a drop which must be around 600-800ft.

Some ants I mean, people...

It was grotesque <3.

The path back down took a different route, past some more tombs and venomous creatures.

Then it was time for more putrid stairs, leading up to the monastery...

By this point we were pretty knackered, and got STUNG £3 for a drink at the top. It was worth the effort though...

The thought of the 2 hour walk back to the bus was a bit daunting, as we had both obviously flaked, so we were only up there for about 10 minutes before we decided to mish it back, via the 'city centre'.

To be honest, Petra really blew me away. I didn't really know that much about it before visiting, so was aware of the carved buildings but had no idea just how dramatic the scenery was around it. It's amazing, and totes worth the £50.

 

[marc]

Jordan

Great report Jake somewhere I've always wanted to go.

 

[ECG]

Re: Jordan

Another great report & fab photos as usual Jake. Don't know that I would have bothered with the credz tbh, but the rest certainly was worth the trip. I would really love to join in on one of your excursions one of these days.

 

[Jake]

Re: Jordan

Thanks for the comments <3.


Day 3 - Dead Sea

We got up pretty late after being KNACKERED from Petra, so planned to just spend the afternoon at the Dead Sea. I grabbed some photos of our gorgeous 'hotel' before we went out...

The view. Well, the view was a brick wall, but if you twisted your head with the same ability as Regan from the Exorcist, you saw this:

We minced to the 'Bus Station' in a taxi, then got a local bus to the Dead Sea area. The buses in Jordan are like minibuses, and you just flag one down whenever you want to get on (as long as you're on the rough route). Thus, it's pretty hard to know where you're going unless you know already, as their are no bus stops and no buses are marked/numbered.

The bus driver kindly told us when it was our time to get off, and we jumped in an unlicensed taxi for the rest of the journey, which was around 15mins. Then, we had arrived.

Looking over to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories...

There was loads of salt, loads.

We forgot swimming shorts so had to go in in our boxers... This is a bit of a tradition now, I made the same mistake in Tel Aviv and Helsinki <3.

The increased buoyancy makes it impossible to swim... I can't really describe how it feels because it's so weird. Here it looks like I'm touching the bottom but I'm actually not!

Like, you'd never be able to do that in normal water...

For all the foot fetish people <3.

Once we were done with the Dead Sea we called Omar, our illegal taxi driver, and got a lift back to the bus stop, which really wasn't a bus stop.

'I love your country, it's very spacious!'

Once we were back in the city we had a mince...

.. and for all the vegetarians and animal rights activists who may read this...

There were loads of sheeps heads loads, but I failed to get any pics </3.

Oh, there's a fab photo from City Mall I forgot to post. The name of this chippy <3

So that's it for Jordan. Thanks for reading!

 

[Smithy]

Petra looks **** beautiful.

That bath and hotel room. Not so much.

 

[furie]

Re: Jordan

Ticket prices for a day in Petra are around £50, basically doubling in the last couple of years. This resulted in the obvious 'dirty, evil robbing bastadz' expression being overused.

Was it not a case of "dirty, evil Western robbing bastards for centuries and we're getting legal revenge"? Though to be honest, I don't know how much Victorian archaeological rape there was.

When you enter the site it's VERY Star Wars...

More Indiana Jones, surely?

Beyond arse-hole nit picking, brilliant! The area looks superb (well the old bits, the new bits are rank) and as usual, really great report. The salt looks hideous though when you come out of the dead sea.

 

[Lofty]

I STILL can't get in my head how a bath can get THAT black? It's absolutely vile!

 

[Jake]

Re: Jordan

More Indiana Jones, surely?

Well obv , but the holes/caves kept making me think we were about to get spited by the sand people <///3.