This morning was my last morning in Amman. At about nine, I headed out of the hostel to catch a taxi to the bus station for my trip to Petra. There was pretty much only two things that I wanted to see while I was in Jordan, and that Amman and Petra, but I’d be lying if I said that I felt like I wasn’t seeing enough of the country. One of the downfalls of traveling by myself is that to go on excursions that take a day or two is that with one person I’m not able to share the cost of transportation with others. So with some of the things that I wanted to see It was just too expensive… Well this morning as I caught my taxi to the bus station, the driver starts saying that he’d give me a good deal to see some of the sights in Jordan on the way to Petra. We haggled for a little while and although it seemed a little bit too more than I wanted to spend I decided that I would do it. My reasoning is pretty straightforward, I may never get back to Jordan again, and the extra money above what I thought I should pay will be eventually forgotten, but the sights probably won’t ever be, so off we went.

The first stop was Madaba… I think that’s the correct spelling, it’s a small town outside of Amman and a nice change from the hustle of the big city. I wish I could have spent a night there if not only for the change of pace. I went to a couple of museums and visited a church. What I really loved about the church was the chanting/singing by the monks, it was straight out of those horror movies.

Then I went to Mt Nebo. If you don’t know what Mt. Nebo is, don’t be ashamed, neither did I until I was there and walking around the “mount.” If you don’t know, it’s where Moses went to die. The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular, you could see rolling hills all around, and down in the valley was Jericho…I mean I never, ever, thought that I’d see Jericho.

The next stop was to visit the river Jordan, more precisely, the spot where Jesus was baptized. The tour was pretty good, but a bit too much of nothing, if you’re not a religious person, which I’m not. I think what I enjoyed the most was being about 5 yards from Israel. I just got the feeling like I was at the demilitarized border between North and South Korea, for all the ill will that is focused towards Israel. But there it was, Israel, no more that twenty feet away with a big Israeli flag blowing in the wind like it was taunting the Jordanians.

Next it was off to the Dead Sea. Of all the things that I really didn’t care to see, that was one of them. I don’t know why people make such a big deal about it, except for the supposedly super healing powers of the water, but for it to be a big deal to you, you have to believe those claims, and frankly, I don’t. I did go down for some pictures and went into the souvenir shop, which I might add sold medicinal formulas for every ailment that a person could possibly get. It would have been nice to go for a swim… or from what I’ve heard, a “bob” is more accurate since the salt content is so high that you float above the water.

After the Dead Sea, we went to Karak Castle. This was cool, not only for the fact that it is huge, but for the freedom that visitors get to explore it. There are chambers and hallways all open to the public, you can climb up on the highest walls and pretty much do anything that you want there. While I was walking around it struck me that I really respect the way the Jordanians do some things.

I’m in Petra right now and the town is really beautiful. If you’ve never seen photos of the town of Petra, which I don’t think I ever have, it a small town set on a very steep hill. In many ways it’s adopted the tourist trap mentality that I really don’t like. Everything is double the price, and it seems that every local is out to make a buck on the next tourist to come their way. I don’t know if that’s actually fair, but it sure seems that way. I mean, they even have a 17% tax on everything here. Oh well, I guess if you want to play sometimes you have to pay…:)

Tomorrow I head to Petra for a day trip.