The area of Amman that I am staying in is called downtown - and it is a particularly apt name for this neck of the woods as it is surrounded by steep hills. The advantage of this is that when wandering around my local area I don't really need to worry about getting lost. When I want to return to my hotel I just walk downhill to the lowest point in the area and I will have found my street. The downside is that to get to anywhere else you have to walk uphill and the farthest uphill you can go is the Citadel.
Located on the highest hill in Amman the Citadel has been occupied as either a settlement or a fortress for the last 7000 years. I doubt any people over those 7000 years have had cushier jobs than the tourist police who currently work there. When I visited there would have been about 20 tourists spread around the site and about the same number of local families picnicing. To monitor such a dangerous group, there were about 20 tourist police reclining, smoking and enjoying the sunlit views.
What is left on the site now are the impressive columns of the Roman Temple of Hercules (161 - 166AD), the Byzantine Church (6th century AD) and the Umayyad Complex (730AD). One of the things I liked most about visiting the Citadel are the magnificent 360 degree views of Amman that it affords. They have helpfully put labelled photo maps at various viewing points so that you can spot all the major buildings/sites in Amman. This allowed me to see how close my hotel was to various other sites which I walked to over the next few days. The spectacular views make the Citadel a popular picnic spot for the locals of Amman and I was happy to practise a couple of my wobbly arabic phrases on them.
The highlight of the trip to the Citadel was the National Archaeological Museum: a small, low key building about the size of my flat that was filled with dusty glass and wooden cabinets. The Museum houses an extraordinary array of artifacts from all over Jordan, many of which are over 3000 years old. One of my favourites was a section of fresco wall that was unearthed by a team from the University of Sydney in the 1970's. I was looking at one rough statue that appeared to be shoulders and a neck and wondering why they had bothered to include it in the museum when I read the description next to it. It was an 8500 year old statue from Ain Ghazal thought to be the oldest example of sculpture in the world!
The National Museum is typical of Jordan's low-key approach to sites of major historical significance. A few days ago I did a day trip out into the Eastern Desert to view the sites reffered to as the "desert palaces". I found the stark beauty of the Eastern Desert mesmerising despite the insessent ramblings of an older Australian gentleman on our tour who was obviously uncomfortable with more than 3 seconds of continuous silence.
One of the sites we came to did not look like much from the road. As we approached I noticed it bore an uncanny resemblence to Luke Skywalker's home with Uncle Owen on the desert planet of Tantooine in Star Wars. Anyway inside the walls and ceiling were covered in the most amazing frescos dating back to the 8th century. To me half the fun of these sites is trying to guess the symbollic meaning of the art before having the truth revealed by a local guide. I accurately picked the map of the zodiac on the domed ceiling but was pretty far off the mark with the scene of hunting animals at night by torchlight - I thought it depicted an athletics carnival for children - (ok I probably should have noticed that even in the 8th century children wouldn't have had 4 legs - but in my defence it was pretty hard to make out some of the figures).
The travellers that I've met at the hotel and around Amman so far have been older than the usual backpacker crowd you find in South East Asia. I've met a few French, a few American one Swiss and a few Australian travellers so far. I was particularly lucky to meet a lovely Australian nurse, Gillian, in our hotel lounge a few days ago. Gillian's itinerary makes mine look very timid as she has just spent 4 months travelling through Libya, Egypt, Omman, Yemen & Jordan. I did point out to her that she has been a bit of a bad omen for stability in each of the countries she has visited so far - so I'm glad I won't be too far behind her as she heads to Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel. I'm hopeful we may be able to meet up again in Turkey in May - fingers crossed! Apart from being excellent company, Gillian was also an excellent source of information on Petra, where to find the cheap local fruit market, where to find strawberry yoghurt and where I should go to buy a second pair of pants. This is how I found myself heading out to a place called the Mecca Mall yesterday.
The Mecca Mall is located in a far more affluent part of Amman than Downtown and at first glance is pretty similar to any big shopping centre you find in Australia. The guards and metal detector at the entrance are a bit of a reminder that you're still in Jordan but apart from that it was filled with an assortment of stores including Starbucks, The Body Shop, KFC, United Colours of Beneton, Pizza Hut and Esprit. It was of course mainly made up of local chain stores and food outlets - my favourite of which was called "Tender Loving Chicken".
My mission was to buy a pair of loose fitting, (hopefully cheap) cotton pants. Two hours in and my quest was looking more and more futile as store after store was filled with tiny pairs of tight fitting jeans and trousers. I had seen many women of a more fuller figure downtown and so had not really anticipated having much difficulty in my search. But looking at the women around me I noticed that most women shopping at the Mecca Mall favoued jeans of the spray-on variety, often teamed with a lovely pair of knee high leather boots over the top... Hardly backpacking staples. I finally found what I was looking for in what I think is the Jordanian equivalent of Target: baggy cotton pants that had plenty of room for both my backside and my money belt. Just as I was rejoycing in my find I happened to glance up at the sign hanging over the section of the store I was in...Knowing the only clothes that you can fit into in a country come from the maternity section really does wonders for your self esteem! Still a bargain at 12 JD :-)
The Mecca Mall really highlighted for me the greatest danger faced by anyone visiting the Middle East - and it is not terrorism. It is the incredibly high liklihood that you will develop lung cancer during your stay.
Islam dictates that its followers do not engage in drinking or gambling and so far I think the men of Jordan are compensating for that by going to town on the cigarettes. I estimate that through passive smoking alone I'm currently on a pack a day and the Mecca Mall - with no outside air flow coming through - was particularly challenging for me. No space is too small, too enclosed to prevent a local from lighting up in it. I have frequently had to leave the very comfortable communal lounge in our hotel because it was no longer possible to see the BBC news update on the TV through the smoky haze. And rather than open a window (or heaven forbid ask people to smoke outside) the way the locals manage the ever present smell of smoke is to spray can after can of sickly sweet floral air freshner around the room. The only place you couldn't smoke in the Mecca Mall were the pristine toilets. Of course you wouldn't want your bowel movements impeded by too much smoke - but apparently oxygen is not required while eating as the food hall had its own layer of smog!
Located on the highest hill in Amman the Citadel has been occupied as either a settlement or a fortress for the last 7000 years. I doubt any people over those 7000 years have had cushier jobs than the tourist police who currently work there. When I visited there would have been about 20 tourists spread around the site and about the same number of local families picnicing. To monitor such a dangerous group, there were about 20 tourist police reclining, smoking and enjoying the sunlit views.
What is left on the site now are the impressive columns of the Roman Temple of Hercules (161 - 166AD), the Byzantine Church (6th century AD) and the Umayyad Complex (730AD). One of the things I liked most about visiting the Citadel are the magnificent 360 degree views of Amman that it affords. They have helpfully put labelled photo maps at various viewing points so that you can spot all the major buildings/sites in Amman. This allowed me to see how close my hotel was to various other sites which I walked to over the next few days. The spectacular views make the Citadel a popular picnic spot for the locals of Amman and I was happy to practise a couple of my wobbly arabic phrases on them.
The highlight of the trip to the Citadel was the National Archaeological Museum: a small, low key building about the size of my flat that was filled with dusty glass and wooden cabinets. The Museum houses an extraordinary array of artifacts from all over Jordan, many of which are over 3000 years old. One of my favourites was a section of fresco wall that was unearthed by a team from the University of Sydney in the 1970's. I was looking at one rough statue that appeared to be shoulders and a neck and wondering why they had bothered to include it in the museum when I read the description next to it. It was an 8500 year old statue from Ain Ghazal thought to be the oldest example of sculpture in the world!
The National Museum is typical of Jordan's low-key approach to sites of major historical significance. A few days ago I did a day trip out into the Eastern Desert to view the sites reffered to as the "desert palaces". I found the stark beauty of the Eastern Desert mesmerising despite the insessent ramblings of an older Australian gentleman on our tour who was obviously uncomfortable with more than 3 seconds of continuous silence.
One of the sites we came to did not look like much from the road. As we approached I noticed it bore an uncanny resemblence to Luke Skywalker's home with Uncle Owen on the desert planet of Tantooine in Star Wars. Anyway inside the walls and ceiling were covered in the most amazing frescos dating back to the 8th century. To me half the fun of these sites is trying to guess the symbollic meaning of the art before having the truth revealed by a local guide. I accurately picked the map of the zodiac on the domed ceiling but was pretty far off the mark with the scene of hunting animals at night by torchlight - I thought it depicted an athletics carnival for children - (ok I probably should have noticed that even in the 8th century children wouldn't have had 4 legs - but in my defence it was pretty hard to make out some of the figures).
The travellers that I've met at the hotel and around Amman so far have been older than the usual backpacker crowd you find in South East Asia. I've met a few French, a few American one Swiss and a few Australian travellers so far. I was particularly lucky to meet a lovely Australian nurse, Gillian, in our hotel lounge a few days ago. Gillian's itinerary makes mine look very timid as she has just spent 4 months travelling through Libya, Egypt, Omman, Yemen & Jordan. I did point out to her that she has been a bit of a bad omen for stability in each of the countries she has visited so far - so I'm glad I won't be too far behind her as she heads to Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel. I'm hopeful we may be able to meet up again in Turkey in May - fingers crossed! Apart from being excellent company, Gillian was also an excellent source of information on Petra, where to find the cheap local fruit market, where to find strawberry yoghurt and where I should go to buy a second pair of pants. This is how I found myself heading out to a place called the Mecca Mall yesterday.
The Mecca Mall is located in a far more affluent part of Amman than Downtown and at first glance is pretty similar to any big shopping centre you find in Australia. The guards and metal detector at the entrance are a bit of a reminder that you're still in Jordan but apart from that it was filled with an assortment of stores including Starbucks, The Body Shop, KFC, United Colours of Beneton, Pizza Hut and Esprit. It was of course mainly made up of local chain stores and food outlets - my favourite of which was called "Tender Loving Chicken".
My mission was to buy a pair of loose fitting, (hopefully cheap) cotton pants. Two hours in and my quest was looking more and more futile as store after store was filled with tiny pairs of tight fitting jeans and trousers. I had seen many women of a more fuller figure downtown and so had not really anticipated having much difficulty in my search. But looking at the women around me I noticed that most women shopping at the Mecca Mall favoued jeans of the spray-on variety, often teamed with a lovely pair of knee high leather boots over the top... Hardly backpacking staples. I finally found what I was looking for in what I think is the Jordanian equivalent of Target: baggy cotton pants that had plenty of room for both my backside and my money belt. Just as I was rejoycing in my find I happened to glance up at the sign hanging over the section of the store I was in...Knowing the only clothes that you can fit into in a country come from the maternity section really does wonders for your self esteem! Still a bargain at 12 JD :-)
The Mecca Mall really highlighted for me the greatest danger faced by anyone visiting the Middle East - and it is not terrorism. It is the incredibly high liklihood that you will develop lung cancer during your stay.
Islam dictates that its followers do not engage in drinking or gambling and so far I think the men of Jordan are compensating for that by going to town on the cigarettes. I estimate that through passive smoking alone I'm currently on a pack a day and the Mecca Mall - with no outside air flow coming through - was particularly challenging for me. No space is too small, too enclosed to prevent a local from lighting up in it. I have frequently had to leave the very comfortable communal lounge in our hotel because it was no longer possible to see the BBC news update on the TV through the smoky haze. And rather than open a window (or heaven forbid ask people to smoke outside) the way the locals manage the ever present smell of smoke is to spray can after can of sickly sweet floral air freshner around the room. The only place you couldn't smoke in the Mecca Mall were the pristine toilets. Of course you wouldn't want your bowel movements impeded by too much smoke - but apparently oxygen is not required while eating as the food hall had its own layer of smog!
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