Jordan and Israel, 5 - 6 April
Jordan and Israel, 5 - 16 April
5th April
Got into Madaba, from QAIA. Appears to be a typical desert town, but with loads of history. One of the guides at the Archaeological Park thought I could speak Arabic, so he went on and on about the Byzantine mosaics. The curator at the Catholic church brought us on a tremendously eye-opening journey. He brought us to the underground caverns and showed us the archaeological work in progress.
In the afternoon, we took a cab to Mount Nebo, where Moses was supposed to have been shown the Promised Land before he died.
6th April
We took to the Dead Sea. The journey there was a little difficult. Because we were conscious of cost, we tried to get a public bus, but there were apparently none because it was Friday. After being harangued by taxi drivers, we got into one for a bargain price. However, halfway through the journey he wanted an extra 2 JD to get to our hotel (at first we wanted to get off at a junction). Hence, our bargaining came to nought, as we paid him exactly what we would have if we haven't bargained.
Hotel was rather shit, and so was the food. Swimming in the Dead Sea was exciting though. We lathered mud over ourselves and then floated serenely in the sea.
7th April
Hitched a ride from the Dead Sea - hailed down a car, which dropped us off at a bus station in some town close to Karak, whereupon we took a minibus to reach Karak city centre. Unfortunately I left my bag containing my iPad and DSLR camera in the subsequent van we hitched on from Karak city centre to get to the bus station in the outskirts that would take us to Wadi Rum. Panicked like hell, but even after driving around the city in our Wadi Rum-bound minibus looking for the van, I was out of luck. On our way into the Wadi Rum Protected Area, we hitched with a guy who turned out to be a guide. We went to his house, got served tea and dinner, and then discussed an itinerary. We helped set up a blog for him, advertising his services.
8th April
Tiring day in the desert, scrambling up sand dunes and hills. Was becoming quite dehydrated, but we went back to Rum Village to rest for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Then we went out to the Moon Valley again to watch the sunset. We had a traditional Bedouin dinner and tea by a fire and then fell asleep just as the moon rose above the mountain line. The stars were too numerous to count.
9th April
We left for Aqaba at 7 and thereafter took a taxi to the Israeli border crossing at Eilat. Got stuck there for 4 hours while they ask every question imaginable - I even had to show the security personnel my Facebook photos to prove I was who I am. Apparently my passport photo did not match my face. I told them the truth - I gained weight. Very unhappy; I felt like my privacy was being invaded. Even felt that my Muslim name was a liability. We arrived at the town of Eilat just after 12 noon and booked tickets to Tel Aviv. The bus left at 2 and we arrived in the city at 7. We had a nice and reasonable priced dinner at Hamitbachon near Allenby Street.
10th April
We toured the neighbourhoods of Neve Tsedek, Florentine and Jaffa. At night we had dinner at a nice wine bar called Belle & Antoine. Thereafter, we walked up to the port but found nothing interesting but a bunch of half empty bars and a gaggle of teenagers amassing outside a nightclub. We biked down south on one of the Tel-o-fun bikes to near the Hassan Bek mosque, where we alighted and strolled in Neve Tsedek and Rothschild Blvd.
We had drinks at a champagne bar called La Champa, and had a gelato before heading back to the hotel. Ine arrived from Oslo at 3am.
11th April
After a sumptuous breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel, we took a bus to Jerusalem. Addar hotel on Nablus Road, near the old city, had a quaint oriental old world charm. We strolled along the Muslim and Christian quarters of the old city, visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We tried visiting the Haram Ash-Sharif but it was not open to tourists at 3pm.
Dinner was at a place called Borderline Restaurant, which I thought was a shitty name until I checked the map and realised that the restaurant lay squarely on the 1949 border between the then Transjordan and the new state of Israel.
12 April
We visited the Jewish quarter and spent some time at the Western Wall. Wore a Jewish skullcap for the first time! At 13.30 we queued for 40 minutes to get into the Haram. Once in I was hassled by a young Palestinian man who wanted to bring me on a tour of the interiors of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. I asked for his price, but he adamantly told me that price wasn't an issue because "(he) make hasanat" and that "(he) do this because I was Muslim". Though skeptical at this earnest pitch, I agreed to have his tour. However, before entering the Dome I was asked to recite Al Fatihah by the door guard to prove I was a Muslim. It was a brief tour and I parted with 340 NIS for the custom and two Qur'ans stamped with the Waqf's seal.
I managed to pray in the Dome but I think tomorrow I shall visit and spend a less harried time there.
13 April
After feeling tired from cracking our brains about how to get to Eilat when the buses don't run because of Passover, we decided to spend the day in Jerusalem rather than go to Bethlehem. This meant that I could go for Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque. So I did, but not before I was checked twice, by Israeli police and the Waqf representatives at Bab Al-Silsilieh.
Doing Jum'ah at Al-Aqsa was momentous as now I felt that my travels to Islam's three holiest sites are completed. A kind man with his wife and three kids helped to take a photo for me, and then told me "inshallah next year the Jews will be out". I didn't respond to that. He asked me to come to his place for lunch, but I declined as I had other plans. He also gave me his number and told me to call if I wanted to tour the Palestinian Territories.
I met with Henry and Ine at Jaffa St. We had lunch at Zuni, which was a delightful restaurant tucked in a side street. The ambience was sleek and posh and the food, while expensive, was top-notch. It's a happy day.
14th April
We set off at 8 for Ben Gurion airport, where we rented a car from Avis to drive to Eilat, in order to cross the border crossing closest to Wadi Musa and Petra. Ine drove while Henry navigated. I slept at the back, like the pig I am.
We took a detour to the Dead Sea, where I spent an hour frolicking in the waters. We had a bit of a fuck up with the car when we were leaving, when Ine keyed in the wrong unlock code and the steering wheel was locked in position.
But we figured that out and soon we arrived at the border. It took slightly longer for the Israeli border control to stamp my passport, almost provoking the fear of getting detained again.
After passing through Jordanian customs, we took a cab to Petra. We had a sumptuous meal at Red Cave restaurant near our hotel.
15 April
We woke up early in order to visit the ruins of Petra. It was an amazing place; it was almost possible to visualise the splendour of the city 2000 years ago. However I did not particularly like the incessant harrying by the local touts.
At night we went to Red Cave again to sample more Jordanian cuisine.
16 April
Our pre-arranged taxi arrived on the dot at 3.30am at our hotel and we hastened to QAIA to catch our flight at 8.35am. By far the most dangerous taxi ride ever - our driver, an aged man, kept an implausibly high speed on the foggy mountain roads. Nonetheless we arrived at QAIA unscathed, if not a little irritated that he asked for a tip, ostensibly for his dare-devil driving skills. We grudgingly parted with 5 JD. After a nondescript flight, we arrived in Heathrow and thereupon the holiday ends and daily monotony reigns once more.
Ziz.