After the exit formalities at the border, the men visited the duty-free shop to buy packets of cigarettes. Once back in the car we were given cartons to carry for them through the Jordanian border controls. At customs, the car was driven over a pit and checked underneath. We had to open our backpacks and everything was taken out of the car. Every bus and its passengers were treated the same way so it was quite a long wait here.
After leaving the fertile fields of Syria we travelled through desert and rocky terrain. There were many rock crushing companies with lots of makeshift tent towns for the workers.
We were dropped at the servees station and were immediately taken over by locals touts who flagged a taxi down and got a 'buksheesh' from the driver, who in turn took it from us even though we had said we didn't want him to tip the guys. The driver didn't believe we had booked a hotel so followed us in to the reception hoping to get his own tip for introducing us to the hotel. It was not the best welcome to Jordan.
We had booked the hotel online and it was the highest rated place that had 3-bedrooms for the time we wanted. Once inside the 4 bedroom they gave us I saw that it was dusty and hadn't been swept for a long time. It was late and we decided that it would be Ok after a sweep. I hunted out the place and got a broom, moved all the beds and swept the walls, shelves and floor. In no time at all I had all the staff apologizing and trying to take over the cleaning. I decided that they had had their chance and had done a lousy job so I would continue while John went off to find another hotel for the next night. After 2 hours of cleaning, dusting the dirty windows and moping the floor, I turned on the fan to get rid of the dust in the air. By this time the manager was apologizing to John and offering us a discount. We had pre-booked 6 days in total to stay here.
The filth that embarrassed them!After one night in the hotel, and an uncomfortable one at that because of the hard lumpy mattress we moved on to another place across the street. The manager wouldn't charge us for the night as he was still embarrassed. We did notice on leaving that the stairs and hallways had been swept and mopped so hopefully they were embarrassed enough to change their habits.
We explored some of the back streets of the city but didn't visit any sites as our daughter Kerri is arriving in a few days and we will do it with her then.
We sussed out some eating places and were surprised at how few nice places there were nearby.
We met a South African from Capetown, called Mark, and he managed to find a bar where they served local beer called Petra and at 8% alcohol, one was enough. Most places we have eaten do not serve alcohol so it was a rare find.
Downtown Amman is a busy place but not very pretty. The traffic is hectic and the drivers toot incessantly. The people greet you all the time with 'Welcome in Jordan' or 'What's your name?'. That makes a change from the usual 'Wherrre you frrrom?', with the 'r' trilled.
Amman was originally built on seven hill but now covers nineteen. The site of Amman has been continuously occupied since 3500BC. 'Rabbath Ammon' was the capital of the powerful Ammonites in biblical times. In 1900, there were only 2000 people living here and in 1921 King Abdullah made it the capital of Transjordan and today there are 1.8 million.
We have also met some very nice taxi drivers who have given us tips on places to catch buses and have been honest with using the meters.
It is 'high season' for tourists in Jordan and we see lots of tourists, with a lot of them being French.
