After leaving there, we had a longish drive on the King's Highway down to Petra. Unfortunately, we also had to listen to the taxi's beep the whole 3 1/2 hrs as well. That was the last time we used that driver.
When we got to Ma'an, we checked in our place then moved to the 'Little Petra'. We didn't have much day time left, and this Petra was free. It was pretty sick... here's the 'rents checking it out:
We then slid outta town to catch a Petra sunset:
day 6: we woke up and went to catch a full Petra day. We rented a personal guide, and got a buggie ride for mom and dad... do to some confusing negotiations, we ended up with a minimized tour, but we still managed to see 80% of the goods, and all of the major sections of an official 'Wonder of the World'. Here's a little of what we caught on camera:
At the far side of the venue they were offering donkey rides, and since a personal goal is to ride as many new animals as possible, we picked one up each! I couldn't get over how natural pops rode the donkey. It's like he does it everyday.
Petra was pretty amazing, and most photos don't do it justice. When you hear that it is a whole city made in the mountain sides, you can't really imagine how many carvings there really are, or how big they are! It's definitely something you must see in person.
day 7: we were going to do a couple nights in Jerusalem, but I backed out, and played it safe. I knew that we'd be ok, but then again, thought that seeing automatic weapons by the Israeli army was a pretty unnecessary thing for my less-traveled folks. Needless to say, we had a couple extra days to knock about in Amman.
We decided to go down to the big souk (english: market) to get some gifts for people back home. It was a madhouse! Eid was around the corner (ie: next day), so everyone was out to buy gifts for their loved ones. My parents had no idea how foreign markets would be... and the one in City Centre didn't disappoint.
We moved from there exhausted, but not ready to miss the roman theatre next to the market. Here's a foto of Amman taken from the top of the theatre:
day 8: During our last day on holiday, we thought it'd be cool to get a Turkish Bath:
We had NO idea what to expect, and what we got was something that wasn't even close to entering our minds. Mom thought it would be about a big luxurious bath, with lots of oils and soaps, and cleaner than a swiss whistle... followed by a masseuse who gave you a proper face massage and sent you on your way... NOPE!
We first got neked, threw on skimpy towels, and re-congregated as a family in a little steam room. Not a bad start. Then we sat there for no less than 45 minutes. Dad and mom were in an out about 10 times (completely hot and sweaty and feeling confused) before a lady took mom to the next ( and last ) phase. While dad and I pondered on what was going on we waited patiently for our collector person. Dad let me go next and it went like this:
Lady (nasty lady) has you lay on a cement table neked on your chest. She takes a glove with little bumps on it, I think the glove probably played a role in the 'Hostel' torture movie at some point, a glove that has probably been used on no less than 2000 people. It was black-rubbery, and gave the impression of the dirtiest thing in the room. And starts scrubbing your body... hard! Hard enough to leave my-skin-has-been-removed red marks. She does have the decency to splash a bucket of water on you after this scrubbing. She then gets you to lay on your back. She then does the same to all of your front, including a nice bucket splash. Following this you go sit next to a sink on a cold cement bench. She then pours a bucket over your head, scrubs minimal shampoo in a small portion of your head and drops another bucket on you.
That's it... you're done! I highly recommend it! HA!
Following that awkward experience, we headed to Jerash, a city of the Decapolis and considered one of the most important and best preserved Roman cities in the Near East... at least it was something to do...
They have an event where they re-enact roman chariot races and coliseum games, and they do it in this arena:
They also have all sorts of Roman pillars like these:
We walked around in the sun for a while, and stopped to see a weird bunch of locals playing music... well, I reckon the only weird part was the bagpipe?!
Our final stop of the day before heading to the airport was stopping again in the city center in Amman at the Citadel. The heritage site is the home of more ancient ruins, and also a great view of all angles of the city. Including the largest free standing flag in the world. You can see my parents getting one last look in here:
As a conclusion: I'd highly recommend this country, but would probably limit it to 5 days in Jordan, and trying to go to Syria or Lebanon or Jerusalem inside the same trip.
I miss my folks already, and am already looking forward to my return to the states for Christmas. If you wanted to see all the photos go here.
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