Recalling more of life in Jordan!

Yes I must apologise about certain mistakes made in my last post...for instance as far as warring Nations goes I should have written Israel rather than Jerusalem. And as far as cost of animals ie. goats, I should have written DINARS rather than dollars...1Dinar equals 90 English pence...but what 1Dinar equalled 1 Australian dollar...well I leave those calculations up to you dear reader. Which ever way you look at it GOATS are the most precious animals in Jordan.
Also another amusing bit of information given to us by our local guide was about the cost of units or housing. A unit or building closest to a road is the most expensive. And the unit or living quarters up highest in a building is the cheapest. And the buildings, all flat roofed yet having an unfinished look with wires protruding up into the sky...these looks show how the locals are positive thinkers...they all hope to have some increase in cash-flow soon so that they can extend their building and add another storey.
So while I am onto positive thinkers let's look at the issue of the 'promised land!' Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab,where Moses looked out and found the Promised Land, here the great sense of history others felt on seeing this aspect failed to make an impact on me. Instead the map showing how close we were to Hebron, Jericho and Jerusalem...now that did impress me.

 However our bus took us further south and before we knew it we were stunned by the sight of the massive Jordan Canyon. Looking down on the bare land masses we could not only identify the Jordan Dam but also the Jordan river and beyond where we imagined because one had to have a great imagination to be able to see or recognise Jerusalem.
Ali, our guide was enthusiastically comparing this great landscape with the Canyon found in California, USA. According to Ali, tourists from Israel treck for seven days through the Jordan river valley to arrive at the dam.

Did I mention the trees at Amman that caught my eye? Unusual aren't they? The way they grow upwards to the light? They are not trimmed to grow like that.



And the further south one drives the less greenery one can expect to find and the more important water becomes to the people living in those dry areas.

 We stopped at various historical sights on our way to Petra but the remnants of this church AD174 impressed me the most.
Many samples of Mosaic floor tiling could still be seen, the size of each tile so small and the design lasting hundreds of years made me feel guilty about not having repaired my small mosaic tile outdoor table at home. But it will be done!!

The images of Lions was most important wherever we went. These particular images were found lying out in the weather under sand and were covered with material by concerned Archaeologists. Don,t forget to click on the images to enlarge them.

LIFE as compared to....in Jordan!

Yes overnight I kept coming back to the life as I saw it in Jordan. I searched for photographs and if you'll be patient I want to write a few lines on what seemed to be important to people in this country.

Of course there is the King...his family in direct line from Mohammed's messenger and also the recipient of a Western Education. Yes I am still in AMMAN and in this case looking down on the business area showing the remnants of a Roman occupation. The pictures of the king and family become obvious if the photo is enlarged by clicking on it.

And I am not the only one looking down on a busy city scape...two friends meeting for morning tea their bodies entirely covered in black show us their Muslim commitment.

Of course Jordan depends in the main on Tourist activity and it is a prerequisite that a local tour guide is employed by any tour group visiting the country. 'Aldi' was our selected guide who filled us in with a number of customs...cover both forearms and ankles for women...any woman walking out with wet hair is regarded as cheap and available...women should always be accompanied by a male etc.

 An occupation for females in the main is watching over the very valuable goat herd. Of course it is also a job for men; goats are the most expensive animal at $400.00 each whereas sheep are only half that price. They are important for meat and their long hair.
Donkeys are very valuable for transport purposes (in the country) as are horses and camels as we found out later in our travels to Petra.
What interested me the most (donkeys are very much loved by me) was how this particular shepherd of goats kept his donkey tied. To my horror I saw chains used which were wearing into the animal's nose and flies covering the festering site.

Later on in Petra a sign alerted the tourist to report any cruelty to animals. Unfortunately I was not in a position to let anyone know about this poor donkey.

Cats are tolerated in this culture but dogs are considered dirty animals and most are strays barely surviving.

Post Obliteration!

Not a good title considering the murderous activity of Indonesian politics after midnight last night. And so two Australians who had made a major mistake in their lives are no longer alive. And in a few months their futile deaths will be out of the limelight and only their nearest and dearest will remember them. But it is a simmering worry below the surface of our consciousness to have neighbours who consider murder to be a legitimate activity. Perhaps the many Australians will reconsider their holiday destination from now on! I hope so anyway.
And so I write having survived the treacherous threats made by ISIS on shopping centres in Jordan and other places in the world. Of course we needed to say goodbye to our friends, just in case, to confirm that if just if anything untoward should have happened, then we would have found our end in the midst of doing what we enjoyed.
So of course I have a few photos of our magnificent historical journey...some tongue-in-cheek humour of course why not? Anyway here is AMMAN, the door to a fantastic journey through history in Jordan and so near and yet so far from the other warring nations...Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jerusalem...separated only in some cases by the river Jordan.

 From the highest point overlooking Amman I wondered what was being taught at the Architectural course at Amman University! I could see nothing but flat roofed 'boxes on the hillside' facing me. And I am not exaggerating! But in the more well off areas houses did show a little imagination with extensive balconies curling around the abode.

Then of course the museum kept our attention for some time acknowledging that this country was not just OLD but had so much history that coming from a continent where all the action started in the C18th ... the mind was overwhelmed.
I wondered had my partner seen the first ISLAMIC canon? No, of course not! Ha! I was up one on him! And so are you because the photo below shows just such a thing.

 And so I thought the domed church (Islamic) though many times before its reason for existence was to worship a Christian God!

   And coming crawling out of the soil of the Herculeneum were the remaining fingers and later the elbow of Hercules... the size of these remnants were massive giving you some idea of the actual size of the original statue.



So just a small taste of what's to come. Watch this space!