stupidest ride ever
This is what Mahmoud called our busride through Amman today, and I must agree. Ugh.
BUT, we had the most excellent hummus and fuul and pita and falafel at Hamesh - some local place with near-cult status. It was awesome. And except for the travel from hell due to Sunday (which is the first workday of the week here) traffic, a good day. Today was supposed to be the day I take care of changing tickets and all that, but at 8:00 Mahmoud called because Dr. Ogla had insisted we go to Amman with him - he was filing his dissertation and thought the trip would do me good.
Amman is an interesting city. It's still civilized like the rest of Jordan, but a little crazier. Mahmoud knows my preferences and steers me away from the westernized part, leading me instead to the downtown with the little shops and markets and houses in the hill. We wandered around the Hashemite Court - by an old Roman theatre - and streets full of people and the Jordanian University. I saw the royal palace (from a distance) and other Jordanian buildings of interest.
And then we had the "stupidest ride ever" but we're fine. It was just slow and tedious and we were impatient, and he wasn't feeling well anyway as a result from our Jerash adventures yesterday.
So, tomorrow, I will force myself to go to the travel agent and figure out how to get to Egypt and enjoy it best, and additionally I will change my tickets to India. And I will also go to the post office and figure out if I can mail stuff back to the US or if I really have to abandon like 50 pounds of guide books and winter clothes and camping gear. Ugh. That will upset me. This is not going to end well. Emirates limits total luggage to 20 kilos - which is 44 pounds. Total. For all the different places I go. I had quite the heated discussion with them in Accra, and I got out of the $376 extra that they wanted to charge me for my luggage, but I fear that won't happen again.
There are fireworks going off like crazy right outside where I'm sitting. The first time I heard them - several nights ago - I was thinking like I was still in SoCal, and my first thought was, "DUCK for cover!" But no, I'm in the Middle East, which is safer than LA. I feel safe walking out alone at night with money and everything. I could get used to this lack of fear for personal safety and property crime.
BUT, we had the most excellent hummus and fuul and pita and falafel at Hamesh - some local place with near-cult status. It was awesome. And except for the travel from hell due to Sunday (which is the first workday of the week here) traffic, a good day. Today was supposed to be the day I take care of changing tickets and all that, but at 8:00 Mahmoud called because Dr. Ogla had insisted we go to Amman with him - he was filing his dissertation and thought the trip would do me good.
Amman is an interesting city. It's still civilized like the rest of Jordan, but a little crazier. Mahmoud knows my preferences and steers me away from the westernized part, leading me instead to the downtown with the little shops and markets and houses in the hill. We wandered around the Hashemite Court - by an old Roman theatre - and streets full of people and the Jordanian University. I saw the royal palace (from a distance) and other Jordanian buildings of interest.
And then we had the "stupidest ride ever" but we're fine. It was just slow and tedious and we were impatient, and he wasn't feeling well anyway as a result from our Jerash adventures yesterday.
So, tomorrow, I will force myself to go to the travel agent and figure out how to get to Egypt and enjoy it best, and additionally I will change my tickets to India. And I will also go to the post office and figure out if I can mail stuff back to the US or if I really have to abandon like 50 pounds of guide books and winter clothes and camping gear. Ugh. That will upset me. This is not going to end well. Emirates limits total luggage to 20 kilos - which is 44 pounds. Total. For all the different places I go. I had quite the heated discussion with them in Accra, and I got out of the $376 extra that they wanted to charge me for my luggage, but I fear that won't happen again.
There are fireworks going off like crazy right outside where I'm sitting. The first time I heard them - several nights ago - I was thinking like I was still in SoCal, and my first thought was, "DUCK for cover!" But no, I'm in the Middle East, which is safer than LA. I feel safe walking out alone at night with money and everything. I could get used to this lack of fear for personal safety and property crime.
posted by NOLA at 9:24 AM
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