On our third weekend here in Jordan, as an entire group all of went for a day trip to three of Jordan's famous historical sites, Um Qais, Ajloun, and Jaresh. If you've been following along with my blogs, you've probably already read that I went to Um Qais the first weekend of the trip. This second ride to Um Qais lacked the character and juiciness of the first ride since we took an airconditioned bus provided by Yarmouk University as opposed to the dirty cab and minibus that we took the first time. It was comfortable, but there were no locals to chat with or to talk about life in Jordan, just the other 30 American students from the UVA program.
We arrived in Um Qais and looked around the same sites that I had seen two weeks ago. The Sea of Galilee, seen that. The Golan Heights, one of the tenseness locations on Earth, seen that too two weeks before. I think my lack of enthusiasm for this visit might have been attributed to this pomegranate juice that I had been drinking for a week. I'm not sure it was made with the same sanitary conditions that we have in the States (it was also in a cardboard container), needless to say I was not feeling too well so one of my first priorities was to look for a bathroom. The only bathroom I knew of was of course closed. I was thrilled.
After walking around one section of the site we went to the Um Qais museum which I would describe as an open courtyard with Roman stone things. The objects they have there are very fascinating actually and I took a lot of pictures of them. I'm not sure I mentioned this is the other post but the first time I went to Um Qais with the three other guys, we went to this same museum and drank one of the best cups of tea of had with the museum's two very bored employees who were thrilled to have visitors. Of course, the same two very bored employees were still there two weeks later so we had a friendly conversation to catch up with them. For the sake of recollection their names were Zhuhur and Muhammad. I asked them where I can find a bathroom and they directed me to an outhouse like building. I stepped into it eagerly and then my heart sank, it was literally a hole. That was the bathroom.
We left Um Qais and went on a two hour trip south east of Um Qais to Ajloun, a famous site dating to the Crusades. In terms of the modern state of Jordan, this drive was very fascinating. For about 45 minutes we drove close to the Syrian border (at Um Qais you are literally less than 5 km from the Israeli and Syrian borders... from Um Qais you face the Golan Heights). Our bus was forced to stop at about 6 or 7 Jordanian military checkpoints. Each time about two or three Jordanian soldiers toting assault rifles would question our driver.
I slept the second hour on the bus. Some people on the bus were yelling at each other in a heated political discussion... haha.... I was out of it then. I got fully to my senses once we arrived in the town of Ajloun which in all honesty did not look that much different from Irbid except that it was more hilly. We saw elderly men walking around the streets wearing the traditional kuffiyeh and thawb (long goan like dress men wear since it's loose and comfortable in the heat). Billboard signs for Shawarma popped up every 5 yards or less and peering into every other shop we could see the hunk of hunk of spinning meat that is the source of the shawarma sadwhich.
We could see Ajloun castle (which was where we headed) a top its looming hill from about five miles away. The road that ascends the hill Ajloun castle is situated on is very steep. Steep enough that we could tell the grade was putting a considerable amount of strain on the bus as it treked up. Ma Sha Allah (it was "what God willed) we reached the parking lot close to the hill's summit where Ajloun castle lies.
Let me present the history behind Ajloun... the site was thought to be originally a monestary from around the 500s (maybe) and the head monk dude who founded the monestary was named Ajloun. The castle, which was what we were visiting for, was built 12th century by the nephew of the famous Kurdish Muslim Saladin who fought the Crusaders during the second (?) Crusade. From its position, Ajloun offers an excellent view of the region. This allowed the Muslims to protect communication and trade routes between Arabia and Damascus from the Crusader Latin Kingdoms west of Ajloun.
At Ajloun we climbed around the rocks, took pictures and looked at the many different views the site offers. Ajloun is a castle. It looked and felt like what I thought a castle would feel like. Stone walkways and halls that were lit only by the openings in the wall that 12th century Saracen archers would have looked out through to aim at oncoming Crusaders. As we were leaving, we passed by a few stores that sold touristy things. What caught my attention the most were various key chains with Saddam Hussein on them. Apparently some people still like him.
After Ajloun we drove 45 minutes to the old Roman city of Jerash. As a group, we stopped off at this restaurant (I can't remember the name now) that Khaled (the program administrator from Harvard University) said is one of the most popular in the region. My experience there definitely explained its popularity. We ordred a massive selection of Middle Eastern Mezzeh (appetizers that Arab food is known for). Included in the appetizers were hummus, baba ghanoush, multiple varieties of lebneh (a very thick yogurt that's often eaten like cheese... it's one of my favorite foods here) with spices, french fries, salad, and cucumber yogurt sauce. The bread that was served to us with these mezzeh was pulled freshly from the oven. It was spectacular. After stuffing ourselves with mezzeh, the waiters placed plate fulls of grilled lamb and chicken kabobs in front of us. After eating, the restaurant's manager greeted us. He spoke English with a slight southern accent since he had lived in the states for 25 years. He was great to talk to. He introduced himself as Sam but explained that his real name was Saleh but Americans can't pronounce the end h sound.
I took many pictures of the Roman ruins of Jerash. According to the exibits that we went through in the Jerash visitor center, Jerash is the best preserved Roman site outside of Italy. From what I saw of Jerash I can definitely believe that. We walked to this very large Roman amphitheater and hung out there for about 45 minutes. What amazed me were the still visible seat labels throughout the amphitheter. Just like going to a baseball stadium or theatre today, the Romans marked each seat with a row and isle letter all of this was still visible after 2000 years. There were these two men dressed in traditional bedouin outfits playing a bag pipe and a drum. We chuckled when they played yankee doodle and a painfully out of a tune amazing grace before going into Bedouin dance tunes.
I took lots of pictures of the ruins outside the amphitheater, what struck me the most were the mosaic remains that we could find everywhere. At what I believe was once a Roman temple, we bought some water, and got I got my picture taken with two very bored looking Jordanian security guards with frightening looking assault rifles. Another bored shab (Arabic word for dude basically) took some of us aside and showed us how to shake the old Roman collumns. Shake as in they sway back and forth (slightly). After Jerash, I was so wiped out by the heat that I went to bed at 7:30 that afternoon.
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