Amman for all seasons
The above title is more than just a rather poor pun because Amman has done what southern France, Italy, Greece and Egypt could not; it has given us some rain! On Thursday night, as we sat sampling the delightful middle-eastern dish of cheesy chilli topped fries, the clouds gathered, the thunder flashed, the lightning rumbled (or something) and first small, then large, drops of rain started falling. It was very exciting as the last rain we'd seen was over 170 days in Troyes. It didn't last but we got a second shower yesterday. It was wonderful to get a lungful of that 'after rain' smell we in England associate so readily with cricket, Wimbledon and Bansey BBBQs.
Earlier in the week we visited the amazing site of Petra. The rocky valley contains around 800 tombs, the most spectacular and famous of which is the Treasury. For us this tomb was the highlight of the Big Trip so far and no pictures or words can do justice to catching a glimpse of a column or piece of facade as you approach through the high-sided sandstone canyon. The teasing approach leads to a natural courtyard with the massive tomb at the far end, beautifully preserved and truly awe-inspiring.
I went back for a second day to tackle the 800 step climb to the monastery, a similar structure to the Treasury, which suffers for being viewed second. It was an enjoyable walk up and the views were magnificent.
In the evening we had tea (lots of tea) with the man over the road from the hotel who makes sand pictures inside glass bottles. He was a lovely bloke and showed us the mysteries of his art and gave us the chance to make our own. Vic was first up and made an excellent camel, hills and stripey patterned affair which will take pride of place as soon as we're back in the mantlepiece owning business. My attempt was going swimmingly too; camels were a bit mis-shapen but charming, the hills had character, my yellow sun had passers-by reaching for the factor 15 and the clouds were an absolute triumph. You can only imagine the scene when our friend's brother decided to try to tidy up one of my camels and succeeded in making it worse. I was absolutely furious - it was as if Da Vinci's flatmate had strolled in, grabbed a pain brush and slapped a black 'tache on the Mona Lisa. Frankly, I almost cried but maintained enough dignity to sit in a moody huff. To be fair to the shop owner, he took it all in his stride, stoppered up the travesty and popped on the shelf with the others.
Our journey to Amman was notable for our first experience of a sandstorm. One moment the sky was clear, the next we were plunged into a thick 'lentil-souper' of dust. Yellowy-orange light and visibility of between two and ten metres gave everything a strange unreal feeling. Our driver was of the opinion that the sooner out of there the better and kept his foot down which resulted in one very near miss as a stationery Merc appeared ahead of us. A screech and a swerve sent us perilously close to the car in front and the side of the road but thankfully all was OK.
Amman is a nice town built on a number of hills - there's barely a flat spot to be found - and it has things we'd almost forgotten existed like taxis with metres and shops with prices. Jordan is much more expensive than Egypt but the standard of living here seems much higher.
