Jordan Part 1 - Amman عمان
Despite Tariq Ali's repeated overtures that it is nothing more than an American-Israeli protectorate (which in the political sense of the word, does have some merit) Jordan is a fantastic country.I was kidding when I thought I could fit this stuff into one post so I've decided to do a number of Jordan-related posts, starting with this one.
For the most part, I was wandering (and often cabbing through) the wonderful streets of Amman, Jordan's capital, which apparently has 2 million inhabitants but it feels like a hell of a lot more when walking through nus-il-Balad (downtown).
While Amman isn't the most beautiful city in terms of architecture or infrastructure (parts of it are decidedly run down and still show traces of Black September, the Palestinian insurrection, battle and eventual expulsion). But it shows the beauty of life, the city feels much more alive than Manama, possibly because it's far more congested, people are more poor and therefore don't all drive, so people are actually constatly out on the streets enjoying each other's company.
The area of Jebel Amman where I spent most of my time (because I was staying there) is particularly cool because it is a hill (ie. Jebel) and although a tough climb at times, has many excellent random views and places to chill overlooking the city.
A lot of my time in Amman was spent frequenting a couple of coffee shops, namely a place called Danesi and a place called Books@Cafe. I prefer the former but the latter had faster wireless, free coffee refills and friendly staff. Their food, however, was disgusting to put it mildly, and their patronage was comprised of Amman's gay community (who annoyed me with flirtatious bluetooth messages) and annoying expats ("Jordan is like so whatever"). They also did, however, have a very cool rooftop courtyard with amazing views of Amman... and did I mention the wireless?
Apart from this cafe, I also managed to go to a cool bar where I had some reasonably decent Spanish wine. Mecca Mall (whose name I disagree with, dont think the Holy City should be associated with such materialistic pursuits) which was pretty crap in terms of what was on offer fashion-wise but DID have a fantastic bookshop. Great places downtown like: Hashem, the eatery that even the King frequented once, which has great hummous and ta'miyah but average fuul; al-Rashid ecotourism coffee shop, perched on a nice balcony above the Downtown hustle and bustle, smoking an 'argileh', drinking some coffee and playing a game of chess is a good way to pass the time - even if the shisha itself was fairly average. The other place I miss is Lebanese Pastries which was this awesome lebanese takeaway outside Dewar Thani (2nd circle), near the girls' place, which had simply amazing lebanese sandwiches... God I'd kill for one right now. And also Reem Shawarma which was also next to Dewar Thani, I have never had to wait in a line of 50 people for a shawarma before but, I must admit, it was a pretty damn good shawarma.All in all, Amman is now one of my favourite cities. Thanks to its wonderfully friendly and hospitable people here are my key Amman people-related experiences :
- Various family and amman-related conversations with taxi drivers, all seemingly named Ahmed.
- Ahmed pulling over to buy me coffee on the way to the airport
- Busdriver offering me coffee while I was waiting for his bus to depart... by giving me the coffee he just bought for himself. I went and bought him another though and had...
- Interesting political conversation with Palestinian coffee maker ("we are all Arab").
- Walking through downtown Amman and marvelling at how alive the streets feel after the sleepyness of Manama
- Walking through the windy backstreets of Jebel Amman and stopping every 10 mins to admire the fantastic view that coincides with a very nice looking place to sit.
- Exploring Amman from a cab window, cigarrette and coffee in hand as the wind slaps your face.
- Sitting on Jebel Amman and looking down on the beehive of activity below as the call to prayer rings out over the city
I'll probably update with more later, peace :)
Labels: jordan, people, travel
posted by LX @ 2:12 AM
Comments: 3
