Amman

My time at Petra was limited today so I had to do some serious prioritizing. The Treasury is by far the most spectacular site at Petra and if there was one last thing I wanted to be sure to do, it was to make the forty minute hike up to a viewpoint where visitors can look down on the Treasury from above. I wandered through The Siq at 7”00 this morning and when I got to the bottom of the Treasury at the end of it, there were literally only three or four other people there. Visiting the most incredible places in the world is great, but it's not often that I get to see them without the crowds. Seeing the Treasury like that today would have been enough to make the entire trip to Jordan worthwhile; even without Wadi Rum or my first day at Petra.I had just enough time to make it to the viewpoint and back before I had to catch a bus to Amman, so I had to hustle. My Lonely Planet book had about a paragraph in it describing how to get to the viewpoint and fortunately that was enough to make it very obvious. I passed by a giant ruin called the “Palace Tomb” on my way to the trailhead and after climbing several hundred steps; some of them ancient and some of them reconstructed; I reached the top of a cliff from which I could see almost every ruin in Petra's ancient city. Another ten minutes of hiking took me to the edge of The Siq and as I approached it I saw The Treasury about a hundred feet below me.I was hoping that by the time I reached the top of The Siq the sun would be high enough that the Treasury would be lit up by it, but unfortunately I was just a little bit too early. If I had had another hour or so I would have been there for the best view of the day, but like I said, the bus to Amman was on it's way and if I missed it I might have missed my flight back to the United States. The great thing about being at the viewpoint that early was that except for a few lizards, I was the only one up there. It was a lot of fun just to climb around a few of the different rocks along the edge of The Siq and try to find the best view of the Treasury down below. I'm really glad that I made that hike, but to be perfectly honest, the Treasury is a lot more impressive when looking up from below it. I think that's true of any structure that's impressive because of it's size - things never look as big when you're looking down on them.

Catching a bus to Amman turned out to be quite a hassle; possibly the biggest hassle of my entire trip. As is the case with any developing country, in Jordan there is no such thing as an assigned seat on a bus, or, for that matter, a reserved seat on a bus. When the bus to Amman finally pulled into the parking lot in Wadi Musa this morning a hoard of about forty Arab men chased after it and crowded around the door, each of them hoping to secure one of the precious few seats aboard. I played along because I knew it was the only way to get to Amman and I ended up being one of the lucky few sitting down in the bus when all the seats were full. What happened next completely shocked me.

About five Arab men surrounded me and shouted and tried to intimidate me, apparently trying to convince me to give up my seat for one of their friends. One of the men lied repeatedly to me, telling me that the bus was not going North to Amman, but South to Aqaba. The situation escalated and within seconds three of the men grabbed me by the arms and legs, wrestled me out of my seat, and threw me across to the other side of the bus. I stood up and the man collecting fares at the front of the bus motioned for me to get off.

Obviously I was upset by the fiasco with the bus to Amman, but I think that kind of situation is very uncommon in Jordan. Only ten minutes later a few of the remaining passengers hopeful for a ride to Amman arranged transport in a minivan and I was on my way. The Arab men in the minivan apologized profusely for the behavior of the others. One of them offered me a cigarette and when I told him I don't smoke, another insisted on buying me a drink at the next stop. Like I said, I think situations like that are very uncommon in Jordan. Even so, a Danish man who was riding in the same minivan offered some perspective on the whole thing... “It's interesting to experience racism from the other side.”

After arriving in Amman I had just enough time to see a couple of the city's most visited sites before heading for my hotel. I wasn't all that excited about Amman - I only came here to catch my flight home tomorrow morning - but visiting a country's “big city” always offers some insight into the local culture. Before today I didn't realize how much Ancient Greek and Roman influence there there is in Jordan. To some extent the architecture at Petra was inspired by that of the Greeks and Romans, but in Amman it's much more obvious.

The city's most iconic site is a giant, ancient amplitheatre in the middle of downtown that was built in the same style as the Greeks. I made the amplitheatre my first visit of the day and spent about an hour climbing up and down the steps and enjoying the views. The great thing about the ruins in Amman is that they're in such a different environment than any other ruins I've visited before. Everywhere else I've visited ruins, with the exception of Rome, they've always been either on top of a giant hill or out in the middle of nowhere; completely isolated from civilization. In my opinion that's how ruins should be; visitors should be able to enjoy them without dealing with the pollution, noise, and chaos of a big city. At the same time though, it's different to see just one set of ruins that is right in the middle of everything; it's interesting because it's so out of place. Even in Rome the ancient ruins feel much more isolated than those in Amman.My last bit of sightseeing on the epic trip was at an ancient set of ruins called “The Citidel”. The Citidel is more destroyed and less impressive than the amplitheatre, but I spent a few minutes at the National Archeological Museum nearby and that turned out to be worth the visit. In Jerusalem I missed visitng the Israeli National Museum because I just didn't have the time and I wished that I could have seen some of the Dead Sea Scrolls that are on exhibition there. It turned out that I got to see some of them in Amman today. The National Archeological Museum has a few well-deteriorated sets of the scrolls, but it was more than enough for me. I've heard so much about the scrolls and have seen images of them on TV and in magazines, but nothing is quite like seeing the real thing. As I looked over the fragments of the scrolls today I saw for myself the tiny ancient Hebrew characters and the weathered brown leather that they're written on. To be honest I really don't know much about the scrolls beyond just the basic history of them, but seeing them was still pretty incredible.My last free hotel room from American Express was tonight at the lavish “Le Meridian Amman”. I spoiled myself with a long, steamy hot shower, then ate lamb with warm pita bread and hummus at the hotel's Lebanese Restaurant. After dinner came an hour long soak in my large bathtub.

It has been seventy-nine days since I left home on my flight to Bangkok. That seems so long ago and I've become so used to having mind-blowing experiences every day, but it always feels good to go home. I'm looking forward to finally arriving in the United States tomorrow afternoon.