Amman & Jerash, Jordan

Amman, Jordan Sunday 12th October

After we were prevented from going to Syria, we flew over it straight into Amman, Jordan. Somehow our bags have gained about 5kgs each, but Royal Jordanian Airlines didnt seem to care that we were so overweight. It was also quite quaint to get a hot meal served on the flight with individually wrapped cutlery. Back down on Earth, we were reassured to see a roadsign to the Iraqi border.

Despite our taxi driver's protestations that our hotel is no good, and we should go to his cousin's hotel, we're in the Palace Hotel in downtown Amman in amongst all of the souks selling all sorts of shiny men's suits, spices, snacks and small electrical goods (our 5 lira travel kettle from Istanbul has already bitten the dust so Luce is on the lookout for a replacement.) Amman is built on hills - or jebels - just like Sheffield, so its tricky to get around on foot, but we did manage to climb up to Rainbow Road on our first evening which is where the young and hip Amman-ites hang out. We joined them on a roof top bar ("no alcoholic drinks, sir") with amazing views over the city and fireworks going off in the distance. Amman feels like an Arab city that is very welcoming to us Western invaders.

There isnt a great deal to see in Amman, but on Friday we had a good wander around the restored Byzantine and Umayyad ruins at the citadel, and also the theatre. One of the first inhabited roads of Amman, Rainbow Street, has been recently restored, and is now very pleasant to walk along, and stop for a coffee, or lunch alongside the more tolerant and thoroughly modern Jordanians. We found great coffee shops to hang out in - Wild Jordan cafe, and Books@Cafe - great to escape the hot and dusty streets - and Fakr-El Din a great Lebanese restaurant with a guest book featuring royalty, politicians and Michel Platini...

On Saturday, we headed North out of the City to Jerash, a wonderful Roman City that is in the process of being thoughtfully and informatively restored. Its much more accessible than Ephessus in Turkey, if only as on this day it wasnt rammed with tourist parties, and we found lots of the areas we had to ourselves. There are no barriers to keep you away from going up to the buildings and monuments to touch and feel, and its a fabulous place to spend hours. There was a distinct lack of busses back to Amman, so we jumped into a service taxi (basically some bloke who waits for his car to fill before driving you back.)

We found a cafe in the Abdoun area of Amman - supposedly the area to be seen in on a Saturday night - that was showing England v Kazhakstan. It didnt serve beer, which was probably as well, but we still enjoyed a 5-1 win despite Ashley Cole's best efforts to send the result in the opposite direction. Luce's appreciation of football continues... On the Kazakh manager - " he could have washed his hair, he knew he would be on the TV," on Wayne Rooney - "He is so ugly, what has he done to his hair? He has a ginger beard and stubble on his head, what a munter." And on a Kazakh substitute -" Blimey, he's been hit with the same ugly stick as Rooney"

We've really enjoyed our time in Amman, a great and quite easy introduction to the Arab World. And quite cheap too - although we didnt help the budget too much as we insisted on going out to the most expensive restaurants in town! Ammaniis are very friendly and helpful people - almost every taxi and bus driver has welcomed us to Jordan, and all the men love staring at Lucy. They're also all really fond of the nargilehs (the sheesha pipes) and the apple tobacco. Although none of the bars that we have been into serve alcohol, everyone, including the women, happily smokes their glorified bongs. Next stop Wadi Mussa, the village next to Petra...