We wanted to spend a little more time in downtown Amman this morning, so arranged for William (the taxi driver from our first day in Amman) to collect us and take us for a walking tour of the downtown area.
This time, we had the chance to stop and look at the shops and the buildings without being too pressured for time. We stopped by the Nymphaeum (old roman public fountain from the 2nd century) which was actually closed for restoration. It was obviously very impressive in its day. We went past the roman amphitheatre again – but this time walked past to see the small theatre. If you’re on a budget in Amman, you can go to the small theatre for free.
NandS in small theatre
It was really cute – and very well restored. It is obviously still used for concerts – which would be an amazing experience!
A couple of touristy shops beckoned and a few small items were purchased with our dwindling Jordanian dinars. A last stop at the kanafah shop again for the sweet cheese treat was the order of the day. The plan was for that to keep us going until we got a feed on the plane.
Karla on Streets of Amman
The two hour downtown tour was over almost as quickly as it started and we returned to the hotel to pack and get ready for our flight back to Dubai.
The airport in Amman is interesting – the women get frisked twice in a special closed off area. Despite the fact that Karla and Sandra were wearing normal clothes, we still got subjected to the past down treatment! Neil however, got off scot free. Interesting!
The flight was reasonably uneventful, unless you count a guy sitting near us who managed to somehow scoff two meals before we even got ours, and perhaps around 6 bottles of wine. He certainly demanded a lot of attention from the cabin crew. Some not so nice names to describe him come to mind…
We arrived in Dubai safely, there was nobody at the airport, and we were at the hotel within 45 minutes of landing. Amazing! Anyone coming to Dubai must try and get flights that arrive at this time – it was a nice change from the hustle and bustle we’ve experienced in the past.
After a suitable de-briefing on Jordan we retired for the night – planning to have a relaxing day tomorrow – the first of the whole trip!
You appear to having a ball. The rest in Dubai fully warranted after the marathon 12 days you just had in Jordan.
For other news…
Have you heard that there was a bad earthquake in eastern Turkey a few days ago causing quite a lot of damage. It was very shallow. All the after shocks should be finished by the time you get to that side of the country in another week or so. Hope I haven’t worried you.
We wont mention the 3rd ODI except to say we lost by 6 wickets. Next game today in Auckland again.
The Hurricanes will have the services of Conrad Smith and Tamati Ellison for the game against the Stormers this weekend. Hosea Gear and Jason Eaton still out injured.
Teams NZ have won their first three match races in the Louis Vuitton yachting regatta currently being held off Auckland. Contestants from all over the world.
Petrol has gone up again, some oil companies increasing the price more than others. It’s now $1.82.9 per litre at BP and Caltex and $1.82.9 at Shell and Mobil. Diesel is $1.15.9.
The Wellywood sign is still being discussed and is temporarily on hold until the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decides whether is will breach copyright. About 67% of the locals here don’t want it erected.
Cheers, Jan
looking foward to reading all your wonderful adventures. Just working out how to do all this. More on me to follow. Naomi
HI,its Nikki i saw poppa taeching JORDON kids how to speak English- how did that go for you?
love you!
What a weird day yesterday. We had a tornado blow in and it was really scary. About 4:30pm I looked out the window (brilliantly sunny all day) and saw all these billowing clouds rushing over the Karori hills. Within a few minutes it was blowing a terrifically storing wind and began to rain. The temp dropped 10 deg in about 10min. One of our small top windows in the spare bedroom was sucked out – even though it was open. The trees were bending over almost at breaking point. The wind finally abated around 40-60 min later, but it had dumped about a month’s rainfall in that time. We were lucky as it flew through Marsden College and took the roof off their auditorium. Thank God it didn’t hit our house as bad. It blew a trail of destruction across the harbour (where there was a yacht race on) and then up the Hutt Valley causing roofs to blow off and trees to fall on the railway and roads. Quite a disruption for commuters.
Jamie Wincoup (sp) has poll for Adelaide later today and I think I heard early this am on the radio that Shane van G is on two. Wonder how Murphy’s new car will go. You may already know this, but there is a new prize up for grabs this year of $2 million if the same driver wins the big three – I think Adelaide, Bathurst and another – sorry can’t remember as it was not reported in the paper.
As of last night, Crusaders are on top of Super 14 table after beating the Chiefs.
Last ODI here at the Stadium (in brilliant sunny weather) not going that well and looks likely OZ will whip us again. We haven’t won a single toss this series – mind you I doubt if that would help our terrible batting record.
Karla – re the Lee Child tickets, let me know if you want one or more – unfortunately I cannot go.
Cheers, Jan