billrider2013

For my first full day in Jordon, I decided to take a day trip suggested by the Manager of the hotel.

This involved using a driver that they recommended. As it turned out, another guest in the hotel would be joining and would share the cost. The other guest was a Filipino bloke who is working in Saudi Arabia for a British insurance company.

Jerash

Our driver arrived at that appointed time and we headed off out of the city. Our first stop was Jerash. This was a surprise to me. It is one the largest Roman towns outside of Italy. It is huge and remarkably well preserved. Check out the Flickr line and the Wikipedia link below.

Learning a bit about the Driver

As we headed to our next stop, our driver told us a bit about himself. He told us the he was Palestinian, and his family was from Nazareth. He was only a baby when his family were forcibly evicted from their house and land in 1948 and the formation of the modern state of Israel. This history was to provide an excellent background some of his comments on what we were to see later in the day.

Ajlun Castle

Our next stop was Ajlun Castle. This was built by the Muslims high on hill with extraordinary hills. It is the classic impregnable fortress. Again, check out the links below.

Heading back to the Jordon

The next part of the trip took us west towards the border with Israel. I had crossed that border on the previous day by bus. The terrain is very hilly and not something that I expected. Our driver told us that this part of the country is covered in snow for much of the winter, again something that I didn’t expect.

Lunch Close to the Border

We passed the turned off to the ‘Sheikh Hussein’ border crossing and continued heading north. We stopped in a small village for lunch. Our driver told us about this part of the country. It is a very interesting place. Doubtless everyone knows that the borders in this part of the world are ‘contested’ to say the least, and have been for years. It was ironic that we were in this area 100 years since the Balfour Declaration. Read about it below.

In short, that was when the British allowed the Zionists to occupy land in Palestine and what is now Jordan. It is the basis of much of the current dispute over the border between Israel and Jordon. Add in the ‘six day’ war in 1967, the Oslo Agreement and so and you understand why it is so complicated.

Anyway, what makes this part of the border between Jordon and Israel very interesting is that, part of it is on a road that runs north on the Jordanian side of the River Jordan. The driver pointed out looking west from the place we were eating, we could see farms and beyond them, we could see the River Jordan. The farms are ‘owned’ and operated by Israelis, albeit given they are east of the river, they are technically in Jordan. The driver told us that most of the workers on the farms live in the town we were in and other small settlements along the road. The people are Jordanian or Palestinian. They walk across the road each day to work of the Israeli ‘owned’ farms.

Travelling along the Really Interesting Border

After lunch, we headed north along the road, which soon became the ‘border’ between Jordon on the right, and Israel on the left. We passed through several checkpoints where there were Israeli soldiers on their side of the road, and Jordanian soldiers on the other side.

I took some videos.

I was sitting in the back of the car. The driver told me to lie down of the seat a couple of times. I have no idea why. He didn’t ask that Filipino bloke who sitting in the front seat to get down.

Looking into Syria and Much More

At one point, the driver stopped. We got out of the car and he pointed out the remains of damaged bridge in the valley below. He told us that the bridge was “blown-up” by some ISIS raiders that had crossed the border from Syria”. Apparently, they killed some US soldiers on the same raid before they, themselves were killed.

We drove a little further and stopped again.

At this point, we were high on hill over looking the border with Syria to the north and, the border with Israeli to the west. This is where the borders with the three countries meet. Check out the Flickr photos and videos. You can see the fence that runs along the borders between Jordan as Israel and Syria, and Jordan and Syria. Ahead to east in Jordon, you can see what looks like a village high on hill. It is a US military base.

Further in the distance, it is possible to see land which is part of southern Lebanon.
As we looked at the view, we could hear some muffled explosions. Our driver told us that that was “the Americans shelling ISIS”.
The road them took us further up the hill. From there we had a great view back from where we had come, and across into Israel as far as the Sea of Galilee and Tiberias.

Refugees

It was time to start heading back Amman. Our driver told us that he would show us something that would “upset [him], but would be of interest”. This turned out to be an ‘informal’ refugee camp housing Syrians who had crossed the border into Jordan. For whatever reason, these poor souls aren’t allowed to go to the ‘formal’ camps which are the east of Amman. They are basically just living on the side of the road. Their ‘shelter’, such that it is, consists of pieces of plastic and wood that they have obviously managed to scavenge. The driver said that “the local Jordanians and Palestinians, albeit they are poor, provide some assistance to these people. The government and the International community does nothing for them’.

The driver was visibly upset by what we saw.

Some Insights on Saudi Arabia

As we drove back to Amman we chatted a lot. It was very interest to listen to the Filipino bloke and the driver talk about Saudi Arabia and its people.

A couple of things:

Young Saudis, both men and women, cross into Jordan “for a good time”. When they are in Jordan they “drink and do stuff that is not permitted in their own country”. The Saudi men typically get “paid female companions, Jordanian and visiting Europeans and Asians, while in Amman”. The young Saudi women, “let their ‘hair down’ so to speak”.

Both the driver and the Filipino think that sooner the Saudi oil runs out the better. “They will return to type – pity the donkeys”.

Flickr Links
Jerash
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8xBLey
Ajlun Castle
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5EMM2f
Israel, Jordon and Syria Border
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8fHd5U
About Jerash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerash
About Ajlun Castle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajloun_Castle
Balfour Declaration 1917
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration