Jerash

The bus was cramped but the Jordanian people aboard the bus were friendly, they tried talking to us in English though I must admit I half-expected them to pay for my fare as I had experienced this sort of hospitality in Myanmar but alas not today. The ride was really relaxing as we cruised above and beyond the mountain and desert regions. Being able to see Amman and its surroundings during the day made for a whole other experience. I felt the same sense of awe when seeing the mountains surrounding Cusco. When we left the bus, it seemed like Josef was making new friends as he was engaged in deep conversation with a dapper gentleman who turned out to be asking him for money. Josef had the Jordan Pass so he didn't have to pay for the ticket but I had to so when we got to the entrance, I was turned away and I had to backtrack all the way to the other end to buy the ticket. Half-way across my trek, I had this dumb idea thinking if it was possible for me to sneak in through the wilderness section and into the ruins and so I retraced my steps and cut diagonally and did some small hiking only to find out that it was all fenced properly, of course it would so I made another sorry walk back to the ticket counter and another long walk back to the entrance. I feel like I've spent too much time dilly-dallying at this point but I still glad I was finally inside. A kid tried to sell me some stuff using the usual sales banter of "Where are you from?" but I ignored him and pressed on. I started to snap photos here and there and made my way up another hill and was pleasantly surprised to see Josef waiting for me after all this time. We picked up where we left off and really got to know each other a lot more, talking about our respective countries and intertwined tales thereof. Jerash was my first encounter with Roman ruins and the surviving architecture spoke volumes about those times of yore. Much still remained and stood tall, I quite liked the pillars the most as they made for powerful images. We walked from end to end of the entirety and made sure to visit every available spot before we started to make our way back to the entrance (again!) Josef managed to see the hippodrome, a place where the Romans did chariot racing. There was another hawker who asked for a high five but Josef just brushed past him, I felt kind bad that the guy was left hanging so I gave him one before catching up. Josef wanted to check out these castles much further up north but I wasn't so sure it was a good idea seeing as there weren't much people coming and going and public transportation wasn't exactly reliable. After getting some air-conditioning in the visitor center and asking for some directions, we ended up at the carpools. We were supposed to take the same van but the drivers were right this time, it would take more than an hour as they will be waiting for the van to fill up and we were in the middle of nowhere so that wasn't happening anytime soon so we ended up going for a carpool instead. I sat in front but this later caused some problems when a couple showed up, culturally the woman should seat separated from the men based on my understanding but they let me sit in front all the same. The car dropped us in the middle of a highway which was still a significant distance from where we were left off. The plan was to find some place with wi-fi to call another Uber but as it turned out there was an Uber driver right beside us and we were back in the hostel in no time.Read more