Jordan on my mind

I was trying to think when was the last time I flew with a passenger holding two trained and hooded falcons. Let's see ... it was ... hmmm ... never!

And when was the last time I flew to an international airport and a woman came down the aisle with a large package whose cover proclaimed “Nine-piece kitchen cooking set.” In a box. On her head. In the plane ... hmmm ... never! Again! And she was, as Clark Gable remarked about Jean Harlow in that great movie, “Saratoga,” “struttin' like a pacer.”

I'm thinking that I don't get out enough, because I have never seen things that I saw in our three day trip to Jordan last weekend.

We decided to go to Jordan primarily to see Petra, the famous city carved in stone that was used in the last scene in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and we threw in the Dead Sea as a side trip.

The Dead Sea, famous for being about 1000 feet below sea level is so salty that even the muscle bound can float easily. It looked murky, probably from all the minerals that are supposed to be in it, and it was too cold for a couple from the UAE – that's us – to swim in it. A couple of Germans went in and floated around, but it really didn't look that appealing. Still, its demise seems greatly exaggerated, though it's supposed to be sinking. That's not surprising to me. There are hundreds of shops selling hundreds of varieties of products made from Dead Sea mud. My wife bought several of them. I'm not that keen on the idea. I fear that I will come home one day and find that she's just exfoliated herself away with Dead Sea mud.

We had a driver pick us up and take us around for the three days that we were in Jordan, and we found it to be a country of contrasts. It's dry in most areas, but it's not sandy desert like much of the UAE. In fact, different parts could pass for parts of other countries. Some of it looks like the American Southwest, and some of it look like Sicily. Other parts – green areas that apparently receive adequate rain – seem a lot like parts of France, with long, green rolling valleys. It's very picturesque, and the people are pleasant, but they don't have the cash that people in the UAE do. Unlike the UAE, there is some severe taxation. The sales tax runs a startling 16 percent. There is none in the UAE.

But I found disturbing the heavy security presence. Along the road to the Dead Sea, we were stopped twice at checkpoints by soldiers carrying machine guns. Nearby were Humvees with mounted 50 mm machine guns. When one went into every large hotel in the country, one had to pass through metal detectors, and in some of the hotels, you can't even get onto the grounds unless you have a reservation. No matter what, you are met at the gate by bomb-sniffing dogs and guards who keep the gate closed until they have looked in your trunk and under your car with mirrors. There are large spikes blocking the road entrances to most hotels in case one decides to run the security. Not even run-flat tires could run through these spikes. I asked the driver what they were looking for, and he was vague. I'm sure that what they fear most are Islamic suicide bombers trying to make a big splash by blowing up major tourist hotels and killing foreigners. And there were ordinary police every couple of miles along the major roads, checking for speeders – they'd make a million dollars a day in the UAE if they did that here – and just checking to see if you might be a threat. It's creepy after awhile. I kept thinking, “Why are they so afraid for my safety? What do they know that I don't?”

We spent a large portion of one day in Petra, which was worth it. We spent hours walking through the canyon walls that are probably 100 feet tall in some places while being only 10 or so feet wide. Then you get to the carved buildings, and all I can say is that those people must have had a whole lot of time on their hands because they carved so many tombs, houses, stores ... even an amphitheater. It is impressive.

The Roman ruins at Jaresh are terrific. There were two amphitheaters, both in great condition, and maybe the best Roman forum I've seen anywhere. Well worth the one hour drive from Amman.

Funny story: we're walking in Amman. To our left in the Four Seasons Hotel, probably the best in the city. To our right is the Sheraton Hotel, a close second, I'd say. In between is a six lane highway. And there, right there, in an empty lot next to the Sheraton is a herd of sheep bedded down for the night, together with their Bedouin shepherds in front of a fire. Strangely Biblical in nature that in the middle of a modern city there are still living remnants of life from a thousand years ago.

Coming back to the UAE, we got on the flight and discovered that there were a couple of interesting characters flying with us: two trained, hooded falcons and their handler. They got on first and off last. Don't see that too often.