Food Pt 3

My general approach to Jordanian food so far has been to go for some stuff I know, and then have one or two random purchases. Above is one such purchase - no idea what it is called, but there is a dark green version, this lighter green version (with sesame seeds), a yellow version and a red/orange version. Basically, it's a variety of spices and herbs (and in this case, seeds), which you either spread on oiled bread and toast briefly, or use as a dip Bedouin style ...

1. prepare flat bread, olive oil and a small bowl of 'the stuff' ...


2. break off a piece of bread, dip in the oil and then the stuff ...


3. that's it! yum!

And another thing I've been finding and would appreciate your thoughts on - is there anything savoury that doesn't taste better with a bit of tahini?

Fun in the sun!

So, fun things to do in the desert include ...

1. bouncing around in a 4WD - it's really tiring to walk across soft sand, and Wadi Rum is BIG!




2. sand dune sledging - or for the really cocky, sand dune boarding, but seriously fast bum sliding on the board was good enough for me!




3. walking, hiking, rock-climbing - but be warned, the people here seem to have no sense of danger and classify anything that isn't actually completely vertical as a 'scramble' with no need for anything namby pamby like ropes ...



4. getting all historical and pretending to be Lawrence of Arabia - this is apparently the remnants of his house and the view from it to where the Bedouin would have camped is just stunning ...


5. staying in a Bedouin camp - complete with guest room, indoor fire and many many blankets ...

Meeting the Bedouin

Wadi Rum has been my first encounter with the Bedouin way of life, and it's interesting to see how much things have stayed the same as well as how things hae changed.


The Bedouins are Arab tribes who have been based in this area for thousands of years. There are inscriptions on rocks all over the place, and some of these have apparently been dated back to as early as 5000BC, so the Bedouins' claim to be one of the modern world's original tribes has at least some truth to it. I've also heard that the area is home to possibly "the world's first map", a plan of the area carved into stone which is around 5000 years old. What we were doing in Britain then?




The Bedouin tribes have been primarily nomadic herdsmen, living in large but movable tents, but with an element of agriculture when the rains have been good. Now though, while they still raise camels and some sheep, their villages are more solid and have concrete houses.


It seems that those Bedouin that have houses still spend some time out in the desert though, and while some members of the family I stayed with work in tourism and the army and are based in the village of Rum (above), the younger members still herd camels that they use for meat, milk and hair to make their tents.


I did not see a woman in my whole time in Rum - not even any little girls - and the Bedouin have very conservative views about what a woman should do and wear. This meant long sleeves and trousers in company, which was not much of a hardship, but also led to shocked stares when they found out I'm a 36 year old unmarried woman, and plenty of offers of marriage to help me in my dire situation ... however, there is a school in Rum village and some girls do attend, and I was told that they don't get married until their late teens. I'm hoping that after a few visits to Rum, and when I get use to the Bedouin form of colloquial, I'll have a chance to meet and talk to some women myself.

Other aspects of the outside world are also creeping in, some of which I was glad of, like the four wheel drives to take me over large stretches of soft sand, and the gas lamps that meant that we did not have to use up precious wood for light. On the other hand, the inevitable march of American culture seems to have reached every little nook and cranny of the world, including Coca Cola and the eponymous baseball cap ....

Heaven IS a place on earth ...

Well, I rented a car this weekend and drove down south to Wadi Rum - land of Lawrence of Arabia and home to a number of Bedouin tribes. I've been dying to get there, and it was so unbelieveable worth it, I feel like I could go back every weekend! I'd seen lots of photos and thought it looked amazing, but it is actually so much vaster than any photo can give it credit for ...

There's so much to say about it all, but to start off here are a few photos of the landscape - imagine this with barely a sound apart from echoing bird calls and the occasional 4WD, and most of the time not a soul in sight ...

Jebel Umm E'jil, one of the two mountaints towering on either side of Rum village


One of the many canyons, home to sand dunes and echoes ...


Jebel Qattar, which overlooks where I camped out ...


What can I say ...

And after watching the light fade and having a Bedouin stew, we were left with a crescent moon and at least 274 billion stars, with a couple of shooting stars to add to the insane perfection of it all ...

Food Pt 2 - not for veggies

Just a quick one to share with you what a REAL shwarma is like - just meat, tomatoes, onions and tahini sauce. This is one of the most popular shwarma places in Amman, the queues go round the block ...

Taxi!

You can get around Amman by bus, but the numbers and routes are still a mystery to me and everything is written in Arabic - so by the time I've read it, the bus has gone.

So it's taxis all the way, and they are pretty cheap but still always an experience ... Everyone here seems to have a string of stories about 'bizarre/scary/hilarious" taxi rides, here are a couple of my own from my time so far ...

1. About 4 days ago ...

[I get in and ask in Arabic to go the Sports City Circle]

Taxi man - "where are you from?"
Me - "Britain"
Taxi man (in Arabic) - "Ah! I am from Palestine. But I cannot go to Palestine. Have you been to Palestine? you can go to Palestine and yet I cannot go and it is my own country ..."

[I am nodding in sympathy]

"and if I did go home I would have to kill the Israelis, they killed my mother, do you know how many Palestinians died last year when the Jews invaded our country again? And how many Israeli soldiers? They kill us, we must kill them, they take our country, is this right? You are in my car, is it alright for you to take my car? no, this is my car, I bought this car, it is mine!"

[taxi man is getting very agitated and hitting steering wheel, I am still nodding but saying nothing and getting slightly worried]

"and it is all the fault of the Jews, we must kill all the Jews, the Israeli Jews, the American Jews, the British Jews ..."

[I am considering jumping out of a moving taxi, but fortunately we arrive - taxi man has throbbing veins on his forehead by this point]

2. Trying a new strategy yesterday...

[I get in and ask in Arabic to go the Sports City Circle]

Taxi man - "where are you from?"
Me - "France"
Taxi man (bizarrely, in English) - "Ah! France good! France girls very good, very beautiful! I love you France! Any time you need help, you call me, here is my number, I take you to your home, I take you to my house, do you have baby? I no have baby, I no zowaj (married), you want to go to my house now? ..."

3. And have also tried this ...

[I get in, say "Ahlen" and ask in English to go the Mukhtar Mall]

Taxi man - "Aiwa (yes) ...."

[we get to Mukhtar Mall, I pay and say goodbye]

Water ...

Jordan has serious water issues ... a couple of facts for you (from GreenFacts.org)

Total Use of Total Actual Renewable Water Resources: 115 %

Countries with higher Total Use rate - Bahrain, Isreal, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Uzbekistan, Yemen (but many with desalination projects in place, which Jordan does not have)

UNSTATS report 2005 says that "Jordan's water resources are, on a per capita basis, among the lowest in the world"

And as a visual demonstration, here is a photo of Deir Ghubar park, the park in my local area which is considered one of the richest in Amman (the trees in the background are in someone's private garden ...);