Low rise, high density

while each black sqaure represented the window to an individual's life, it occured to us that there was so little we knew about the Jordanians, partly due to the biased media we have been exposed to, and partly due to our inept ignorance of places outside our tiny city...

the place where it all started.

four days of holiday give us some free time to catch up with the writing.

After visiting Mt. Nebo, we were led to a Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba to see what was regarded as the oldest map of the middle east constructed of mosaic in the 6th ~ 7th century.

The mosaic covers the biblical land of Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan and of course, what is now, Israel.

The city of Jerusalem was clearly the most important location then, highly developed with city walls, defensive towers, and network of streets.

it then crossed my mind, it probably still is the root of all conflicts there is in the middle east, if not the world, ever since the days of the crusades...

with eyes towards the promised land...

it was written in the Bible that Moses has led the Israelis out of Egypt in search of the Promised land. Yet, for forty years, the party did not reach the land, reasons as well outlined in the Bible. when Moses climbed Mount Nebu, God appeared before Moses and said to him: "I HAVE LET YOU SEE IT WITH YOUR EYES, BUT YOU WILL NOT CROSS OVER INTO IT." ~ Deuteronomy 34:1-7
then, at the age of 120, he passed away, and buried by God in an unknown spot on the mountain.

a life spent serving God no doubt...

but if we look at the World today, with the unending battles between Israelis and Palestinians, between Israelis and the rest of the Arabic countries, and with all the antagonisms between the Israelis and all those standing on the opposite of the world, was it worth it?

leading the chosen people, and spending forty years in the wilderness...yet, even today, peace is a word too luxurious even to murmur...

the hands of God moved in a mysterious way that is uncomprehensible by mere mortals...

where moses was laid

have this habit of visiting graveyard.

there are times when one just want to take a break and don't particularly want to sit amongst strangers in a confined space on a round stool, waiting for your reheated, precooked lunch, under a punishing air conditioner.

taking a walk in a nearby graveyard with a sandwich in hand is actually quite a pleasant experience.

there are countless stories behind every tombstone. Though knowing nothing about how the passed away has lived his or her life, but if you let your imagination flows, and by looking at the engravings, the date when the tomb was set, the workmanship on the stone...you can pretty much conjure up some kind of story which is self entertaining.

but when you see a Memorial of Moses...well, that's an entirely different matter.

regardless of whether you are a religious person, anyone with a fair amount of education will learn of who Moses was.

while AN knows the story quite well, DH has no idea that Mount Nebu was the place where Moses spent his last day, after he was led to see the promised land...

Moses has been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years...

....40 years....a very long time and a very long journey....

while thinking of this, suddenly everything became mute, and was just pondering what was on his mind...

what was it like when Moses was at Mt. Nebu...

forgot to mention that our flight from Hong Kong to Amman was delayed for departure for almost 3 hours, meaning that we did not leave the Hong Kong International Airport until past midnight. The plane landed in some early hours in the morning. The local guide was good enough to have arranged a sumptuous breakfast for us to regain some stamina.

so, carrying a less than able, sleep walking torso, we arrived at Mt. Nebu.

12 hours ago we were still at the comfort of a modern day city, we did find it uneasy, from a psychological aspect, to accept the fact that we were at the place where Moses had his final day...

wild in the open, the wind was howling like mad that sank all other trivial sound, cutting us off from reality and taking us back in time...

first impression of Jordan

Leaving the airport, the coach drove up the highway leading into Amman. The population of Jordan is at around 6 million, of which around 1.3 million live inside the Amman Governorate , and adding to the fact that Friday is the rest day for the week, which explains why that the road appears to be quite empty.

A peculiar observation about the city was that while the capital appears to be very modern, the architecture and building we saw were mostly of recent construction, for a country which has such rich history, there was an conspicuos absence of a wider spectrum of architecture from different era.

Amman Airport

more accurately, the Queen Alia International Airport.

after been travelling for almost twelve hours, we arrived at the Jordanian airport early in the morning. By comparison, this was one of the better airports we have been to: efficient, clean, air conditioned.
the suspended tensile fabric made the space less orthogonal, and definitely less intimidating than some of the other airports in the Middle East.

the air felt cool, refreshingly cool...

we need a break...

2008 has been a year full of ups and downs in all aspects.

time for an+dh to take a break...

our initial options:

1. Okinawa
2. Ireland
3. England + Wales
4. Turkey

and in the final weeks, a few images caused us to make a swift change of mind...Petra and Krak des Chevaliers.

Jordan, Syria, that's where we want to be!

Fin Garden in Kashan

Kashan is very much a city in the desert, but it flourished mainly due to the fact that it is one of the more important oasis in the region. The contrast of the immense desert and the well taken care gardens made a stark contrast. while research indicates that the Fin garden in its present form dated back to the Safavid period, that were sources which speculate the garden exist at an even more ancient era. The Persian Garden باغ ایرانی was an effort to create Paradise on earth, and the word "Paradise" was in fact derived from Persian.

From wikipedia, which seems believable enough:

Persian gardens
"From the time of the Achaemenid dynasty the idea of an earthly paradise spread to the literature and languages of other cultures. The Avestan word pairidaêza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza- (walled-around, i.e., a walled garden), was transliterated into Greek paradeisoi, then rendered into the Latin paradisus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise. The word entered Semitic languages as well: Akkadian pardesu, Hebrew pardes, and Arabic firdaws."

There were elements which were essential to the creation of a Persian Garden. In particular to the Fin Garden, however, the presence of a well designed water feature is possibly one of the best in this category. No mechanical means were used throughout for the water fountains.

Amir Kabir Hotel

as we travelled further south, the air became drier, and the weather resembled more of a desert environment.
sparsely populated, we seldom saw people travelled in groups. Economy in this smaller desert city was remarkably slower.
this was the place where we had lunch, probably one of the more well established hotel in the vicinity though we failed to see a single guest, as February was normally not the travel season...
Amir Kabir was the name of a former chancellor of Iran, who was assasinated in the nearby Fin Bath in 1852...

surrounded

It was a good 3 to 4 hours of travelling time from Tehran to Kashan.
Along the journey, we have stopped once to take a break, bought some water.
Took this picture at the stop, and seriously, have no clues at all our whereabout except it's halfway between the two cities.
In the distance was a series of snow filled mountain range, without a person at sight. But at the base of the mountain, there were white steams rising up, suggestion of a hot spring? or of volcanic activities?
and somehow, that reminded us what happened in Bam, 2003, an earthquake that almost destroyed the entire city...

on the way to Kashan

while our destination of the day was Esfahan, some 400km from Tehran, we stopped by the city Kashan, which was more or less half way between the two.
during the journey, then we realized how large a country Iran was.
vast fields extended into the horizon with snow filled plains near and afar.

Young soldiers at the Holy Shrine

this was probably the first time in our lives that we have met with the people of a nation with such hospitality & friendliness. Though it was difficult to communicate with one side speaking English and the other side speaking Farsi, one could feel their genuine sincereity to visitors.

young girls at the Holy Shrine

Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini

before leaving Tehran, at the south of the city is the Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini. amazed by its sheer size, but somewhat disappointed by its means of construction...
During the day of our visits, there were many visitors, school children, soldiers...the first time we had a close encounter with the Iranian people.

waking up in Tehran

Was half expecting to hear morning prayers in the morning across the city...but it did not happen.
The Sun rose, along with the dust settled on the street the previous night, composing a picture quite surreal.
Our journey started in Tehran, and took us to Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, before finally returning to the captial...
Tehran is very much a modern day city, with little deviation to its western counterparts. But we were told that once we leave the city, what's beyond was immensely different.
The mysterious Persian Kingdom lies ahead.

the sun still sets in here...

this was our first day in Iran, and since arriving early in the morning, it was more or less a non-stop trip inside the city of Tehran. After visiting the snow filled ground of the Sa'd Abad Palaces, we left the northern side of the city, which was regarded as the more well off regions, heading towards the Tehran Laleh Hotel (fomerly Intercontinental Hotel).

was this what we expected? the Iran/ Iraq war was history, and the capital of Iran resembles very much to its counterparts in the West, the density, traffic jams, noise and pollution...and yes, you can easily find a Toyota as well.

just like any other places, the sun still set in here, the veiled country was in fact, not that remote at all...

background study

available from http://www.amazon.com/

There is generally little books available on Iran in comparison to other more popular locations.
Other than the Lonely Planet, which has a good general description of the country, this book was perhaps one of the more informative literature available in the store. From the history of Persia, its people, and even events like the 1979 Islamic Revolution, this book gives a good account of the topics. How true are they from the truth...well, who can have a definitive view on the truth about anything?

An essential for outsiders who want to undertand more about Iran.

what's left behind...

thought this was an installation of contemporary art, but after consulting our local guide, this used to be the statue of the Shah, but during the 1979 Islamic revolution, the statue was cut down, and all that remains was a set of hollow boots...

children at the White Palace

Just when we were about to depart from the White Palace, we met with a group of young children who were extremely friendly and would like to take photo with us, even though their teachers tried to deter them from doing so.

A smile is an internationally recognizable greeting that needs no words...