Jordan - Ajloun

The day we toured the ancient Roman city of Jerash we also planned to visit Ajloun Forest Reserve. After arriving we discovered that all the trails were closed due to all the rain from the days previous. We were quite bummed about missing out, but decided to make the best of it and tour Ajloun Castle instead. The castle was well worth the 1 JOD ($1.41) entry fee.

My first proper castle tour, it even had a (dry) moat.

The castle was well-lit with modern lighting. 

I can't imagine how people lived here using only candles and lamps.

Me, happily exploring the castle.

Excellent views of the surrounding hills.

We had to admit, it's the perfect place to put a castle. 

We when arrived back at the Amman Pasha Hotel we decided to have dinner at the Pizza Roma Cafe, which is attached to the hotel. They had great food, drinks, and entertainment. The workers tried to lure us into dancing with them, including when one of the men donned women's clothing and gave us quite a show.

I am not cool enough to pull off a fez.

Jordan - Arriving in Amman

My friend and I decided to go on holiday (yeah I went on holiday while traveling) to a warmer climate. Turns out, Jordan can be down right chilly in March.

We landed at Queen Alia International Airport, near Amman, and were met by our driver, Richard. Passport control at the airport was simple enough, at least for UK and US travelers. Present your passport and 25 JOD (Jordanian Dinar) to the man at the desk, he stamps it, passes it to the guy next to him, he puts stickers on it, gives it back to you, and off you go. You must pay the fee in JOD. I saw an ATM before we got to passport control, but you should probably make sure you have 25 JOD on you before leaving your home country.

That's me, my friend, and Richard at Al Mujib Dam. 

(A bit on driving in Jordan-
We could have rented a car, but there's no way I would have been able to cope with driving there, and my friend doesn't drive. While there seem to be few rules of the road, there are plenty of speed bumps that sometimes appear out of nowhere. Sometimes two-way streets become one-way because there are a lot of cars going one direction and they just decide to drive in the oncoming lanes. Most lanes aren't really marked, and even when they are they sometimes disappear suddenly. Parking is a nightmare. People manage to squeeze their cars into spots that seemed to defy the laws of space and time. Everyone speeds, everywhere, even on winding mountain roads. There are few traffic lights. The traffic jams during rush hours (morning, lunch, evening) are crazy. You don't get a turn, you take it or you'll be sitting in one spot for a few hours. If you have nerves of steel and can be very aggressive while driving, give it a chance, you'll see way more of the country that way. If you don't, get a driver, we recommend Richard.)

Richard took us to the Amman Pasha Hotel for 25 JOD ($35) which is the standard fare. It takes roughly an hour during light traffic. The hotel was excellent. I highly recommend it, although some of their rooms are significantly better than others.

Our first room 33 JOD ($46.60) a night.
It was quite a large room, and the bed was comfy.

Lovely spacious bathroom in first room.

For some reason I didn't take a picture of our second room. 

It was also 33 JOD ($46.60) a night, but it was just big enough to fit a queen bed in and shuffle around. 

Bathroom in second room. No tub this time.

I took this standing in the shower. 

It was a bit of an awkward bathroom to be honest.

Before and After

It was a glorious morning here in Oban so I decided to walk up Battleship Hill. I wasn't exactly sure which hill it was, but everyone said it was behind Dunollie Castle so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. It only takes about 15 minutes to get to the castle, especially if you go via the walking path and not the road along the water.

The path takes you to a gate, and then it's sheep pasture the rest of the way. It wasn't problematic until I got to about halfway up where there was another gate. The mud was deceptively deep and I sank pretty far down. I'm so glad I decided to buy new boots. My Simple wool boots would have been ruined. 

Here's the view from the hill looking down at Dunollie Castle. 

See the rain in the distance? It took about 15 minutes for it to reach me. Luckily, I had my rain jacket. Unluckily, IT HAILED. I just waited the shower out partially sheltered from the hail by some rocks.

Here's the same view after 15 min rain/hail shower. 

I love Scotland, you get rewarded with rainbows so close you can almost touch them.  
Can you see the snow on the distant peaks?

I didn't fancy another pelting of hail so I decided to head back into town.