TDY Gouge - Jordan

Spent 5 days broke in Amman.

Stayed at Marriott, great hotel, make sure embassy arranges for the free breakfast and wifi, they did for the crew but did not for the MRT (Maintainers) until we called and asked them to fix it.

Things to do:

PETRA - If you have time, use the hotel taxi to take the 3 hour drive to Petra ($50JD entrance charge), its fantastic. The taxi for the day was $150JD. There is a nice buffet restaurant that the driver should know about just outside of the city on the left side of the highway leaving the area, overlooks everything. Don't buy anything until you head back up from the site, you will be able to get a better handle on what a fair price is - and really, things are cheaper at the markets in Amman.

DEAD SEA - 45 min ride, worth the trip. I think it was $90JD for the taxi from the Marriott. There are several hotels on the east bank, but they are pricey to hang out at- around $35JD, we went to the public site, called Amman Beach, it was $16JD and very nice, had a pool and shops as well. Bring sun screen, shorts, and sandals if you can, otherwise buy them on the way there, there are several shops on the way.

ROMAN RUINS (CITADEL) - $2JD, in the heart of Amman, beautiful view of the city, and the ruins are in very good shape - you can walk up and touch them, and there's also a museum on the site.

BALAD MARKET - In old Amman, hundreds of shops and many markets, very busy. This is the best place to buy stuff to take back home. In Petra, they were selling the

Keffiyehs for anywhere from $15-$30 JD, here you can get them for around $5.

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Lots of gold and silver shops, and all the other typical middle eastern stuff you could think of. ALL PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE.

MALLS:

Taj mall is the newest and best, all the Western stores like D&G, Lious Vuitton, and others.

City Mall is nice as well, not as new though.

FOOD:

- Rainbow street has many nice restaurants as well as shops and hookah bars.

- SANGRIA - Tapas style Spanish food, lounge style. Good food and atmosphere, hookah as well.

- CANTALOUPE - Great steaks and italian style food. Good vino as well. Try the Jordanian Cab. Very nice place.

- SCENARIO - Italian, very nice place - excellent rissoto & Carpaccio, pizza was ok. We ordered almost all the appetizers and they were great. Probably my favorite place to eat. Very trendy. They also have a golf simulator in the place you can check out and hit a few balls (sts).

Jordanian Food:

Restaurant Jerusalem - local food, the kebabs are really good, its in Old Amman by the markets- cheap, and they have a bakery with lots of local desserts. Places next door also have desserts you can buy packaged to take home.

Cafe Al Ajwad - close to hotel, Jordanian traditional food, excellent food and service. Cheap.

CULTURE/PEOPLE/PREP -

Jordan is expensive, 1JD = 1.4 USD. The hotel is pricey, and over rated. Drinks are also expensive everywhere - even to buy in the stores. We bought a case of Amstel and a bottle of Kettle 1 and it was over $120JD - but still cheaper than drinking at the hotel bar. The people were fantastic and very glad to host us. We used the Marriott cabs to leave the hotel, but always took a local cab back, its about half the cost to use the outside cab ($5 point to point). For the longer trips or day trips I suggest the Marriott cabs, the drivers know the good places and their English is better. FASEL was our driver, great guy, ask for him. Tipping is about 10% but most places tack it on to the ticket. Almost everyone speaks English, but the skill level varies significantly. If you go to any of the markets, the prices are negotiable. There are several people of Palestinian origin in the country, mostly from the wars in 48' and 67' - they are also very nice and most speak English. Most people are dressed like Europeans, very trendy and expensive looking. No one wears shorts unless they are getting into water.

Definitely grab a traditional Jordanian Keffiyeh (Red and white) and a Palestinian one (Black and White) along with some nice Hijabs for the wife. They have a shop at customs that has Cohibas for a descent price as well.

* If you go to the dead sea you can stuff a big water bottle full of the mud to give out as gifts, once you repackage them into a nicer container. Its the same shit they sell in the Dead Sea Minerals kiosks at the malls for $30.

* If you go to the dead sea - watch the water on your eyes and mouth, have a big bottle of water close by to rinse your face. If you mud up, only keep it on for 5-10 minutes or its gonna burn. Bring a towel from the hotel as well.