The Jordan Diaries 2005: October 28 Day 2.2 The Road North

Sufian drives really fast !! So just hoping he's as safe as he was speedy! – and the traffic seemed to be crazy, though certainly not as bad as morning peakhour in downtown Al Khobar.  Soon on the outskirts of the city of Amman and heading NW past the refugee camps of the Palestinians. There are 3 – one circa 1948, another as a result of the 6-Day War in 1967 and the latest took the human fall out from the Gulf War in 1990. 

Jordan has given all the refugees nationality and residency status with full rights under the law. 65% of current Jordanians come from Palestine and/or Palestinian descent. Sufian told us his own family came over in 1948 and stayed. By 1951 realising that they would never be able to go back to their homeland, they made the choice to settle in Jordan for good. He speaks with a lot of pride in who he is, his past and his present. They all seem to share that here, a great sense of national pride and respect for each other.

The Jordanians grow just about everything they need. And olives are very big business indeed.

Saw enormous radishes, about the size of small apples! The roadside vendors simply pull up on the shoulder of the road – literally anywhere - and conduct carboot sales, displaying their boxes in piles (usually just fruit and vegies). The only problem with this kind of free trade enterprise is that very often the roads are incredibly steep and even worse, there is actually no shoulder to set up shop on, so they stand on the road itself enthusiastically trying to flag down potential customers. Some even strategically arrange their boxes half across the outside lane so that the unwary are all but forced to pull up to avoid ploughing into the produce and skittling the vendors, as they rocket downhill at a great rate of knots. The more shrewd amongst them are those who pick an upslope to do business on! 

Passed through the town of Irbid, a notable university town as well as a number of smaller villages, rather less developed. The prevailing religion is Islam, and these are all Sunni Muslims – no Shi’ia at all in Jordan, Even though it was Friday, in the country life goes on as usual, after the 12 noon prayers, no time to wind down, shut up shop or take a day off. People everywhere – all out shopping!