Jordan - Amman (to all those who are 'pro-American military' - read with caution!!!)

Amman - The Capital of Jordan .. where its hot and expensive and its where Christian, Jewish and Islamic history starts to blend into each other .. where bible stories begin to come to life ... I have flash backs to reading "My Book of Bible Stories", a Jehovah's Witness publication for children, which I have read many many times in my childhood. In Amman, I did a day trip to take in lots of the surrounding areas of Amman - Madaba where the oldest map in the world lies in mosiac form of Palestine on the floor of a church, to the Dead Sea to float very atop the very salty water, to Mt Nebo where Moses saw the Promised Land and then died, and then finally to Bethany beyond the Jordan .. where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. I find all this stuff so hard to get my head around - my upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness combined with my current non-beleif, and somewhat hatred for organised religions and their contribution to the political arena, throw in my fascination at 'faith', my perhaps envy of it, and my interest in historical figures that change the world (like Jesus) and the people in it .. all together it makes for one very full head with lots of ideas, problems, issues and challenges. I cant help but think how much my dad would really love this place, the history is just so deep and in every crevis of this region that its actually really hard to get your head around. I didnt realise how much I remember from the Bible - Im able to answer some of people's questions about who was what and where .. I'm confronted by that.

Madaba, which is the top picture I've put up, has the oldest surviving map in existance of this region - a mosaic map of Palestine, dated back to 527A.D, it is suggested to have been about 50x20feet in size but now all that is left is a peice about 35x16ft .. so still quite big. Most of the places shown on the map (which extends from what is now the top of Egypt all the way up to the bottom of Turkey) are of a biblical nature, with Jeruselum being the central focus of the map. Its really beautiful .. and amazingly a roll of carpet is put over it ever afternoon and then people come in to the church for service and they're allowed to stand and sit and pray right on top of it!

After this, it was off to Mt Nebo, where Moses is said to have been shown the Promised Land and also where he died age 120 years, it is also the place where the Arc of the Covenant is said to have been buried, but has not been found. The actual location of his body is disputed, but this is definitly where he died. The shots I have taken (the top 5 after the map one) are of the Promised Land sight .. one of the sign as you walk in which most people blantantly ignore and wear what they like, the other shots looking out over 'The Promised Land'. Ive taken a shot of the marble sign there which shows the direction of the Dead Sea, of Jericho, Jeruselem, Bethlehem etc ... also included a shot of me pointing out to the Promised Land .. perhaps a little Moses like do you think??? Perhaps a little too much lippy for Moses' liking. Was very very hot up here and INCREDIBLY dry and dusty, but was a real mind fuck to think that I standing where Moses had stood and died. Its really a lot to get your head around - particuarlly when white history in Australia is so young, its hard to imagine it all. From Mt Nebo, it was a drive down the mountain to the lowest point on earth .. THE LOWEST POINT ON EARTH! how cool is THAT - The Dead Sea. Took a dip in the very smelly and polluted Dead Sea (with 27%% salinity!!) of course, as you do, the level of which is dropping at 6 metres per YEAR .. pretty scary. Jordanians are talking about building a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea to help the Dead Sea to survive the dropping water levels. The shot just after me pointing out to the Promised Land is on the way down to the Dead Sea and is where the water used to come up to. The following 6 shots are of the Dead Sea and the pool resort they've built just above the ocean ... a little oasis in the desert which I certainly had no issue with cause it was COLD in the water .. soooo good! The last 5 shots are taken at Bethany beyong the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist .. before he lost his head obviously! The picture that has the little gazibo in it is where Jesus dropped his robe and he was actually baptized. There is a shot of me dipping my hand into the River Jordan and the 2nd last shot is of the church on the sight of the baptism location. The last shot is of me .. not only am I exceptionally hot looking (not of the sexy variety thats for sure) but I am listening in to a bunch of American Majors in the Army serving in the invaded Iraq praying and using the Bible as "proof" that they should be in the military ... shall I elaborate??!! Of course I will .... on this part of my little day trip (the Baptism sight only thank god, pardon pun), we were joined by a group of around 10 or so 40ish year old American men .. as though their accent didnt piss me off enough on its own, one of them gets on the back of the jeep which was taking us out to the sight and the tour guide compliments his ugly looking cotton acubra (like a cowboy hat), the yank says "yeah its what we all wear in Australia" in his thick southern accent .. I cant resist ... "I dont think so mate" I say in my best Aussie twang. Every one of his 10 or so colleagues erupts into laughter - they didnt realise an Aussie was sitting there and this guy who tried to palm himself off as Australian got totally NAILED and busted tryin! So I'd set the tone for a bit of banter ... it wasnt half obvious what they were there doing and that they were likely on a break from Iraq for a couple days - they all wore similar clothes and wore silver chains around their necks which I have no doubt also had little tags on the end of them, they all had short back and side hair cuts and looked pretty fit and stocky, wore army-issue oakleigh wrap around sunnes AND they were all Americans chewing gum (actual!). So I ask them (as you do to 'fellow travellers') where they were all from and what brought them over to the Middle East ... one of them pipes up "business trip" and the one who Id busted pretending to be Australian says he wasnt over in the region for work like these guys were but was here on a pilgrimage .. life's pilgrimage he reckoned .. what a tosser. So off we all went, them thinking that I thought that 10 middle aged buff American men with matching best friend hair cuts were just here on 'business' ... and me thinking how I could best get them to talk about what they were ACTUALLY doing here. I couldnt resist the temptation. As we gathered around the actual baptism sight, one of them passes his DSLR camera to another Sergeant and says 'are you a good shooter?', the one receiving the camera cant miss the opportunity 'well im a brilliant shooter actually, but not such a good photograper' .. I butt in 'wwwwaaaayyyy look out, no one saw gun jokes coming did they' .. one of them, the most senior I think, was very nice actually and thought I was amusing, none of the others did I dont think. So, as we finished around the baptism sight, one of them decides to give a prayer. They all gather around in a circle (see last picture of me listening to the prayer) and start resiting a heap of stuff from the Bible. Most of which they have managed to twist into saying that God is happy for military to exist and that the work they are doing in the Middle East is in fact blessed by god ... UMM SORRRRRY??? THE BIBLE SAYS YOU SHOULD GO TO WAR, INVADE SOMEONES COUNTRY, TAKE AWAY THEIR CULTURE AND RELIGION, KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND INNOCENT OTHERS??? wow .. I dont recall that part at all??? This bull shit hypocritical prayer goes on for fuckin ages, hence my face ... we pile back in the jeep truck and I cant resist any longer - "umm can I ask you guys a question, dont answer if you dont feel it's appropriate ... but why if you are sooo proud of the fact that you in the military and 'working' in Iraq would you not admit to a couple aussie girls what you're ACTUALLY doing in this region? .. it just doesnt make much sense to me how you can say youre so proud and its actually god's work, but you wont tell anyone what youre doing, even when theres no security risk here????" .. his answer was as honest as possible, one of them rolls his eyes and says nothing but the other guy says its because they are trained to for security purposes ... hmm if you are THAT welcomed in this region as you suggest you are in your shit prayer, then why would it be such a threat to tell civilians who you are and what youre doing here? I smell a rat .. about 10 of them on that day actually.

Anyway, American murders aside ... It was absolutely amazing to see these sights, to imagine the history and the feeling in the area as something like Jesus' baptism took place. Whether you believe Jesus was God's son or not, the history is undeniably and absolutely fascinating.

Oh note the picture of the sign at the Dead Sea - you cant swim out too far because the other side of the water is ISRAEL! See the shot of the beach with the umbrella in it - that bank in the background is Israel's shore.