Even though it's only a bus ride from Cairo, I never made it to Amman in the years I lived there. I guess when you make it as far along the Sinai coast as Basata, those extra couple of hundred kilometres just don't seem worth it...
Plus, I'm a Cairo supremacist, and had no time for secondary Non-Cairos...
Well, now I'm here. First reaction: like the Cairo suburbs, but with a Holy Land kinda feeling - rocky hills dotted with shrubs, and a nice consistent stone-y colour to everything. Seems a little boring, but it has only been 6 hours...
One nice touch: Jordan has a suggestions box:
I'm staying in the Jerusalem hotel, and its one of those delightfully old-timey relics you will find in cities all over the Arab world - straight out of the golden age, faded, completely out of date but with absolute dignity, staffed by men with moustaches and gold-rimmed glasses, who call it an "otel" in a French accent.
It's all dark wood and totally uncomfortable faux Louis XIV furnituture, old men in suits smoking in the lobby, room service menu printed 20 years ago...(Cairo people, think the Odeon, etc.) I love it.
How old-school is my hotel? This is the telephone fixed on the wall in my bathroom. Pure class:
I'm here because Jordan seems to be the place to be right now for technology startups in the Middle East, and will be writing about the whole scene, and the how and why of it, for The National. Will put up some links later, but for now, I need to explore. I've got no idea where I am and no idea where I am supposed to go, which is how it should be. Peace.
Plus, I'm a Cairo supremacist, and had no time for secondary Non-Cairos...
Well, now I'm here. First reaction: like the Cairo suburbs, but with a Holy Land kinda feeling - rocky hills dotted with shrubs, and a nice consistent stone-y colour to everything. Seems a little boring, but it has only been 6 hours...
One nice touch: Jordan has a suggestions box:
I'm staying in the Jerusalem hotel, and its one of those delightfully old-timey relics you will find in cities all over the Arab world - straight out of the golden age, faded, completely out of date but with absolute dignity, staffed by men with moustaches and gold-rimmed glasses, who call it an "otel" in a French accent.
It's all dark wood and totally uncomfortable faux Louis XIV furnituture, old men in suits smoking in the lobby, room service menu printed 20 years ago...(Cairo people, think the Odeon, etc.) I love it.
How old-school is my hotel? This is the telephone fixed on the wall in my bathroom. Pure class:
I'm here because Jordan seems to be the place to be right now for technology startups in the Middle East, and will be writing about the whole scene, and the how and why of it, for The National. Will put up some links later, but for now, I need to explore. I've got no idea where I am and no idea where I am supposed to go, which is how it should be. Peace.
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