J-Notes

It's freakin hot in Amman. I think I'll do a couple of recaps later, when it gets cooler at night.

Some thoughts, by the way.

Pepsi sure does spend a lot on advertisements in the countries I've visited, but everyone seems to be drinking Coke.  The soft drink cans here are half the size of cans in the States, yet it costs more.

Why the heck is the dinar so expensive compared to the dollar?

The one character I see more than Mickey Mouse around the world: the Laughing Cow, of the cheese fame.  In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, you see restaurants with laughing cows plastooned (is that a word) across the front, signaling pho or some type of beef noodle soup.  In Jordan, I've seen a couple that signals halal establishments.

Wow, I never thought I'd miss seafood this much.  Meat options here pretty much are constrained to chicken and lamb. Supposedly there is beef, but I haven't seen any.

Never thought olives can taste so good.

There's something surreal when at certain times of the day, you hear the entire city being called to prayer over loudspeakers. It's like listening to waves at the sea.

I like the fact that alcohol consumption is not a big part of the culture here.  Conversely, smoking everywhere has made a reappearance. I thought the days of secondhand smoke on buses were over since China, but it looks like Jordanian men love to smoke as much as Chinese men – although they don't hack phlegm up as much.

I need to write about my experiences with the Bedouin and how they got me to smoke Bedouin tobacco / hish, unbeknownst to me, it has a lot of the same qualities as hashish. "Makes your head big," they laughed. And then served me the best mutton I've ever had.

Cardamom in coffee. What a sweet idea.

After some time, it's back to the bare bones hostel experience for me. "All I need is a clean room" I tell people. How I forget that oftentimes, bare bones means no fan or AC, a hole for a toilet, and leftover cigarette smoke. Welcome to the world of traveling on a string.