Borders blah and the golden city

After finishing our fantastic tour with a dinner last night in the same cafe Allison and I stumbled upon on our first day in Amman, today has been a day of much contrast.

A typically hairraising taxi ride to the border crossing took but an hour - but here was where the "fun" started. Imagine at one of the craziest border crossings in the world having no signs anywhere saying where to go - so dragging suitcases we attempted to get into the VIP area - to no avail and were sent back to the tourist office - hidden around the back of a bus.

Flirting with the Jordanian passport controller failed to get a waiver of the 8dinar exit tax but undeterred we boarded the JETT bus - all going according to Lonely Planet at this stage. The border crossing is 2km wide across dirty rocky little valley that has the Jordan River trickling at the bottom of it. We wooshed across stopping several times to have our passports checked - over the rivulet onto the Israeli side - bigger machine guns here!

When we got to the final boom gate we stopped, the bus trip had been realively silent until this point - the silence rose and fell and eventually the chatting started, then fell then people starting trying to ask the driver what was going on. An elderly english lady who looked like something out of Death on the Nile asked couldn't she just walk through. After about an hour a man went to ask what was happening at the border but the guy sitting behind us just shugged "this is normal". So we sat and private cars and tour buses went past us, the other local buses queued up behind us, waiting waiting.

Israeli security is not pleasant passports are snatched and bags taken to be searched, having left four buses sitting 100m away they let us all through together - kids, old people total chaos and unpleasantness. I felt dehumanised and beaten by the time I got to the actual passport stamping place - she took my piece of paper exit visa but stamped my passport anyway - could be interesting getting back in - stay tuned!

After the wonderful Jordanian welcome it's been a shock being here.
However we are HERE with young boys with machine guns strolling around, with many many mothers carrying children - you could make a fortuning selling baby slings here, with orthodox jews sweeping past, with fruit sellers outside the door, with the smell of BBQing lamb wafting from the street below, within the peace of the Paulushaus. We have retreated triumphant from the smells and noises and crowds of the bazaar inside the Damascus Gate with a felafel clutched in our hands and did the culturally inappropriate thing and ate it outside in a park.

So now I have come from sitting on a terrace just in front of the Damascus Gate as the muzzerin calls from the Dome of the Rock watching the swirl of people below and the lights for the walls come on. This seems everyone's city - as Alli said it shouldn't belong to anyone.

I have to admit that I found it ironic that i was asked at one checkpoint if i had a weapon with me - i pulled my shocked face - not allowed these in Australia - you are not allowed them here either the girl behind the counter told me - while her companion with his machine gun lounged against the doorway behind her. What does this sort of gun presence all around you and this sort of distrust of others do to a population - i guess we'll learn more of this as the weeks go on.

Suffice to say for now that I'm just soaking it in which is perhaps the best you can do in Jerusalem.

Shalom/Salaam