Middle East - Anthony Ham [332]
Attitudes towards women vary greatly throughout the country. In the upmarket districts of Amman, women are treated the same as they would be in any Western country, whereas in rural areas more traditional attitudes prevail.
WORK
Work is not really an option for most foreigners passing through Jordan. Those hoping to work with Palestinian refugees might have luck with the public information office of the UN Relief & Works Agency(UNRWA; Map; 06-5609100, ext 165; jorpio@unrwa.org; Al-Zubeid Bldg, Mustapha bin Abdullah St, Shmeisani, Amman); contact them at least three months in advance.
Occasional vacancies for qualified English teachers occur at the British Council(Map; 06-4636147; www.britishcouncil.org.jo) or the American Language Center( 06-5523901; www.alc.edu.jo), but you need to have solid teaching experience.
If you fancy staying in Jordan for a whole year, Father Innocent at the Pilgrim’s Guest House( 06-5523901; diodoros@wanadoo.jo) in Madaba is looking for volunteers to teach English in his school in return for board and keep, private Arabic lessons, participation in evening lessons run by the British Council and ‘pocket money’.
TRANSPORT IN JORDAN
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Entering Jordan
For information on Jordanian visas and entry requirements, see Visas (Click here).
Air
The main international airport is Queen Alia International Airport( 06-4453187; www.qaia.gov.jo), 35km south of Amman.
Royal Jordanian(Map 06-5678321; www.rja.com.jo; 9th fl, Housing Bank Centre, Shmeisani, Amman) is the excellent national carrier, but from the main European capitals you can generally get cheaper deals with other airlines. In Amman there are convenient offices in the Jordan InterContinental Hotelon Al-Kulliyah al-Isalamiyah St(Map; 06-4644267) and along Al-Malek al-Hussein St(Map; 06-5663525), uphill from the Abdali bus station.
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DEPARTURE TAX
At the time of research, the departure tax from Jordan was JD5. If you are in the country for less than 72 hours, you are usually exempt from the tax.
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The contact details in Amman of other airlines flying to/from Jordan are as follows:
Air France(AF; Map; 06-666055; www.airfrance.com; hub Charles de Gaulle, Paris)
British Airways(BA; Map; 06-5828801; www.ba.com; hub Heathrow, London)
Emirates(EK; Map; 06-643341; www.emirates.com; hub Dubai)
Gulf Air(GF; Map; 06-653613; www.gulfairco.com; hub Bahrain)
KLM (KL; Map; 06-655267; www.klm.com; hub Amsterdam)
Lufthansa Airlines(LH; Map; 06-601744; www.lufthansa.com; hub Frankfurt)
Qatar Airways (QR; Map; 06-684526; www.qatarairways.com; hub Doha)
Turkish Airlines(TK; Map; 06-659102; www.turkishairlines.com; hub İstanbul)
Land
In addition to the crossings below, Jordan has three borders with Saudi Arabia (at Al-Umari, Al-Mudawwara and Ad-Durra), but visas for Saudi are not given for casual travel, making it off-limits for most people.
IRAQ
Minibuses and service taxis leave from Amman’s Abdali bus station for Baghdad, but the lack of security along the highway (via Fallujah) made this an extremely dangerous option at the time of research.
ISRAEL & THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Since the historic 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel and the Palestinian Territories, three border crossings have opened to foreigners: Sheikh Hussein Bridge in the north, King Hussein Bridge near Amman and Wadi Araba in the south. These border crossings are known respectively as Jordan Bridge, Allenby Bridge and Yitzhak Rabin in Israel and the Palestinian Territories; you should refer to them as such only when travelling on the Israeli side of the border.
Trust International Transport (Click here) has bus services from Amman to Nazareth (JD20), Haifa (JD20) and Tel Aviv (JD25) daily except Saturday. It also runs services from Irbid to Tel Aviv and Nazareth. Public transport doesn’t run during the Jewish Shabbat (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday), so try to reach the border crossings early.
Note that one-month Israeli visas are issued at the Wadi Araba (Rabin) and Sheikh Hussein Bridge crossings,