Amman - special city

I took a walk to the mall - Taj Mall.  Tis quite a big mall with H&M, Monsoon and even Marks and Spencers (which will open shortly - inshallah).  It was a beautiful winters day, although, it wasn't really like winter.  It was warm and sunny, with a little chill in the air.  More like a summer's day in Wellington.


As I wandered through the streets of Amman, I stumbled across a Second Cup!  Where am I again?  A Second Cup, in Amman?  That's a Canadian coffee shop, right?  Yes, a Second Cup - how cool is that!

 I also walked past the American Embassy.  I was just about to take out my camera to take pictures when I was confronted with a massive sign reading NO PHOTOS!  Oh well.  I was thinking of ways that I could be sneaky and stealth like, but realised that no matter how sneaky or stealth like I could be, it wasn't worth messing around with the American Embassy folk, especially as they had the big guns and I only had a snappy, happy, clicky fujifilm  -they had the upper hand.

Now, I had no idea where the mall was.  I only knew it was in the direction of the Embassy, so I kindly asked one of those guys with the big guns.  He kindly directed to the mall and wished me well.  I wish I could have taken a photo of him because he was so sweet and kind -  like a happy granddad with bad, yellowing teeth!

Further along my journey, I saw some interesting sights that started me thinking how Amman is a special little city.  It was lunch time so the call of prayer came on, cars zoomed by and I could hear the shouts of men in the distant.  They could have been farmers because there was a cow and some goats in an open plot of dry, rocky, littered land.  I saw also saw the mall and right next to the mall where these apartments that looked very run down.  I couldn't help but think, 'how do all the features co-exist'? There were the farmers, the animals, the cars, the mall, the apartments and the faith all in one pocket.  I thought it was amazing.

this was right by a main road - a cow, by the main road??  Never seen that before!

Another cow - I've just noticed the one on  the left :-)

Going out for random walks with the camera is a lot of fun.  I can imagine that if I did it regularly, I'd find some interesting things to write home about.  I did see this car.......

If I could drive, I'd drive this, paint it purple and paint a massive white daisy on the bonnet :-)

The Mall - Taj Mall a boring place with lots of shops.  I wondered around it for an hour and didn't buy anything apart from lunch.  It has some shops in it, like H&M, but after what happened in Bangladesh, I refuse to buy anything from H&M, GAP or Walmart ever again!  Which is a real bummer cause I liked H&M and GAP!  Because they were cheap!

(http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/30/news/companies/walmart-bangladesh-factory-fire/index.html)

My lunch - shredded egg, some minty dip, tomatoes and pine nuts, grilled haloumi cheese (best I've had ever!), olives and a selection of breads!  Delicious!!!