When is a refugee camp no longer a refugee camp? On our trip north of Amman we needed an infusion of cash, with the holiday that happens after
Ramadan all banks and exchange houses were closed so we dropped of at an ATM in Baqaa which is the largest and oldest
Palestinian refugee camp in 
Jordan. Jordan has the largest population of Palestinian people outside of the various occupied
territories and if you are willing to listen you can get many opinions about the various issues that you will not hear in the Western media, it might not all be true but it is often heart-felt. If a refugee camp has paved roads,
multi-storey concrete buildings, electricity, plumbing, internet cafes and you can obtain money from your bank back in
Canada using an ATM I think you can stop calling where you live a refugee camp and start calling it a town. Ah politics!
Ajloun is a small market town but the main reason for tourist to visit is the
Crusade era castle build by a relative of Salah ad-Din, Azz ad-Din Usama. The views of the Jordan Valley from the castle are breathtaking but a visit to the actually castle never happened. We were visiting the day after Ramadan finished which is normally a three-day holiday (like X-mas many locals told us). Normally all tourist sites are open but for some reason the authorities decided to close all tourist sites for the holiday. This lasted for several hours until they changed their minds, probably because of the large annoyed crowds at Petra and Jerash but it was too late for us at Ajioun. Our guide, Steve, was immediately on the phone to find out was going on, made sure Jerash was going to be open then took us to a different site that we had not planned on visiting to make up for Ajioun not being opened, but before we left he walked us around the site and explained the history. Steve was a great guide, but expensive. He also wanted to make sure we were planning on visiting another Crusader castle during our visit. "Its important", he told us.
To make up for Ajioun being closed Steve took us to a placed called Tell Mar Elias which is a holy site sacred to both Muslims and Christians, even JPII visited when he visited Jordan. It is considered the birthplace of the prophet Elijah. The remains of a vast church with a portions of a mosaic floor are located on this windswept hilltop. Not much of a site unless your on some sort of
pilgrimage.
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I would not have wanted to be at Jerash when people arrived at opening hours only to find the placed closed. Apparently it was closed for about 1.5 hours before someone in authority decided to open the site, it is the second most visited site in Jordan and gets hundreds of visitors a day.
Jerash is one of the Decapolis cities from the era of Alexander the Great later occupied by the Romans, it is one of the best preserved Roman towns in the Middle East and probably the world. It is a huge site and much of it still lies buried and is slowly being
archaeological investigated, parts of the ruins actually are being used by the modern day town. Even people who only visit Jordan for a few days on a Grand Tour of the Middle East will visit Jerash so expect crowds but again its a huge site and you can find yourself alone. An earthquake in 747 caused the city to be
abandon and left largely alone for over a 1000 years until European explorers 'discovered' the ancient city.
You can spend the entire day here if you wanted to but if time is short try to take in the Oval Plaza, Temple of Artemis, North Theatre and walk the kilometre long Cardo road, the main boulevard of Jerash, with its columns, Nymphaeum and paved roads where you can still see the wear from chariot wheels ruts. There are other temples,
theatres, and some Byzantine churches worth seeing if you are not visiting Madaba.
Steve was an expensive guide but he did have some great stories. He grew up in Jerash and was a child when the PLO were located in the area. He claims that he and some older men in the area set fire to Yasser Arafat's jeep and that his aunt slapped Yasser's face.
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We visited this site on our last day in Jordan. With a late night/early morning flight to Frankfurt we had a day to kill in Amman so a day trip to the far 
north to visit another ancient site was the plan. Umm Qais is next to the Syrian border, the Golan Heights,
Israel and the Sea of Galilee. The views from the Resthouse are worth the trip from Amman. Apparently on the weekend the site can be crowded with Palestinian Jordanians visited to view their former homeland. This close to the border you will pass several military checkpoints so have your passport ready. At a couple our driver told the soldier "Canadian" and we passed without showing our passport.
Umm Qais, along with the spectacular view, is also two site in one. First there is the Roman city, another city of the Decapolis, with its theatres, column streets, and especially the Basilica Terrace. There is also the Ottoman village build from plundered stones of the North Theatre. The town is also mentioned in the New Testament. Although the North Theatre was stripped to make the Ottoman village, the West
Theatre has been restored and is entirely builted of black basalt. The Ottoman village contains a small museum.
Enjoy the view from the Resthouse while having a cup of mint tea. A worthwhile daytrip.
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