Where are you from? and other Jordan Warning Or Danger Tips

From north and south, and east to west, this seemed to be the gambit of choice for the salesmen and salewomen of Jordan. It works because the Jordanians are so friendly and welcoming that many genuinely ask you where you are from to be polite. It works for the salesmen because then they know that they can speak your language, and its worth pestering you to buy their goods or services.

Mostly you won't get too much hassle in Jordan, but at the big tourist sites you will get a fair amount, especially at Petra. The best way of dealing with this question is to ignore it, but that can be hard if you think the person may be genuinely being friendly. You just have to make a judgement call. Up until Petra I responded to everyone. At Petra I stopped responding. The next day I was walking around Castle Kerak and someone shouted "Hello! Where are you from!" I paused for a moment, weighing up the situation, saw that he had a camera himself, and answered. He responded by saying "Enjoy your stay in Jordan!"

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I'm not 100% certain that you need to carry your passport around with you at all times, but it will certainly ease your passage if you have some kind of identity papers on you. Several times we were stopped while driving about the country and questioned, the only time they didn't ask for my passport was when I actually bothered to take it with me. It was never a problem, and the officials were always friendly and helpful, but I get the feeling that having my passport would have sped matters up by a couple of minutes, and would have lessened the risk of a grumpier official making us wait longer.

To be honest, I think the checks were the result of them being paranoid about my safety as a Westerner. They seemed more interested in what my driver was planning on doing, and his identification than mine. Once they saw that I was happy and relaxed, they seemed to relax too, and stop worrying about what I was up to. I think they are keen to show tourists that they have a strong police presence and that their safety is paramount.

Not that I ever felt in danger in Jordan!

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Jordan joined an exclusive, if unfortunate, club when it was attacked by Al Qaeda in 2005. These were the first significant terrorist bombings in Jordan's history, with the deaths of 57 people in three bombings at hotels across Amman. The most recent event before I visited, saw a man shoot at tourists in Amman, killing on Briton and injuring several others. He wasn't linked to any terrorist organisation.

While obviously Jordan has its risk of terrorism, based on statistics it is extremely safe. You are less likely to be attacked by terrorists here than in the UK. At many of the major sites you will see armed guards, but don't let that put you off. They are there for your protection, and spend most of the time looking extremely bored, knowing that nothing is likely to happen.

Jordanians responded to the bombing with extreme anger. There were massive demonstrations against Al Qaeda in the country. I also heard from some Jordanians that it caused a sea-change in people's opinions here. Before the bombings some people sympathised with Al Qaeda, and people were even selling watches with Bin Laden's face on it. Now there has been a backlash, since people realise what they are really all about.

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According to all reports Jordan is an extremely low crime country. I certainly can't argue with that. I didn't feel threatened my entire time there, not even feeling the need to shove my hands in my pocket when jostled by crowds. People just didn't jostle me, they were usually too busy staring at me or bidding me welcome.

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In many parts of Jordan I seemed to really stand out, especially the more remote and less touristy places. My face is very pale, and the strong Jordanian sun exposes my Irish heritage by making my hair shine red. This meant lots of stares and lots of strange reactions from people. In every situation but one, this was always friendly, or at worst nervous and unsure. It was always kids or young adults.

Most of the time I'd see a face staring at me wide eyed, and when I looked back they would shout excitedly "hello!" "welcome!" or "salam aleikoum!" If I responded in kind, they would laugh and smile and run away excitedly. Sometimes they would just stop at stare in shock. The problem isn't racism, it's just that they are not used to dealing with people from different places. There's not been a lot of tourists in the country the last 6 years.

It's a friendly country, but I did have one bad experience. On my first day in Madaba, I passed a couple of teenage boys in the street, and after I passed I heard one shout back to me "*** you!" I could hear his friend immediately tell him off (a reprimanding sounds the same in any language), but it still made me feel uncomfortable. My guess is that it resulted from me ignoring them saying hello, as I was staring into space not expecting anyone to notice me.

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The water is apparently safe to drink, but probably not worth risking it. I've heard that while safe most of the time, it occasionally gets some nasty bug in the system and there's usually no prior warning. Sensitive stomachs might want to be careful of eating street food. I caught a brief case of the runs after a felafel in Kerak. Generally the food is so well cooked as to not be a problem, but the salad can always be a risk.

There's no malaria in Jordan, and you are only advised to get the same immunisation boosters you'd expect to have for living at home.

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Website: http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/

Jordanian visas are required for all visitors, and can be obtained at the airport, or from an embassy before you leave home. The cost is 10JD. The benefit of getting a visa before you leave is so that you can avoid the very long and very slow queue at Queen Alia airport. I arrived at 4 in the morning, and despite it being much quieter at that hour, it still took an hour to queue. And that was after I had queued to change my money at the money changer desk next door to the visa desk.

You can also pick up visas at all border crossings, except at the George Allenby/King Hussein crossing coming from Israel, as you are officially not entering Jordan there (you are officially already in it).

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This is a real danger in Jordan. They are pretty crazy drivers. I saw at least one crashed car on the roads nearly every day. Some of the scariest things on the roads are the overladen trucks, many with barely anything, and sometimes nothing, tyind down the goods on the back. This is worrying enough when the goods are just fruit, but when they are great slabs of sandstone rock, this is really disconcerting.

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