"VISA" trip to Bosra........

I just came back from a 'visa' day-trip to Bosra, Syria. I call it a visa trip since my tourist visa will expire tomorrow..that's why I have to go across the border to renew my visa. Actually , only mimi and I have to renew our visa every 6 months. Zaid and izzat have their student visas which are valid for a year.

It is easy for any malaysian to enter Jordan, by land or by air. You only have to pay JD10(RM52) at the visa counter at any Jordan entrance. That tourist visa is valid for a month of stay. Before it expires, you have to register yourself at any police station to renew your visa n usually they will permit you with 2 more months of stay. That means now you can stay up till 3 months, but if you plan to stay longer, you have to go to the Immigration Dept in amman and they will give you another 3 months visa and pay JD1. However ,after 6 months you have to leave the country (pay JD5 at the exit )before you are eligible for another term of stay. Once you are out of the country, you'll come back and you have to follow the same procedure all over again.The visa that I'm talking about is tourist visa for Malaysians.....


We started our journey at 7.15am...took a taxi from abu nuseir to abdali...took a 'servis'(taxi without meter) to Ramtha(the nearest jordan/syria border).....took another servis from ramtha to dir'aa( syria)..stopped at the border and cleared all the visa status.....took a van servis from dir'aa to Bosra and straight to Bosra Castle. Bosra castle is a place where our Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) had his first trading trip with his uncle Abu Talib years before his prophethood. Bosra used to be a very big romanic castle/city and its rome theatre is so far the biggest outside Italy which remains until today.The castle was built with volcanic rocks and stones and most of the sites are still standing like thousand years before .

We took a horse-wagon to go around the castle.We stopped along the way to see the Fatimah Mosque, The Umar mosque, The Byzantine church, The Romanic water reservoir.....and of course the Huge Rome Theatre (3levels) .We didn't have time to stop by the 'footprint' believed to be of Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) because it's far from the horse track.....

We had our lunch at the 'Eastern Sitting Restaurant'.....then got back to dir'aa and took a taxi to ramtha.....this time the driver offered us very low fare (why???) We agreed to hire his taxi but I told Zaid not to pay the fare until we reached Ramtha because I was afraid he would leave us at the border.

What happened then???

Not long after leaving dir'aa the driver stopped by a shop and started talking to another taxi driver and he told zaid that zaid had to ride in another taxi just for 200meter at the border because he might have a little trouble crossing the border. ( mimi and I remained in his taxi)..Later Zaid found out that any syrian taxi is not allowed to cross the border without any passengers.. actually both taxi drivers had to fetch a few students from (Jordan U of Sci. and Tech(JUST) to get back to dir'aa.....So they helped each other by 'separating/dividing' passengers just to get thru the syria/jordan border. It was so funny when 'my' taxi driver called zaid to 'join' back my taxi just 30 meters from the syrian check-point(all the policemen were still before our eyes!!!!) hahahah............

When we reached the jordan territory mimi and I went into a small room to have our bodies scanned...the policewoman asked me whether I'm a chinese(almost all jordanians think most malaysians are chinese...wonder why!!! )I told her that I'm a malaysian., then she looked at Mimi, and she asked me whether' my husband is an arab..( wow!! I was a bit shocked...ada ke pak arab nak muka macam I...mula nak perasan ...0 well , maybe and maybe Mimi is sometimes looks like an arab with her big round eyes and thick black hair .....Who cares, she's our (my darling hubby and I ) daughter lah.....

We got to Ramtha at almost 4pm....Hired another 'servis' back to abu nuseir....Then another 'perasan 'thing happened ....this time the servis driver asked zaid ..is mimi his daughter n i'm his wife....oh my god!... oh my god !! oh no, i tak nak perasan muda....tak nak, tak nak... zaid kata dia nampak tua sangat ke.. hehehe.............let's forget about the perasan perasaannnnnn..........

Alhamdulillah , we reached our house at 4.50pm...it's a fine trip and we are legal tourists for another 6 more months here in jordan, our beloved country...ceh ceh ceh...OUR BELOVED COUNTRY.....