The Desert Highway

What a stroke of luck! Last night, the owner of the hostel said that a car was going back to Amman at 9.00 a.m. and that it would cost us only 20 JD. At 9 sharp, we met Ali, who was a very cheerful and light-hearted soul who bundled us into his Toyota and thus we began the three-hour slog northwards along the Desert Highway towards Amman.
The roads were all so straight and each stretch seemed to reach the horizon and beyond, excluding where small desert mountains popped up here and there. On our right, admittedly rather along way past the horizon, was Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Ali, our driver, handed us a card, which gave details on one of the many hotels in Downtown Amman. It was much better value than what we had an idea of, based on what we were recommended in Wadi Musa. The room we are staying in costs 10JDs per night; it is a twin room and breakfast is included. We were expecting to pay 18JDs per night without breakfast, so we feel very lucky.
Besides our travel from Wadi Musa to Amman, not much else was going on today, so we trekked up the steep ascent from Downtown Amman to Mango Street, where there is a fantastic café. It looks like a popular hangout for like-minded travellers and, although the drinks are way, way, way overpriced, it comes with free wireless internet access, which kind of works. Sometimes.
We're sitting on the terrace watching the lights twinkle on one of the seven hills of the city, eating great food: Caesar Salad, fettucine with a creamy mushroon sauce and huge pizza. Why not Arabic today? It's cosmopolitan here, with awesome music on the sound system, and after all, we played two games of chess earlier in a locals coffee-den. Happy days!