What not to do while in Amman

If you ever visit Amman for shorter than six months or so, take my advice and don't shop for anything. Don't even bother. If you do shop, you'll probably do it in one of a couple of different areas: Swefiyah or Abdoun, the neighborhoods of Western-inspired malls and blocks of shops selling everything from Cuban cigars to Syrian lingerie; or Old Downtown, further out east, where you're supposed to go to get your "traditional" Jordanian/Arab goods and trinkets. You're screwed in both cases.

First off, the exchange rate is 1.4 USD for one Jordanian Dinar, which means that goods in Jordan are valued higher than goods from the United States and everything (except maybe food) costs more than it would back home. Second, Jordan imports most everything it retails (as far as I can tell), which means that all of those "authentic" kuffiyahs and argilehs (hookas) that everyone wants to bring back for their friends were actually from a mass-produced lot made in a Chinese sweatshop. Third, and I can't figure this one out, is that the only recognizable brands are the upper crust of Western living: Chanel, D&G, Armani, etc. Everything else is some unheard-of knock-off, and there's nothing in between. So, you either pay 550 JDs for a respectable Calvin Klein suit (over $700), or you buy a ten dollar China job. No middle ground.

There are places to find hidden treasures in the Orient, but they're in a bin with 200 identical pieces of the same thing. Artisans and handicrafts are being driven out of the market in the name of economy and margin. Thanks globalization. I guess the one thing that is mildly comforting is that even if everything is made in China, you can't find the kind of stuff they have here in the States. Just tell people that Shanghi is a district in southern Lebanon, most people won't have any idea where either are anyways.