The desert Kingdom of Jordan, officially known as Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, came into existence during post-World War I, when the Middle East was divided by Britain and France. The Kingdom has Israel and the Dead Sea on its western border, Syria on the north, Iraq on the east, with Saudi Arabia on the South. It is a small country and has few natural resources and has played a major role in the struggle to gain power in the Middle East. It has a population of 5.7 million as per the U.N. census held in the year 2005.

Jordan is very much associated with old biblical stories and it is a country which should be crowding with tourists, but for the reason of the several terrorist activities in different parts of the world, the tourists have stayed away from Jordan. However, Jordan by itself is a very peaceful country. It is one of the most passionate countries in the world, welcoming its guests and offering warm hospitality to its visitors. You could leave your belongings on the street and come back to find them at the same place where you left them.

Jordan, formerly known as Transjordan, was taken from the Turks by the British in World War I, was separated from the Palestine mandate in 1920. In 1921, the country was placed under the rule of Abdullah ibn Hussein. King Abdullah ibn Hussein was executed in 1951 and his son Talal, who was mentally ill, was removed the very next year and Talal's son, Hussein, born on Nov. 14, 1935, succeeded him.

When Hussein came to be the King, he had to be very diplomatic in dealing with his powerful neighbours with Israel in the west, and the rising Arab nationalism. These were the frequent threat to his Kingdom. When King Hussein joined the Central treaty in 1955, trouble broke out in Jordan. It worsened when the King was made to put his army under normal command of the United Arab Republic of Egypt and Syria, when Britain, France, and Israel attacked the Suez Canal in 1956. Jordan was drawn into the Arab-Israeli War in 1967 and it lost East Jerusalem and all of its territory west of the Jordan River, the West Bank. During the Persian Gulf War, Jordan took a stern stand which strained its relation with the United States, when the U.S. stopped its aid to Jordan.

With the open warfare that broke out between the Palestinians and government forces in 1970, Jordan's Bedouin army defeated the Palestinians even with the intervention of the Syrian tanks. At this time the Jordan army drove out about 12,000 Iraqi troops, who have been in Jordan since the war in 1967. A peace agreement was signed between Jordan and Israel in July 1944, which ended the hostility of both the countries. With this agreement between Jordan and Israel, the friendship with the United States, and with the moderate Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, was re-established. In 1997, Jordan became very active in attracting foreign investment and began to negotiate with the United States for membership with the World Trade Organisation. In January, 1999, King Hussein suddenly deposed his brother, Prince Hassan, who was the heir apparent for the last 34 years. King Hussein died of cancer one month after and 37 year old Abdullah became the king. Abdullah had been a military leader with little political experience.

After the West Bank was taken by the Israelis in 1967, Jordan's industrial production declined by 20%. There were small and domestic industries in the West Bank, manufacturing soap, cigarettes and olive oil. The main industrial areas are situated on the east bank. Jordan's industrial growth was very rapid since the early part of 1960's, despite the problems faced by the war in 1967. Major industries in Jordan include, oil refining, cement production, phosphates and hydroelectric power. There were rapid growth of local and foreign-owned other industries, such as, food processing, textiles, pharmaceutical goods, paper, sugar and glass making.

Almost half of the agricultural land in Jordan is on the West Bank and the country was hard hit on its agricultural produce after the war in 1967, when Israel occupied the place. Prior to the war, the West Bank produced 25% of Jordan's grain, 40% of the vegetables and 70% of the fruit. Jordan has now only a 5% of its land available for agriculture, which heavily depends upon the rainfall in that area. The workforce declined from 37% in 1965 to 7% in 1987.

You will find fine restaurants in most of the Jordanian towns and cities, offering a wide selection of exquisite Arabic food at reasonable prices. The national dish is called mansaf, which is a whole stewed lamb, cooked with Yoghurt and served on a bed of rice. There are several such others. You can get meat, fish or vegetable stew served on a plate of rice and also chicken cooked and served the same way. The other popular dish is the famous Middle Eastern shish kebab, which is a chunk of meat or marinated chicken pierced through with a wooden stick and cooked in charcoal fire along with onions and tomatoes.

Known as Rabbath Ammon during the biblical time, Aman is the capital city of Jordan. It is now a thriving modern city in Jordan. Aman was first built on a group of 7 hills, but now the city stretches much beyond. You get a wonderful view of the city from the top of the Citadel Hill, and you can thee the Roman amphitheater in the valley below. On the far horizon, you can see the black and white Abu Darwish mosque a top of Jebel Ashrafiah. You will find the site of the ruins of the Temple of Hercules when you visit the Citadel Hill. You will also see the ruins of the Roman walls and an Arab castle, dating back to the 7th century. Citadel Hill is by itself an Archaeological Museum, housing the antiquities which date from prehistoric times, right through to the 15th century.

The Roman amphitheater, which seated 6,000 people, is an impressive sight. It has a museum on each side. As you go up to the summit of this pine-forested hill, approaching a steep incline, you will find the Martyrs' Memorial, which is a tribute to the armed forces of Jordan, who gave their lives in the service of the Kingdom. A collection of Islamic art, gathered from the prominent Arab and Islamic artists, are displayed in the Jordan National Gallery. Jordan's archaeological treasures could be seen in the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Jordan.

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on this Earth, lying 1,306ft below sea level and is 34 miles from Aman. The area is void of any life due to the high content of salt and minerals. The content of sulphur, zinc oxide and magnesium carbonate in the waters of the Dead Sea provide the famous curative powers, first recognised by Herod the Great over two thousand years ago. It is believed that the warm waters of the Dead Sea cures people with arthritis and circulatory problems. The waters of the Dead Sea are thick, briny water and are 4 times as salty as the sea water. The mineral contents of the Dead Sea are considered to be good for the skin.

If you are travelling to Jordan, you will be taking your cell phone with you. You will need to get in touch with your business associates and friends and also with your family back home. You will need to be available to the people who want to get in touch with you. During the time when mobile communication was not available, you had no option but to use the telephone in your hotel room to make your necessary phone calls. You paid heavily on those call charges. With the appearance of mobile telephony you had taken your cell phone with you when you visited countries abroad. You had your cell phone on roaming. You paid roaming charges on your incoming and outgoing calls and had received very high billing at the end of the month.

The roaming feature in your cell phone is a facility that is provided by your home service provider. With such a facility you can carry the same mobile that you have, to the countries that you visit and be in touch with the people. In providing you with this facility, your service provider has entered into a business contract with the operator of the country you are visiting. This agreement allows you to use the services of the foreign network operator while you are in that country. Each time you use your cell phone, while you are visiting Jordan, you are utilising the services of the foreign operator and your home operator pays the foreign operator for such services. Therefore, you are charged extra when-ever you take your cell phone on roaming.

When you buy a pre-paid SIM card for Jordan, you save up to 80% of your phone call expenses. With a pre-paid SIM card for Jordan, you get a local number and your calls are charged at the local rates. All your incoming calls are free of charge, no matter where they generate from and you do not pay for roaming. You do not have to enter into any contract with any service provider and you do not receive any bill at the end of the month.

When you buy a pre-paid SIM card for Jordan, you receive with it a small talk time credit. This credit allows you to make and receive calls as soon as you reach your destination in Jordan. In order to replenish your talk time credit, you can buy recharge coupons or vouchers from practically any shop in Jordan. These vouchers are available in different denominations and you may buy the value of credit required by you. Since you pre-pay your call charges, you are always aware of the expenses that you are incurring for your mobile use. This helps you to maintain the budget that you have set for such expenditures. For more information and prices of a pre-paid SIM card for Jordan, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml

What is a SIM card?

A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card is a printed circuit board, a little smaller than a postage stamp. It goes into a slot at the back of your cell phone, which is visible as you take off the back cover. It is a smart card that renders your cell phone intelligent. A SIM card has a microprocessor circuit along with memories. It holds your unique information, such as, your identity, your service plan, your SIM card number, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of your cell phone and other security details. As you switch on your cell phone, this information is transmitted to the relevant network of the service provider of the city that you are visiting. This is checked with the information available in the database and matched. On match, your cell phone gets logged into the network and you are now ready to use your phone. The SIM card also holds your address book, where you may store the names and telephone numbers of the people you frequently call. It also logs your incoming and outgoing call numbers and also the incoming calls which you fail to answer. These calls are logged along with their relevant time and date.

You would require a GSM cell phone when you visit Jordan. If you have a GSM phone, it is very likely that it will not operate in that country, unless you have a multi-frequency cell phone with you. The networks in Jordan operate on 900MHz and 1800MHz GSM frequency bands, where-as, networks in North America, Canada and a few countries in the Americas operate on 850MHz and 1900 MHz GSM frequency bands. Therefore, with the mismatch of your cell phone frequency bands with that of the networks in Jordan, your GSM phone will not work in that country. . The world over, use different GSM frequency bands compared to the ones used in North America, Canada and few of the neighbouring countries, and in effect this what sets a part these countries from the rest of the world.

In taking your GSM mobile cell phone to Jordan, you must ensure before hand, that your phone is SIM unlocked. If it is SIM locked, you will not be able to use your pre-paid SIM card or any other SIM card for that matter. It would only work with a SIM card which is meant for that cell phone.

As an example, consider that you have signed a contract with a certain service provider. One of the clauses in that contract stipulated that you will be required to use the specific service for a definite period of time, which could be one year. After you signed the contract, you would have received from your service provider, a cell phone, absolutely free of any cost to you, and the SIM card. The phone that you have received is SIM locked. This has been specifically done to bar you from using any other SIM card other than the one that you received from your service provider. After the contract period is over, your service provider helps you to SIM unlock your phone, when you are at liberty to use any SIM card of your choice. Therefore, it is essential that you check and make sure that the cell phone that you are taking is SIM unlocked. This you must do before you leave for Jordan.

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is an open structured digital mobile telephony technology, developed in Europe. It is the second generation (2G) system, replacing the old analog first generation (1G) technology. GSM is being used in over 214 countries in the world and has 80% subscribers amongst the total mobile users. It has four sets of frequency bands, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, which are distributed to the different GSM regions. Some of the bandwidths are commonly used by the regions, with the exception that the networks in North America, Canada and few other neighbouring countries use 850MHz and 1900MHz GSM bandwidths, which are not used by majority of the GSM countries. The major advantage in using GSM technology is that you have the facility to get in touch with people from about anywhere in this planet.

GSM cell phones are available in multiple frequency bands. The Quad-band is compatible with all the GSM frequency bands and can be operated in any GSM region in the world. The Tri-band works on 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands, and operates in most part of the GSM regions. There is the Dual-band, having compatibility with two of the GSM frequency bands - 800MHz and 1900MHz.

If you are a frequent traveller to countries abroad, you may consider buying an appropriate cell phone with compatible frequency bands with the ones in the countries that you visit. If you are not travelling abroad frequently, it is economical for you to rent such a phone and take it with you. Whether you take your GSM phone, buy or rent one, there are two things which you must take care of. The first one being to ensure that the cell phone is not SIM locked and the second, that it has the compatible frequency band as required by the networks in Jordan. For more information on renting or buying a cell phone, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_gsm.shtml

A pre-paid SIM card for Jordan is not only affordable but a great saving too. You don't pay for the incoming calls or for roaming. You get a local number and you are charged at local rates. Since it is pre-paid, you can keep a track on the expenses that you are incurring on your calls and can this helps you to remain within your budget.

Cell phone use overseas. In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You'll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984.