CNNs World of Wonder comes to Jordan

Anchor and correspondent Richard Quest has filmed a Jordan-centred episode of his CNN travel show “Quest’s World of Wonder”.

Quest is currently editor-at-large of CNN Business, and the network’s foremost international business correspondent as anchor of “Quest Means Business”.

Based in New York, he is one of the most instantly recognisable members of the CNN team.

Quest’s episode focused on his travels to the ancient, biblical and wondrous land of Jordan.

He begins his journey in the capital, Amman, using the city as a gateway to explore the country’s rich history and spectacular landscapes. Quest meets Jordanian royalty, bedouins, entertainers, and archaeological experts on his quest to discover “the DNA of Jordan”.

According to Quest, “World of Wonder” is about going to interesting places to meet fascinating people.

“Jordan is a country that goes way beyond interesting, it is an extraordinary country, with layer upon layer of the richest possible history, and the people here embody those many complex stories. The moment we decided to come to Jordan, we knew we would be taking our audience on a special journey,” Quest told The Jordan Times in an e-mail interview.

Quest expressed his love for different parts of his visit for different reasons, describing Petra as magical.

“I defy anyone to visit Petra and not be overwhelmed by the sheer scale and wonder of what was created there. To look around it with a guide as passionate and knowledgeable as Professor Sami Al Hasanat from the Al Husain Bin Talal University was a great privilege,” he said.

Quest noted that he had visited Amman before, expressing his love for the way the ancient and the modern sit cheek-by-jowl, and how the city’s different stories slowly reveal themselves on each visit.

“We were able to experience that in a new way with His Royal Highness Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein at Film House, which really brought this history to life through the arts,” he added.

Quest highlighted his trip to Wadi Rum, noting that sitting around a campfire with Prince Ali in the tranquillity of the Wadi Rum desert was his favourite part of the trip.

“As someone who is constantly on the move and, I think like all of us, still trying to make sense of the last couple of crazy years, I completely understood what the Prince meant when he talked about the word [sakinah], meaning peace of the heart and soul. I truly felt, and very much welcomed, that sense of rejuvenation there,” Quest continued.

“I have been lucky enough to visit Jordan on many occasions, but those visits are usually all too brief. This was a long-overdue chance for me to immerse myself, especially on my visit to the Dead Sea, in some of this country’s many singular stories,” Quest said.

He mentioned that he always enjoys coming to the Middle East, and Jordan has a unique place within it.

“There is a particular vibrancy here, especially when you look at the creative community and the wonderful food, but there’s also a remarkable sense of how today’s Jordan has been formed over literally thousands, even millions of years. Some of these impressions linger in the architecture and spectacular landscapes, others in the feeling you get when you spend time with the people here,” he added.

Quest described Jordan in one word as “unique”, as there are things one encounters here that are like nowhere else, whether in a physical sense in the salty and restorative waters of the Dead Sea, or the mind-blowing grandeur of ancient Petra, or in the less tangible quality of the atmosphere one feels everywhere we go.

“There is a warmth and energy here in Jordan that is like nowhere else, it is a wondrous place, and I hope our programme will show that to people around the world,” Quest concluded.