Taxis and Traffic

By far the biggest challenge we face is transportation, particularly since we are used to having a car at home with all the freedom and convenience that brings. Amman is a huge city with dense traffic. Don't think of it as some small town where everything needed is close at hand. We either walk in a city where public walking is not the cultural norm, or we have a driver on stand-by for the smallest of errands. Also, we chose to live in an expat friendly suburb where the tradeoff for Western style amenities is greater distance to those amenities, something we didn't fully appreciate from afar. Being a pedestrian here also requires extreme attention to traffic since the norms we are used to at home don't apply. We are often a spectacle walking along very carefully, often on the shoulder of the road, with every passing taxi honking to signal availability - and those that don't honk probably wondering why the heck we are out walking in 100 degree heat to begin with, a question I sometimes ask myself (of late we do most of our walking at night on a safe back route to the Taj Mall area). Getting into those taxis is quite an experience given my tall frame. As a cultural note, women always sit in the back seat so Terry sits in back and I sit in the front with the driver. Also, I'm guessing most of you do not know that Jordan is a cash society. That means everything from rent to groceries to cab rides are paid for by cash. The practice here is to tip by rounding up so a taxi ride - or restaurant bill - of (for example) 2.5 JD (Jordanian Dinar) would be rounded up to 3 JD and would be the amount paid. There is no additional tipping, in cabs or restaurants, though we sometimes give more.