Thursday July 16, 2009. Day 28

By 10:30 I was on the street for a short walk . Returned, packed, and went out to get a cab to bus depot for Amman Jordan. As we drove out towards the bus depot, the city looked a little prettier than the center. Upon arrival, after getting stiffed by the cab driver and escaping from another very forceful cabbie that insisted on driving me to Amman, I purchased a ticket from the bus company for 500 SYP. I had to wait for a couple of hours and finally departed at 14:30. They had no problem loading my bike on the bus for a 50 SYP tip. Among the passengers was a very friendly Chinese couple w/ their 5 year old son who was fluent in English. I was also fortunate to have Camel (complete) as my next seat passenger. He was a Palestinian that had just finished studying medicine in Damascus. He spoke English and we exchanged interesting views. What impressed me is that among other things he told me that he will get married in three years. I asked him if he had a girl in mind. His answer was that no such girl existed yet but in three years he would find one.

We arrived at the border where we had to take all the stuff out of the bus and open it. Nobody checked out bags and in the end were told to put them back. Next we went to passport control to have our passports checked and pay a 500 SYP exit tax. After that drove to Jordan where I had to buy an entry visa for 10 JD.

We drove on and in about one hour were in Amman. A very aggressive cabbie approached me and almost snatched my bike before I was even able to put the front wheel back. I screamed at the guy and told him to go away but he wouldn’t give up, and at the end he said that for one JD he would drive me to hotel that would charge me 10 JDs for the night. To that I acquiesced and got on his van/cab. The Chinese couple also came along and we drove a few blocks to Park hotel where the actual price was 12 JDs. I decided to stay. The Chinese thought otherwise and left. The people at the hotel were very nice and polite.

I took a shower and then went out to the still bustling city to forage.
The difference in driving was striking. Drivers are much more respectful here than in Syria.