Tidbits on Amman
While I was in Amman, Jordan for almost 10 days, I didn’t get many opportunities to roam around in the city. However, during my travel in taxi-cabs to various meeting venues, around the city, I observed the following –
People: In Amman, I found people to be very warm and friendly, at least to visitors. Every time, they get to know that you are out of the country, they will say “Welcome to Amman, pleasure to have you here”. Almost everyone speaks English and is very courteous and ready to help with directions, locating the address, speaking to the cab driver in Arabic to explain where to go, help you recharge your phone etc. People generally wear western clothes and local women always wear an elegant head-scarf. While women dress up in modern western clothing, the only skin which is visible is face and hands. I don’t know if it was winter effect or that’s how generally they dress up. One irritating part is that smoking in public spaces is not prohibited yet, and lot of people smoke here. We had several situations whereby people were smoking in an air-conditioned space. This reminded me of my stint as a student-trainee in Ghaziabad in 1994 at a company, whereby almost everyone used to smoke in that small air-conditioned office, making me feel choked very often.
Food: Only one word to describe food in Amman – awesome. Middle-eastern food which is tasty and cheap, is available everywhere. We went to one place called Hashim where only falafels are served. Six of us had dinner of unlimited Pita bread with 2 types of Hummus, salad, tea and falafels only for JD 10. There are many fancy restaurants all over the city, which would serve non-stop delicious food. Our last meeting was in one of these restaurants, whereby they kept serving the starters / appetizers of various kinds, and since it was all vegetarian I kept eating, only to realize that there is main course as well. Similarly, there was a huge variety of desserts as well, followed by tea/coffee. For someone like me who is used to of drinking tea, Amman is a blessing – tea without milk and with mint and honey is available almost everywhere. Lot of major US food chains – McDonald, Burger King, Hardees, Starbucks & Costa Coffee – are present in Amman, though of course, I didn’t step into any of them, so no idea how good / bad they are.
Roads: Amman has very good tarred roads all throughout the city, including connecting highways - no potholes and no filth on the road. Road signs are clearly marked and roads are lit properly during night. Flyovers dot the main city, which, probably, were constructed to ease the congestion, which by the way, still exists during peak hours in morning and evening. I think, the reason for congestion is the fact that roads are narrow and there is no separate space for parking, which results in vehicles being parked on the road-side which contributes further to the congestion. The highway exits are generally steep turns, though two major highways are connected with a typical butterfly. While I didn’t see anyone jumping traffic signals, people try to squeeze in and don’t follow lane discipline always.
Taxi-cabs: Traveling in cabs is very cheap in Amman. By meter, it was only once that our fare went up beyond JD 2. Though, lot of times, cab drivers look for a fixed fare more than JD 2 than go by meter, for the obvious reasons. There are plenty of tax-cabs available in Amman, though on some streets one may have to wait for a bit before being able to flag down one on the street. Fares to/from airport are not fixed or metered, though most commonly asked fare is in the range of JD 20-25.
Skyline: Amman has very few high rises, and almost all of them are newly built and house either major international hotel chains or offices. I think only a couple of them are residential units. People typically prefer houses than apartments. A lot of buildings have used an elegant looking off-white stone / tile as external façade which gives the skyline a very nice look, especially during day time. Since Amman is on hills, the skyline, in general, is quite beautiful on a sunny day, though there weren’t very many sunny days during my trip.
People: In Amman, I found people to be very warm and friendly, at least to visitors. Every time, they get to know that you are out of the country, they will say “Welcome to Amman, pleasure to have you here”. Almost everyone speaks English and is very courteous and ready to help with directions, locating the address, speaking to the cab driver in Arabic to explain where to go, help you recharge your phone etc. People generally wear western clothes and local women always wear an elegant head-scarf. While women dress up in modern western clothing, the only skin which is visible is face and hands. I don’t know if it was winter effect or that’s how generally they dress up. One irritating part is that smoking in public spaces is not prohibited yet, and lot of people smoke here. We had several situations whereby people were smoking in an air-conditioned space. This reminded me of my stint as a student-trainee in Ghaziabad in 1994 at a company, whereby almost everyone used to smoke in that small air-conditioned office, making me feel choked very often.
Food: Only one word to describe food in Amman – awesome. Middle-eastern food which is tasty and cheap, is available everywhere. We went to one place called Hashim where only falafels are served. Six of us had dinner of unlimited Pita bread with 2 types of Hummus, salad, tea and falafels only for JD 10. There are many fancy restaurants all over the city, which would serve non-stop delicious food. Our last meeting was in one of these restaurants, whereby they kept serving the starters / appetizers of various kinds, and since it was all vegetarian I kept eating, only to realize that there is main course as well. Similarly, there was a huge variety of desserts as well, followed by tea/coffee. For someone like me who is used to of drinking tea, Amman is a blessing – tea without milk and with mint and honey is available almost everywhere. Lot of major US food chains – McDonald, Burger King, Hardees, Starbucks & Costa Coffee – are present in Amman, though of course, I didn’t step into any of them, so no idea how good / bad they are.
Roads: Amman has very good tarred roads all throughout the city, including connecting highways - no potholes and no filth on the road. Road signs are clearly marked and roads are lit properly during night. Flyovers dot the main city, which, probably, were constructed to ease the congestion, which by the way, still exists during peak hours in morning and evening. I think, the reason for congestion is the fact that roads are narrow and there is no separate space for parking, which results in vehicles being parked on the road-side which contributes further to the congestion. The highway exits are generally steep turns, though two major highways are connected with a typical butterfly. While I didn’t see anyone jumping traffic signals, people try to squeeze in and don’t follow lane discipline always.
Taxi-cabs: Traveling in cabs is very cheap in Amman. By meter, it was only once that our fare went up beyond JD 2. Though, lot of times, cab drivers look for a fixed fare more than JD 2 than go by meter, for the obvious reasons. There are plenty of tax-cabs available in Amman, though on some streets one may have to wait for a bit before being able to flag down one on the street. Fares to/from airport are not fixed or metered, though most commonly asked fare is in the range of JD 20-25.
Skyline: Amman has very few high rises, and almost all of them are newly built and house either major international hotel chains or offices. I think only a couple of them are residential units. People typically prefer houses than apartments. A lot of buildings have used an elegant looking off-white stone / tile as external façade which gives the skyline a very nice look, especially during day time. Since Amman is on hills, the skyline, in general, is quite beautiful on a sunny day, though there weren’t very many sunny days during my trip.
posted by amAUzed at 7:36 AM
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