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Catching a Cab
Taxis are your best bet to get around Damascus.
They are cheap and fortunately they are everywhere!
Syrian cab drivers for the most part, seem to be an extremely
honest lot, and will not take more than the required fare
even if you shove a handful of crumpled bills at them in complete
confusion as to how much you need to pay. They will take the
required fare, plus a modest tip. The standard fare is the
number on the meter, plus half of the fare above that for
a tip. Don't be afraid to ask that the meter be reset when
you get in the cab, if you notice it's not - while they drivers
tend not to cheat you on the fare, "forgetting"
about the meter is sometimes attempted.
Highway Hijinks
What you see on the highways while riding around in cabs
may amaze and amuse you. In one lane, straddling the dividing
stripe, is an army truck with soldiers balancing in the back,
standing on top of the pickup truck door, and clinging
to the canvas roof - hurtling down the road at 60 mph! In
another lane three guys wedged into two seats of a windshield-free
vehicle that looks like a go kart. There are even push bikes
on the highway, not to mention the donkey and horse carts.
People crossing with their children, hands held, little legs
running as fast as they can; aman in a flapping head covering
driving a motorcycle while his wife rides on the back, not
hanging onto the bike, but clutching their child in her arms...Inshallah!
A truck with Kuwait license plates, cabs with wheels wobbling
like crazy - into the whole mess, you'll see a brand new spotless
huge Mercedes or BMW speeding along. Families often picnic
on the grass-covered and fairly wide median strips, while
the exhaust fumes swirl around them. Wash hangs out of city
apartment windows, gray with dust. Everything in Damascus
is filthy with exhaust, the clouds of it may make you nauseous
for a few days until you get used to it! Seriously, people
with asthma or other respiratory ailments should take adequate
precautions - the air is very dirty.
Cabbie Culture
The cabs themselves are sociological museums unto themselves.
Most drivers work long hours, so the cab becomes their sitting
room, religious shrine, family room and foyer. Some carry
their families around with them, for a little quality time
in the evening. Many of them are personalised to a hilarious
degree. The decor of the cabs is in a world of its own - maroon
fake fur all over the dashboard, a mirror stuck to the front
shelf of the dashboard and a tiny iridescent disco ball hanging
from the mirror. Everything is usually filthy with road dust
and exhaust. Many cabs are decorated with extremely sentimental
decor - red fluffy fur hearts pasted to the rear view window,
on the dashboard is a porcelain hand figurine with roses on
it holding another red fluffy fur heart. Another porcelain
white horse figurine holds yet another red fluffy fur heart.
The rear window is covered with swoopy, glittery red Arabic
calligraphy stickers with more hearts incorporated into the
calligraphy. Syrians are quite sentimental and full of love!
Many times, cab drivers will display paraphernalia which
divulges their religious affiliation. You may see prayer beads
hanging from the rear view mirror, "hand of Fahimi jewellery
(metal hands with blue beads on them), stickers with "Allah"
calligraphy which suggests the driver is probably Muslim.
Christian looking items may suggest Christian or Coptic Christian,
and Stars of David suggest the driver is Jewish. A five pointed
white-green-red-blue-yellow star identifies the driver as
Druze. Syria has tremendous freedom of religion, with people
of all sects and affiliations living together in apparent
harmony. Hailing a cab will enter you into a new sphere and
allow a fascinating window into Arab culture. Forget the manic
New York yellow taxis, forget shifty and dangerous London
mini cabs - enter a cab and make a cultural discovery!
The Road to (and from) Damascus
If you wish to take a quick jaunt to Beiruit, Lebanon
or Amman, Jordan - recommended - you can hop in
a cab! The fare starts out at around US $20, and goes down
depending on how many people are able to squish in for the
ride. You'll see cabs driving around on the street that say
"Beirut" or "Amman" on the stickers, in
English - these are the cabs that go out of the country. If
you do take a short trip, be sure to have your passport with
you, as well as your Syrian entry card you got at the airport.
If you forget your entry card, you'll have to purchase another
Syrian visa on your return to Syria - usually only US$16,
but it saves time if you do bring it. The cab driver will
usually know what to do at the border and will sometimes collect
your passports and handle the inspection. The border entry
process is not that time consuming. It's interesting, if you
go to Beiruit, as soon as you leave Syria, you see the signs
pop up for the Western brands - KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks
et al. If you're using a world band cell phone, that too will
spring to life at this point.
You can even take cabs into the tiniest, narrowest streets
of Old Damascus - where the rear view mirrors on both sides
of the cars scrape the walls. Drivers, in general, in Damascus
are fearless! You may hear the cars gently scraping against
each other in the roundabouts you see at some busy intersections.
Most of the vehicles you see in the city bear the scratches
of dozens of encounters with other cars - peaceful battle
scars.
Take heart in the idea that even if you get hopelessly lost
in Damascus, which is fairly easy to do, the likelihood of
getting back to your original destination is easy, as long
as there is a cab swooping by to rescue! Cabs are a great,
safe way for all travellers to get around Damascus, especially
women. Most drivers will be happy to give you a tour of any
area you want - you only have to suggest!
...Or Hop on a Microbus
There are other public transit options in Damascus if you're
very adventurous and can read Arabic. There are small white
microbuses that zip all over the city. These buses
display several destinations - neighbourhoods in Damascus
- on signs in the front of the bus - however, these are all
written in Arabic. They have no published schedules, routes
that meander confusingly and random drop off points - you
pretty much just shout to the driver when you want to exit
the bus. The fare is extremely low, about US 10 or 20 cents,
and people pack the buses to capacity. Women and men do sit
separately, however, and the people are quite polite about
this. Women foreigners who are brave enough to attempt these
buses should sit next to other women on the bus, unless the
bus is utterly full - your innocent mistake could possibly
be misinterpreted if you sit next to a man. There are also
local buses - larger school bus size - which are crazily coloured
and encrusted with ornamentation. These too, have schedules
known apparently only to the locals, with no drop off points
or routes published anywhere. If you remember, though, that
a cab can get you back to most any part of Damascus where
you feel familiar, riding a couple stops on these buses might
be a fun adventure! |
