I’ve mentioned previously about the state of the roads here and its an unfortunate reality in Saudi Arabia that as a female I am legally unable to drive. So how do I get around?
At first I was able to get to work using the busses that take the nurses to work and home again. Unfortunately, this became quite inconvenient as the only busses that run to the hospital in the morning are at 6am or 9.30am, meaning I could only get to work really early in the morning or really late. I found that they also had some services on the weekends to various shopping malls but since I’m not a nurse I don’t get informed when or where these are going. So it was definitely necessary for me to find a more reliable form of transportation.
Skip forward three months and I now have two drivers who serve their own specific purposes.
Firstly, I have J, my Bangladeshi taxi driver. He picks me up every morning and takes me to work. I met him coincidentally at Al-Jazeera supermarket when I got into his taxi twice in about a week. He’s friendly, speaks good English and is quite knowledgeable about Saudi and current events outside this country so while we don’t always agree we do have some interesting conversations. I chose a regular taxi driver over a private driver because we could agree on a much more reasonable rate. I currently pay him weekly because he only takes me one way, however, I anticipate when I start needing more flexible hours (I catch the bus home from work for now) then I will negotiate a monthly arrangement, which is quite common here.
My other driver is M, he is my Sudanese private driver who I contact if I need to travel greater distances to compounds and such. I also rely on him if I need to travel late at night as the taxi drivers will not take female passengers for fear of the police harassing them. There’s an interesting distinction in this country that a private licensed driver is allowed to travel with single females, however, a taxi driver is under suspicion doing the same late at night (after midnight). Personally, I feel safer travelling with M so even though I pay a little bit more for him its worth it. He’s also very nice, speaks excellent English and knows the city really well, which I find are really important qualities for me to have in a driver I trust.
For the rest of the time, when I need to go to a supermarket or mall, I just walk out to the road and hail a taxi. I haven’t had any problems with quick trips though I have had to direct at least one driver to my compound using only hand gestures as he could speak no English and had no idea where I lived. But that’s the fun of living in a foreign country!
Leave a Reply