Taxi!!!

One of the earliest lessons I learnt here in Abu Dhabi is DO NOT GET IN A GOLD TAXI. We had been living here just a few short weeks but I had already grown used to relying on taxis to get around town but I had at that point only ever been inside a silver taxi. These taxi's are metered, the drivers are polite and know the city well and the fares are ridiculously cheap. I had learnt as a general rule that you could get any where in the city for under AED 20, which is about $6AUD. Pretty good right!! So on this particular day I was waiting outside my building for a taxi to take me to the central post office before it closed for lunch at 1pm. It was about 12:30pm and I was staring to think I would not make it before the lunchtime close. I just could not find one of the trusty silver taxis. Suddenly a gold taxi pulled up out of no where and the driver beeped and gestured for me to get in. I had seen these taxis around town but because all the signage was in Arabic I didn't really know what their deal was and so far I had always been able to find a silver taxi instead. On this occasion as I was in a hurry I thought 'what the hell' and jumped in. I told the driver where I wanted to go and he asked which street the post office was on and as I consulted my map he drove out into the traffic. I told him the name of the street and he said 'OK that's 200' I was surprised and for a second I just thought he was joking around and then I realised there was no meter in the taxi and that this guy had probably taken one look at me and thought 'Silly tourist lady, I'll take her for all she's got!' So I was starting to panic a little and protested by saying 'Nowhere in Abu Dhabi costs more than 20 Dirhams. I'm not paying more than that!' He responded in a mix of Arabic and English and the basic gist was that if I didn't have the money then I would be in trouble. He was a large gruff looking man and I was beginning to think I might be in trouble. I was feeling properly agitated and more than a little panicked so I told him to stop the taxi so I could get out. I could hear the panic crackling in my own voice. The driver started to laugh and drove on at increasing speed. I was cursing myself for getting into this situation. I had always subconsciously avoided these gold taxis and now I had ignored my own intuition and got myself into a bit of trouble. How much trouble I didn't know. I started to insist repeatedly that the driver stop the car and let me out. He didn't stop but laughed menacingly and sped up! I continued to insist he stopped the car but rather than stopping he started lowering the price. 180, then 150, then 100. I kept saying 'No- I'll only pay 20.' I saw the traffic lights turn red up ahead and thought as soon as he stops I'm going to bolt! The car slowed and I opened the door and got ready to jump out and just as I was about to run for it the driver goes 'OK, OK. 20.' I sank back into the seat and closed the car door relieved that the ordeal seemed to be no more serious than a bartering over the fare but angry that this taxi driver had tried to scam me and in the process had actually scared me quite a bit. I made it to the post office with my heart still pounding fast and begrudgingly gave the driver a 20, now realising it was probably only an 8 Dirham fare. I made it to the post office with time to spare only to realise that the post office was not open at all that day being a government holiday. I turned around to look for a taxi to take me home again.
Since then I have learnt that the Gold taxis were being phased out and now I believe that they are no longer allowed to operate. Interestingly, there is now a Ladies only taxi service. These taxis are distinguishable by their bright fuchsia signage. They are driven by lady drivers and only accept female customers. This does seem rather confronting to our western 'equal-opportunity' way of thinking but after the scary gold taxi experience I had I think these ladies only taxis and not such a bad idea!