---
type: Video
title: "$20 Fake Jacket in AMMAN, JORDAN 🇯🇴"
description: Amman's old market for jackets neither of them packed, a citadel guide turned down and instantly regretted, and the call to prayer arriving from every direction at once.
tags: [jordan, amman, markets, haggling, citadel, guides, call-to-prayer, food]
timestamp: 2026-08-07T15:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLXimUxNIVM
video_id: RLXimUxNIVM
upload_date: 2021-11-19
duration: 838
---

# $20 Fake Jacket in AMMAN, JORDAN 🇯🇴

A second day in [Amman](/places/amman.md) with [Mac](/people/mac.md), built
around a practical problem: **neither of them packed a jacket**, the evenings are
cold, and the desert later in the trip will be colder. So they go to the old
market.

The shopping is the most instructive part. A seller won't name a price until the
jacket is on, and Mac calls the tactic out loud while it is happening — once you
have it on and like it, you have stopped deciding whether to buy. They buy
anyway, at 20 dinars against 25 asked, which is the honest version of knowing a
technique. In the next transaction Harry mis-hears 16 as 60, hands over a 50, and
the seller gives him his change.

**The day ends with the best thing in the video and a small regret.** At the
citadel a guide is offered at 30 dinars and turned down on price; five minutes
later Harry is standing among the ruins saying he wishes he could tell you the
history and can't, with Mac agreeing they should have paid. Then the sun sets and
the call to prayer comes from every mosque in the city at once, ricocheting off
the buildings.

## Key moments

- [00:00] A late start; both have been working.
- [00:30] Each street decorated differently — flowers strung over one, buckets
  over another.
- [01:00] Lunch: chicken, and a baked bread dish full of stringy cheese, brought
  out steaming.
- [02:05] Harry rates it 9 out of 10 against manakish's 10.
- [02:35] The bill for two: about 32 dinars, roughly £32 or $35, for two large
  mains, sides and drinks.
- [03:08] Off to the old market, about ten minutes away, for jackets.
- [03:38] Amman is a very hilly city; and the souk is divided by trade — a
  quarter for guns, a quarter for pets.
- [04:08] Trying on thobes.
- [04:40] The seller won't price the jacket until it is on, and Mac names the
  tactic as it happens.
- [05:42] Harry says 25 is too much and that he had 15 in mind.
- [06:12] Bought at 20.
- [06:42] How to cross a road in Jordan: you simply go.
- [07:59] Mac's jacket — 16 dinars, mis-heard as 60.
- [08:30] He hands over 50 and the seller returns the change.
- [10:48] A guide offered at the citadel for 30 dinars, and declined.
- [11:18] Panoramic views over the whole city, timed for golden hour.
- [11:18] The regret, stated: he wishes he could explain the history, and Mac
  says they should have taken the guide.
- [11:48] Ruins dated in the video to 160 AD.
- [12:51] The call to prayer arriving from all over the city and echoing off the
  buildings, so the same call is heard several times.
- [13:22] The city lights coming on, and how quiet it is up here — the traffic is
  too far below to hear.

## Extracted pages

- [Jordan](/countries/jordan.md)
- [Amman](/places/amman.md)
- [Mac](/people/mac.md)
- [Travel with a local guide](/tips/travel-with-a-local-guide.md)