The taxi driver is pissed.. he's burning time. The two Polish girls sharing the cab with me aren't happy either. They got there stamps thirty minutes ago. My passport, the thick American one, is getting passed from hand to hand as winter-camouflaged soldiers at the Lebanese border look diligently for any evidence of a trip to Israel. A thick necked, shaved head commando takes my passport from another and looks up at me.
"Mister, what's your profession"
"I'm an actor"
"Actor?" He perks up. "What did you do?"
"Ah... a lot of small.. very very tiny movies," I admit with a laugh. His smile fades and he starts to flip again. Another soldier reaches out to have a look.
"Wait. Samurai Avenger! You know samurai?" I make a katana slashing motion. He's unimpressed. Closes the passport and begins to slide it over.
"Godzilla! You know the monster.. crush Tokyo?" I take a couple Godzilla steps in place, swinging stubby arms.
His hand stops...
"Godzilla!?"
"Yes!"
"What did you do?"
"I fight Godzilla."
"You fight Godzilla!?" He pulls back the passport and opens it up to a blank page. "Mister for you I give one month visa to Lebanon.. free."
STAMP!
Simply amazing! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat story. I had a couple of fights with taxi drivers in Bangkok who didn't want to use the meter, and couldn't understand why I didn't want them texting while they drove down the highway at 80 drifting into the neighboring lanes with me and my kid in the cab.
ReplyDeleteIt stuck me, are taxi drivers argumentative rip-off artists everywhere in the world? Maybe another idea for your blog! LOL
Jess
Yeah cabbies are a special breed... maybe i should write the ten commandments of cab drivers... on the list:
ReplyDeleteThere is no bus to (wherever you are going)
The meter doesn't work
If you attempt to use the defunct seatbelt you are insulting the quality of my driving
Any other idea? The only place I never had a cab driver rip me off even once was Shanghai.. you'd never guess that.