Taxi? Taxi? You're a .... taxi?

In Lebanon, you're funniest stories are sure to come from taxi adventures. When wandering in Lebanon, it may seem to you that every car is a taxi. Well you are right - to you Foreigner, they are. And they will honk at you and let it be known, sometimes even stopping two or three at a time. Even if you don't look like you need a taxi...you'll be honked at - just in case...

We experienced it all, from the guy with the SVU who instantly became a chauffeur when we walked out of our hotel (I guarantee you he was not a taxi. And for $10, he drove us 2 minutes away. Hmm...thank you?), to the cab driver who did not speak a word of English and made two stops along the road to see if someone else did and could talk to us, to a cab driver that cursed at us because we didn't want to get into his taxi without him knowing where our hotel was.

Taxis will take take you anywhere you want to go, even if they do not know where it is. Excuse me? How are you going to get there then? Sit back and try to relax, there are hundreds of people on the street. We can just stop and ask. Multiple times if need be...or I will just drive around, we are sure to find your destination! You live, you learn, and you ask before you get into a cab if they know where your destination is...

One cab driver, the one who could not speak English, kept saying Habibti (darling) to us and at some point asked us if we came from the US and starting chanting: Obama, Obama, yes, Obama, Obama good! It was too funny. Not too funny when he didn't give us change, supposedly not understanding us. Owh well, Cousin and I were alone on our way to the American University of Beirut, so it was a good laugh and we were just glad we made it in one piece. I really need to learn how to speak Arabic for when I come back...the whole time we kept wondering if we would actually end up at AUB and we just could not stop laughing. I am sure the cab driver amused himself.

One time we had a really good cab driver. Told us the price in advance, spoke English really well, even gave us all kinds of tidbits about Beirut on the way to our destination and pointed out sights. He gave us his phone number in case we wanted to go sightseeing and hire him for the day. And then my dad proceeds to tell me something along the lines of that he hopes we did not get kidnapped or so. DAD. You'll jinx it! Stop talking NOW. Thanks.

O, and then there was this time we got into a taxi that had a taxi id. With the wrong face on it...HAHA. Well Mr. Not-Cabdriver. Who are YOU?

This post is proof I survived all of my crazy taxi adventures. Don't let it scare you, it's actually not that scary, just funny. And the stories had to be told but please don't take them in the wrong context :) All there is to do is laugh.

Signing off from the back of another taxi, praying for our safe arrival and laughing out loud until we do,

Ms. Globetrotter