Farooq, Sydney airport to Manly, 96 dollars

"Yes, I am from Afghanistan. But do you know, my parents are actually from Australia!. They moved back to Afghanistan, got eight kids and then when it was getting bad in Afghanistan, 18 years ago, they moved back to Australia.

Wow, so he is Australian? Afghanistan? Both? Neither? Does it matter? I say:

" I have heard it is really beautiful in Afghanistan"
"Yes, it is a beautiful country! The mountains... Many older people I meet in Australia, 80, 90 years old have been there and they say it is a beautiful country! But now. The Taliban is destroying everything. "
"I heard that Osama bin Laden was dead long before the US came to Pakistan to kill him."
"Oh yes! Many, many years before that he was dead! But you know where bin Ladens family were living? They were all living in the US and had US businesses and all where flown to Canada after the airspace was closed. Everything that is bad in the world is politics. Religion has nothing to do with it. Another passenger that I had said that ISIS where muslim. I said, how many christians did they kill? How many jews did they kill? He said not so many. And I said, they only kill muslim - I will not accept that they are muslim if they kill muslim. They have no religion. They are just after money. They make so much money killing other people. All people in the world are good. It is just politics and money want that is bad."

Chung, Manly to Sydney airport, 96 dollars

After a five minute drive I notice a noise. What is that noise?

"Is there something wrong with the car?"
"I do not know. Sometimes there is. This car drives 24 hours a day. But it is serviced every month. Sometimes I have to go in between. But it needs to be worse than this if I should go to the workshop".
"Hmm, I wonder what that noise is... Well it seems like it is something with your wheel. I can hear how it is getting lesser when we turn left. "
"Ahh, maybe!"
"Yes, you noticed when you stopped that the noise stopped to? It seems like it is coming from the right back wheel"
"Ahh, thank you."

Something is telling me though that he is not going to bother about this one. The problem is not big enough.

"You know, we change tyres every 3 months. Only three months before it has to change. And we never buy new tyres. Just by used ones. You know, remove the rubber and put on new one. My boss has 130 cars and this is the cheapest way to do it. "
"Hmm, you would think that you would profit from buying new tyres that would last longer? "
"No, no. All big taxi companies do it this way. "
"I see, interesting. Where are you from?"
"I am from China. I have been here for 14 years".
"Do you miss it?"
"No. Haha, not really. I have everything here now. And you know, China is not stable. And expensive. I probably could not afford it anymore. "
"Really?"
"Yes, you know how much a unit costs in China? If you would get a 2 bedroom in a city it would cost me 500,000 Australian dollars. Ha, I could not afford to live there!"
"Wow, I thought China was cheap!"
"No. Too many rich people there now. And it is easy to become rich in China. You just need to know someone that can help you. You do not need money to start with. A friend of mine knew someone in the government so he could buy land from him. The land was worth 3 million dollars but he got it for 30,000 dollars. Then he goes to the bank also owned by the government and pays someone on the bank to lend him money without deposit. And then he builds a house on the land. Then he sells everything and gets a lot of money. Just sells it to someone that has made the money in the same way as he just did. "
"Interesting. There are so many rich people in China. And a lot of them come here and by units"
"Yes. They just need to get the money out of China. They have made money illegally and need to get it out as fast as they can. "
"But it seems like they not always cares about the units they buy or the property they buy. Manly Cinema property is owned by someone in Hong Kong and it has been closed for more than a year now because the owner is not agreeing on rent with the guy who is renting and running the cinema. But it seems like the owner does not care about the vacancy. He does not care about the loss of income. And that kind of behaviour does not really serve the people living in Manly"
"No, he does not care. He just wanted to get the money out of Hong Kong. They just park the money outside of China. Too many rich people in China now. "

We arrive at the airport and I swipe my card and get out of the taxi. The development in China is really interesting. I want to learn more about this.

"Have a great day, nice talking to you"

Hannibal, Sydney airport to Manly, 110 dollar

Hannibal and I have been talking for a while in the taxi and he tells me about his karate and thai boxing career.

"You know Dolph Lundgren?"
"Yes, of course"
" Well, we were in the same tournament here in Australia many years ago. He was supposed to fight me but he lost his competition and went home. I won that tournament. "
"Haha, so you are better than Dolph Lundgren!"
" You know, karate is a full contact sport and you can get many bad injuries during a tournament but you have to keep fighting. But you can get too many and that is what happened to Dolph. I did talk to him several times during the years. He is a nice bloke."
"That is pretty cool. You can put that on you CV. 'I almost fought Dolph Lundgren'".
"Haha, almost yes."
"And when did you quit practising?"
" I did not quit. I still practice every morning one hour. I also train people I have my own studio and my own variant of Karate. I do that twice a week. That is my third job..."
"And what do you do when you do not drive the taxi?"
" I build cabinets. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I have my workshop, I like working for myself. I do not like anyone to tell me what to do. The taxi driving I only do during the weekends but I like it and it enables me to take it easy during the week. I like to have a comfortable life and not too stressful. I like to travel. I travel every third or fourth month for 3-6 weeks."
"That sounds clever. And do you have a family?"
"Yes. I have a wife. But she is in Thailand now. She has her own business their in landscaping. And we have an apartment there so she takes care of the business."
"Kids?"
"Yes, I have four boys. One with my wife and three with my ex wife. My ex wife is Italian. She was too loud. My Thai wife is much better"
"Four boys, three jobs, two wives. You have a busy life!"
"Haha, yes, a busy life. But I love it. I love my life"
"And do you take your wife travelling when you go?"
"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. When I go to Poland she does not go with my. I have a property there that I renovate and then I normally go by myself".


We stop and the bill is a staggering 110 dollars.

"Hmm, I have never seen it above 100 dollars before".
"Well you see it is the weekend, the airport tax etc etc that is why"
"Ok, thank you and have a good night!"
"All the best, bye"

Tony, Manly to Sydney Airport, 95 dollars

The alarm went off at 4.30 this morning. A little bit earlier then I normally go up. At 4.55 the taxi driver was waiting outside as the sun was rising.

"Good morning! "
As I was opening the passenger door the driver had to remove his stuff. Not too many people go in the front, but I always do that. We start chatting and after a while he asks

"What is that accent of yours?"
"Swedish"
"Aha - I have been to Sweden"
"Have you, when was that? "
"That was in year 2000. I toured Scandinavia and Russia. "
"Where abouts in Sweden? "
And he starts telling me about his trip that started in Berlin and went into Denmark, Norway, Sweden and then into Russia.

"18 months later I returned to Russia. There were places I wanted to see. I asked one of my drivers that was Russian if he could find me a minder. Straight away he said
- My brother. You will have no problems with him!
So I went to Russia and travelled with his brother. In Russia at that time there was control points at every 50 ticks. The minder told me that we only had to stop at the first control, and then there would be no more stops. So we are getting closer to the first control with a lot of guards and they stop us and ask for our papers. They get our papers and look at them. Then they start screaming and out comes the police along with other guards! They all start arguing and look at the papers. Then we get the papers back and they all salute us. It turns out that my minder used to be a KGB general! We get back in the car and start driving. When we approach the next control nobody stops us, everybody stands in  a row and salute us as we are going pass. I had a great time with my minder and felt very safe. We had no problems getting rooms even if hotels were full either. Great trip. "

Tony stops at the aiport and we wish each other a great day. I again feel excited over these amazing people with their amazing stories I keep meeting in a taxi. And I am reminded of a quote from one of my friends who is constantly travelling: "The joy in travelling is the people you meet"

Muhammed, Sydney Airport to Manly, 97 dollars

This time I arrived so late in Sydney from Melbourne. We had been on a Christmas party and arrived in Sydney at 10.30. I did not book a taxi in advance since I did not expect any taxi queues at this time. Of course I still had to wait for 5 or 10 minutes, but it was not too bad. A big Toyota taxi rolled into my dock and I got into the taxi. Muhammed and I started talking about this and that and it turned out that he was a computer hardware engineeer.

"I used to work for a private company in Paramatta. They employed me when I was just graduated. But they did not pay me well"
"No? How much did you get?"
"Only 15 dollars an hour. He said that it would change and 2,5 years later I was still on 15 dollars per hour. That is when I quit"

Muhammed lives in Sydney since 7 years with his wife and his kid that is 18 months old. He was telling me about his family in Pakistan.

"I got a sister doing her MBA. My brother is studying computer science. I got another sister studying medical. "
"How many sisters and brothers do you have?"
"We are 11. 6 sisters and 5 brothers."
"Wow, that is amazing! Your mother must be very strong!  How old is our youngest brothers and sisters?"
"The youngest brother is 12, my youngest sister is 18"
"Ah ok, so soon there will be no more kids in the house"
"Oh yes. There are 9 kids there now. You know, two of my sisters have 3 kids each, one of my sister have 2 kids and one of my brohters have 1 kid. Some of them are still living in the house."
"Wow! Soon there will be like 50 kids when all your brothers and sisters get kids."
"No no, only 12 kids now. Only 12."
"Do you not miss your family?"
"Yeah, you know, my parents have 13 bedrooms in the house to host all the family from time to time. Two of my sisters live nearby and come and stay the weekend. In the winters we all gather indoors around the well where we make the bread and we keep warm that way. It is in amazing feeling!

.....

Here in Australia everybody live separate. If anything happens in the street in Pakistan everybody would know. Everybody will help. There is no difference between families, we are all one big family in Pakistan, everybody helps. It is not like that here. Everybody is separate. That is different. "
"Oh yes, it sure is"
And I was trying to picture myself in that image. 10 brothers and sisters. The parents never reaching the time when all kids have left the home, new grandkids replacing the own kids. Totally different way of living.

"So Mohammed, how many kids are you going to have?"
"2 or 3 maybe"
"Not 10?"
"No no no. It was different then. Now it is too expensive to have kids like that. And according to my religion it is not up to me to decide how many kids I get. It is up to God. "
"Ok, but you just told me you are going to have 2 to 3 kids?"
"Yes, you can plan. But I cannot decide. God decides. "
And we have reached our destination. I pay my bill and get out of the taxi
"Thank you Muhammed, have a great night"
"You too. Thank you, it was nice talking to you. "

Sujit, Richmond to Melbourne airport, 84 dollars

After my business meeting the taxi driver was waiting for me. I was a little bit late but he was calm and relaxed.

"Are you in a hurry? "
"Not really, I got almost two hours before the flight leaves so it should be alright"
"Yes because we got two options on which road to take, we got these options... " and my driver starts explaining the different options.
"Whatever you find appropriate, I do not know Melbourne traffic, you are the expert, you make the choice. "
"Ok, we will take this route that will the quickest. "
"Sure. "
Yesterday was Melbourne cup day, so I ask:
"Did you bet on the horses yesterday?"
"Yes! But I lost. I always lose. "
"I am sorry to hear that!"
"But I was driving a couple of people and the wife won 600 dollars. She had no idea about horses, just took one at random. "
"Ha ha, yeah, that is the way to do it I guess... Where are you from? "
"I am from Nepal"
"Nepal, I love Nepal, where abouts? "
"I am from Kathmandu. Have you been there? When did you go there?"
"I was there 12 years ago. "
"It was probably beautiful at that time"
"It sure was. Has it change a lot? "
"Yes, it has changed a lot. But is still a underdeveloped country. "
"Ah ok. "
"But is due to one reason only. Do you know why? "
"No.Why?"
"Nepal is a very rich country. It is the worlds richest country in regards to drinking water , but still there is a big water problem in Kathmandu. We have go gold and a lot of other minerals, but nobody is mining it. The government is corrupted and does no development. Nepal is very important to China and India. India is using a lot of resources now for free. They use our water for free, we supply northern India with water. But India do not want us to get developed because if we get powerful they cannot use us like they do now. Indian government is bribing the Nepalese government to prevent them from developing the country. The give them millions and millions of dollars. Nepali government people have houses in the US, in London and for sure in Australia. They do nothing... We actually had a prime minister 10 years ago who wanted to change and develop the country. He closed the border to India and started working on developing the country. He was planning a railway, flew in fuel, started making the agriculture more efficient and distributing the money to institutions and building roads. Three months later the king was pressured from India to take him away. So he was taken away from his position only after three months. "
"Interesting. Hopefully there will soon be somebody that is not corrupted and that will not taken away from the position "
"Yes. The current prime minister actually also have started doing things. But everybody wants him gone. They do not like that Nepal is being developed"
...

"Why did you move here? "
"To study. I have studied a business degree. I am actually going back in three months. "
"So what are you going to do in Nepal? "
"I do not know yet. I will see what kind of opportunities there are to make business. "
We arrive at the airport.
"Well, thank you for the ride. I wish you the best of luck when you go back to Nepal and start your business!"
"Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. "

Bisan, Manly to Sydney airport, 92 dollars

It is a beautiful morning. Warm and quiet and the sun is rising. The taxi has already arrived and the taxi driver gets out to help us with the luggage.

"Good morning! No, no, you do not have to go out, we do not have any luggage. It is just a day trip. "
The driver laughs and gets back in the car.
"Are you travelling international or domestic?"
"Domestic".
As we are driving out of Manly I am struck by the calmness in the morning. The time when few people are awake and the day is just waiting to begin.
"So where are you from originally?" This is the first time I got a driver that has a foreign accent going from Manly.
"I am from India. I am from Punjab"
"Ah, Punjab - yes I know Punjab, I have been to India, but not to Punjab."
"Well I have been here since 1982 now."
We keep on talking about this and that and then Bisan tells me that he actually used to be a chef and have a restaurant.
"Yeah, really? An Indian restaurant? "
"No, I am an Italian chef. I was a chef for 32 years. From Punjab I went to Germany and lived there and studied. That is where I learned how to be a chef. I used to have a restaurant in Neutral bay and one in Dee Why. "
"Wow, so how is it running a restaurant, is it profitable?"
"If it is busy, yes, very profitable. But not when it is not busy. And also it is so hard to find good staff. Very hard. You need to keep it within the family to make it reliable. My family used to work in my restaurant. My son was taking care of the front of the restaurant and I was taking care of the back, the cooking."
"And you still have any of your restaurants? "
"No, I do not have any of the restaurants left. I still own the property in Dee Why but lease it. It is a huge Indian store there now. Huge"
"That sells food?"
"Yes, everything. Food, clothes, DVDs. You can get anything Indian there. It is massive!"
"Sounds interesting, I want to go there!"
"Yeah, you know Pittwater road? It is just along Pittwater road, you cannot miss it. On your right hand side when you drive through Dee Why. You can get great Indian DVDs there about Hinduism, a lot of Australians come and buy them."
"So you do not do any Indian food?"
"Only for fun, I cannot do it professionally. Only Italian. But now when I do not have my restaurants anymore, I am driving the taxi. But just for fun, I do it two to three days a week. Just to pass the time you know. My son moved back to India a couple of years ago and started a school there. A school for teaching English and computer sciences. He has got a master of computer science from Australia. He started small but now he has got 150 students. My second son just got married. He works with accounting. The marriage was in Canada"
"So his wife is Canadian?"
"She is Indian-Canadian. They live with us now since a couple of weeks back."
We are now approaching the domestic airport and the queue of cars stretches out onto the highway. Will I make it? With 35 minutes before the flight departs we arrive at the taxi rank at the departures.
"Thank you Bisan, it was great chatting to you. Have a great day!"
"Thank you. You too and enjoy your flight. Please call me when you need a taxi and I can arrange so that you will be picked up, even from the airport. "