I had been waiting and waiting for 10 minutes. I walked while keeping my eyes open for a taxi. When I came to a bus stop I saw that the next bus was in 30 minutes. Nooo! Then suddenly, a taxi! I waved but he did not stop. Why not? Of course. He cannot stop here. The traffic is too intense! I looked and saw him turning a couple of hundred meters further down. Maybe he stopped and waited for me! I ran but he was not there. Then all of a sudden, he was beside me. He had gone around the block.
"Thank you for stopping. It took a long time to find a taxi here."
"Well I have never, never gotten a customer on THIS street!"
"Well, thank you, I was very very tired. It has been a long week."
We talked about this and that and then he asked me.
"Where are you from?"
"Sweden. "
"Ah, Sweden, I used to live in France"
"So you speak french?"
"Mais, oui, je parles francais!"
And I started to speak french as well and it turned out that he was actually french! He moved to Australia wwhen he was 10. So the rest of the taxi ride we spoke french. Me more in the beginning than in the end because I was exhausted from my day and keeping the concentration on speaking my third language was just too hard.
*in french, but now translated to english*
"Yes, I have lived in many countries. And I speak most languages. But not Thai. Thai is so difficult. I lived in India. I speak hindi"
"Oh wow, did you live in India? Where in India?"
"Dharamasala, in the northern parts. "
"You kiddin! I have always wanted to go there!"
"It is soo beautiful. I stayed there for some time and did a lot of meditation. One day there came some poor people in to the village and they had no food and no money and I helped them. That is when i met Dalai Lama. "
"Have you met Dalai Lama?"
"Yes, très sympa, very nice man! He saw that I had helped these people so he came to talk to me. And he is a wonderful man. "
Wow. This man has met Dalai Lama. That is huge. That is like chatting with Richard Branson, Barrack Obama, Martin Luther King or Gandhi. I am so impressed. And this guy drives a cab.
"Wait wait, I live here!"
"Ok. Oh no! I forgot to start the meter! Just give me 20 dollars then.."
"Are you sure that is enough? I am not the one who is paying. "
"Oh, make it 25 than. ok? "
"Yeah, sure."
"Thank you. Thank you. Au revoir!"
"Au revoir"
