Sam - Nedlands to Perth Airport, 56 dollars

Sam is a young taxi driver. He has got large sun glasses and longer black hair. Very aware of his style. When he picked me up he was so happy to get a long ride all the way to the airport. He said it was his lucky day. Now we have been driving for ten minutes and are now driving along a river.

"What do you mean that you do not know if this river is the same river as the one in the CBD? You are a taxi driver and must know the city inside out? "
I am smiling at Sam and he sighs.
"I don't know! I cannot focus on the stuff around me."
Sam is laughing
"I got so much stuff going on in my life. Life is shit"
"No come on, life is wonderful! What is bothering you?"
"Well, first of all I am in love with this girl. But she is getting married to another guy. But she does not want to marry him. "
"Wow. That is though. Why does she not want to marry him? Did her parents choose him? "
"Yes. And they are engaged. And everybody is expecting this to happen you know. "
"Do you still see her?"
"Yes I do." Big sigh. "If she was going to break up with this guy it will cause a lot of pain. Family, relatives, friends. Everybody is expecting this. And if she breaks up because of me I must marry her instead. "
"And are you prepared to marry her? "
"I am not ready yet. I am studying, I cannot support her now. "
"But does she not have a job? "
"Yes, she has got a good job"
"And she likes it?"
" Yes, she likes it."
"Hey Sam, take it easy. Just be patient, everything will be alright in the end. If you do not know what to do, just relax."
"Well, yeah, I dont know what to do... "

We continue talking about other stuff in his life that is "shit". But even though everything is bad Sam laughs a lot and is very easy going. I am sure that he will be fine. He also tells me that he used to live in Melbourne for a few years so I ask him about the differences between Melbourne and Perth

"Perth is much better! People in Melbourne are so rude. People in Perth are so nice. The weather in Melbourne sucks! The weather in Perth is great, everyday sun. Fantastic. "

We arrive at the airport and Sam drives away, happy with the longest drive of the day.

Cheng - Circualar Quay to Surry Hills, 28 dollars

" I am from China. "

" Ah. How long have you lived in Australia?"

"15 years"

" Are you from a village or the city? "

" I am from a small village. " And he is telling me the name of the village which I repeat several times in my head. And I forget it approximately 30 seconds later.

" Do you go back and visit?"

" Yes. I was there two years ago. "

" Do you see any changes? "

"Everything has changed.  Now it is so expensive in China. Everything is so expensive. But the quality is better also. "

"And you live here in Sydney with your family? "

"Yes, my wife and my daughter. She is 31 years old.  She studied in university to be a nurse. And she is now working in a hospital. Very good job."

 "Wow. You must be so proud of her! "

A big smile spreads on his face.

"She earns good money. But she is always on hold. There is a big lack of nurses. "

"Oh yeah, I read about that. "

"Work lot of overtime. ... Ok. Holt street."

"Thank you. Have a good day"
"You too. "

Salim - Circular Quay to Walsons Bay, 9 dollars

"There are many tourists here now isn't there?"
"Not so many. GFC. People from China, Japan. "
"Yeah, but I have seen quite a few tourists in Manly, European has their holidays now."
"Really? Ok. Maybe people from France, England. "
"And a lot of people from the nordic countries, Sweden, Norway, Finland. "
"No no. They do not know about Australia. "
"Oh yes, it is very popular with Swedes. A lot of Swedes move here. "
"No no. Why would they do that? Everything is better in Sweden than here! I come from Pakistan. And from Pakistan and India you can understand why we come here. But not from Sweden. They do not come here. "
" I can promise you, they do. "
Salim looks and me and smile.
" Ok, ok"
We are at my destination, it was a short ride this time.
"9 dollars"
"Thank you. Have a great evening!"
"Bye"

Bashir - Sydney International airport to Manly via Frenches Forest, 80 dollars

"Anyone for northern beaches!!!? "
I had been waiting in the taxi line at the airport for 10 minutes. And the taxis became more and more sparse. It looked like they were running out of taxis. Behind me there was a line with about 50 people.
"Northern beaches, going to northern beaches?"
This taxi driver wanted another passenger by some reason. Should I take it? I was number 5 in line, but there were no more free taxis for the moment.
"I can take it!"
I got in to the taxi.
"I will first go to Frenchs Forest to drop you off" the taxi driver said to my passenger.
"What's with the taxis? Why are there no more taxis?"
"You know, it is night time, very busy. All the business people come home from travel. Very busy. We did a general taxi call now to get more taxis to the airport. In the afternoons it is not busy but mornings and nights very busy".
"Where are you from?"
"Lebanon."
"How long have you been in Australia?"
"16 years. "
"You like it?"
"Yes! I like it. I got four kids. If I would have stayed in Lebanon I would not have had a good life. Not enough money to feed the kids. Here I can have a good life. In Lebanon you are always aware. Anything can happen anytime. "
"It is not safe?"
"I would not say that it is not safe. But you are always aware. You always know that something can happen. At night, all the time. "
...
We drop off the guy at Frenchs forest and go on to Manly.
" You know. Money is nothing in life. As long as you are healthy you are rich. If you are unhealthy money does not matter, you would rather be healthy than have money. I was reminded of this a while ago. I was driving the taxi like this and all of a sudden I got a sharp sharp pain in my stomach. Like somebody put a knife in my stomach. I managed to stop the car and got into the hospital. It hurt so much! It was stones in the kidney. The doctor said that it is common among taxi drivers. Taxi drivers do not like to drink water because we do not like to go to the toilet. And we drink to little and stone in the kidneys. So now I always got my medecin with me! "
Bashir is holding up a bottle of water with his left hand.

"ok. There you go. Manly. "
"Thank you Bashir, nice talking to you!"
"Thank you, nice talking to you too"

Dai - North Sydney to World Square, 22 dollars

"Are you free?"
"I have to go to the toilet first. "
"Sorry?"
"I need to go to the toilet. Ok? I will be quick."
"Ah. Ok. Sure."
And the guy gets out of the taxi and starts running. A couple of minutes later he is back.

"World Square please, do you know where it is?"
"Yeah, world square."
"Thank you.
...
Did you have a good day so far?"
"Oh yes, good day! But too much raining. Not good too much raining all the time! "
"No I guess, but now it is finished. "
" Yeah too much raining! Little rain is good, but now. Too much!"
"How long have you been in Australia?"
"I have been in Australia for 8 years!"
"So you like it?"
"Yes, Australia is very good. Not like China. In China - not free. I mean, Australia is not perfect, still has political problems, but in China not free."
"Oh yes, I have heard about that... Not good!"
"No, you know, if you are a practioner of ... which is a chinese meditation then you will be prosecuted! That is why I came here. I fled. If I had stayed in China I would have been in prison. "
" Really?"
"Yes, you cannot practice this kind of meditation, the communists does not like it. The meditation is good, people becomes happy and healthy and loving. But they are afraid of it by some reason. The prosecute people that practise it. "
"Wow"
"Many hundreds of thousands people live in fear in China or in prison. ".
"There you go. World Square. "
"Thank you for sharing your story with me. "
"Thank you for listening. "

Jacques - Frenchs forest to Manly, 25 dollar

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"

Arar - North Sydney to Surry Hills, 22 dollars

"What, I just came from Surry Hills! "

You can tell from the accent that this taxi driver is not born in Australia.

"Do you know where Holt Street is?"

He looks a bit worried, but I'll be alright...

"Holt Street... Hmmm.... No worries, I will use my navigator"

"So where are you from?"

"Jordan."

"Wow, Jordan, I have never met anybody from Jordan before!"

"So you have never been to Jordan, do you know where it is? "

Oh God, somewhere in north Africa? How can I not know where Jordan is? Embarrassing!
"I believe I do... Almost"

"It is in the middle east, next to Israel"

Ok. I knew that. Do they have an wars there? I know so little about the world...
"How is Jordan? Peaceful or do you have wars? " Exposing my lack of knowledge. Be kind to me...

"Jordan is very peaceful! All the surrounding countries are less peaceful, but Jordan good. We have a good king! 85 percent of the people like him."
Wow! That is more than most democracies.

"Do the king have any power? "

"Yes! It is not like in England, the king decides everything! I have not been in Jordan since King Abdullah the second started ruling but I went back to Jordan last year and my family says that he is good. Ok. This is it. Holt Street 55.  "

"Oh thank you"

"You know, I picked those ladies up over there (pointing 100 meters away from where we are), the ladies I was dropping off when you were coming out of the office. I am so lucky getting a new customer immediately. Have a great day!"