Riding Taxi's in Kuwait

There are a vast array of nationalities here in Kuwait that make a living driving a taxi cab. Every taxi I have ridden in here has been a new experience; from the Indian husband who had a good old feel of my leg, the guy that whipped out his whole collection of Michael Jackson (AMAZING) to devout Islamic Egyptian who I spent an hour and a half with in a traffic jam, in this time he taught me some Arabic and prayed, he recited along to a prayer on the radio for around 15 minutes......whilst i'm on the subject, I'm just going to put it out there, I actually quite like the prayer calls, I find them quite relaxing, they have the ability to really calm me!

I quickly learnt that taxi drivers try to charge blond and little British girls double the fare that they would charge for say an Indian man or Filipino woman....I learnt from Lise that the best thing to do, at least for short journeys, is know what the fare should be before you get in and then at the end of the journey just pay them that amount.....always have change! I have encountered few problems this way, I have had a few drivers protest but I just say sternly, I have been here many times and I always pay this fare. Another thing you learn quickly is that few cab drivers speak good English or have any idea where they are going, for this reason it is always good to know a few well known places near to your destination, my first week was a nightmare, and you feel so stupid for not knowing any Arabic.

Having said all this one of my favourite people in Kuwait at the moment is noor- this means moonlight- a taxi driver from Bangladesh. He speaks great English and Arabic and is just such a touching character. He works so hard, he is always on time and is trying to start a business with his brother, he used a saying the other day he said " god will help you but you must try", I'm not religious but his determination and patience is really inspiring! He is one of those people that you meet and you just feel they deserve to have good things happen to them! If I won a large sum of money I'd definitely give him a million because he is just so moral and he has so little!