Teksi!

image from here

Have you ever have fun in a taxi? I have. Tsk tsk, don't be rude please. I mean the sort of good time you have when you have a happily unexpected conversation with someone. Most taxi drivers begin by asking me where I'm from. Australia garners mostly 'OH, Australia.' This means they don't really know anything about Australia. Sometimes they ask you which part, sometimes they have family there, occasionally they say "oh, down under!" Usually they ask what season it is. 'Winter", I say, 'It's cold now!' Then we both chuckle because a.) It's possible the driver has never experienced winter and b.) I'm sweating like crazy all over his upholstery, and boy, do I wish it was winter here! Lately I've been having conversations about Malaysia and it's mixed cultures, and how everyone just tries to live in peace and have a good time. This is usually mixed in with some of mine and some of the driver's personal story, and are wonderful encounters.

Yesterday as I walked toward the taxi rank in Bangsar the driver started flashing his lights. I thought maybe it was a secret code or a joke he had going with another driver. Or maybe he'd seen his friend over the road. Anyway, I got in and told him where I was going. He was about 60 and Indian Malay.
"Oh sweetheart, no problem, I can take you there sure" he said. I ignored the embellishments and smiled.
"I was flashing my lights at you but you didn't signal!" he cheekily exclaimed.
I laughed "I wondered what you were doing!"
"Oh darling, you should have hailed me and I would have driven up to where you were!"
"Ha ha, sorry. I wasn't sure you were doing that for me!"
"Ohh yes, I ALWAYS flash my lights when I see a beautiful lady!" He glances in the rear vision mirror at me and smirks, but in a friendly way.
"HA! Do you always get a good response?"
"Oh yes, I always get the lady's heart!"
I make some more chuckling noises and look out the window. Now he thinks maybe he's gone to far and that I'm frightened.
"Ohh sweetheart, don't worry," he coos, "Where you from?"
"Australia."
"Oh yes. Which part? Sydney?"
"No, Melbourne, down the bottom."
"Ohh, I have family in Sydney. They like it very much. I've been there."
"Really? Do you like Australia?"
"No." He glances in the mirror again.
It's my turn to smirk, in a friendly way. "Why not?!"
"Too cold!" We laugh and he is pleased with his joke.
"Why you here, you got family here?"
"My husband is working here" OK, I'm not married. My partner is working here, but it's easier to explain if I say husband (instead of 'boyfriend', which sounds high-schoolish to me, or 'partner').
"Oh, I didn't know! You look so young. If I knew I wouldn't have tried to... Ah, I was going to put in an application to be your husband!" More smirks, laughing eyes in the mirror. Oh this guy! By now I'm laughing, laughing. OK, shall I try and turn the tables on him?
"What about you, you married?"
He quiets down a bit. "Oh yes, I'm married". Ah ha! I think. But he is far more practiced at this kind of conversation that me. He changes the subject.
"I tell you, in this city, watch your handbag!"
"Oh yes, I know I know!"
He's looking at me in the rear view mirror again, grinning playfully. "I never steal from ladies, no no. Never steal their handbags. I steal their hearts, then everything they have is mine!" Killer shot, Mr Taxi Driver! You win, you have my heart...