Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Addiction and Taxis

Some people are addicted to drugs and squander all their money on fixes. Dubai@Random is addicted to books and squanders etc.

So I went to a very large mall (which shall remain nameless) which has two large bookstores (and several smaller ones) near the ski slope, and squandered a couple of hours and far too much money.

Then I went to take a taxi home, and the line wound half way around the mall. As I moved into my place at the end of the queue, a man wearing a cardigan said, 'Taxi?'

I've been taken by the 'luxury taxis,' which have a meter, but the meter is set to run at 3 times the regular taxi rates. And I've taken unmetered taxis, which can be cheaper or much more expensive than regular taxis. But this turned out to be a regular Dubai taxi, with a normal meter.

There is a long queue for taxis, where they must wait until dispatched, and an equally long queue for riders, who have to wait until their taxi is released. This enterprising driver thought he'd skip his queue and let me skip mine.

Since his uniform was underneath his cardigan, I was a bit nervous, but it was indeed a regular Dubai taxi, with a normal meter, and a regular Dubai taxi driver, and we both jumped our respective queues.

And the taxi system at the mall remains beyond my limited comprehension.

2 Comments:

Blogger Seabee said...

I'm not sure they have a 'system' - whenever I drive past the front of the hotel to get to the car park there are taxis all over the place, swerving in and out or simply just stopped in the road. None of them seem too sure where they're supposed to go.

7:16 pm  
Blogger Legal Translation Company in Dubai said...

arabic english translation Abu Dhabi
Legal Translation Services in Abu Dhabi
Medical Translation
Mechanical Engineering Translation
Abu Dhabi Circulars
ABU DHABI DECREES

6:45 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home