The Pakistani Cab Driver from Ajman

We were waiting for a cab outside the hotel in Sharjah at 6pm, trying to hail one to Dubai to meet a client from Kuwait. It must have been the coldest time of the year in Sharjah, coz 2 layers of clothes obviously did not do the "layering' trick in keeping me warm. (today's news reported strong winds and temperatures as low as 1 deg C in Ras Al Khaimah)



Singaporeans shouldn't complain about the recent taxi woes in Singapore. Those in the UAE is worse. No cab would take passengers into Dubai in the evenings, coz the traffic jams within Dubai would be so bad that the cabs just cannot come out! (yes, simple econs lah... cannot make money what..)



It must have been a good 50 minutes and a couple of rejections later that a cab pulled up in front of us and offered to take us for the journey to Dubai. Look, it's only about 10km into the city but like I said, the traffic jam could easily take more than 2 hours to get out! (yeah, now you know why I want to do the Dubai Marathon? - it's so much easier and faster!)



It was the Pakistani cab driver from Ajman.

What's so special about this guy? Well, he kept talking and talking and talking and mumbling weird stuff. 'Lahk doo, Bahl doo' he kept saying that phrase over and over again. When we asked him what he means by 'Lahk doo, bahl doo', he claims it was a chinese phrase. I don't know what he really was saying but he always ended every sentence with 'lahk doo, bahl doo'. IS that a pakistani bad word? Can anyone verify what 'lahk doo bahl doo' mean?

Anyway, he collects currencies from all over the world. He asked for Singapore dollars. I gave him a $2 plastic note - it's worth 5 dirhams.

Lahk doo, bahl doo.... whatever that is...