Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Impression #10 - The Inside Scoop



(Here's a photo I took this evening. You can see Faisalia tower on the left, the pointy one, and towards the right, Kingdom Tower, with it's crescent shaped top)

So I got into this taxi the other day and the driver spoke good English. He was Pakistani and most of the Pakistanis do. (Thank you colonial Great Britain, for leaving behind an education system that allows even the poor to learn a second language.)

I'd say about half the taxi drivers are English.

Well, this fellow, seeing I'm American, right away starts talking about the home country and what's going on there.

"Osama bin Laden didn't die in that attack in Abotabad."

I raise an eyebrow, "Oh really?"

"Yes, I am from Abotabad. I lived there. There are many men there that look like him."

"Oh, I see."

"No, Osama Bin Laden died 2 years ago from kidney failure."

"I heard he had weak kidneys or something. That much was in the news in America. But I had no idea he'd died."

"Yes, it's true. Definitely. He died 2 years ago."

"Very interesting."

I sort of waggled my head in loops, like a "yes" and a "no" at the same time. It's a gesture I've seen a lot of Pakistanis and Indians use. Maybe it's body language for "yo".

Anyhow, by now we'd arrived at my office. I thanked him for the interesting information and headed out into the sun.

(Remember, you read it here first. Osama did not die last May in Abotabad. You got the truth almost direct from the taxi driver in Riyadh. Now aren't you glad I'm here to share these amazing revelations with you?)

3 comments:

  1. Finally, the truth! And to think it had to be divulged in this manner.

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  2. Hi Antonio. Nice photo. Did you use a tripod for the long exposure, or do you just have really steady hands?

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  3. I was standing on a freeway overpass. So I was able to rest the camera on the rail. Then I used the 2 second timer so that when I pressed the shutter that didn't cause a jiggle.

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