BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

Have you ever had a taxi ride, thinking it would be the last ride of your life? Well, I had.

Back in 2014, when I was still studying in South Korea, together with friends we decided to spend the New Year's Eve in the Philippines. I will remember that trip as it is the only New Year's Eve to date which I spent in shorts and a T-shirt, but also because of the taxi ride in Manila.

My friend R. and I arrived in Manila early in the morning. It was still dark, and we were very sleepy. We had to go to a beach area near Manila to meet the rest of our group. The location was around 3-hour ride by car. We couldn't be bothered taking public transport, so decided to take a taxi, have a good sleep on the way, and split the costs (no, we were not rich, the cab was just cheap 😀).

We didn't have Uber back then, so grabbed a local taxi which wasn't difficult to find at the airport. We put all our bags in the trunk and jumped in the car, excited to finally go to the beach!

I checked the map, and we were going in the right direction. All seemed fine. After 5-10 minutes driver told us:

"It is going to be a long drive, and I don't have enough gas, so we need to stop at the gas station first."

In my head, I imagined a gas station like in the US or in Europe where you go out, take a fuel nozzle, fill your tank, and then pay at the shop. Well, that was only in my head. The place we headed to looked utterly different.

So, before I continue you should know the following: I am a big fan of "Gone in 60 seconds" movie and watched it probably tens of times. There is a scene at a scrapyard where a guy was about to get crushed in a car.

At some point, I see the car turning right and arriving at a place with hundreds of vehicles. It was very dark, and I couldn't understand where we were. Our driver killed the engine and leaves the car without saying anything. I heard him talking to people, and suddenly they started flashing their lights and looking inside the auto.

Next, I heard how the trunk was opened and thought "Well, our luggage is gone. We are next." I started remembering that scene from the movie... I had an urge to check out what was going on. I opened the door and pretended that I needed a jacket from the trunk. I bet people around thought: "What's wrong with him? It is 30°C+, and he needs a jacket?" Outside the car a saw 4-5 folks standing around the car talking. One of them seemed to be the boss with papers in her hands. From what I saw, we were in a taxi park. What I didn't understand was why we were there, because there were no fuel nozzles, not even plastic bottles with gasoline. So, I took my jacket and got back in the car. A few minutes after the driver came back and we left the taxi park to drive to our destination.

Thinking about it now, as the driver didn't have a walkie talkie (radio set), I suppose he needed to let his boss know in person about the 3-hour drive.