Reflections : You think you've been in smelly taxis?

Everyone has to read Hamzeh's post before mine.He reminded me of a certain misfortunate incident that happened to me in Doha,Qatar.I was going to visit my friend who lived 5 mintes away.You can tour most of Doha in ten minutes,and the traffic isn't that bad either in the morning,so in general,you don't need to take short cuts.Taxi drivers there tend to do that all the time though.And they tend to off-road ,in their beaten up cars, no matter what.So,I took a cab and asked him to go to dowar el cinema I believe it was called.The smells started to leap on me.They were mixed smells that I can not describe,bodily smells,food smells,aged smells,smells that have accumilated through hygiene -free months,skin that hasn't seen soap or shampoo,maybe even water.The cab driver decided he'd take a short cut over bumpy pieces of land filled with gravel and stone.Back then,six years ago,proper roads weren't that proper, other than the famous corniche road,but at last they were asphalted.But our driver chose to off-road.I was something like four months pregnant and I am one of these women who have morning sicknes all day long,all through my pregnancy.I throw up all the way to the delivery room,without needing an excuse.So the smells and the off-roading took their toll on me and I felt a burst of liquids getting ready to explode out of mouth.I searched my purse for a bag but didn't find anything.I always had one for such emergencies,but not that day,not even tissues.I scanned my options in my mind:I could open the window and throw up outsideI tried and it was stuck 15 centimeters from the top so I couldn't.I could use my purse,but it was a present from Paris,I could use my jacket's pocket,but no way I was going to ruin a perfectly good jacket like that.Of course,I could have asked him to stop if the gush of liquids wasn't already filling up my mouth and if my cheeks weren't already ballooning on both sides.One more bump and another gush came flowing out of my mouth that I had no other option than tilt my head to the side and do it on the car seat.I threw up soo bad I could have chocked.The seat was soaked.The smell was awful.I was breathing loud gasping for air,and the guy did not hear ,smell or see anything.

AT ALL.I was feeling a bit guilty about this ,but it was his smell and his road choice that triggered this unhappy incident afterall.I had one of those individually wrapped scented towels in my purse,I used it to wipe my hands and mouth,then cover the proof.We arrived at the roundabout,

paid the guy the fee,left an extra 10 rials on the back seat for him to clean up the car,if he ever did notice something was wrong,and ran all the way up to my friend's house fearing I might be caught.Would you blame me for that?