A very wholesome cab conversation about beheading.

Five minutes into the cab ride to Diliman, the driver suddenly turned to me and asked: "Have you ever seen someone getting beheaded?"

I very nearly stopped the cab, got off, and ran away as fast as I could. But I remembered it took me more than 15 minutes to finally hail an empty cab along a mostly deserted Emerald Avenue, and I was in a hurry. Still, I watched the driver for any suspicious actions or sudden movements. I am still quite attached to my head.

Turned out the driver had a video clip of an American serviceman that got beheaded, supposedly in Basilan. He dared me to watch it, to see if I could stomach watching a beheading.

He passed me his iPhone-imitation phone and I watched the clip. The poor man's head was quickly hacked from one jugular using a small knife. I watched it stoically until the point were the head was barely attached to the neck by a small strip of skin and returned the phone to the driver. I was still watching him for any suspicious movements.

The rest of the cab ride to Diliman went by without incident, but I was quite glad to get off that car when I reached my destination.