Originally Posted by Jean-Paul Rivegauche, PhD

it finally dawned on me that this was a game--with the object being "try to hit the stupid foreigner on a bicycle (or on foot)". It is a matter of particular pride amongst Bedouin bus drivers to cut bicyclists off, turn in front of them, and generally attempt homicidal maneuvers in the vicinity of any human-powered two-wheel vehicle. When I finally understood the ground rules implicit, I had frequent opportunity to exercise a considerable vocabulary of Arabic insults, hand gestures, and generally imprecative gesticulations in return for all the deliberately near-catastrophic encounters