MAKKAH, 19 March 2008 — Cops at a checkpoint stopped a Burmese man and an Indonesian woman that were on their way to Makkah. They wondered if the couple was married. The man was shocked — shocked! — that the police would accuse him of being with a woman to whom he was not married. He accused the police of racism. But the police didn’t relent. In fact, they took the man aside and questioned him more. Well, wouldn’t you know it: Turns out the man and the woman weren’t married. They were going to get married, which was the purpose of this trek to the holy city. According to the daily Al-Riyadh, the woman had asked the man to smuggle her into Makkah as dowry for the nuptials. She wasn’t living in the country legally, she said, and needed a man to take her to the holy city. The man agreed, and he almost made it; it was the last checkpoint that got him.
