Since I haven't mastered the bus system yet I have been using a lot of taxi's here. They are quite cheap so I didn't have a huge incentive for learning either.
Anyhow it's quite funny sitting in a taxi for about half an hour and being able to study the chauffeurs. Or talk to them. If they have any English at all, which is not very often....A few of them have made an impression on me. Not always pleasant though. Don't get me wrong, they are very kind people in general. But sometimes it feels like you're stepping into the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant. The smell....Not the smells of freshly cooked food but of rancid cooking oils or something. We wonder if they sometimes live in their taxi. Eat and sleep there.
One particular guy had a big mole on his cheek. He was the nicest guy and spoke quite good English but I couldn't stop staring at the really long hairs coming out of that thing. Black and grey ones. Some almost 2 inches long (around 5cm?). Why on earth would he not cut them of???!!!I have seen it more often and I was wondering if it's bad luck to cut them of? Or maybe it's regarded as a beauty mark....
One other guy was very knowledgable. He knew quite a bit about Holland. And was asking a lot of questions about our way of living. At some point he asked me if I had any children. I told him that I have two daughters. In return I asked him the same question. He responded dryly: "No......Is long term investment". I thought it was very funny. But he was serious....They are very careful with having children and mostly have only one.
A bunch of drivers stare at you in their mirror. I don't know exactly why. Maybe they have not seen many foreigners (some are new at the job and not from the city) or maybe because I am so tall and I am in their rear view....
The girls thought it was funny the first time when the driver opened the door for us from the inside. He has a lever and can open and shut the door without moving. Magic! Pretty handy when you have your hands full with bags.
Something else that's different here about the taxi system is the extra charges. One of them is 5HK$ (less than US$) for each live animal or bird (chicken) transported. And we're not talking about pets here....
More taxi stories soon to follow...
2 comments:
And for a pig?
In Indonesia you do not pay. I have seen baskets full of chickens in the bus and you had to be very carefull not to stand on them.
One day I saw a man with a big brown ball on the back of his bike and when he got near to us, it appeared to be a load of chickens all tied together with their feet.
Really love to read all of your stories! Can't wait to visit you guys over there!
Groetjes van Stef en Kris!
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