'Different' taxi drivers

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

In 8+ years living in BKK I have been in my share of taxis and during those years I have encountered quite a few drivers who I would consider 'different'; not your typical un/semi-educated Isaan ricefarmer

 

Three times I have riden in a taxi driven by a woman. With one of these I had a nice conversation during the ride. I ask her if she wasn't afraid driving a taxi by herself, at night, as my wife will not even take a taxi by herself, during the daytime. She told me that yes, she is afraid but it was her profession and driving during the evening/night was easier than during the day.

When asked what she did to keep herself safe she said that she carefully selects her customers. She for instance would refuse to pick up 2 or more men for the same ride; no obvious drunks either.

According to her there were about 50-60 women taxi drivers driving in Bangkok.

 

A couple years ago my wife and I entered a taxi and got a bit of a surprise when we noticed that the driver sat in a cage. All around his seat was a full metal cage. On asking him why he had done this he mentioned that he had once been robbed at knife point and had had this cage made to help protect himself.

To be honest I am surprised not more taxis have similar protection.

 

Then today I entered a taxi to see that the driver had only one arm! His left arm was missing completely, and he did everything with just his right arm, steering as well as shifting gears.

Did not ask him if he was born this way or lost it in an accident (while most Thais do not have a problem asking personal questions, I feel uncomfortable doing so), but he did mention that he had been driving cars for 20 years already when I asked him if it wasn't rather tiring shifting gears this way.

 

There were many more, including a retired railroad engineer, a stockbroker who lost his job in the '97 crash, an off-duty policeman, etc. etc., but I the above stuck in my memory.

 

Anybody else encounter any different taxi drivers?

 

Sanuk!

[Si_Saket_Girl]

Brother me driv taxi Bangkok him ok guy also. OK Noi tink many goot man an a lady driv taxi work hard. Teacher me befor drive taxi him like teech a farang spek Thai in taxi.

[Old Hippie]

I once was in a taxi, and told the driver where I wanted to go in Thai...needless to say, I didn't do it right, he pulled the cab over, and politely took out a paper and Pen and wrote down what I said, and what I should have said...a quick grammer/pronunciation lesson...

[mottley]

About a month ago my Thai ladyfriend,me and her 6 years old daughter got into a taxi that turned out te be a karaoke-taxi ! Big screen in the front.

 

Later I asked some other people, but nobody seems ever to have gotten into a karaoke-taxi, they seem to be rare.

 

I was lucky to make some movie-shots, it was great !

[Old Hippie]

I have seen the ones with movies or Karaoke videos playing...I was worried it would be a distraction to the driver, but no...didn't seem to matter.

 

Also, once got into a taxi, and it turned out, the driver knew me, as I used to "date" his cousin written about here as "tonsil girl..." Small word...

[Mekong]

My "Regular" Taxi Driver from home is a women driver, her sister is one of the security guards at our apartment and a lot of residents here use her cab.

 

Whenever we get a taxi back home, which inevitabley is late at night and involving alcohol (otherwise one of us would have driven) I always meet the "Confused" Driver.

 

The reason for the confusion is quite simple, whenever the Mr's is a little bit tiddly ie anything more than 2 Vodka/Lime/Soda's, she forgets she is Thai and tells the driver where to go to in English, (Anyone who has met my Mrs will tell you she speaks better English than me and its my mother tongue)and I have to tell the driver where we want to go to and give the Directions in Thai, fortunately my Thai improves with 2-3 drinks, but the confused looks from the Drivers is priceless.

 

I have told the Mrs about this time and time again but she never believed me until last week when we had family get together and I was telling the story she was denying it and insinuating I was making it up until her sister piped up "Its True, whenever you call me on the phone I can tell when you have had a drink, you speak English"

 

Vindicated

[Fiery Jack]

khunsanuk said:When asked what she did to keep herself safe she said that she carefully selects her customers... no obvious drunks...

 

That's ironic, cock. That character SiLeakHunt that posts on here drives a taxi cab for a living and he's an "obvious drunk" if ever there was one.

 

jack

[SiLeakHunt]

I would never let me in my own taxi.

When I've had a drink and get a taxi home I berate the driver for setting his sights too low.

 

Cheers

[RayRay]

khunsanuk said:

A couple years ago my wife and I entered a taxi and got a bit of a surprise when we noticed that the driver sat in a cage. All around his seat was a full metal cage. On asking him why he had done this he mentioned that he had once been robbed at knife point and had had this cage made to help protect himself.

To be honest I am surprised not more taxis have similar protection.

 

A couple of years ago I was up in Beijing and noticed all the cabs I rode in had these cages. I think they're pretty cool ::

[Mekong]

RayRay said:

khunsanuk said:

A couple years ago my wife and I entered a taxi and got a bit of a surprise when we noticed that the driver sat in a cage. All around his seat was a full metal cage. On asking him why he had done this he mentioned that he had once been robbed at knife point and had had this cage made to help protect himself.

To be honest I am surprised not more taxis have similar protection.

 

A couple of years ago I was up in Beijing and noticed all the cabs I rode in had these cages. I think they're pretty cool ::

 

The cage is pretty commonplace all over China, in the last 5 years I have been to about 12 different cities in China on Business and seen them in every cab.