The cripps in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Repulse Bay, Cripps, Crippo, Mark Cripps, Joss Cripps

Zai Jian 再見 (Hope to see you again soon)

A diary about our expedition to Hong Kong

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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A discourse on Hong Kong taxi drivers

I'm writing this sitting in the back of a (an?) Hong Kong taxi.

Generally speaking, you get two types of taxi drivers here.

Firstly, mostly younger, are the normal safe drivers. You know, those with good eyesight and usual reaction speeds. They know the rules of the road - looking in mirrors before pulling out, indicating and how to negotiate a roundabout ... that kind of thing.

And then there is the second type. A polar opposite of the above. Average age - 86, begloved, partially sighted, ADD ridden, twitchy and sometimes rocking perpetually in their driving position rainman like. They fart, belch and mutter away to themselves in Cantonese. Worse, because they drive 12-hour shifts, they pee in disused water bottles which are emptied road-side by a process of the bottles getting thrown under the vehicle, and then pulled back into the cab with a nasty piece of (usually) orange coloured shabby nylon rope. Don't walk too near taxi ranks for fear of getting splashed or overcome with cooked urine smells. These drivers tend to pull out from the side of the road right in the path of a speeding dustbin lorry; they're unable to understand or adhere to basic lane discipline - especially important around Hong Kong's switchback roads and are blissfully ignorant of the location of any major landmark on Hong Kong island (about the size of the Isle of Wight for petessakes) - and it's not a language thing -- they don't seem to know the location when expressed in either English or Cantonese -- oral or written. Don't get me started on their prowess on roundabouts - they simply have no idea how to enter one! Typically (sometimes) they approach it by slowing down ... Wait for the car to the right to enter the roundabout and then pull out in front of it as it just as it reaches our lane. But the worst (and most car-sickninglyinducing trait) is that, under the false impression it saves them on their petrol bills, they dab dab dab at the gas pedal for the whole journey. Dab dab dab - so much so that at the end of the ride I have to rush to a dustbin to barf and I feel I have a nasty case of whiplash.

Guess which type of driver I have this morning?

M

OMG - guess what? my driver just stopped at a green light ... i had to poke him in the shoulder to tell him to go!! Unreal. Mr Chow Kwok Fai - driver of red cab # JP4260 - mate, it's time for you to retire or retest mate before you kill someone.

Monday, September 28, 2009

billy's bday may 09

boy it was wet