# More taxi travails



## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

I set out yesterday to run two errands, to pick up a printer and look at motor scooters. 

I hailed a taxi and asked him to take me to Panthip Plaza. He had no idea where it was and dropped me off a few blocks later. 

I hailed a second taxi, but he refused to go to Panthip Plaza because of some Red Shirts demonstration. So I asked if he could take me to a motorcycle shop. Instead, he dropped me off somewhere nearby that didn’t look at all right, pointing to a motorcycle parked on the street. I was skeptical, but saw little value in continuing my journey with him. Climbing out, I looked around, but saw no shop and finally realized he thought I wanted to try to get to Panthip Plaza by hiring a motorcycle driver to take me. 

I flagged down a tuk tuk, but the driver had no idea how to find Panthip Plaza or Pechaburi Road, so he consulted with a loquacious elderly lady who was fluent in English, but seemed more interested in directing me to a government-operated Thai shopping complex where I could buy locally produced products during a current sales event. But she also indicated I could find a printer at MBK, a shopping mall near the Thai shopping complex. 

So I set of with in the tuk tuk. Along the way, I spotted a motorcycle dealership and asked the driver to let me off. 

“Never get out of the boat.” 

The dealership sold Hondas, which are the most popular bikes in Thailand, and I had fun twisting accelerators and asking prices in Thai, but I wanted to look at a Yamaha. The dealer was kind enough to draw me a map to his competitor’s and I set off on foot. But he had apparently only indicated major streets which didn’t match the signs I was seeing, so I flagged down another tuk tuk. 

Thailand supposedly has a 92.6% literacy rate, but this driver seems to have been among the minority. He couldn’t make any sense of the map provided by the helpful Honda dealer, but nevertheless set off. After a while, he pulled a U-turn and asked for directions, then set off again, bringing me back to the Honda dealer, then past the dealer in the opposite direction. My strenuous objections finally persuaded him to stop and I persuaded him to drive back to Honda where the friendly dealer gave him detailed verbal directions.

Apparently listening skills weren’t his long suit either. After another U-turn and two more inquiries for directions from pedestrians, we finally arrived at the Yamaha dealership. In the driver’s defense, the entrance was partially obscured by a truck parked on the sidewalk. 

Back in my grad school days, I drove a taxi for a while. The Chicago suburb of Evanston required a test that wasn’t terribly difficult. Chicago hacks earned much more, but had to take a rather difficult test requiring intimate knowledge of the cityscape. This was before GPS. I can’t imagine what test some of my taxi drivers were able to pass. I doubt some of them can even spell ตุ๊ก ๆ. 

I am sorely tempted to buy a scooter if only to avoid dealing with these drivers. I looked at a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance, but the 2010 model won’t be available for two more weeks, so I took another tuk tuk from the store. 

But my adventures weren’t over for the day. I had an interview this afternoon that entailed riding the Sky Train and taking a vanpool. Unfortunately the station was closed on my return and a lot of commuters were vying for free taxis. Throwing caution to the wind, I accepted a ride on a motorcycle with a driver who was certifiable and kept patting my knee while telling me that Thai girls prefer farangs. I got the distinct impression his love life was disappointing. I wasn’t surprised. It was a very weird adrenaline-fueled ride. As soon as I recognized the neighborhood, I hopped off. 

But I managed to find a HP printer/scanner/copier and can now print off résumés with my local number. I’ve had two interviews resulting in two offers, but I’m not sure I’ve found the ideal opportunity yet.


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2010)

Bangkok's a big place compared to Chiang Mai, but I recommend that once you find a knowledgeable, literate tuk-tuk driver who doesn't drink, you get his mobile number and use him all the time. I have/had two such drivers in CM, one who worked the daytime shift, one who started at 6 and worked thought the night. It was by far the best system - I was never ripped off, on the contrary, and could shut my eyes during a trip in the certain knowledge that the driver would get me wherever I was going in the quickest possible time.

Same applies to taxi drivers in Bangkok, where during my short stays I've found and stuck with a couple of reliable drivers.

No photos of demos for us then? Or are you not of the foolhardy ilk, the likes of which one sees drunkenly weaving through no man's land snapping photos of slingshot- and rifle-wielding antagonists, the latest Patpong tourist attraction going by some of the video clips coming out of Thailand at the moment.

Good luck with the interviews.


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## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

*Henri Cartier-Bresson*



frogblogger said:


> No photos of demos for us then? Or are you not of the foolhardy ilk, the likes of which one sees drunkenly weaving through no man's land snapping photos of slingshot- and rifle-wielding antagonists, the latest Patpong tourist attraction going by some of the video clips coming out of Thailand at the moment.




I snapped a couple of images while my taxi eased past. Whether or not they qualify as pictures depends on your definition. Certainly not, if we subscribe to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s philosophy that the goal of photography is to capture the decisive moment. For that moment, they hardly qualify as photographs if one accepts the Gino Cox philosophy that any picture that does not include a pretty girl in the frame probably doesn’t need to be taken. 

The pro-government demonstrators I saw seemed enthusiastic, but hardly violent. I would not expect any violence to occur between yellow shirts and government forces, or between red shirts and yellow shirts. Any conflict that occurs would most likely be between red shirts and government forces.


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