Taxis

Not having a car here, I wind up taking taxis many places. Actually, I take the MRT (the subway), or walk, as many places as I can. But sometimes, you gotta get there fast, or it’s not close to the MRT route. Anyways, the taxi can be an interesting experience.

The taxi system is very good here. They all use their meters (unlike my experiences in Bangkok), and they have 1 phone # that you can call to access all the taxi companies. It’s an automated system, and if you call from your cell phone, it remembers where you call from at different times. So, if I call around 6pm, it asks if I’m at work, or at one of the other places I’ve called from at that time. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a Mercedes taxi.

It seems like at least 50% of the cars driving around here are taxis, which makes sense – a car in Singapore is a huge investment (not to mention a status symbol). For instance, a Honda Civic costs about $50k (US). Then, you have to buy a permit to own the car, which expires in 10 years. And, since cars are a status symbol, everyone wants the nicest car you can get – hence, a lot of BMWs (several hundred thousand $).

Some taxis smell…bad. The drivers eat, sleep, and sometimes smoke in them. Usually, it’s not too bad, though. Some of them are kept very clean & smell good.

Some taxi drivers are really inconsiderate. They’ll speed up to prevent someone from merging in front of them. If we come up on a line of stopped cars, they’ll get out of line, race up & merge back into the line close to the front (that drives me crazy!)

More often than not, when going to work – they ask me how I want to get there. “Do you want to go by AYE, or Holland Road, or…?” I have no idea why they do this – we’re not going through any toll zones or anything. Usually I tell them I don’t care, but sometimes they press. Annoying.

Some of the drivers are fun to talk to, and I had one driver that really stood up for me. I was out rollerblading at the East Coast Parkway. When I was done, I flagged down a cab & he stopped probably 20-30 yards from me. As I was walking up, a group of people ran up & jumped in the cab. I was a little irritated, and just started walking away. All of a sudden, the driver threw them out & waved for me to come over. He said they didn’t follow “the proper procedure”, and that wasn’t fair. Cool! He got a nice tip. :-)

But, by far my most favorite story was ‘the chicken lady’. I was out grocery shopping, and I got in a cab to head home. The lady asked if I was from Australia, and I said no, the US. She asked how I liked the weather here. I said it was nice, and it was about –5C in my home right now. That set her off… “Wow! So cold! Sir, let me ask you a question – when it’s that cold, do the chickens still lay eggs?” I told her I don’t know (I’m not a farmer!). Then she asked about the other farm animals. I told her that I think they’re warm enough in the barns. Then she went back to the chickens – wondering how we get eggs during the winter.

Then, she asked me if she could have my email address, so she & her daughter could email me & learn more about how the animals get by in the cold. Trying to be polite, I gave her my junk email address. Then she asked me for my phone # - I politely declined. Then she asked if I had a web cam, so we could chat online!!!! I told her no. I don’t think I’ll be emailing her.

So yeah – the taxis here are interesting.

On another note – Christmas is alive & well in Singapore. I thought the US got their decorations up early. Orchard road has been decorated for over a week now. It’s all lit up now, and there are huge Christmas trees in front of every mall. For some reason, they combine Christmas with Mardi Gras too… lots of signs say Merry Christmas & Happy Mari Gras.

Also, I’ve made my plans to come home. I’ll be heading back to chilly MN on January 5^th, and staying for a little over 2 weeks. I’ll be in MN for on the 1^st & the 3^rd weekend, and heading up to Wisconsin for the annual trip to the cabin with the guys on the 2^nd weekend. I’m really excited to see you all (well, those of you in MN). Hopefully you’ll all be in town.