Suddenly I remembered my experiences of taking taxis.
In Jakarta 2006, I was advised to take only certain companies of taxi. I remembered one of the company is Bluebird. Beware that there are other companies which are also blue in colour. The reason to take certain companies of taxi is because other company may overcharged or not very safe. One night, my colleague and I decided to look for dinner further away from the hotel. We used Bluebird to reach the place, charged according to the meter. When we wanted to go back to the hotel, we can find any blue taxi, so we decided to use taxi with other colour. Before we get on the taxi, we asked for the fare and he is clearly try overcharged us. So I had to bargain with the driver to get an reasonable fare. Lucky Indonesian language have much similarity with Malaysia Language. Yeah, we get the reasonable fare and get back to the hotel safely.
In Egypt 2007, after wandered around in Cairo Museum, three of us tried to catch a cab with reasonable fare. On our way to the museum, the taxi driver even changed his mind with the agreed fare when we reached the museum. I think it is fine to pay a bit more than regular fare (fare usually charged to locals), but if too much over, it will be too much. After a while, we found a taxi driver with reasonable fare, the guy start to take us to somewhere. Accompanied with an Aussie and a Brazilian men, so I guessed it was not that dangerous to follow a stranger to alleys. Last last he brought us to a car, a private care, not a typical taxi. I was not alone, so I guessed it was fine. When we almost reached our destination, the driver start to talk about taking us to some touristic destination. When we insisted on going back to our accomodation, the driver start to say the fare is too small and asked for more. I started to argue by saying we agreed to the original fare, and we refused to pay more. My Aussie colleague was sitting at front seat and responsible in handing out the money. I told my colleague to just get off and give him the agreed fare. However when my colleague handed out the money, the driver refused to accept the money and asked for more. As cruel as I am, I just take the money from my colleague's hand, put the money on the seat, closed the door, and walked away with my colleagues as fast as possible.
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Tips:
A comment was written saying I was lucky that the driver didn't get out of the car and chase me.
Actually there is a tip to avoid the driver from chasing.
* Try to stop the taxi along a busy road. He can;t stop for too long along a busy road.
It was hard for him to get out of his car because driver seat is at left side, his car was at the pathway at right side. Too many car, dangerous for him to climb down and chase us. Left side of the car was busy road.
______________________________________________________________
Tips:
A comment was written saying I was lucky that the driver didn't get out of the car and chase me.
Actually there is a tip to avoid the driver from chasing.
* Try to stop the taxi along a busy road. He can;t stop for too long along a busy road.
It was hard for him to get out of his car because driver seat is at left side, his car was at the pathway at right side. Too many car, dangerous for him to climb down and chase us. Left side of the car was busy road.
12 comments:
You are very brave, girl. If i were in your situation that time, i guess that i must have overpaid a lot because i was quite timid to bargain and fight back with them. Gotta learn a lot from you! =)
Lina, have to be streetwise when abroad. That was few years ago, now more dependent on others when going to work. Of course, have to sleep independently.
glad you were able to survive that demanding driver
yikes.. so brave of you ghosthy mama..
that's why i would rather ride a bus and any public vehicle than taxi... drivers are so scary
have a great day Ghosty nana and happy blogging
and they are so fond of taking advantage with their passengers
You're brave I must say hehehe. Luckily that taxi driver didn't go after you :p I guess he must've been stunned by your braveness hahaha
bluedreamer, ghosty mama?? I am not a mama yet. hehehe. Public transportation is a good choice if you are in town which have good public transportation. If not, you may end up at places that you don't know. People are materialistic nowadays. You have a good day too and happy blogging.
Rodz, yeah was brave because was young. Young people always thought young people won't die. hehehe.
Rodz, actually have a secret to avoid him chasing after us.. I asked him to drop us along a very busy road and he can't stop there for too long. Driver seat is left side, his car was at the pathway at right side. Too many car, dangerous for him to climb down and chase us.
Naomi, Bluebird is a very safe taxi company. They dont over charge and at the slightest complain for customer, the driver will be fired
smallkucing, however Bluebird in Bali usually charge higher. It is better to use local taxi, Bluebird is company one, but local taxi is own by themselves usually. It is cheaper than bluebird.
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