Operation Last Minute Times Square Excursion For Snow Gear begins with a cab ride…
This cabbie only has 2 handphones… The max we’ve counted has been 4 or 5 (not counting the radio some of them use to call in locations and respond to taxi bookings)… They give out different numbers to different clients (based on timing – morning or afternoon shift – and whether the client is referred to them by another cabbie).
Why? Because they’ve formed their own cartels, particularly for long cab rides like to the airport (which costs ~HKD 200-300). If you call them and they’re too far away, they’ll ask a friend who is nearer your location to pick you up. The cabbies say they mostly started this during the SARS period when their income dropped some 30-40% and they had to figure out a way to survive.
Benefits to the clients:
They’ll always endeavor to send one of their friends over so you get a cab at a time when it’s hard to get one, even on the taxi hotlines. They don’t fleece you by taking a longer route (which is very common here) because they want you to call them back for the long distance rides. They try to be polite.
One of these groups once introduced a cabbie to us who spoke good English, from having lived abroad. We liked to engage him to pick my parents up from the airport if we were stuck at work since my parents don’t speak much Cantonese.
He offered to be on call to drive them around during the day for a flat fee of HKD 600. Very tempting – he was very entertaining with my parents – but we didn’t take it up because they’re supposed to use the meter.
Average cab fare one-way from our home to Causeway Bay or Central is about HKD 75. Most people who live where we do drive.
(Surprisingly luxury cars cost less to buy in Hong Kong than say Singapore:
second-hand 2.0 liter BMW Kings currently drives in Hong Kong = almost exact same cost as second-hand 1.6 liter Nissan Sunny he drove in Singapore.
It’s parking and petrol that kills you. As a result, some people get sexy luxury cars here to drive on weekends but take public transport to work.)
As a very general guide (from speaking to cabbies, so you be the judge) they can make upwards of HKD 20,000 a month (net) if they work hard 10-11 hour days. Some are out even during Typhoon 8 signals and Black rainstorm warnings, and their 4 cellphones never stop ringing. One cabbie claimed to have hit HKD 30,000 before (but bearing in mind the median salary in the transport sector is HKD 10,000+ they must have very bad days or months too. Or else he’s simply not telling the truth.)
Thing is, they vary very widely – there’s a very intelligent and professional one Kings and I joke could’ve been a successful banker in another life. When another cabbie rammed into us from behind, he was the guy we called for advice.
(Cabbies go to a different, much cheaper garage to fix their cars than the general population of car owners; the cabbie who had rammed into us wanted to use his garage.)
We met another (very old guy) who said he was a retired engineer bored of sitting at home. He cabbie-ed when he felt like it.
One cabbie mentioned he’d sent 3 kids abroad to college. “It’s hard. <Pause> But it’s doable.”
(Wouldn’t say how much he made though.)
Another cabbie sent his (then) 14 year old daughter to Singapore to study because it was “cheap finding a foster home there” and he wanted to stop her hanging out with the wrong company in Hong Kong. One weekend he noticed some comments from her friends on her facebook account, and eventually figured out she had stolen her passport from her foster care givers in Singapore the night before, then hopped a plane and was sleeping on the beach on Lamma Island.
(He and his wife dragged her back. Now 19, she’s cleaned up good.)
Made it – Times Square, Causeway Bay
Fine, I’m a bad parent. (He does look a little pale, doesn’t he?)
Rockstar insisted on coming and I carried him most of the time, so there.
They’re having some “alternate reality”-type exhibition. Rockstar loves the “tire monsters” which is why he’s so willing to have his picture taken here.
15 MINUTES WITHOUT A SINGLE CAB DRIVING UP AT TIMES SQUARE?
The queue attendant (there to discourage queue cutters and assist passengers carrying too much shopping) starts apologizing to the queue (not that it’s his fault.)
People in the queue start dialing the hotline number to report congestion.
I start taking pictures of our view in the queue to while away the time.
Kowloon queue… Tantalizing, but no help there…
No, you can’t tell Kowloon from HK cabs except by the red paper sign they sometimes put in the window (see 2nd, 3rd cabs in the queue) which just means they’re not in service (because they don’t want to ferry anyone in HK, they’re waiting to take the tunnel back to Kowloon). You get to save one-way tunnel fare by taking a Kowloon cab on its way back, instead of a Hong Kong cab, if you’re going to Kowloon (but I prefer the MTR)
Impatient passengers on the Hong Kong queue walk over and ask if they’re willing to ferry them in HK instead.
(The answer is no probably because they’re not sure of the way and have decided the cost of being booked for a wrong turn or getting lost is more than the extra money from the HK fare).
Men held to a higher standard? Didn’t manage to take a pic of the more famous “Mence Beauty” salons who use Aaron Kwok as spokesperson…
Random People’s Recreation Community (PRC, geddit?) sign… (I’m waiting for a cabbie in a queue that hasn’t moved in 15 minutes and carrying a sleepy toddler, how good do you think my cellphone pictures are going to be?)
Here come the cavalry – collective sigh of relief as Hong Kong taxis start rolling in
Knights in neon armor
Our indignant cabbie:
“I waited <pause while he draws a breath> THIRTY MINUTES before I could get out of there and pick up a passenger!”
He says many people dialed the hotline (as did he) because of the congestion. The traffic cops were dispatched to clear it up – they diverted further traffic from entering the congested area leading up to the Times Square taxi queue
(Btw, never try to bribe a traffic cop who stops you in Hong Kong – private joke between my Malaysian friends)
FUH-INALLY we are on our way back
We live in the Hong Kong Cyberport… Microsoft Hong Kong occupies almost 4 floors here…
Hello, Ms Sphinx who guards the main entrance to the thousands of apartments in 3 development phases
Hello, stark white lobby entrance that makes us feel we need sunglasses in any season
Aren’t you just a little impressed I managed to take this shot on my cell while lugging a sleeping 13kg toddler and handbag? Pretend! Please!
View from our bedroom window while I settle Rockstar for his nap
To the right, open seaview
To the left, Bel-air Phase 4 and 6
Don’t even think of trying to take pictures in that pool when it’s crowded – they don’t allow picture taking – the lifeguard stopped me taking pictures of Rockstar because there were other people in the background of the shot (and btw most people dress really well to go down for a swim)
And those houses next to the pool?
One 5600 square foot house will set you back about HKD 130 mio…
