Irresponsible Cab Driver - Part 2

Infected again!  By yet another taxi driver who cough badly and spread his germs to us.

After our bed-ridden experience from one "Irresponsible Cab Driver" in 2015, we encounter yet again another one who was coughing so badly that the taxi swerved as he fought to control the wheels while struggling to suppress his cough with even more sweets and then eventually, giving his cough the all-out blast, bombing the whole cab!  We were travelling on a highway, so it would be a distance before we can call him to a halt - by which time, we would have reached the destination. 

We were so shocked that none of us thought to ask him to open the windows to let the germs out.

That would have been the regular reaction, except this time, we got distracted trying to make out what he was mumbling under his breath.  He was not only sick, he appears demented, and we thought it wiser to try to make out what he was talking to himself, in case he got agitated by us wanting to abort the trip or making any changes. 

True enough, just as the taxi reached the end of the highway, he mumbled: "Suicide lah (cough! cough!)"

Another poor victim

By then, we were nearing the end (of the destination; not our end, thankfully).  We got out of the taxi in a jiffy.

That's it!

Since there is no law to prevent taxi drivers from working while suffering from cough and flu, we will remember to ask all future taxi drivers if they are suffering from this ailment before we board.   

Another few days of being bedridden and the lost productivity is no joke, not to mention the need for another round of antibiotics as we got quite badly infected, coughing till the throat became raw and inflamed.

Spreading of disease by taxi drivers who are obviously sick, yet choose to drive for money without consideration for public health, should be made an offence.

GrabCar, Uber Brings Relief to Decades-old Taxi Shortage

All the King's Horses and All the King's Men could never solve the critical shortage of taxis in Singapore.

For decades, you can see the look of frustration - some even bordering on panic - in the eyes of locals and tourists alike, as they stood in hour-long queues, or running up and down the road vying with one another for the scarce cab that comes along, all figuring out if they should pay the hefty booking fee or tolerate the one to two hours wait standing in line for a cab.

Then there is the constant "Change Shift" drive-by; the cabs which magically appear around the corner only after you activate the booking fee; disappearing cabs during rainy days; and the cab drivers who put the green sign on yet zoom past on their own errands. 

The scene still persist, but there is noticeable relief for consumers in the more agile alternatives of GrabCar and Uber.

Just hope that competitors rise to the challenge in terms of service standards, and not try to kill a good thing.

Irresponsible Cab Driver

Mid-way through the journey, this cab driver started to frantically chomp on lozenges.

Oh-oh.

A sign he's trying to suppress a cough.

Nearing the last leg of the journey, he couldn't suppress it no more and coughed violently to the extent we thought the cab was going to crash. 

We were too nice to tell him we want out - right there and then. 
Bad mistake. 

To cover the awkwardness, he struggled to talk about how he was cheated with fake US dollars followed by another cheat who ran off in the middle of Chinatown's heavy traffic.  You could hear from his shaky voice that he was not well.  He shouldn't be driving.

He spread the cough virus of course, causing us a loss of 3 days' work as we lay bedridden.

Before he picked us up, he must have coughed and coughed to his heart's content.  By the time we boarded the cab, it must have been infused with virus.

Very irresponsible.

Mount Kinabalu Disaster

Deepest condolence to those who lost the lives of precious ones.

Natural disasters can hit like a bolt out of the blue.
But there appears to be risk-avoidance issues here.

First impression when we heard about Tanjong Katong Primary School kids being trapped at the mountain was disbelief.  Mount Kinabalu proper — as in not the outskirts but right on the mountain itself?  Primary 6 — as in Primary School — as in 12-year-olds? 

Wait a minute.  It can't be. 

Primary School kids are under-aged for this type of terrain. Is it motivated by a case of up-man-ship — where one has to look to more and more extreme activities to stand out from the rest?

At that age, there are so many more suitable adventurous places where one can receive experiences of impact.

This reminds of the South Korean Ferry Disaster where school kids (and their parents) look up to the school authorities to ensure a safe journey, but safety protocol was lacking.

Schools are given a lot of autonomy these days. 
There's good and bad.

The last time we dispute one school's approach on a certain subject, we were told they know best.

Do they?

GST-exemption for Singaporeans flying home

7% GST is exempt for $150 if a Singaporean travel out of Singapore for less than 48 hours.

7% GST is exempt for $600 if a Singaporean travel out of Singapore for more than 48 hours.


Source: www.customs.gov.sg

Free Wi-Fi at MRT Stations

Commuters can tap into free Wi-Fi access at these MRT stations (platform level):-

~ City Hall

~ Raffles Place

~ Orchard Road

Register for the free Wireless@SG service online or at the customer service centres of the 4 telcos:

M1
Singtel
Starhub
Y5Zone

HXM @ Madame Tussauds, Hong Kong

The kids haven't seen a wax model before, so on to Madame Tussauds we go.

This time, to the Peak, we took the 3-in-1 combo.  In this PT/ST/MT package, we get the tickets to go up via the Peak Tram, as well as access to the Sky Terrace 428 (it stands at 428 metres above sea level) and Madame Tussauds.

The Peak Tram is, unfortunately, known to have a perpetually long queue, and even once inside the tram itself, it really packs a crowd.  The last ones in often get to stand.  A car would really be a more serene way up, but there is always a reason why something is in popular demand.  In this instance, the hassle quotient gets appeased once you're settled in the squeezy bench-like seats, and watch the scenic wonders unfold as the tram trots gently uphill, pulled by heavy steel cables.  Savour the experience because this exhilarating ride doesn't last long - a mere ten minutes or slightly more, and it's over.  Oh, mama!

Once pass the exit, we were right inside the Peak Tower, wondering if we should do the Sky Terrace first or Madame Tussauds.  The weather was unpredictable.  Dark clouds were ready to pour its load. We stood outside Madame Tussauds, and because it was quite empty of visitors, we forgot that there is another more ominous load to fear than the rain.

Having already experience the "***** Swarm" (let's not state the nationality here) whereby a place almost gets overtaken whenever busloads of these tourists arrive, we should have known better. 

Instead, we got sidetracked by some shops, and then by hungry stomachs, and then got distracted by the misty views of the fog-laden valleys outside the Burger King balcony passage.

By the time we had our fill and was all ready to make the rounds, lo and behold! Madame Tussauds was swarmed with all creatures big and small, of the 2-legged kind.

You can hardly get any decent amount of photo opportunity with the more popular wax figures, since these were now totally surrounded.  Andy Lau is an epitome of popularity with his model of likeness being the most caressed by strangers, male and female alike.  Yes, even the guys didn't spare him. You could walk up and down the hall countless times hoping for a photo opportunity break only to find his wax figure almost permanently intertwined with someone's arms or legs, and often with lips of his fans adjoined to his cheek.  

In contrast, Amitabh Bachchan appears neglected.  I almost feel sorry for him.

The interesting bit about being in a Madame Tussauds wax museum is that you get to see physical characteristics up close. One of which is the height.  Many public figures have been known to be inclined towards exaggeration when it comes to their height.  Ethics-wise, Madame Tussauds should have captured the copy as close as possible to the real subjects they portray, although a two percentage allowance had to be rendered because wax shrinks.

We were surprised to see MM Lee Kuan Yew (the Madame Tussauds version) there, standing tall.

Another figure we didn't realise would be there was HXM (Huang Xiao Ming).  Apparently, the attraction had chosen him to be its first male Mainland Chinese celebrity in November 2012.  His wax likeness stands in the inner chamber.  It was thankfully less jam-packed there than the zones we had just toured, so we took a breather there.  I found myself touching the chin of this wax figure before realising it was HXM, the Condor Hero.  This time, he was dressed as a shepherd, his role in "The Guillotines".

 

 

The wax and the man.  Almost like twin brothers. 

Photo Credits: mtime.com

Each figure takes 4-6 months to create.
It costs approximately US$125,000 and more to make.

Hong Kong Disneyland Hotels un-mystified

For our first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, we wanted very much to stay in one of the Disneyland hotels there, and so thought it's a great idea to google everything on it.

Surprisingly, instead of whetting our appetite, the pre-trip over-reading actually has the reverse effect of killing our enthusiasm.

So many bloggers have been writing on it that the Disneyland hotels has become un-mystified.  Sometimes, the reason for visiting a place we haven't visited before, is for the sense of adventure.  In the case of Disneyland Hong Kong, every bit of it is so well covered by bloggers, that we almost know what to expect at every turn.  The mystery and excitement of finding out for ourselves is gone.  The place suffers from over-exposure and even before stepping in, we have the been-there-done-that feeling.

If you are the sort who likes to have a sense of wonder first-hand, read those blogs which offers tips rather than those diary-style ones which gives you a blow-by-blow account of their experiences. Disneyland is blogged on in a much more detailed manner than other destinations, with accompanying photo visuals, and as you go through these picture diaries, before you know it, it all begins to feel overly familiar.

Still, we feel that the Kingdom Club may add to our visit to Disneyland, and proceeded to view the options available at the Disneyland website.  There were already quite a lot of blocked-out dates, where bookings would not be possible.

It didn't help that when we were trying to place reservations, we were attended to by a rep who couldn't seem to be clear-cut about the rates that is applicable.  They have many different levels of packages and passes, so if the various computation are not clearly explained or accurately computed, the to-and-fro emailing can be such a hassle, one simply chooses the path of least resistance and either give in to sucker rates or give up.  In our case, we simply couldn't get proper communication, with the rep repeatedly cutting-and-pasting different parts from the Disneyland Hong Kong website, when those are the exact same portions we wanted clarification on. 

With time running out, we decided to skip the hotel-stay and just visit the Disneyland Park itself.  Even here, the service falls far short.  Some areas already looks quite run-down.

We like Hong Kong but all we can say is, Disneyland Hong Kong needs improvements and regeneration in so many areas. 

Perhaps, they should consider Singapore as a venue once again.

Taxi in Singapore during Peak Hour

There is always peak crowd — human and traffic jam — on Fridays, especially at Orchard Road.

We queued for a cab at Paragon Taxi Q for roughly 40 minutes.
To Paragon's credit, they make sure their taxi stand area is pleasantly landscaped, and efficiently manned by queue wardens.

Despite our heavy carriers of shopping bags, we should have walked a bit to the Orchard MRT Station or the Somerset Station, though.

Because this is the bill we got travelling in a cab from Paragon to Changi City Point:-

START JOURNEY .............. 25 January 2013 @ 1850 Hours

DISTANCE RUN - 18.2 KM
TRAFFIC CONDITION - Heavy Traffic along 3-quarters of the journey

METER FARE ..................... = $16.40
ERP ...................................... = $  1.00
CITY AREA SURCHARGE = $  3.00
PEAK HOUR 25% .............. = $  4.10

TOTAL FARE ..................... = $24.50

AMOUNT PAID = $24.40

Fainted.