Caramel honey and I spent the weekend in Ipoh as we had a wedding dinner to attend there. The strange part is, we don't remember seeing taxis or cabs anywhere in town. Except for the odd minibus, we never saw taxis waiting by the road, seeing that this is Ipoh town with its glorious food stalls and tourists milling about. Such a vast difference from KL where you get a gazillion taxis at every corner.
Thinking about taxis just reminds me of my time in India, few years ago.
My family and I were in Agra, India. Having just visited the Taj Mahal, the tour van dropped us off at our hotel but we wanted to do some shopping (which happened to be around the Taj area) so we decided to take an auto to get there. If you've visited India, Cambodia or Vietnam, you'll notice the traffic is next to insane - how they manage to drive/ride without colliding into one another is an acquired skill.
So we hailed an auto from the hotel, the bellboy explained to the driver that we wanted to go to the Taj Mahal area as we wanted to do some shopping. Once we got in (in being a 3-seater on a 3-wheel ride with a mini engine) and he started driving, I thought I was gonna fall out! It's like being on a not-so-fast roller coaster on 3 wheels. If you had just eaten, trust me, you DO NOT want to get into an auto.
To our surprise, the driver asked us, as best as he could, where/what we'd like to do. So we explained we wanted to do some shopping (mind you, we were already near the Taj Mahal at this point). Then, he went on saying, he knows of a shop not far away that sells nicer things for a cheaper price, etc. Next thing we knew, he had made a U-turn and started speeding away to this so-called souvenir shop.
My dad started shouting at him to turn back to the Taj Mahal and he kept arguing with my dad - obviously India locals know best! In the end, we insisted he take us back to the hotel (which he did, thank God) and my dad gave an him an earful (and complained to the bellboy). Good to say, we never took any autos after that!
