Chinese Taxi Drivers - I might have to klap 1

Taxi drivers come in all shapes and sizes, they're usually fairly rough characters, often entertaining, sometimes smelly but mostly good at heart. In China they are the scum of the earth.


One chap in Chengdu decided that we looked stupid and took us on an expensive joyride, trying to boost his income in a somewhat unsavoury manner. What he didn't realise was that we had already spent some time in the city and knew it quite well. Jackie got so ' the moerin' (angry) with him that she called him a very naughty name that even made me blush. I lost my patience too and I think he thought he had 2 nuts in the car with him. He dialled an English language taxi helpline (or that's what I think it was) and started rattling away. He then gave me the phone and I explained, to a very friendly lady, that our driver was trying to rip us off by taking us on the very long way round. She told us only to pay him 20RMB (cheaper than it should of cost) and then explained the situation to him. He looked like a bulldog that had just lost his bone. Hilarious.


Urumqi is a bit of a nothing place but we had to travel through it to get to Kashgar. I was already irritated by the fact that it's the furthest city in the world from the ocean but our taxi driver took me over the edge. A taxi from the airport to the city centre costs 40RMB. The price is set. Our chap decided to try his luck and told us that it was 50. I laughed and explained that it was not but he argued with me for the whole trip and we got incredibly close to actually having a physical fight.


On both occasions we were very hungry at the time but that doesn't change the fact that the taxi drivers were complete idiots.