Making Headlines.

News headlines, front page pictures and stories about taxi drivers have been the talk of the town lately. Not long ago, there was this drunk foreign expat who started bashing up a taxi driver claiming that he took a longer route. Then there was this hit and run taxi who caused the death of a foreign worker working on the roadside, investigations are ongoing and it is just a matter of time before the errand taxi driver gets arrested. After this, we read about the taxi driver who managed to catch a fare cheat trying to getaway without paying his metered fare of $18.00 dollars and most recently, about two days ago, this young lady who could not pay her $5.00 taxi fare but instead offered sex and tried to seduce the taxi driver who just asked her "Then how?" she exposed herself and started making sexual advances as well as groping him.

Well well well, so many front page headline stories about taxi drivers in such a short period of time, but mind you, these are only the exposed stories that we read from the daily newspapers. There are many, many more ugly and dangerous incidents about taxi drivers and their passengers which go unreported most likely due to lack of evidence and time constraints. Taxi drivers need to earn a living, and time spent making police reports and being interviewed is loss of time and income for us and that is why many of us choose to shrug away our unfortunate incidents and mishaps by continuing to provide our services, at the same time still brood and cursing our bad luck till we end our shifts.

A Lovely Surprise.

Surprise, surprise, two days after the Mata Puteh family left, leaving their nest neat, spic and span, what did I see, two lovely bamboo flowers. Its as if the bamboo plant is showing its appreciation also by producing the two beautiful flowers. For me, its truly rewarding being involved in this fantastic and moving episode. Unbelievabe finale with the bamboo plant flowering.

Happy Departure Soon My Mata Puteh Friends.

On 15th March till today, 22nd March, exactly one week later, see how fast the Mata Puteh chicks have grown. Feathers sprouting its beautiful yellowish and greenish colours, heads have grown bigger with the third chick always partially hidden. It will be just a matter of days when they are full grown and then they will be off to greener pastures. I have watched many times the sequence from construction of the nest, laying of the eggs, getting hatched, naked and then adorning their beautiful coat of feathers before they fly away. I do not know when another new nest will be built but I will look after and keep this second nest together with the first one intact. These Mata Puteh Families, especially the mother bird have always been a joy and great pleasure for me to be associated with. I look forward for their future generations to come.

From Eggs To Chicks.

Three Mata Puteh chicks just hatched. Picture taken at 5.30pm 15th March but I'm afraid to use flash and so poor lighting and not too clear. Maybe another day or even at night I'll try to capture a better shot. The three chicks will now grow quite fast and as soon as their feathers start growing, I know they will leave home just as quickly. Its a great thrill to see from eggs to live chicks overnight. Many readers wanted to know if the eggs have hatched and here it is, they have. Today is their birthday. They look naked and ugly now but when  they put on their yellow and green coloured coats (feathers), they look beautiful. I feel happy and proud to be associated with these Mata Puteh families. The wonders of nature.

Exciting Film Shoots

The past few days was exciting and eventful for me. It was great, experiencing real life acting and getting filmed as a taxi uncle for two days for a project not to be disclosed for the time being. I had a wonderful time working together with eight very hard working and very professional crew members in two full working days which I must say was very tiring. There was also a time when I could have been filmed in the series "Taxi in Asia" but I was unfortunately hit with a pancreas sickness and was unable to take up the part, that was a few years ago.

This afternoon, I am invited to take part in another project to film shoot as a taxi uncle in the Ministry of Education's Road Safety program which I had to turn down after having finished film shoots during the past two days and I am quite exhausted, have to rest a bit.

I have two more taxi interviews to go and there don't seem to be enough time to cope although I thoroughly enjoy these meetings and participation, getting to know more people and understanding their work scopes which are most interesting. Writing blogs need time to recall incidents which can be quite trying when I cannot remember details, having been quite forgetful in recent times and have to fore go writing interesting episodes. I have been slow and tardy recently with many encounters from media people, meeting and discussing my life as a taxi uncle. There are so many interesting real life stories which I want to write but sometimes, somehow, I get clogged up and find it difficult to start up.

Another New Mata Puteh Family.

It was a very busy workday for me and when I finally returned home this morning at 3.00am, I was truly surprised to discover a new bird's nest near to the previous one which I did not remove from my Bamboo Hotel Tree. The tree shook a bit which led me to discover a brand new bird's nest perched nearby the older nest.  (Please refer to my two blogs about the Mata Puteh Family on Monday 30th July and Thursday 2nd August 2012), this nest looks similar except slightly smaller in size and so I immediately whip out my IPhone and began taking a series of quick shots when I saw a yellow coloured tail appear from the nest. You guessed it, I managed to capture the mother bird and after it flew off there were three tiny white eggs in the nest. This is the 6th Mata Puteh Family, the newest to inhabit the 'Hotel' for this new year. It was so refreshing, it made my day. Above are the photos taken of this latest wonderful encounter.

A Living Doll.

For me, it was worth taking a night off once again to attend another memorable evening, this time to watch the Cliff Richard show. With such agility and familiar voice, this ageless 'super' iconic Pop Idol gave a fabulous performance for two solid hours, singing and dancing, making jokes and when he bowed to say thank you and goodnight after singing his last song, the enthusiastic full house, 'Sold Out' crowd cried for more, more and you know what, the crowd went wild when he returned not once or twice but three times singing three more golden hit songs to our thunderous applause. It was simply a fantastic display from this famous 'Rock n Roll' celebrity. I truly enjoyed his concert which brought back great memories of the past more than half a century of his unforgettable top hits and still more to come in the near future says Cliff.

Inevitable Changes.

Driving a taxi is getting very tiring nowadays, especially the older taxi models such as the Toyota Crown which I am using. With manual gears, my legs ache with so much action each time there is traffic congestion, or slow moving vehicles which is a common daily occurrence and worst if accidents happen or when vehicles breakdown this ultimately causes massive jams. I need to change to an automatic vehicle in the near future to protect myself from possible bodily injuries in the long run. With all the talk and debates on the sensitive subject of 6.9 million population soon, things will inevitably happen and I dread to imagine future frightening traffic 'snarls' with an additional few hundred thousand more vehicles on the road, it is indeed scary.

With the increase in vehicle population, it is no longer enjoyable just driving around, be it for leisure or for work. Each day when I get behind my wheels, I know I will be 'swarmed' in a world of crowded vehicles of all sorts and also, most of my passengers, about 70 per cent of them will likely be foreigners. More and more long queues of passengers at taxi stands, more visitors here, there and everywhere augers well for cabbies' earnings but these also come with a 'price'. Complaints against taxi drivers are on the rise even for very minor issues. Taxi Drivers getting abused and badly beaten up are making headlines. Being a service provider in this vocation is always a risk. I mean, being together with strangers, anything can happen. Right now I am getting ready to join the crowd.

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day.

"Oh what a night....." by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how true it was as I drove with the heavy rainfall earlier in the evening and through the night. My first few passengers were carrying very wet umbrellas and brought rain water into my cab when I picked them up by the roadside kerbs. In just a short while the inside of my cab was simply wet and also on the backseats as some inconsiderate passengers placed their wet umbrellas on the seat. There is no fun driving during heavy rainy days. Roads get clogged up and the highways with vehicles bumper to bumper were just 'crawling'. Looks like this evening we are going to face another repetition of continuous rainfall. Anyway, I will be attending a Kangen Water Distributors dinner and get together this evening from 6.30pm onwards which allows me some time off and away from the roads till after 9.00pm.

With the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations just around the corner, hordes and hordes of people are busily moving here, there and everywhere, doing frantic last minute shopping sprees. The crowds at taxi stands, by the roadsides and everywhere are frustrated and fuming as they try to 'catch' a cab with many of them soaking wet. It is through times like these that's when taxi drivers earn their bonuses, and after that start 'sweating' with all the cleaning up they have to do with their taxis after their shifts..  

Start of Events and Festivals.

The first month of year 2013 and we faced a horrible tragedy on our roads. The horrific accident that took away the lives of two young boys, aged 7 and 13 years. There are many accidents that involve taxis nearly everyday and I am asked frequently why this is so. Well, taxis are on the roads everywhere, 24 hours a day and therefore their risks in getting involved in accidents are very much greater. Nowadays, we see more and traffic police on the roads and this is good. With many eyes on the lookout for reckless, speeding and errand drivers, it would be safer for road users especially the young and elderly pedestrians. Heavier penalties and punishments would definitely be a deterrent to irresponsible drivers of all categories of motor vehicles.

It is fast how January has passed us by, including the first Indian cultural festival which is Thaipusam, held last week with awesome displays of fire walking, carrying of heavily decorated kavadis, pots on heads and the spiking of stainless steel bars into bodies was really a spectacle to behold in broad daylight and during night time too as hordes of devotees walked along the crowded city roads from temple to temple, chanting and singing, watched by throngs of spectators, tourists and locals.

The next most colourful and long celebrations will happen next weekend and its none other than the widely celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year festivities. Taxi Users will find great difficulties in securing taxi services during this period as most Chinese taxi drivers stop work and go all out entertaining relatives and friends including themselves, spending  time with their own families by providing transportation , doing errands and most of all, for visiting purposes. Taxi drivers have already been doing great business last week and this coming week. It is like 'bonus' time for Taxi Drivers when their taxis are truly in great demand throughout the day and night till the eve of New Year's day when all will be enjoying their 'not to be missed' Re-Union Dinner with Family and Loved ones.