RACIST TAXI DRIVER--KB 1257--BEWARE!!!

Since coming to prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /Hong Kong I have experienced the most racism towards me for my colour of skin. This story is a testament to that:

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After having lunch, my girlfriend and I were feeling very lazy as we had just played two hours of non-stop badminton for the day, so we decided to take a taxi home. I was also suffering from a hangover from the night before so walking home was out of the question, even though it was just a 15min walk away.

So, we get into the taxi and I ask the taxi driver (in Chinese) to take me to my apartment complex. He replied to me in Chinese ‘deui min?’ (meaning next to) as if he didn’t want to take us because it was so close. Then, he stuttered muttering curses to himself in protest because he was pissed off that he had to take us so close. This made my girlfriend and I feel uncomfortable, and I looked at her and said, “What? He doesn’t want to take us there ‘cos it’s so close?”

The taxi driver started driving and we could feel his frustration from the way that he was driving. Then, all of a sudden, instead of going straight he turned left down a side street. I asked him, “hoi bin do a?” (Where are you going? in Chinese) and he didn’t reply to me. My girlfriend tried to assure me that maybe it was another way. But, I got the feeling that he was taking us the wrong way, or in circles, just to rip us off. It wouldn’t be the first time the taxi driver tried to take advantage of me because of the colour of my skin.

The street curved back around to the road we were just on and he pointed to the estate right next to where we had come from and said, “That one” in Chinese to my girlfriend. I turned to her and said, “Not fucking that one,” because now it was evident that he was trying to rip us off and pretend he didn’t know where to go. When it was obvious that all taxi drivers know where my place of residence is.

Well, he didn’t like what I said and turned around aggressively to me and said in perfect English, “Don’t say fucking! Don’t say fucking in my car!” I felt very threatened and really pissed off at the time so I said to him, “Fine. Let me out then.” Instead of letting me out he started to drive erratically and swerve all over the road. I continued to ask him to stop the car and let me out but he refused to do so, he even passed a bus stop where he could have easily dropped us off. This whole time he was waving his arms around screaming “Get out! Get out!” but wouldn’t stop the car. Stupid!

Finally we pulled up to the lights and he slammed on the breaks. He screamed, “Get out of my car!” Which we were happy to do as that is what we wanted to do in the first place. I closed the car door and he screamed, “Don’t touch my car!” I hadn’t even slammed the door? I was in shock and just walked away trying to get away from this crazy taxi driver, getting his license plate number as I neared the back of the vehicle.

When I was a comfortable distance away from the taxi he jumped out of his car and start screaming profanities to me in Chinese, like “Dil ley lo mo!” (Fuck your mother!) and another comment that I did not fully understand, but only heard ‘something something gwailo’. I wanted to turn back around and beat the living shit out of this guy, but kept hold of my anger and continued walking in the same direction. I knew he had said something racist towards me, but I didn’t fully understand at first. Luckily, my Chinese girlfriend was able to interpret for me and she told me he said, “Don’t think you’re everything because you are a GWAILO!” Now the word Gwailo is a derogatory remark given to white people and it means ‘white ghost’. There has recently been passed a law that prohibits people from making this racist remark.

Now, I know I did say the f word in the car, but not directed at him and in conversation to my girlfriend, which is very normal. But, I don’t think it warranted the kind of behaviour and racist attitude that I received from that crazy taxi driver. I didn’t even repeat the word or raise my voice, except to ask to stop the car, but the taxi driver had gone mental yelling and shouting.

I was really upset for the rest of the day because I was so angry about the situation. I could have easily gone back to the car and kicked the shit out of the guy for what he said, but I wanted to be the better man and walk away. But, the fact that I did nothing about it made me so upset that I couldn’t vent my anger.

Well, this is my revenge. If you have experienced something like this don’t hesitate to call the taxi complaints line on 2889 9999 . Especially, if you get this crazy taxi driver don’t think twice about calling him in. Beware for a taxi driver with this license plate.

KB

1257

Now I know what my next song is going to be about. Mothafking Crazy taxi drivers!!! Fk ‘em!!! I'm so pissed off!