amdavidson

Cab Ride to the Airport

posted on 2009-05-23 - amd.im/FYDE

Today I'm flying up to Shanghai, so that I can enjoy a rare weekend off up there, instead of sticking around in Shenzhen, which is sure to be less interesting.

I had quite a time trying to get to the airport though, and I figured I'd pass the story along.

As I was leaving the hotel with my luggage and a box full of samples in tow, I asked the doorman to tell the cab driver to take me to the Shenzhen Airport and also asked how long it was going to take to get there, as I knew I was low on local funds. He was polite about it and told me it would take about 15 minutes and that he had already told the driver the airport and terminal to take me to.

Well, unfortunately the cab ride was closer to 30 minutes, and when I got there, I was about 20RMB (about $3) short of the 90RMB ($13) fare. Well the cabbie decided to freak out about this, understandably as that much money could probably feed him pretty well for a meal or two.

Not knowing what else to do, I offered him all the RMB I had along with 20HKD ($2.50) and $4 (all the relevant money that I had, I didn't think he would be interested in Euro or Yen) but he still wasn't satisfied. There was no way that I was going to try and leave this cab with my luggage and samples safely locked in the trunk of his cab. So we sat there and stared at each other in silence for a moment or two, before he decided to berate me in Chinese that I'm sure I'm glad I didn't understand.

Eventually I called the hotel I had just left and had a lady working at the desk tell this guy that if he came with my luggage to an ATM, I would be happy to pay him in full. He hesitated for a minute and then double parked his cab and followed me and my luggage inside.

As soon as we entered the door, he was obviously excited to see a police officer standing there and asked him to come along as well. I guess he wanted to ensure that I didn't try any funny business.

Well we got to a Bank of China ATM and no matter what buttons I pushed, the combination of my card and that ATM did not result in money to pay the driver. I tried several times and eventually resigned to defeat pulled my card out, looked at the cabbie and shrugged.

Much to the confusion of myself and the policeman, the cabbie felt this was hysterical and he started laughing and laughing. It was such a reversal from the attitude he had just moments earlier I really had no idea what to think, but at least the mood was a little lighter.

After the first failure, the cop took us to a China Construction Bank ATM (sounds fake, but it's a real bank), and I was able to pull out enough funds to last me the rest of my trip.

I felt so bad about the whole situation that I paid the guy 200RMB, and he looked at me quizzically as if he couldn't make change. Then started scrambling in his pockets to find some way to make change. So I laughed and gestured for him to keep it, and his face changed dramatically. All sins had been forgiven and beyond; it looked like he was a kid on Christmas morning.

Anyways. That was my ride to the airport