Today's Taxi Driver is...

Tu Hwa. A Chinese Singaporean. I think the Chinese drivers are the hardest to understand. I asked him how he was doing and he went into a long explanation about how the traffic is really bad today because a road is closed because of something in Little India. I think he thought I asked him "how's the traffic today."

When I asked him if he was Singaporean he told me he moved here in 1959 from China and that immigrants aren't allowed to drive taxis as a government rule. Apparently you have to have lived in Singapore for at least 10 years before you're allowed to drive one. I don't think there would be any taxi drivers in New York if that was a rule there...

Then I said "Ni hao" and he got really excited and started speaking Chinese. I said "Wo she megworun" and was out of Chinese phrases, and he asked me if I studied it or learned from my friends. I told him I just learned from my friends and he told me he was learning from his friend how to speak with a Beijing accent, so I said "Ni her" ("ni hao" with a Beijing accent) which he loved. So he decided to teach me some more chinese to impress my friends and to bargain:) He was laughing and teaching me how to say "duo shao chien" ("How much does it cost") - he said "you go to chinatown and say this to shopkeeper and they will go (insert surprised face)...oh! you speak chinese!" My thoughts exactly.

And so I said "xie xie" and hopped out. These chats are totally worth $5 a day.

Out my window

Me & Skye - shopping and eating - the top Singaporean passtimes