Wednesday, October 14, 2015

2327. Myanmar travel stories - The taxi had no power uphill

Oct 10, 2015

At 5.30 am, Thin Thin hailed a taxi and got to my hotel, Royal Golden View. My Myanmar Airways International flight would be departing Yangon Airport at 8.30am.

"Taxi drivers had robbed passengers," Thin Thin ensured that I would be safe by sending me to the Airport. There appears to be thousands of taxis in Yangon and the common 2-hour downtown car jam is really there nowadays. So, how could a taxi driver earn a living by being caught in such a jam? There is no mileage meter as fares are fixed and negotiated before driving.
On the uphill road to the departure area, another car stopped in front of us. Our taxi driver found that he could not drive his taxi uphill.

"This car has no power," I suggested all 3 passengers alight. Thin Thin objected as this was not her style. The taxi driver smiled as he understood what I said but had never spoken a word. Since nobody alighted, he slowly reversed his taxi downhill to the level road.
Fortunately there was no car behind him. From the level road, he drove the taxi uphill to the departure lounge. He fulfilled his duty. He helped to take out the luggage. Such incidents make for  a distracting memorable experience of my Myanmar travel.



When there is life, there are challenges. This very trim and young taxi driver must be experienced to resolve the challenges.

P.S
There is a Ya Kun coffee shop in the Yangon Airport. But it was not opened till after 8 am unlike the other local coffee shop nearby. As I had to arrived at 6.30 am, I had no chance to sample the coffee. Yet in Singapore, Ya Kun opens before 8 am.  

Maybe Ya Kun finds it not worthwhile to open early.

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