[sustran] Re: Information on 'Bike Taxi'

Jonathan E. D. Richmond richmond at alum.mit.edu
Thu Aug 26 01:09:28 JST 2004


Thank you Brendan, and I have by no means told you all the stories!

One on my motorbike drivers in Phnom Penh had just almost killed me by
swerving sharply across and alongside the opposing flow of traffic to
avoid a policeman he'd spotted (the driver was unlicensed). As if this
wasn't enough excitement for one day, he next offered me a prostitute.
"No thanks; I don't want to die," I told him, as there seems to be no other
understanding of why a rich Westerner would not want a little extra
company. "$10 for a nice girl," he said. "Clean." I wasn't moved.
"AIDS," I replied.

The driver had already told me he was saving for college, but I wondered
how effective he was at pursuing this goal. "And do you ever hire a
prostitute?" I asked. Yes, he did, he replied. Now, $10 is a lot of money
for a motorcycle driver to spend on anything, but maybe he gets a
nonmonetary commission for bringing in Westerners. I wasn't willing to
test out this theory, however, even for the benefit of the SUSTRAN list,
and confirmed to him that he was still returning me to my hotel.

I will say you get to experience a lot of ordinary life from the back of a
motorbike. I have stopped en route and visited shops and homes. I have
been taken to the houses of drivers; in one case, I ended up going
to a pharmacy with one of them to help sort out what antibiotics he
needed for a small infection (and I ended up paying for them!); there are
three drivers (all from Cambodia) with whom I'm in occasional email
contact. One of them asked me to lend him money to buy a car. Er.... I
don't even have a car myself!
                                                --Jonathan
-----

Jonathan E. D. Richmond                               02 524-5510 (office)
Visiting Fellow                               Intl.: 662 524-5510
Transportation Engineering program
School of Civil Engineering, Room N260B               02 524-8257 (home)
Asian Institute of Technology                 Intl.: 662 524-8257
PO Box 4
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Thailand                                      Intl:  662 524-5509

e-mail: richmond at ait.ac.th               Secretary:  Ms. Nisarat Hansuksa
        richmond at alum.mit.edu		              02 524-6051
					      Intl:  662 524-6051
http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/



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