I took a cab home today after the feast day celebration with the Dominicans at their house. It was a Mercedes cab. I was curious, so I asked the cab driver, “Does this cab also run on diesel?” He said, “Yes. Diesel. This car very powerful. Can hit 190 km/h. The other night, I was on the TPE and this Mitsubishi Lancer come and ka jiao me.” (’ka jiao’ means to pester or disturb)
“He cut in front of me and flash his hazard light, and then speed up,” the cab driver continued. “So I angry. He think he zhng his car, I cannot beat.” (To ‘zhng’ a car is to tune it up so that it becomes flashy and goes faster than it should.)
This was when I checked my seat belt…
“So I step on my pedal and chase after him. Hit 130, 140, 150 km/h, then when reach 160km/h, he cannot go any faster, so I cut in front of him and zoom off at 190km/h,” said the cab driver excitedly. “You don’t believe, I show you!”
I believe! I believe!
Did he believe me? I don’t think so, because the next thing he said was, “I put my gear to super mode. I don’t normally use super, because it’s too powerful, but neh’mind, Uncle show you how fast this car can go.”
Damn it. Hope the seat belt works…
He puts the gear to ’super’ mode and then as soon as the traffic light turns green, he floors the pedal and off we go! Like zero to sixty in five seconds, with me stuck to the back seat because of the G-force. Of course, he has to brake very quickly afterwards because he needs to make a turn. (I tried to guide him to the route that had as many turns as possible.)
“You see the cars behind?” he beckoned to the rear view mirror. “You see how far away they are?”
I turned to see. True enough, the headlights of the cars behind us were little twinkly points of light.
“Uncle show you again, haha!”
Nooooo! Let me out, you bloody crazy cab driver!
Suddenly, a familiar road sign flashed before my eyes. The creepy one with the skull that says “Accident Area” that I used to see along this road when I was a kid. But luckily there were lots of cars ahead of us, so he couldn’t go that fast. He seemed disappointed, but I was relieved. I’m too young to die!
“This car race with other Mercedes cars using petrol also will win one,” ‘Uncle’ told me. “Diesel is more powerful than petrol. Petrol is cleaner, but diesel more powerful.”
Okay! Okay! I believe you! No need to show me again!
Fortunately, there were no more opportunities for ‘Uncle’ to engage in reckless driving, and I reached home in one piece.
Filed under: Adventures
