Friday, March 25, 2011

Cab Upholstery


When given a choice, most Bangkok cabbies would rather sport car upholstery made out of vinyl in bright colors, rich tones, and/or with patterns than plain gray cloth. Considering that many taxis in this city have hot pink exteriors, car seats with matching color makes perfect sense. And since designer name brands are so popular here, it's not surprising to see upholstery with Burberry's signature plaid.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mr. Taxi Showmanship

If this taxi driver could choose to be any celebrity from the past, he would be Liberace. This cabbie has a penchant for wearing big rings and decorating his taxi with rhinestones and velvet accessories. The only thing that he's missing in his taxi is a Liberace-style candelabra.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

More is Better

According to this Bangkok cabbie, you can never have too many plush characters on key chains, toy cars, and feathery hair clips. This driver is hoping to fill his entire taxi interior with these trinkets and doodads. In his opinion, more is better. This is apparently also his attitude when it comes to rearview mirrors.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sticky Rice

It's rare to see Bangkok cabbies eating in their taxis, but every once in a while you catch a glimpse of a driver having a snack. When cabbies in this city get hungry, they usually pull aside and eat at one of the many stalls on the side of the street. Today in the cab, my driver had a basket of sticky rice, a staple in the diet for those from Northern and Northeastern Thailand. I asked him why he didn't have any somtum bpoo plaa raa, a standard accompaniment, and he told me that he didn't want to stink up his cab with spicy papaya salad that contains fermented crab and fish sauce.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Flower Peddlers

Drivers in Bangkok, including cabbies, enjoy a unique service that you won't find in too many other places. At certain busy intersections in this city, peddlers with phuang malai flower offerings strung on pipes or bamboo rods approach cars with their blooms. For 10 or 20 baht (less than one US dollar) you can buy a fresh garland of jasmine with roses or marigolds; not a bad price to express gratitude to the gods on the dashboard.