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All I wanted to do in the back of the taxi today was to listen to a new album using my headphones. But the driver had different plans for me. He popped in a cassette tape from the 80's and cranked up the volume to the point where I needed to turn up my own music to drown out the noise. If that wasn't annoying enough, every few minutes he tried to get my attention and carry on a conversation by yelling over his ear-splitting music. He apparently didn't notice (or care) that I was wearing huge red headphones and was trying to jam to the beat of my own tunes.
Last month, videographer Greg Stefano and writer Graham Hiemstra from the award-winning website Cool Hunting flew over from New York to interrogate me about the Bangkok taxi scene and learn all about Thai lucky charms. Here's the video that transpired from our get-together in the local amulet market where we perused all kinds of talismans and talked about the power of belief.
I usually refrain from featuring gizmos and tech news on this blog, but there's a new free phone app for rating Bangkok taxi rides that some Still Life readers might find appealing. Designed for both iOS and Android, it was recently launched by the Thai Department of Land Transport and is called DLT Check-In. I downloaded it a few days ago and it's super user-friendly. When you open the application for the first time, all you need to do is choose English or Thai language and enter your phone number. Then, when you want to rate your experience in a Bangkok taxi, you take a snapshot of the taxi license number posted on the passenger door or enter the number manually and evaluate the driver and the vehicle itself. According to a statement issued by the DLT, cabbies who consistently receive bad reviews will be reprimanded, while those who receive positive feedback will be rewarded with a certificate to display in their cab. While the new app is a welcome addition and will hopefully improve the quality of service in Bangkok taxis, the DLT forgot one thing: allowing passengers to rate the Buddha images, sacred decorations, and other trimmings inside the cabs.
The first thing I noticed in the taxi today was a giant hologram on the ceiling. When you tilt your head back just so, you see images of nine Buddhas on clay tablets, and if you lean your head just a bit the other way, three rows of seated monks come into view. Not only did the hologram help bring the images of the Buddhas and monks to life, it transformed the everyday experience of riding in a taxi into a mystical moment.
