Late night ride

So I have just finished closing shop for the night (not as early as i hoped it would be), locked up, and went to the main road to hail a cab with the new manager tagging along of course. And mainly because she stays at Geylang Lorong (even number). So as company policy states, "TRY to take only ONE cab. ESPECIALLY if its on the way."

So we board the cab and the driver makes his way out of the city and onto the expressway. To cut the long story short, we drop off my manager and we get caught in a jam. Yes a road jam at 1A.M. Why you ask? Because as much as me and the driver would like to get out of the lorong, the cars in front of us begin to slooow down. Why again? Its Geylang -.- The obviously male drivers were slowing down to "window shop" or browse. And allow me to slightly avert your attention to the characters you might see. Like the Singapore Zoo, Geylang is host to a diverse range of menfolk. From your typical 'dirty old man' to the 'sharp- looking man in a suit' to your... 'tourist angmoh'? And the keepers are well, the pimps and the women, nuff' said.

Now, in this part of Geylang, also known as "Little China", the "foreign talents" here are so called more good-looking and younger than the senior ones (who are situated somewheerre along Lorong/s 20+). Where we were at would be within the 'Top 10' (Lorong 1-10) range. It's amazing how vice in Singapore has a sense of hiearchy and structure. Then again it is Singapore, but i digress.

So I decide to open my big mouth and ask (for the sake of a conversation), "Uncle, your taxi got see funny things before or not?"

With a big grin, he replied, "OF COURSE!" And he laughed somemore. Taxi drivers in general always got see something 'funny', he added.

Somehow, after regaling me with his anecdotes on how when he was younger, he used to earn comission from the pimps to taxi SAM (Single, Angmoh Men) to these parts of Singapore.

And as all random conversations go, he told me of the time when he was in his twenties, he was working as a medical rep. And how he met this woman who was a decade older than him in a clinic. Apparently he was there to sell his pharmaceutical drugs to the clinic but it was this woman who clinched the deal.

When he met her again at this trade show, Uncle asked the woman, "How do you get to sell you products so fast, how do you clinch the deal?

To that, the woman replied with a smile, "I wear a skirt."

Uncle told me that this lady who was a decade older than him had this charm and confidence that attracted him to her. After that he stayed at her home for almost half a year.

Now the climax, he saw the woman with another man. *Audible gasp*. Which made him realise that if he was going to be 40, in the next two decades, the woman would be 50+. So somehow Uncle went back to the shared apartment and on purpose, argued with the woman (reasons he did not say) and he packed up his belongings and left.

As we approached the Eunos flyover, the topic shifted on how he met a lovely girl and married after knowing her for 2 months.


"DAMN REGRET!" he cursed. He barely knew the malaysian woman and he went ahead to marry her. His family's initial thought was that he had gotten her pregnant, but the wife was not to be 'blessed' with a child until 5 years later.

Uncle had found out that his wife was a self-centred, unreasonable woman. And if it was not for his 8-year old daughter, he would have signed the divorce papers long ago. Uncle's problem was that as much as he would have liked to sign the papers, he knew that custody of his daughter would have gone to his wife.

He told me, "Even my daughter at 8 years old can tell me, Papa, why don't you and mummy just breakup."

I just listened on as we were entering Upp Changi Road, crossing over to TPE. Honestly, I've ridden in many cabs during midnight and I can assure you that many drivers will speak ill of the rental company among many other gripes. But the honesty of Uncle and his tale, for once, did not cause me to fall asleep.

He explained many other things about how troublesome it was if he divorced the wife and especially the impact it would have on his daughter. But in the end he just said, "I just want to teach my daughter to grow up not hating her mother. As much as I hate my so-called wife, I shouldn't pass this down to my daughter la."

Hopefully when Uncle's daughter is a little older, family court would allow his daughter to choose who she would like to be in custody of.

He stopped the taxi at the end of the driveway leading up to my block and I paid him my fare.

Last thing I remember Uncle telling me was. "If you have a girlfriend or a wife. Or even your best friend, whether boy or girl. If there is a problem, just talk it out. There's no need to find a solution. Just talk it out and next day will be a better day."

"Thanks Uncle," I replied. "I hope you have a good Sunday outing with your daughter."