Comments on: Classics and a beer and the best cabbie ever http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/ disoriented in the orient Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:24:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: The China Blog Awards: Third To None! | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-46727 The China Blog Awards: Third To None! | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught Thu, 02 Aug 2007 09:11:53 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-46727 [...] Best Humour Post: Classics and a beer and the best cabbie ever [...] [...] Best Humour Post: Classics and a beer and the best cabbie ever [...]

]]> By: Kay http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-27827 Kay Sun, 13 May 2007 03:46:02 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-27827 Ah, so you have still been posting, just not in Chinese and not on LJ. I hope some day soon you find time to write another fabulous Chinese post or two, certain of us are eager to 学你的！ About cabbie anecdotes: Firstly, Chinese cabbies are the alpha and omega of conversation practice, because they span the gamut of accents, articulacy etc. and can give you a speaking session at whatever level you provide. Secondly, if you're quite a sheltered little foreign student, it's possible you don't often have contact with Chinese people other than coddled students and the nouveau-riche, i.e. your fellow innocents, so you're quite likely to find the personage at the wheel novel. I just love taking taxis because as someone else just said, I would rarely hail them in other countries. Here I find it exhilarating to be suddenly standing at the side of the road in the rain in the dark, droves of the conveyances of the night swooping past, and all you have to do to be safe and moving is to stick out a little pale paw and one will come and get you. If that was Edinburgh we students would be like, right, let's start walking then. Brendan: amazing cabbie anecdote, but I love the drunks in the potsticker place too. "Potsticker," ha ha! Ah, so you have still been posting, just not in Chinese and not on LJ. I hope some day soon you find time to write another fabulous Chinese post or two, certain of us are eager to 学你的！

About cabbie anecdotes: Firstly, Chinese cabbies are the alpha and omega of conversation practice, because they span the gamut of accents, articulacy etc. and can give you a speaking session at whatever level you provide. Secondly, if you’re quite a sheltered little foreign student, it’s possible you don’t often have contact with Chinese people other than coddled students and the nouveau-riche, i.e. your fellow innocents, so you’re quite likely to find the personage at the wheel novel. I just love taking taxis because as someone else just said, I would rarely hail them in other countries. Here I find it exhilarating to be suddenly standing at the side of the road in the rain in the dark, droves of the conveyances of the night swooping past, and all you have to do to be safe and moving is to stick out a little pale paw and one will come and get you. If that was Edinburgh we students would be like, right, let’s start walking then.

Brendan: amazing cabbie anecdote, but I love the drunks in the potsticker place too. “Potsticker,” ha ha!

]]> By: liny http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-21571 liny Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:49:20 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-21571 "A 煎饼 Beijing-style omelet"? Oh, come on, I am disappointed. 煎饼 is really from Tianjin. You've been to Tianjin, haven't you? It isn't a suburb of Beijing :) I used to hate what they sold as 煎饼 on the streets of Beijing. They weren't authentic. Too much flour or corn mills mixed into the batter (it should be a pure green bean batter), which made the pancakes too sticky. Anyway, that was more than a decade ago. I hope it has changed, like SO many other things have. BTW, how come there's no more new blogs in Chinese? I was fascinated by how well you write in Chinese. “A 煎饼 Beijing-style omelet”?
Oh, come on, I am disappointed. 煎饼 is really from Tianjin. You’ve been to Tianjin, haven’t you? It isn’t a suburb of Beijing :)
I used to hate what they sold as 煎饼 on the streets of Beijing. They weren’t authentic. Too much flour or corn mills mixed into the batter (it should be a pure green bean batter), which made the pancakes too sticky. Anyway, that was more than a decade ago. I hope it has changed, like SO many other things have.
BTW, how come there’s no more new blogs in Chinese? I was fascinated by how well you write in Chinese.

]]> By: AlwaysKoke http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-18649 AlwaysKoke Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:08:55 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-18649 Just stumble in...and Wow! Find your words fascinating within 5 sec Pity you haven't post anything in chinese since ChunJie 春节, easy to imagine how many regulars are devastating & miserably F5 your homepage again and again... then about the cabbies, They were, are and will be chatty and Mr/Mrs/Miss Universe till the end of time...well, at least in Beijing. Cab Driver is a relevantly good job, it paid well (at least not bad) and it's strictly licensed which means no competitor boosting, as far as I know, Peikingese won't give it up to the outsiders easily, they'll bark and bite!!! Personally I like chatty cabbies very much, most of time they are such professional gossiper whom never cease to amaze you with their suspicious stories (mostly about some current/former high powers). Then if you're really really tired or not in the mood, they always get a pretty fast hunch and just zip it /or start to tell the most boring story about themselves in a chanting manner - that makes me fall asleep fast and sound - so either way it's a win-win situation. Just stumble in…and Wow!

Find your words fascinating within 5 sec

Pity you haven’t post anything in chinese since ChunJie 春节, easy to imagine how many regulars are devastating & miserably F5 your homepage again and again…

then about the cabbies, They were, are and will be chatty and Mr/Mrs/Miss Universe till the end of time…well, at least in Beijing. Cab Driver is a relevantly good job, it paid well (at least not bad) and it’s strictly licensed which means no competitor boosting, as far as I know, Peikingese won’t give it up to the outsiders easily, they’ll bark and bite!!!

Personally I like chatty cabbies very much, most of time they are such professional gossiper whom never cease to amaze you with their suspicious stories (mostly about some current/former high powers). Then if you’re really really tired or not in the mood, they always get a pretty fast hunch and just zip it /or start to tell the most boring story about themselves in a chanting manner - that makes me fall asleep fast and sound - so either way it’s a win-win situation.

]]> By: JB http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-16630 JB Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:40:48 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-16630 Yet another wonderful post Brendan. I am curious however, in what ways exactly has America disappointed you over these years? I think it would make for an interesting post. Yet another wonderful post Brendan.

I am curious however, in what ways exactly has America disappointed you over these years? I think it would make for an interesting post.

]]> By: Lan http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-16409 Lan Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:57:15 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-16409 I had to look up "slattern" girlfriends. Great post. I had to look up “slattern” girlfriends. Great post.

]]> By: Richard http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-15958 Richard Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:52:06 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-15958 The thing is, I wouldn't be allowed to write about Gong Li's boobs as enthusiastically as you, being corporate and all, so I have to have my pleasures vicariously... Great post. The thing is, I wouldn’t be allowed to write about Gong Li’s boobs as enthusiastically as you, being corporate and all, so I have to have my pleasures vicariously…
Great post.

]]> By: MF http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-15574 MF Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:22:45 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-15574 Once in Shenzhen I had this cab driver who seemed all coked up and kept telling me about how much he liked Eleanor Roosavelt. He was driving really fast and shouting everything. He was like some sort of Chinese Roberto Benigni. Once in Shenzhen I had this cab driver who seemed all coked up and kept telling me about how much he liked Eleanor Roosavelt. He was driving really fast and shouting everything. He was like some sort of Chinese Roberto Benigni.

]]> By: Froog http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-15538 Froog Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:42:32 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-15538 Cabbies the world over are renowned for their garrulousness. Unsurprising, given their limited opportunities for social contact, other than with their fares. I suspect the key difference that makes the cabbie anecdote such a ubiquitous feature of expat life in China, and perhaps especially so in Beijing, is that even poor language students can afford to take taxis on a pretty regular basis. There can't be many other places in the world where that is true, not to the extent that it is here. I once got picked up by a great guy on Guanghua Lu who proceeded to slag off Jiang Zemin and the CCP in pretty passable English. He told me he used to like to hang around outside the old John Bull Pub, so that he'd get plenty of chances to practise. Cabbies the world over are renowned for their garrulousness. Unsurprising, given their limited opportunities for social contact, other than with their fares.

I suspect the key difference that makes the cabbie anecdote such a ubiquitous feature of expat life in China, and perhaps especially so in Beijing, is that even poor language students can afford to take taxis on a pretty regular basis. There can’t be many other places in the world where that is true, not to the extent that it is here.

I once got picked up by a great guy on Guanghua Lu who proceeded to slag off Jiang Zemin and the CCP in pretty passable English. He told me he used to like to hang around outside the old John Bull Pub, so that he’d get plenty of chances to practise.

]]> By: Tuur http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-15450 Tuur Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:48:25 +0000 http://bokane.org/2007/03/30/classics-and-a-beer-and-the-best-cabbie-ever/#comment-15450 Even I have read the Canticle, about 20 years ago. Still have the copy. And being Belgian I'm not even a native speaker of English. I understand it was quite a bestseller in its day. Rightfully so: it's a very enjoyable, thought-provoking book with a practically unique angle. Even I have read the Canticle, about 20 years ago. Still have the copy. And being Belgian I’m not even a native speaker of English.

I understand it was quite a bestseller in its day.

Rightfully so: it’s a very enjoyable, thought-provoking book with a practically unique angle.

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