When did you start showing? Your naval pop?

[Gracey]

Thanka -- you always make me laugh!
The helpful lady was in HK. Elements is in West Kowloon. I've been here more than a decade, not counting summers here as a child. And I've never had the taxi trouble you've had. I don't know about enclaves. I'm all over the city. I live in Kowloon, work in Island East, spend much time in Central, and visit family from the NT to outlying islands. Maybe it's just luck that I generally get good service.
We must have opposite experiences. I -- in fact, my entire extended family plus many HK Chinese friends -- get treated very badly on the Mainland. It's not just rudeness, it's actual illegal behavior, like cabbies using rigged meters to overcharge, threatening to throw people out of the car, trying to pick up strangers on the road to "double up" on jobs. I've been screamed at and insulted. I've had cabbies stop on the curb and storm out in a huff in an attempt to blackmail me for more money. As bad as HK is, the taxi industry is not so unregulated that this can happen -- at least not regularly.

But, as one of my good friends says, she gets "white lady privilege" in China. And we've seen again and again that Westerners are afforded better service on the Mainland, while the Chinese are perfectly happy to abuse or cheat other Chinese, particularly if you perceived as a snooty Hong Konger. They know that if a "foreign guest" complains about them, they will get in big trouble.

In Hong Kong, people are generally treated the same. If you have a grumpy, rude cabbie, he will be grumpy and rude to everyone!

Sigh. This is what I get for trying to start a "light" topic. Don't know how it became a serious discussion on rudeness...

 

[thanka2]

Thanka -- you always make me laugh!
The helpful lady was in HK. Elements is in West Kowloon. I've been here more than a decade, not counting summers here as a child. And I've never had the taxi trouble you've had. I don't know about enclaves. I'm all over the city. I live in Kowloon, work in Island East, spend much time in Central, and visit family from the NT to outlying islands. Maybe it's just luck that I generally get good service.
We must have opposite experiences. I -- in fact, my entire extended family plus many HK Chinese friends -- get treated very badly on the Mainland. It's not just rudeness, it's actual illegal behavior, like cabbies using rigged meters to overcharge, threatening to throw people out of the car, trying to pick up strangers on the road to "double up" on jobs. I've been screamed at and insulted. I've had cabbies stop on the curb and storm out in a huff in an attempt to blackmail me for more money. As bad as HK is, the taxi industry is not so unregulated that this can happen -- at least not regularly.

But, as one of my good friends says, she gets "white lady privilege" in China. And we've seen again and again that Westerners are afforded better service on the Mainland, while the Chinese are perfectly happy to abuse or cheat other Chinese, particularly if you perceived as a snooty Hong Konger. They know that if a "foreign guest" complains about them, they will get in big trouble.

In Hong Kong, people are generally treated the same. If you have a grumpy, rude cabbie, he will be grumpy and rude to everyone!

Sigh. This is what I get for trying to start a "light" topic. Don't know how it became a serious discussion on rudeness...

Hmmm...interesting to know that my 7-week-old's life being put in danger could be funny. Yes, maybe you are lucky or maybe I am just very unlucky. I have seen a lot of dangerous behavior from drivers in HK. I have lived in HK for 9 years. Until we had children we didn't take taxis but now that we do it's even more important that drivers are careful.

I'm sorry to hear about your misfortunes with cab drivers on the Mainland. One of the ML cities I lived in cab drivers were dangerous but they weren't malicious (the cab drivers there were drinking large amounts of bai jiu so they were nearly always a bit drunk--but hey, it was really cold and winter, right?). I spent most of my time with local Chinese people and they never had a problem with the drivers. Drivers were actually very good-natured. One cold, snowy night I was having a hard time getting a taxi and one pulled up that already had passengers but invited me to ride along and then didn't make me pay a fee--this also happened for some of my Chinese friends. I guess "The Mainland" can't be really clumped together into one category either as there are many different cities with different ways of doing things. I guess if you only travel to some of the bigger cities like Shanghai (not my favorite ML city for sure) you'll probably run into a lot of rudeness. In Beijing, I found that taxi drivers were always trying to trick me but I was just on my toes and through good-natured joking got along just fine. My Hong Kong friends came to visit and they also never had problems with the drivers. So, maybe the luck you've had on the Mainland is exactly the luck I've had here in HK. My experience with Mainlanders (except for a few cities) is that they are much more laid back so hence not in such a hurry.

I think the topic went this way because we were talking about getting seats on the MTR as a pregnant woman which you'd think would be directly related to how pregnant you look (which, if I'm not mistaken, I think was the title of your original post).

 

[Biggie]

My belly button didn't pop but has turned brown. Also got a brown vertical line from button down, which is still here 4 mth after baby was born!
I gained about 12kg at the end. Still trying to lose the last 5....
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Gracey]

Hi Biggie, I think everyone gets that brown line, though mine is still pretty faint. It's called the Linea Negra. I'm sure it'll go away with time.
12 kg is not bad at all. Give yourself time for the weight loss. Are you breast feeding?
I'll probably end up gaining more than you. I'm only 24 weeks and already 7 kg heavier.

 

[happiness]

My experience is that generally, taxi drivers are really horrible in this city and if you find a few good ones you feel really lucky.[/QUOTE]

I hear ya!!! Our experience has been largely negative with taxi drivers - often scary!! Particularly going on short trips...... Also I have NEVER been offered a seat on the MTR - 5 months pregnant and obvious at this stage..Im going to get brave and start asking for a seat.... LOVE the rudeness cards