Daegu Diary: Of taxi men and 'ginnalship'

Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

It seems that South Korean taxi men are just as much 'ginnals' as their Jamaican colleagues.

Twice in one day Ricardo Makyn and I found ourselves on the wrong side of a scam.

We know by now that it takes no more than five minutes or so to get to the Athletes' Village from the stadium, and about 10 minutes if there is a bit of traffic. That works out to about KRW$5,000 - call it J$400.

Well, this particular taxi driver apparently thought he would make a few extra dollars off us. After all, we aren't from around these parts, so we cannot know the place that well.

Little did he know that we had made that run to the Athletes' Village almost on a daily basis and were both very familiar with the route.

A big smile greeted us as we entered his vehicle, a volunteer told him our destination in their native language (very few Koreans seem to speak English), and for emphasis, I showed him the address, written in his language - the work of another lovely volunteer.

"Vi-hage," he nodded, an untidy accent in tow.

He then began to speak to us in Korean and was pretty worked up about whatever it was that he was trying to share with us. I nodded. Ricardo, sitting in the back seat, found it rather amusing that we were being held prisoner in a conversation that we could not participate in.

An unusual left turn was followed by another left and then all of a sudden I had something to talk about.

"Wrong way, wrong turn, you go right, right, not left, right," I said, all the time using my hands to show him the way I had become accustomed to.

He looked at me and kept talking.

Ten minutes later we were still in the cab and I swore I passed a building that I already did five minutes earlier.

Unfamiliar stretch

Now I lost it and started talking to the man in a language he could not understand, and so rolling down an unfamiliar stretch of pavement, there we were, having a bilingual conversation.

I don't have a clue what he was saying, but I was trying to tell him that we were not paying the extra fare, which was due to his insistence on taking us around the city.

I pointed to my watch and fanned him off a few times to register my disgust. After all, that's a universal way to say you are upset. Ricardo was having the time of his life watching the spectacle.

I took out some Korean notes, pointed at the fare monitor and shook my hands as to suggest "no". He laughed. But he wasn't laughing when we stepped out and paid him exactly KRW$5,000.

It was a small victory, but victory nonetheless. We are Jamaicans, and if any 'ginnalship' a 'gwaan', a we suppose to a sail that ship.