I first came to Malaysia in 2008 and caught a teksi (taxi*) from KLCC to Mid Valley Mega Mall. The first one back then drive like a bat out of hell and it cost RM60. Now in Aussie dollars that’s about $20 and given that taxis in Aus are notoriously expensive I didn’t think too much of it. I did think it was a LITTLE overpriced, but hey, we were there to have fun**.
Coming back to the hotel in the afternoon the driver was taking us on the scenic tour and I remember repeatedly telling him we wanted to go to KLCC. He confirmed we were but my concern stemmed from the fact that the Petronas Towers were directly behind us and we were headed away from them. Reraising the concerns the driver assured us we were ok. We were going the right way.
As it turned out, we were going the right way and he got us there for RM30!!! Half the price.
Wind the clock forward to 2011, my wife and I walked out of the hotel yesterday and jumped into a taxi and headed off in search of MegaMall once again. We got there and the fare amounted to LESS THAN RM30! So with a tip it cost us RM30 exactly. And this taxi driver was really funny, very wise and will probably be the subject of another post in the next few days.
But then coming back to the hotel last night, the taxi was stuck in traffic for almost the entire journey and it seemed to take forever. We arrived at the hotel and the whole fare rung up at LESS THAN RM15!!!
What’s going on? Everytime I get in a taxi in Malaysia, is gets cheaper!!! This is cool! But it does go to show how much we got ripped off every other time!
* I do love the way Malay’s spell English words, or incorporate English words into their language
** and as it turned out, to get ripped off!