a lot of things the locals do, and I have been here for about 15 years or so…
first of all, can anyone tell me why in a bus, or the MRT, old people that are about to sit down after another person just got up, pat on the seat and stand for a while before sitting down? What are they afraid of, the heat left by the other person, the aura of the other person, other evil things? is it dangerous to sit down immediately?
next, why do people with a motor scooter, after having found a place to park, keep the engine running, while they move other motor scooters to create more parking spaces, push their scooter in the parking space, take off the helmet, open the seat, put the helmet in the compartment, and close the seat, and maybe other things. Do they enjoy the fumes from the exhaust pipe really THAT much? Or is there another explanation?
Those are just two of the many things I have yet to figure out…
another thing that makes me shake my head almost everyday is watching those ladies riding motorscooters who keep their legs stretched out while starting to move after waiting at a red light. I know, it’s probably because they are short and can’t touch the ground, but once your bike is moving at, say 5mph, it should be fairly safe to put your feet “onboard”. aren’t they afraid of hurting their feet when coming too close to other vehicles?
They want to feel if the other pie’d or shit his pants so they can laugh at them … meanwhile picking up germs to transfer to their nose while picking it to get a better immume system …
I like living here specifically because I will never be ale to totaly figure everything out about this place, the language or the people. Much more interesting than living in a Western country were I am somewhat familiar with already and the people and culture are not so entirely different from my own.
[quote=“hannes”]a lot of things the locals do, and I have been here for about 15 years or so…
first of all, can anyone tell me why in a bus, or the MRT, old people that are about to sit down after another person just got up, pat on the seat and stand for a while before sitting down? What are they afraid of, the heat left by the other person, the aura of the other person, other evil things? is it dangerous to sit down immediately?
next, why do people with a motor scooter, after having found a place to park, keep the engine running, while they move other motor scooters to create more parking spaces, push their scooter in the parking space, take off the helmet, open the seat, put the helmet in the compartment, and close the seat, and maybe other things. Do they enjoy the fumes from the exhaust pipe really THAT much? Or is there another explanation?
Those are just two of the many things I have yet to figure out…[/quote]
If you turn off the motor before moving the scooter, the front forks lock up and you cant move it. At least that’s my experience.
Can’t figure out why some older guys ride their scooter with their ass way to hell off on one side and their knees out like they are getting a GYN exam.
[quote=“Enigma”]Can’t figure out why some older guys ride their scooter with their ass way to hell off on one side and their knees out like they are getting a GYN exam.[/quote]It makes it look like you have really big nads. Only women ride with their legs tightly together. Looks even tougher when you are chewing binglan, wearing a plastic construction hat and danglin’ a smoke out of your mouth.
not really, only if you turn the key to the very left.
I think many people here are just not aware of the toxic nature of exhaust fumes. I once saw an old guy leaving his “blue-smoke” motor scooter running while his 3-year old grandson was standing right behind the vehicle. It’s the same at the gas station, when people have to wait in a line. Most people keep the engine running to “drive” the last five meters or so…
When I bought my first scooter and the mechanic was running over the basics of keeping the thing in good nick, he stressed that I must not turn the engine off as soon as I stop, but must let it run for something like half a minute to a minute. I had also heard much the same from a Chinese friend, so took it as the gospel truth. Hence, I have always done exactly what you have described, leaving the engine running while I take off my helmet and gloves, put on the bike lock, and fiddle about with other things. Is it really possible that this is quite unnecessary after all? I know nothing about how scooters work, so I haven’t a clue either way. Perhaps one of our mechanically minded Forumosans can tell us if there really is a good reason for it, or if it’s a load of codswallop?
I imagine it involves face. One should not be seen as greedy to get the seat. Just as one must accept a business card with two hands, comment positively on it, and let it linger in the hands a while before putting it away, one must linger standing next to the seat for at least 15 seconds, look around as if to verify that no one else wants it, and then slowly sit down. To do otherwise would be uncivilized.
