Taxi Woes

We needed to go to IKEA to look at some storage stuff for the kids toys. Finally decided to go on Sunday. It was raining, so thought taxi would be good way to go rather than subway since we’d have to walk around outside a bit. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. Ryken got a bit carsick and threw up in the cab – mostly on the floor but a bit on the seat and on Anthony. We cleaned up what we could. The ride took about 1 hour and 20 minutes! Thank goodness I wasn’t holding him when he puked because I think I would have puked too – I was also feeling carsick. When the cab driver dropped us off, he got out to inspect his seat (all seats have these white covers on them here for easy washing and cleaning) – he was not happy at all and started yelling at us. But what we were to do. I handed him the fare plus a little bit extra to cover the cleaning cost – but he was still standing there yelling as we walked away. Of course, all in Chinese, so I have no idea what he was saying…but I can guess!

Once inside IKEA, I took Ryken to the bathroom to clean him up – stuck him the sink to wash him down – while one of the bathroom ayis (I call all cleaning people ayi’s and every bathroom has at least one cleaning lady) was yelling at me to move him – she thought I was letting him pee in the sink! I explained as best I could in broken Chinese and gestures (gagging with finger in mouth) what happened and she finally calmed down. Then I had about 15 women staring at us and talking in Chinese while I cleaned him and changed him – I am pretty sure we caused a huge traffic flow issue out of the bathroom as everyone wanted to see this white mom clean up her white baby boy. When he was completely naked with all his bits hanging lose, there was a lot of commotion as everyone wanted to see.

It is definitely true that we live in a bubble in Jinqiao area – where there are foreigners everywhere and although people like to see what I buy at the local supermarket, we don’t get many looks and our children are usually left alone. But when we step outside that bubble we become a spectacle and everyone wants to watch us, touch our kids, take our pictures and generally just be amazed by the fact we have three children.

We did take the subway home, which is a better mode of transportation when you have kids who may be carsick and aren’t strapped into a car seat or even a seat belt. Although, I still do not understand how any handicapped or wheelchair bound people can go ANYWHERE in this city! The way to get down to the subway when we had to transfer lines was only by stairs. There was an elevator sign and we tried taking it, but it didn’t go to the right floor or right area. It was three flights of stairs. Luckily, we have a WONDERFUL stroller that only weighs 9 lbs, so carrying the stroller and Ryken isn’t that difficult.