Chauffered Driven in Asia

[mrcfo]

Whats it with wealthy people and even business execs being chauffered driven in Asia? I've seen this "tradition/phenonmenon" back in Vietnam and generally across Asia - be it Singapore, HK, China or Taiwan.

Don't people enjoy driving over there?? I know its cheap and stuff to hire a chauffer but still, you don't get the sheer driving experience of a BMW or Mercedes you chalked so much $$ to buy.

I have a Chinese colleague who said that her dad back in China is a CEO to some company and gets chauffered driven around and gave me a condescending view that Australian companies aren't up to scratch when they only provide cars and not chauffeurs to CEOs and the higher execs/ people in echelons of the company.

I'm like WTF???

[AngryABCGirl]

I got the impression that hired help and servants like chauffers and maids are a bit more acceptable in Asia than in the States. Most of my peers would find it tacky to have a maid at home, especially a home that'd we call 1/4 of a small house in the States or someone to drive you around is excessive.

I remember the first time I went to HK my friend picked me up in a private van and we were just sitting in back of it and I was like "oh this is awkward." Then I remember being at her house which was about the size of a living room in Los Angeles and looking for a trash can and she told me to just leave everything wherever and it'd get cleaned up (!).

Awkward feelings continued when I moved to Taiwan and a bunch of my relatives had Filipino maids. I think they enjoyed my company because I always said thank you to them and was polite, which apparently no one is.

So basically I'm as weirded out as you are. But I doubt people would not have so much hired help if it wasn't so cheap.

[eos]

i always thought it was cuz driving around in asia is crap. like in hk, you can't park here, you can't park there, or only during certain hours. if you're a business person and you gotta be here and there throughout the day, having a chauffer only makes sense, no?

and the maid thing was weird. we spent a couple days with my mom's friends and they had a maid. in the morning, uncle told us to tell her what we wanted to eat and she would make it for us. we just had toast and tea cuz we weren't used to it.

[SunWuKong]

Whats it with wealthy people and even business execs being chauffered driven in Asia? I've seen this "tradition/phenonmenon" back in Vietnam and generally across Asia - be it Singapore, HK, China or Taiwan.

Don't people enjoy driving over there?? I know its cheap and stuff to hire a chauffer but still, you don't get the sheer driving experience of a BMW or Mercedes you chalked so much $$ to buy.

i don't enjoy driving actually. and especially in a city HK or other Asian cities. they look like a nightmare to drive in.

[SunWuKong]

and the maid thing was weird. we spent a couple days with my mom's friends and they had a maid. in the morning, uncle told us to tell her what we wanted to eat and she would make it for us. we just had toast and tea cuz we weren't used to it.

hell the girlfriend and i live in a one-bedroom apartment in the US and even then she wants a maid. it would be weird having hired help doing housework all the time, but i'm pretty sure i can get used to it pretty quickly...

[AngryABCGirl]

i don't enjoy driving actually. and especially in a city HK or other Asian cities. they look like a nightmare to drive in.

I'm a driving fiend. I pretend it's like I'm in a live-action video game. I gotta avoid all the motorcycles, bicycle contraptions, cars, and people running into the street while winding in little alleys, it's fun, but not for the average person.

[Yeahman]

Last week I spent 45 mins driving around looking for parking. I would have loved for a chauffeur to drop me off.

Anyway, it's the same in most places. The West is the anomaly.
There's the lower labor cost but also the older generations outside of the West don't know how to drive so the rich among them were always driven around and the chauffeur culture persists down to the present. There's also the gender aspect. In Saudi Arabia, women still can't drive.

[kimpossible]

One my uncles (in-law) has a car and driver for his 'job'. The car is a semi-shitbox and the driver's kinda thug. I love him. He can get anything, he knows a lot of cool places to see and he knows how to avoid all the road tolls in Taipei.

I like the current maid. She slams the door on religious kooks who show up figuring we're an easy mark because there's a foreigner in the family.

Not like I gotta worry about living in Asia anytime soon but I don't think I'd ever drive Taiwan. I don't have the chops. Japan, maybe. And since I'm dreaming I'd do it on the kewlest motorcycle ever.

[eos]

yeah, i would LOVE having a driver. fucking chicago parking and drivers.

a maid...not so much. it's like having an assistant: if they don't do it YOUR way, you might as well have done it yourself.

[CBC guy]

Heck if I lived in an Asian metropolis (all of which are hell to drive in I hear) and I have bling to throw around I'll hire a chauffeur too.

Personal servants and such are still considered acceptable in Asia. Heck when I taught English for a month in 2004 with ELIC we had our personal chef.

There's nowhere to show off the horsepower of your fancy new cars in these cities. The only place in Asia that has anything resembling a "driving culture" is probably Japan, and even there I WOULDN'T want to drive in Tokyo.

[mrcfo]

On second thoughts driving a stick shift in Asia wouldnt be such a good idea...

[eos]

but that's all they drive over there. they are extremely good at it though.

[SunWuKong]

a maid...not so much. it's like having an assistant: if they don't do it YOUR way, you might as well have done it yourself.

oh god. you're a micro manager, aren't you?!?

[eos]

my current assistant has turned me into one. otherwise, i couldn't care less as long as it gets done.

[applehead]

oh man.
i've always wanted a chaffeur.
i used to spend a lot of money on
those door to door taxis and it's a bad
habit to break.

[CBC guy]

Actually when I was a little kid (4-5) in HK our family had a Filipino maid, and all my HK relatives had maids of some sort. Some of them even spoke Cantonese. It was pretty fun. I think I made friends with my Grandma's Indonesian Maid who spoke passable Cantonese.