Ban Mee (with Video)
I know, I know, it has been suggested that I have been prone to slightly embellishing stories by exaggerating details to make a story more funny…..but it is not true. WinnieLeaks does not lie……..a lot. If anything, the stories are toned down to make them believable, otherwise no one would read them.
This time I caught some of the action on camera to prove my point.
As avid and devoted fans of WinnieLeaks you will all remember I wrote about my experience with the elderly punch drunk taxi driver (Phuc Dup) the last time I was in Korea. Well, I am currently back in Korea and I found a driver worse than Phuc Dup. Today, a colleague and myself were driven to Busan airport by Phuc Dup’s Great Grandfather (Ban Mee)
I should have been suspicious straight away when I saw the cataracts or when he pulled out of our hotel and on to the main road and did not even look for traffic. Cars were braking hard and honking horns and he did not seem to notice.
He then went on to constantly drift into the other lanes on either side of the one he was in. Cars, vans, trucks and buses all honked their horns and shouted abuse. Again, he did not seem to notice or care. It was at this point, when I was looking at him flabbergasted, I noticed that he was hitting himself in the face or on the side of his head….and quite hard too! On the first video you’ll see him do it. Make sure you look at the small round mirror on the right side of the main rear view mirror. Ironically, this little round mirror helps the driver with blind spots around the car. Of course, it does not help if the driver himself is bloody blind.
In addition to not being able to stay in a lane, he also did not stop for a single red light either. Twice we nearly hit cars crossing in front of us. The other drivers obviously knew who Ban Mee was because a lot of them shouted and waved furiously. He sped through four red lights……..at least! Disputably five.
In the last video, I’m speaking to my Norwegian colleague declaring that he almost drove through his fifth red light but it also clearly shows Ban Mee’s inability to stay in lane. It must have been at least five or six lane separation bollards he drove over. Now, I’m not fluent in Korean but I’m sure the final words on the video are the from the SatNav woman politely saying “Ban Mee, you’ll kill us all!”
Because I travel a lot, people often ask me if I scared of dying in a plane crash. No I am not…………..taxi’s on the other hand.
Ban Mee driving over bollards
