How to Make Taxi Driver Laugh

Sunday afternoon, after a proper sleep in and a lazy brunch in the hotel, I was invited to journey to Stanley a beach side village in the southern part of Hong Kong Island to visit with some family friends who have lived in HK for over 14 years. Though I'm normally adventurous and enjoy getting familiar with public transportation they advised that a cab would be the best way for me to get there and being a little out of it i agreed. I had the concierge write the address that I wanted to go to in Cantonese to avoid any confusion and off I went. The ride was quite enjoyable, though I was prompted to put on my seat belt within 1 minute of getting under way. The locals here are not inclined to use turn signals and there was a lot of stop and go under hard breaking. The route went through the city briefly, onto a highway type structure, and off onto windy roads that ran through the small resort areas lining the beaches of the southern bays. This area hardly felt urban and tourists were wandering the roads everywhere. Finally the cab came to a stop at the head of the road where my hosts lived. On the weekends the road closes to traffic to provide a pedestrian walk way along Stanley Bay. I had noticed a small black thing sitting atop the dashboard of the cab, rather reminiscent of the credit card readers one sees in taxis in the US and Europe. I figured it wouldnt hurt to ask if he accepted credit cards seeing that this is not uncommon in most of the developed world and Hong Kong prides itself on its modernity. I showed him the card and asked if he could accept Visa. He laughed so hard at this question he turned red in the face and cried. After several minutes he managed to get control of himself and still chucking said "You nuts lady? This is taxi!!" and began to crack up again.