Tuk Tuks and Thai Taxis

Little known fact. In New York City, the yellow taxis are exempt from requiring young children to be in car seats.  I'm not sure why that is, but it does save my mother from having to lug around a car seat every time she takes me somewhere.

I mean, think about if they required taxis to only drive children secured in car seats. You take your adorable baby for a walk in the park, then decide to walk further and get some lunch, then even further still to do some window shopping for your dear child, then you realize that you're pretty far from home and want to jump in a cab as it starts to drizzle. Nope, no car seat, no service. You're SOL.

While many New Yorker parents have acclimated to this reality where their child's safety is potentially compromised for pragmatic convenience, many other yuppies parents American's can't imagine not strapping their children into the overpriced Britax car seats, if anything, just to justify the $200+ they spent at Buy Buy Baby.

But as I sit here in Thailand with my poor parents pushing me around in my stroller all over the city in 90 degree heat, sometimes, I'd like to give them a break and let them take a taxi to get back home and find some conditioned air.  But of course, my lazy father left the 20 lb car seat at the hotel instead of carrying it around with him just in case this exact situation arose...

Oh well, let's go for it anyway, Mom & Dad.  I mean, we do it all the time in Manhattan, so Thailand should be the same, right?  But where are all the taxis? Oh, these are taxis?