Back-breaking work, driving for days on end, having nowhere to shower—being a trucker is a tough job for a man or a woman, but Lan loves the challenge. The 30-year-old, who transports construction equipment around Taiwan with a kitten in her cabin for company, is not afraid of anything except maybe ghosts.
“I’ve been into driving big vehicles since I was very young. In my late teens, as I enrolled in the Department of Airline and Transport Service Management at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism [in southern Taiwan], I was asked what I planned to do after I finished school. ‘Drive an articulated truck,’ was my answer. I got my truck driver’s license when I was around 22. That was also about the time when I graduated. People thought it was a cool thing for a woman to do, although they still queried my choice. This wasn’t because of my sex but because they just thought that it was a job without any particular career prospects.
My dad’s also a truck driver and he’s got more than 30 years of experience. He’s certainly had a big influence on me. I was 18 when I told him I wanted to drive one too and so he invited me to sit at the steering wheel of his articulated vehicle. My dad’s got guts. Most fathers would prefer their daughters to steer clear of this kind of work. My brother used to drive a truck but he gave it up to sell phones.
My father was very strict when he taught me to drive. He often yelled at me and I’d feel really stressed. But I didn’t talk back at first; I just tolerated all his shouting. After several lessons, I started to get a bit more assertive and argue with him. He’d be able to take the truck around a bend easily, but I couldn’t yet. I’d have to edge forward and then reverse and try the curve again in order to negotiate it safely. He’d get angry at me because I couldn’t do it the way he did. I’d ask him why he was yelling at me when I’d still managed to do it. That said, my dad’s still a far better truck driver than me. My boyfriend’s been in the business for more than 20 years. He also taught me to drive and in the beginning he was mean about it too. But I stood up for myself and then he stopped.
(Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
My first jobs were transporting feed for poultry farms around Taiwan. There was one time when I almost got killed. I fell into a large empty feed container loaded onto my truck. It was about 4 meters in height. I could have died or been paralyzed. But luckily I just got a few bruises. When my dad called me to find out if I was all right, I felt a twinge in my chest and I started crying. It made me realize that truck drivers really do have a hard life.
My job is dangerous to some extent and you need to be tough to do it. I sometimes have to drive for days on end and I often sleep in my truck. We usually travel long distances and we’re restricted to using only certain types of roads because our vehicles are too long and heavy, especially when fully loaded.
You can’t be picky about food, either. When finding somewhere to eat, we have to choose a place that has the space to park a big vehicle. As a woman trucker, it’s harder for me to find a suitable location to go to the toilet on long drives. Men can go anywhere. It’s the same for showering. Sometimes, when I’m away from home for a long time and I’ve done a hard day’s work loading and unloading heavy goods, I really want a shower. I have to find somewhere safe and deserted to take a wash with the water stored on my truck. But to be honest, when I shower outdoors, I’m more worried about seeing ghosts than other people.
Women might not look as physically strong as men but we can still do the job just as well. Sometimes, guys will help me carry heavy objects like bags of feed but I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t rely on others. I chose this job and I want to be treated as an equal. I might not be able to carry that bag in one go like a guy but I can do it in a few stages. Now I’m just as quick and efficient as them.
About three and a half years ago, I stopped shifting feed and started transporting excavators and other heavy equipment to and from construction sites. It’s much less stressful because my schedule is more flexible—taking feed meant you had to be punctual because ducks and chickens can’t wait! I have more time to do things outside my job, like having meals with friends and studying Japanese. I’m pretty happy with how everything’s going with my life right now.”
—interview by Oscar Chung
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw