Traveling Abroad Lesson #78

NEVER sit in the front of a taxi ... especially if you are female. :)

Today was a very interesting day ... where to begin?

Maybe with where I am presently: sitting in a hotel room in Taipei.
Reason: I'm meeting up with one of my professors from Davis in the morning.
She is here for a conference and invited me to join her.
What I'm doing, besides blogging: snacking on raisin bread, against my better judgment and the taxi driver's careful instructions ^-^ however, it is quite yummy.

So this morning, I got up and started rearranging my suitcases in order to organize everything a little better and to make packing easier. Then I ran to the bookstore to write a couple emails, after which I went to the Language Center to take a Chinese placement exam. Next stop was the Taiwanese Literature office to pick up my course registration sheet and take it to the administration building.

I grabbed a bit of lunch and then went back to my room to pack. After packing and an adventure online with google maps, I walked out of the bookstore with the name of the university I needed arrive at in the morning, the name of the train station I needed to get off at and hotel reservations. Thanks, Mom, for the helpful websites and phone calls. :)

After going back to my room to pick up my suitcase, I bravely went to the street to hail a taxi. I've done this before at least twice, so I didn't think it would be a big deal ... well I thought wrong. Long story short, it took me over 15 minutes to find one and in order to do so, I ended up walking (and running part of the time) down quite a ways, lugging my suitcase behind me.

Finally, after all that time and after becoming hot and sweaty, I got the attention of a driver who pulled over and let me in. But only my suitcase went in the back seat because his little, six-year-old boy was also in the back seat. lol The driver was nice but he kept asking me questions. And of course, taxi drivers don't speak English so I have to sink or swim in river rapids of Chinese. :) He asked me the normal questions like, "How long have you been in Taiwan?" "Are you studying in Taiwan?" "What are you studying?" "How long will you be here?" But then he asked how old I was and if I was married ...

We got to the station just after my train had left ... so I paid the driver and made my way into the station, which was positively buzzing with people since it was Friday and so many people want to get home from work and go places for the weekend. The line to speak to a real person was super long and I was worried about not getting a seat so that took priority over whether or not I got my ticket refunded.

I stood in line at the automatic ticket machines for some time until I was able to buy another ticket. Thank God that I got one! It was a non-restricted ticket meaning that I could sit in any seat from car 10-12 and any train that was leaving today with the destination of Banciao.

I found a seat on the train and ate my croissant sandwich that I had bought while I was waiting in the station. It was really goooood! :)

When the train came to a stop at Banciao station, I stepped into a place that gave a new definition to what I had known as a, "train station." This one was huge! It wasn't just for the high-speed rail, but for other forms of trains as well, including the MRT. I had to ask for help to know how to get out of there! :) I'm sure there are much larger stations in other places, but this was the biggest one I had been in and it was more like an airport to me than a train station. There was a considerable amount of American shops inside: Cold Stone, North Face, American Tourister, McDonalds, 7/11, and more.

Once outside, I got into a taxi. I had put my luggage in the back and sat in the front, as the driver had opened the front door from his seat behind the wheel. Once inside, I regretted my decision. The driver was a talker ... with a very heavy Taiwanese accent, making it incredibly difficult for me to understand him ... and I felt like he kept picking up on me!! Ah!! It was probably the most awkward taxi ride I'd has so far. He, also, asked my age, how long I had been in Taiwan, how long I was going to stay, etc. But what made this guy different is that he gave me a sticker card with his name and number on it. And what's more, when he was talking to me and didn't think I was listening, he kept nudging me with his elbow! I can't tell you how many times he did that! I tried moving my arm out of the way, but to no avail. These are also paraphrased versions of things he said to me:
*"When you're in poor spirits, call me and I'll take you around. I won't do anything bad."
*"Don't eat before you go to bed or else you'll get fat."
*"Before you go back to America, you can come up to Taipei for a couple days. I can take you to see the ocean and eat seafood."

Keep in mind that this is just a sampling of the slightly alarming things that I was subjected to on my THIRTY MINUTE taxi ride to my hotel. I was never so glad to get out of a taxi! The 555th person to comment on this blog post will be the lucky recipient of the second card/sticker that he gave me. :D

Well, I think that's about all I have the energy to write at this point. I really need to hit the sac. Hope you all have a great Friday! :)

~K.

P.S. I've been trying to post pictures with this blog entry but the internet is really slow right now and won't let me. I'll update it with pictures when I have a better connection. :)