On Saturday, Alaina and I decided to return to Dasi, a small town that we had passed through on the school cycling trip. We were unaware of the extent of the adventure we were about to embark on! To get back to Dasi, we needed to travel by MRT to a train, then finally, take a bus on the last leg of our journey. Once at the train station, we realized we had NO idea what to do, since our tickets this time were printed in Chinese. We asked a nice couple at the train station to help us out, and it turned out they were confused too, but still helpful since they spoke the language! So, we boarded the train together and went off to Tauyuan, where we needed to catch the bus. Of course, it could not be that simple and we had to ask directions from two more people before we could find the bus. It was MUCH farther than we had remembered, and about two hours later, we finally arrived!
Dasi has an "old street" which has very nice shopping for traditional items....that was what drew us back. We also tried some foods while we were there, including BBQ grilled corn on the cop. Alaina was disgusted by it and went on an on about how horrible it tasted, and in the meantime I had eaten all of mine and was thinking , "It is just an ear of corn. What is her problem?" Finally, I let Alaina try my piece and she said, "Well, this is normal!! Try MINE!" and her ear was horrible and raw. So funny that we were trying two completely different foods after talking about it for a good five minutes or so! We also had some rice dough coated in peanut butter topping, and some rice balls filled with red bean. These are very typical for that area and also Wulai, where we went on Sunday.
Well, the journey went well, except for it was getting dark and we realized that once we climbed up to the mountain village, we had no ideao how to get back! After winding up and down some streets and trying to figure it out on our own, we realized that would be impossible since the buses only had chinese writing in that area. We returned to a shop where we had made a rather large purchase, and the girl, probably high school age, told us she would show us where to catch a bus. She walked us ALL THE WAY to the bus station, at least a half mile away down winding roads. We never would have found it! She was sooo nice to do that! Among the others that helped us along the way, we met a woman who tried a little charades to explain, a bus driver who wrote the amount on his hand, another man who drew the departure time in the air with his finger, a clerk at 7-11 who drew us a map.....after a couple hours, we were safely home! Yesterday was a day when the language barrier REALLY got to us, though! Again, I was so amazed at how kind and helpful people were though. When I was in France, people never went out of their way to help us to the extent that these people are willing to go. Even when we are lost and feel pretty dumb for not knowing exactly how to get home, I am usually not nervous because it is so populated and you pass someone every two feet who is more than eager to conversate and speak English, and help us. So, back to the lesson we learned on Day 1, after plugging our power strip into the 220 voltage outlet.....When in Doubt, Ask.
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