Remembering the Kindness of Strangers

Throughout Japan and Taiwan, language was like a brick wall barrier between us and the locals. We know exactly 2 words in Japanese: arigato (thank you) and konichiwa (hello or good afternoon.) Our Chinese - for Taiwan - is similarly limited: xie-xie (thank you) and nihao (hello.) Although there were some locals who spoke english, there weren't very many. It was not like traveling in Europe or Latin America, where you can easily get by with just English. But ... if you were looking perplexed, someone who spoke a bit of English was sure to come out of the woodwork and offer help. Often, they would even walk with us for a ways until it was clear we were on the right track.

Train Stations

We saw it most often in the train stations. It is an easy thing to spot foreigners in a Japanese or Taiwanese train station, and also easy to tell when we are in need of help! We are standing in the middle of the station, staring at our phones and also looking around at the signs, but not going anywhere! If we stayed in that position long enough someone was bound to approach us and say, "can I help?" This happened both in Japan and in Taiwan. 

Night Markets

Also, in Taiwan, we were enjoying a night market. We decided we were thirsty and saw a sign that looked like iced tea so we each ordered one. When we put the straw in and tried to drink, it didn't work. It was like the straw was not open on the end inserted into the cup. We must have looked quite perplexed as I then picked the straw out of the glass and tried to blow thru it like a pea-shooter. The Taiwanese woman who came up to help must have been laughing hard because the problem was that this was 'bubble tea' with large, round 'bubbles' of gelatin on the bottom. She handed us a straw that was much bigger around and pointed to where we could get more. When we tried to drink thru that straw, the 'bubble' could get sucked up as well. We joined in the laughter all around us!

Local Buses

Number one in the leaderboard for a helpful local experience, was a Taiwanese man on the bus. It took us a while to find the right bus to take us to the Cave, then, when we got on and tried to tap and pay with the card that had worked just fine on the train - it didn't work. I still don't know if that was because our "easy card" didn't work on local buses, or if it had run out of money on the card, but it didn't work. The bus driver was chattering away at us but, of course, we couldn't understand a word, and more people wanted to get on. The bus was full. Just as panic was setting in, a kind gentleman stepped forward and, without a word, dropped two of his own tokens into the payment slot for us. It was a simple act, but it spoke volumes. 

The local bus in Keelung, Taiwan

Ultimately, it was these moments of connection that make our visits special. We may not have spoken the language, but the kindness of the people we met along the way spoke to us loud and clear.

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