Taiwan Taxi Drivers: Faith lost and restored, all in 24 hours

This weekend I went to Taipei to visit some friends and get some fresh air and a taste of modern life! I arrived late, taking the bus with my friend. Taking the bus is an affair that takes twice as much time, but it’s also half the price and it has movies on demand, massage chairs that are big enough for two and a blanket in the arm of the seat. Mmmm luxury. Anyway we arrived late and spent some time just walking randomly around the city at night and exploring the night areas while we waited for a friend to get home.

Finally our friend called us, and we had her speak to the cabbie in Chinese to tell him where to go. My friend also knows Cantonese and several phrases in Chinese, therefore she was also able to communicate and help explain what was going on. Our stop was on the MRT line and our friend said it should take about 15 minutes to get there and cost maybe $280NT at the most. Well we got in, and at first he was really nice. Chatting to us in Chinese, making conversations. But then, it became clear he had NO idea where he was going, or he was trying to take us on a joy ride. Usually I try to give people the benefit of the doubt – especially since things in Chinese can be easily misunderstood. But when my friend recognized a landmark and told him to stop, he kept right on going down the street! Convinced he knew best! We asked again, still no stopping. So anyway he drove us up and down the road twice, thinking he knew the street number when he really didn’t. So as he’s driving, his foot goes on the pedal, off the pedal so that we were start-stopping the whole way up the street and everything was taking more time. I’ve been taken on a ’roundabout’ way before but this was pretty special. After going up and down the street about four times and him not stopping or ‘misunderstanding’ us, he finally went back to where we told him to. He also told us he would do us a favour and spare us the $75NT surcharge for rides that cost over $300NT, and also give us a $15NT discount. Ummm yeah, because there has never been a $75NT surcharge on any of the rides I’ve been on. Geez. And $15NT discount on a ride that SHOULD have been $280NT but now cost almost $400NT? Give me a break! He might as well just steal our money. haha. Anyway as usual, it is best to not make a fuss because really it’s the difference of a few dollars. But still…not cool.

Turning back to Kaohsiung, on the way home. I’m pretty darn good at saying my street name and I also know how to say numbers very well. Always, if you say “85″ big tower, they know where to take me so usually I don’t have a problem. But my driver from the train station started taking me in the direction of monkey mountain! Well, I kept on saying “bah-she-ouo, zi-na-li” (85, over there) and he wasn’t getting it. On top of everything else the traffic was bad. I was convinced it was happening all over again…but really there is no point getting mad here because people will just be even more mad and frustrated at you because you are foreign and they don’t want to lose face but anyway…so frustrating. Finally, double the amount of what it would usually cost me to get home later, I decided I should have just taken the MRT and it honestly would have been faster, if not as convenient as a taxi. But the taxi driver either really didn’t understand or he had some sort of change of heart, because he lowered the price to half – exactly what it should have been. Anyway I’m glad I didn’t get mad at him because we would have both been frustrated and anyway I think it’s better to try and trust people here without jumping to conclusions since both Mike and I have had a lot of misunderstandings. It’s a mystery to me that he didn’t understand my saying “Tower 85″ when every other taxi driver did…but what can you honestly do? Just thankful I didn’t have to pay another $400NT for a cab! Yes, this is my life with Taxi Drivers in Taiwan…

~ by globalciti on May 4, 2008.