The Twinings Travel to Taiwan

Breakfast this morning was at a small cafe called Maui Coffee. The wait staff spoke absolutely no English and after we said hello and thanks we had exhausted our entire Chinese vocabulary. Montie, armed with his trusty dictionary attempted to order breakfast. After a few attempts, the poor waitress became so flustered she called the owner of the resturant on the phone and asked her to translate the menu for us. The funniest part was that even after speaking with the owner/translator we still weren’t sure what we were going to be served. We ended up with hardboiled eggs, croissants and two green salads. Success – thanks to the kind person on the telephone.

Tipping in Taiwan is not common or expected at all. After paying the tab at Maui Coffee, Montie left the equivalent of about $2US on the table. I guess he figured it was the least we could do for all the stress we had caused. We were all the way across the street when the bus boy came running to tell us we had forgot our money. At least that is what we think he was telling us!

Typhoon Bilis seems to have blown over. It is still overcast and rainy, but most places have taken down the boards over the windows and doors. Seeing the windows and doors made me a little nervous, but everyone in the hotel assured us we were fine. I worried maybe they were just trying to be nice.

After breakfast we took a taxi to the Taipei Zoo which was about 20 minutes from our hotel. It is a nice zoo with all the usual animals and the little girls loved it. People, particularly older women, are fascinated with Olivia and Cassandra. I mean seriously fascinated. They love to touch their faces and hair. The girls handle it pretty well by smiling and saying shay-shay (thank you) over and over. Two teenage girls stopped Courtney at the zoo asking if they could take a picture with her. They told her she looked like a movie star!

Right now we’re back at the hotel napping and gearing up for the adventure we like to call dinner.
Here are today’s Chinese words…

Ni hao – nee how (hello)
Xiexie – shay-shay (thank you)
Mafan ni – ma-fahn nee (may I trouble you)
Xiexie, bu yao – shay-shay boo yee-ow (no, thanks)
Shi – shr – (yes)