Day 6: The Most Outstanding Taxi Driver of Taichung...

~ 19th March 2014 ~

Uncle, you're the best~!

We had our luggage with us. We had money with us. We don't have phone cards. We don't know where's the minsu that we booked. But we have mouth to ask around and we're not afraid to march on. I taught Pinky the Western-style of traveling like those in the movies. Hail for a cab, hop in and decide later. The taxis were in a queue so we were not allowed to choose which taxi we would like to hop into. So we just climbed into the one next in line. Uncle, I'm sorry I couldn't even read your name. Seriously sorry, can't Google translate as this is a piece of photo.

As the uncle drove off, he asked us where did we want to go. We told him straight-forward our whole story of not being able to get to the homestay person in charge and we already paid the deposit and bla bla bla bla on and on we told him in great detail when we didn't have much detail with us at all. I think we just vomited out a whole lot of problem to him. We told him we had the person's phone number but we never call before coz' no phone card how to call? Then, this taxi driver whipped out his mobile phone and he asked for the phone number. He said he would call himself. He couldn't get to the number at all. The phone has been switched off. Oh, no~! Have we been conned? Couldn't be, right? So, since we planned to go to a few places in Taichung, we actually wanted to go by bus but we checked with this uncle about the route. He said it would be difficult to get transport as Taichung is not as developed as Taipei. And the places we wanted to go would be at different ends of the county. 

Since, he's so kind to tell us the details, we don't mind paying him extra to take us to our destinations and also to pay him for the waiting time, but in the end he didn't charge us for waiting for us slow pokes. Bless you, uncle~!

We asked him to take us to any homestay if he still couldn't get the one we booked for. He said okay as he knows a few homestays and also hotels. We then happily moved to our next destination. After we're done with our next destination, he took us to a phone shop to get our phone card. Oh, my~! It took us more than an hour just to get the phone card. Again, we parked mi mama inside the taxi just in case the taxi drove off. Thinking about it now, we should be more worried if mi mama was driven away. How odd of us not to think of that. My name couldn't be used to register for the phone card as someone else who has the same name as I do, had registered for a phone card before. Hello... isn't that stupid? There are so many people with the same name but different passport number, couldn't that be recognized? Pinky's name also cannot be used as she's holding a travel document given by the embassy at the Land of Oz and they have never seen such travel visa before, so they refused to let her register her name. In the end, we had to get mi mama out of the taxi and things were settled soon after. Easy as that. But our one hour just flew away.

Then, we headed to the next destination and wasted uncle's few hours waiting for us at the hot parking lot. When we were done, uncle announced that he knew where we were going to stay. We were quite surprised by that sudden knowledge. So, he said that he had tried to call the number many many times until in the end the phone was switched on~!! That's very irresponsible for a person who runs a business to switch off the phone~! I have my phone switched on 24 hours~! We were very touched by uncle's initiative to make those phone calls. Many people wouldn't be bothered and we would be so lost. But, this uncle, while waiting for us, he thought he might try calling. Uncle, you're so kind. If there's such an award to give you, I would have given you more than an award. I would give you a pension and let you lead a comfortable life not having to work at an old age. 

When we were about to arrive at the place, uncle called the homestay person to pick us up from downstairs. He only left when he saw that we were accompanied to where we were gonna stay. Uncle, thank you very much. God bless you and your household~!