{"id":13101,"date":"2013-03-11T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=13101"},"modified":"2013-03-11T08:54:29","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T14:54:29","slug":"helpless-female-fast-train-adventures-on-taiwan-high-speed-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/helpless-female-fast-train-adventures-on-taiwan-high-speed-rail\/","title":{"rendered":"Helpless Female Fast Train Adventures on Taiwan High Speed Rail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time I get into a line<\/strong> that ends at a clerk surrounded by Chinese characters, I become acutely aware of a vast emptiness in my head. \u00a0You know. \u00a0The place waiting to be filled with Chinese vocabulary. \u00a0The language barrier becomes painfully real and I feel I could be swallowed up by my own ignorance. \u00a0I wonder things like: \u00a0“Where will my ticket really take me?”<\/em> and “Will I be able to find my way out of the station?”<\/em> \u00a0These concerns are not unfounded.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Taiwan<\/a>
Taiwan High Speed Rail queue during a not so busy time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet, more often than not,<\/strong> the person at the counter responds compassionately to my blundering confusion. \u00a0They seem to intuitively know that it is in everyone’s best interest if I end up in the correct place. \u00a0So it was with the employees of Taiwan’s High Speed Rail (HSR).<\/p>\n

The first ticket clerk<\/strong> spoke enough English to be helpful. \u00a0Even with limited vocabulary, she explained how the reserved versus non-reserved seating<\/span> worked. \u00a0Don’t laugh. \u00a0It’s not that simple when you are facing a two hour ride at 150 miles per hour and want to know if you’ll end up standing the whole time; or possibly hanging at an angle from the hand grip!<\/p>\n

We could have saved ourselves<\/strong> some time in line by purchasing the tickets online<\/span> and guessing at the reserve system, but it can be hard to predict the schedule when you’ll be looking for underground train stations in the middle of Taipei.<\/em> \u00a0It’s not just a matter of finding “the” building and going subterranean. \u00a0There is a whole other city underground in that section of Taipei, connected by tunnels of shopping malls. \u00a0And it’s not just one underground level. \u00a0You could live there and never come up to see the sun. \u00a0Except, amazingly, we have not seem vagrants living down there. \u00a0To make things more confusing, some of the inner vaults of the station are so blocked from outside light that it can be difficult to remember which level you are on.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>
my reserved seating HSR ticket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So – \u00a0We decided<\/strong> to wait and buy the tickets once we got to the train station. \u00a0The train station at Taipei Main Station that is the hub for<\/span>: \u00a0the subway system (MRT), the regular train, the fast train (HSR), and I think I saw signs for buses, too. \u00a0If it gets to be transportation-option overload, you can always grab a taxi and go back to the hotel.<\/p>\n

If you understand the abbreviations,<\/strong> which thankfully abound in the letters of our alphabet, it is possible<\/em> to follow the signs to your destination. \u00a0<\/span>In the long run, it is even likely\u00a0<\/em>that you will reach your goal. \u00a0However, it is a lot of visual information to process.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of the tunnels at Taipei Main Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you need help,<\/strong> don’t expect the average person on the street to understand those letters. \u00a0They must be “Greek” to them! \u00a0Most of the time they have no idea what I am saying. \u00a0I was told recently by a native Chinese speaker that it is confusing to them that we use the same letters over and over in different words. \u00a0To them 5000 different symbols makes more sense…. \u00a0And people aren’t exactly rude, but most of them know where they are going and are intent on getting there. \u00a0So, just step aside now and then to re-orient yourself and check your coordinates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the stairs down to the loading platform<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our one-way reserved-seat tickets to Kaohsiung<\/strong> in southern Taiwan\u00a0(which is at ZuoYing Station)<\/em> cost us about $50 US each. \u00a0With them in hand, we did a little exploring in the time we had. \u00a0We found an unobtrusive information booth at the ground level<\/span>. \u00a0They were able to find us an English map of Kaohsiung in the back room.<\/p>\n

Then, we made our way to the waiting area.<\/strong> \u00a0We might have missed the soft buzzer<\/span> if the rest of the passengers hadn’t headed down the stairs. \u00a0Sounds can be echoey down there and there are a lot of foot steps and low conversations to mask other sounds.<\/p>\n

We had to find car 1,<\/strong> which meant we had to walk the length of the 12 car train. \u00a0The seating was spacious and comfortable compared to our economy class airline seats we had lived in for 20 hours the day before. \u00a0Reveling in leg room and angles of reclining, we read the digital information sign at the front of the car. \u00a0Soon, we were attempting to focus on scenery whizzing by.<\/p>\n

\"looking<\/a>
looking for our HSR assigned car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"inside<\/a>
inside the High Speed Rail car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I get a cross-eyed headache remembering it.<\/strong> \u00a0For the first third of the trip, we went in and out of tunnels. It has the makings of pyscological testing protocol.<\/em> \u00a0I would be enjoying the patterns of rice paddies, when there would be a loud, deep woosh\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and everything would go black.\u00a0 After a few times of this abruptness, my brain requested that I close my eyelids. \u00a0This I did for a short while, but I really wanted to see the country I was passing through. \u00a0Thankfully, the route got flatter.<\/p>\n

\"what<\/a>
what rice paddies look like at 150 mph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost exactly two hours later<\/strong> we were at Kaohsiung. It would have taken around six hours to drive there. Or, more accurately, we would NOT have gone. There wouldn’t have been enough time.<\/p>\n

Now, we had a lovely interlude<\/strong> where we visited some friends, then headed over to the Gushan Ferry. \u00a0I’ll write about that later. \u00a0Suffice to say, it was a fun afternoon, but we needed to head back that evening.<\/p>\n

Again, we had not purchased<\/strong> the tickets ahead of time, being unsure of our afternoon escapades. \u00a0It would have been better if we had been able to plan ahead. \u00a0Sunday evening it was a mad house of people trying to get home.<\/span> \u00a0We would have had to wait over two hours for reserved seating, so took the dive with non-reserved. \u00a0Thanks to Greg’s quick thinking, we ended up with the last two empty seats in the train car we entered, though 1\/2 train car apart. \u00a0It is a good thing we were at the beginning station, too, because the aisle filled to capacity at the next stop.<\/p>\n

With one more stop, Greg was able to find us two seats together.<\/strong> \u00a0There wasn’t much to see in the dark, so I went to sleep for the rest of the ride. Arriving in Taipei about 1.5 hours later was jolting, but only to my mind. \u00a0My thoughts were fuzzy until I had to help Greg navigate through the underground shopping mall. \u00a0He may have the upper hand on the streets, but I was the star in the underground shopping mall!<\/em><\/p>\n

For this first trip on the HSR,<\/strong> I don’t think we could have done things differently to reduce stress. \u00a0It would have been worse to try to keep a tight schedule with so many unknowns! \u00a0However, for another trip on the HSR, I would:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Purchase both sets of tickets online or get them at a 7-11 store. \u00a0The pick-up line for pre-purchased tickets was VERY short.<\/li>\n
  2. Be sure to pay the extra for reserved seating.<\/li>\n
  3. Take water and snacks. \u00a0Food was allowed, unlike the MRT.<\/li>\n
  4. Find maps of our destination ahead of time.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It is worth noting that<\/strong>, other than the effects I’ve mentioned, we never felt the speed of the train. \u00a0There was no<\/span> sensation of being pinned to our seats with our jowls flapping.<\/em>\u00a0In fact, there were not seat belts. \u00a0The ticket lines were easier to deal with than airport security, and there was less waiting time to board. \u00a0I, the helpless female, would not hesitate to use the HSR to visit other parts of Taiwan, so it should be easy for the rest of you.<\/p>\n

    \"some<\/a>
    some of the blurry rolling green hills<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Every time I get into a line that ends at a clerk surrounded by Chinese characters, I become acutely aware of a vast emptiness in my head. \u00a0You know. \u00a0The place waiting to be filled with Chinese vocabulary. \u00a0The language barrier becomes painfully real and I feel I could be swallowed up by my own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,26,31],"tags":[35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}