doing a social experiment

to see if we can get around

downtown Taipei

without a word of Mandarin

Hi

is it possible to get a map?

for the subway

no sorry no

No? There's no map?

and is there ah~

map go to another station

sorry?

this station no map

this station no map

maybe go to another station

maybe have maps

which station you wanna go?

um I just want to get to the city hall

city hall

BL

Blue BL

Oh okay

the blue line

alright thank you so much

Hi sorry excuse me

where can I get the taxi?

the cab

yes

B4

So basement down

do I take the elevator?

or do I take the...

go straight and you can see the elevator

oh okay thank you

Hi excuse me

sorry

I'm just wondering

where the Howard Plaza Hotel is

is it this way?

Do you have Google map?

This is Google map,

but I wasn't sure which way I should go

So I think we are at the blue dot

It's ok I use mine

Thank you

so sorry

Yes, it's this way

and then

the big road

Okay the big intersection

Yes

Is it far though?

Is it five minutes walk?

or 20 minutes?

Yea about five to ten minutes

Ok thank you so much

Thank you! Have a great day!

Sorry excuse me

Yes

Do you happen to know where the subway is?

The metro?

The train?

MRT?

She is looking for the MRT (Mandarin Chinese)

How do you say traffic light? (Mandarin Chinese)

The...

traffic light (Mandarin Chinese)

red yellow green

Do I go straight here?

Yes that's the big

the intersection?

Yes

Left

Okay turn left

So I go straight hit the road and turn left

yea yea yea

Head straight,

turn left,

and go around

and you will

you will see

MRT

Okay I will see the sign

Yes

thank you so much

Hello (Mandarin Chinese)

Are these all the...

Oh, ok

What would you like to drink?

I'm looking for

green tea?

Yes

Our #1 is milk tea

How about you try this

Oh smells really pungent

Green tea

Okay these are all green tea

and that one was

which one sorry?

That one was...

that tube

which one

was this

like on the menu

We just smell

oh we smell them!

oh that's really cool

okay um

are there other green tea?

you want green tea?

yes

this #1

yea that was the one I smelled right?

yes

you want this?

sure I will take that

Hi

um...

can I have a pork bun?

yea of course

just one?

yea just one

sorry I just want to try it

ok

if you like it

we have cabbage

and leek

bamboo

and for sweet flavours

we have red bean

oh there are also sweet ones

I will just take the cabbage?

whatever that's signature here

one or two?

just one

yep thank you

NT$16 (= US$0.50)

okay

talk about real life social experiment

are you impressed?

Because I was able to get

pork cabbage bun

and a cup of green tea

so delicious

without a word of Mandarin

I think this

calls for a toast

because

I know you will be heading to Taiwan in no time

now pack your bags

because

all these yummies

doesn't wait