Talking to Strangers in Taipei, part 2

“Are you busy tonight?” Ordi asked. “Want to come with me to catch some snakes?”

“What?” I asked, intrigued, but doubtful it was a good idea. “Where are you doing this, and what does this entail?”

“In the mountains nearby, like 20-30 minutes away,” he said. “I joined a Facebook group that catches frogs, and but I’m more interested in catching snakes so I do that instead. We just take pictures then let them go. Last time I saw a pangolin.”

“A what?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of this animal before.”

“A pangolin,” he repeated. “It’s like an armadillo.”

I would have never guessed in a million years that I’d be weighing the pros and cons of snake-hunting in the hills of Taipei. That, in itself, seemed like reason to try it. But it was not meant to be: I had family dinner plans. Even if I were free, I probably would have been hesitant to trek into mosquito country in shorts and a polo shirt.

I’d met Ordi earlier that week at a board game meetup. I’ve used meetups in the Bay Area for years to play volleyball, and I’d discovered they were just as popular abroad. Last year I went to an international friend meetup in Tokyo and had a great time, so I figured Taipei might have something similar.

Sure enough, I found a handful of board game groups that also doubled as language exchanges. One evening, I invited a cousin to check it out with me. The board game cafe was tucked away on a quiet street and not easy to find, but once inside we were welcomed by Beardy, the organizer. His English was decent, but I ended up mostly speaking Chinese…I needed the practice anyway.

It was super fun learning new board games and meeting new people — Ordi was one of them.

“What’s the story behind your name?” I asked.

“I went to a fortuneteller,” Ordi said. “He said I was Scandinavian in a past life, so I chose a Scandinavian name.”

Not exactly an answer you’d hear back in the States, and I loved it.

A few days later, Beardy hosted another meetup at a cozier café where, in true Asian fashion, you had to take off your shoes at the door and shuffle around in slippers. We’d just finished a round of Splendor when Ordi arrived, and he taught us a new game.

By the end of the evening, Ordi had passed through my friendship filter, so I got his Instagram handle (the 21st-century friendship seal of approval) and invited him to meet me and some others for dessert the next day.

That’s when he asked about snake-catching.

I couldn’t go, but the offer itself stuck with me. It reminded me why I love meeting strangers while traveling. You walk into a board game café, and the next day you’re weighing the possibility of chasing reptiles under a humid Taiwanese sky. These kinds of encounters rarely happen back home, where routines and responsibilities rule the week. But travel opens up your life to a wider range of possibilities, including options you never thought of.

I may have missed the snakes, but I didn’t miss the lesson: adventure isn’t always in what you do, but in the people you meet who show you what you could do. And that’s enough to keep me talking to strangers while traveling.