playing Pokemon Go while walking home 4.6 kilometers.
50 views · Published 2 July 2017 · 50:36 · Indexed 19 October 2026
Channel: fdirgant · 2017 · Entertainment
Here is the background: On late Saturday evening (7/1), I traveled back home to Zhongli hidden village from Songshan interstellar city by train. As soon as I entered the train station, there were two possible schedules shown on digital board: either Chukuang train #73 at 9.40 pm or local train #1273 at 9.46 pm. Albeit its faster speed, the first train bounded to Shulin city only, 5 stops prior to my original destination. Meanwhile, the second train went straight to my destination, but speed-wise was much slower with more frequent stops at each local train station. Due to technical issues, both trains were scheduled to arrive Songshan station 6 minutes and 8 minutes late. I was like f*ck that, I ain't gonna wait too long here. Soooo, here I go, I decided to take both trains. Yep, you read it clear: both HELLUVA trains. The idea was to go to Shulin by faster train, then connect directly to Zhongli through local train. Logically, since both trains went for southbound destination, I assumed their respective platforms would be the same. The first train is an inter-city train in Taiwan, meaning its seats would be in a more empty and comfy 2-2 configuration (imagine Boeing 737-800 business class seats) as opposed to the always-packed-by-people local train with lousy elongated parallel seats facing each other or, sometimes, 2-2-2-2 back to back U-shaped configuration. Perfect as it sounds, but not with how it goes. The weekend drama started soon after I took the faster train. Never have I thought this train would actually stopped at Taipei Main Station (one of its 3 temporal stops prior reaching Shulin station) for 319295239481231 seconds to the point where local train #1273 (which departed 8 minutes later from Songshan station) would passed it over. Blimey! A faster train got oversprinted by a local train??? But, in contrast, the opposite glorius fact was this faster train would actually catched up the local train in no time. Kudos to its limited stops at each local station. Of course, I was not aware with any of these lol. Whatever. Shortly, the faster train arrived Shulin station at 10.10pm. Great, I just need to disembark and wait for the supposedly local train #1273 - that's how I visualized the remaining journey. Little to my knowledge the fast train stopped at platform #1, while the local train departed at platform #3. I was like NOO just like how Cyclops would screamed when Jean Grey died in X2 movie. My exhausted brain quickly registered the situation. I panicked. With godzillion people queueing the stairs, there was no way I could transfer the platform in a glimpse. Meanwhile, the local train would arrived and departed within 2 minutes shortly. I squeezed myself trying to get through these people shamelessly. I hiked, I run, I jumped each ladder just to get through my way. I walked down the connection platform bridge only to see the local train closed its door and waving a pathetic goodbye to me. Screw me. I sat down the waiting room seats only to think my next move on how to get home easily. The next local train departed at 10.30pm. It took 35 minutes to reach Zhongli station. From there, typically I would transfer a bus going home. But bus services halted at 11.00p. Riding a youbike is feasible, I've done once in the past - I talked to myself. My melancholic inner self inclined on taking taxi, instead. Once I arrived Zhongli station, I was still in contemplation. A roam of taxi drivers impatiently approached random passengers leaving the station. I squinted my ISO-200 eyes to witness available bikes at youbike station across. Zero. No bikes available. I kept my expection high by checking available bikes at nearby youbike stations from android apps. Four nearby stations indicated also zero bikes available. Like puhleaze? My lumpy alter ego echoed the temptation of taking taxi as the ultimate option. Not gonna lie, I was in complete exhaustion from the nonsense Taipei trip with @linggafadya earlier that day. Just when I was about to approach a taxi driver, my legs swiftly turned around and I crossed the street. Though my body wanted to get a taxi ride, but my brain forced to walk, instead. Yep, walking the 4.6km back home. A random but acceptable option. I walked through the dark Zhongli downtown leisurely while listening to #coldplay, #brunomars, #girlsgeneration, #blink182, #greenday, #taylorswift, #xtina, #rezaartamevia, #andien, #gigi , #RAN. I sang my heart out when I heard "다시 만난 세계" "Nothing Lasts Forever", "Castaway" shouted from my mp3 player. To distract boredom, I also played #pokemongo while walking home (link on bio for full video of me playing it). Not the best idea to play over the darkness though. I had to be super cautious, especially whenever crossing intersections - considering Taiwanese drivers won't yield for pedestrians (unlike in America). After 51 minutes of walk, I arrived home at 12:05am under the stream of sweats.
