포켓몬 좀비 월드에 온 걸 환영합니다!

대만 포켓몬 고 열풍 밀착취재(?)

Good morning, all!
Sorry for a bit of late posting when all the lust for Pokemon is worn off...
Gotta blame my laziness for procrastinating :P

As usual, I started my weekend morning with a danbing(蛋餅)! It's a notoriously famous classic breakfast menu in Taiwan!
I personally like this one near my home which makes the best danbing! +_+
It just soothes your morning appetite with a well toasted egg pancake with a properly chilly sauce~!

After a late sushi lunch near MIramar, I joined YY and her gang to Beitou which became like the mecca for Pokemon zombies in Taipei.
This whole adventure started when she invited me on her hunting journey on a dart bar a night before. After intimidating(?) me 2 in the morning at a bar that they'll depart so early at 10 am, she managed to pull herself out of the room around 3pm-ish... haha...

Anyway, seems like a cycling bug got to me these days, why not make Pokemon hunting more productive and healthy with a bike ride all the way to Beitou!
Seems like YY and Leon are all pumped up!

So four of us was gliding through scorching Taipei summer on a bike, cycling a seemingly familiar path I passed with Francis a week ago alongside Keelung River~ :S

Of course, there was a guide leading the way, Ray! He doesn't even enjoy catching Pokemons but joined the whole sojourn just to lead these poor Pokemon-cravers to reach the mecca! (What a gentleman!)

Ray, patiently waiting for his disciples(?)

After an hour of cycling, we finally landed on the gateway to holy ground of Pokemon hunts!
Xinbeitou (新北投) station!

Can you smell what's to come in a minute?
Just look at all those Pokestops raining with flowers...

I felt like catching that animal on top of the statue...
The statue says "the hometown of hot spring (溫泉之鄉)" but it should be now changed to "the hometown of Mysterious babies (what used to be the name of Pokemon in Chinese - 神奇寶貝之鄉)"

Welcome to Pokemon Jurassic Park!

See? These people didn't come out all this way under this hot weather just to parole the park... They all came with a purpose!

Now, Ray who accomplished the mission to take us to this wonderland is about to escape the scene before getting bitten by Pokemon zombies.
For a man with such a innocent purpose, we have to let go in one piece and in peace!
Bye Ray~! Thanks for your guidance!

Now, shall we start catching some Pokemons?
Psyduck is a good one to start?

Going deeper inside the park.

Got to the famous library in Beitou.
One thing constant is the zombies.

Magicarp is one of the reasons to come here.
You can catch 100 Magicarps to evolve them into a nice looking dragon. So as easy and cheap as they look, gotta catch'em all!

For a place where people are swarming, there is always a reason!

Lots of pokemons!
With a rare one inside~!

Leon couldn't believe I still didn't have this weird looking worm.
The name sounds like a cocktail "Martinee"

Now this is where it starts to get serious. People start running to one direction.
Something must have happened. Rare one must have appeared nearby!

This seriously reminded me of World War Z, the zombie movie starring Brad Pitt.
These were cyber zombies controlled by a mobile phone.

I am sure the neighborhood was irritated by the sudden crowd.

Wow... imagine muddling through this people with a vehicle...!!

Just pure shock... and a bit of amusement...
I don't know if there would be crazy enough people who would actually make poses to take selfies to put them on facebook even when the real zombies appear. ~_~
Here I go..

We just gave up going further inside...or more like..couldn't.
The rumor says that there was a Dragonite (but who knows).

I feel sorry for those living in this neighborhood. 
Pokemon phenomenon is perfect for commercial shops but terrible for residential buildings.

Finally got out of the packed street... to somewhat less packed but still packed;;

Now I can breath...e...
What?! People start running again... 
This is what's such a scary part about virality. One person starts running and then all the others follow suit, having no idea why they are running. They just don't wanna miss out.

In the end, 5-minute this frenzy ended with nothing.

OK, now let's enjoy some treats that this park can offer.
Some old mansion where Japanese used to reside back in the early 20th century.

What else, but for some photos?!

Officially in the forest of Pokestops.

I literally had to muddle through these pokemon zombies whose faces were all down looking at the smartphones..

Damn... I turned nerdy myself.

Mission one. Please find a human being whose 1) head is not down or 2) both arms are down.
Answer: None

And there was this one cool guy, practically doing the exact same thing, "by himself" so chic on the balcony of the library.
How elegant is that. Elegant zombie.

Other than the zombies, the night views are beautiful with all the lightings.

It's about time to head back to the station...
It almost reminded me (now that I watched the recently popular zombie movie called "Train to Busan," this street is almost like the bullet train in the movie in which we have to get past these pokemon "zombies" to get to the point we want. hahaha

They are just everywhere...

This is just a masterpiece. I think we can stop a war if every person can focus on something this well.

Funny thing is, I spent all those pokeballs here and literally left with nothing. So even if there are some rare ones to catch, I couldn't!!!
Replenishing pokeballs were difficult as there are so many people in between pokestops. One episode was I encountered Tentacruel (which is quite rare) with 3 pokeballs left. And then I was throwing each pokeball like I was kicking a ball during soccer shootout. But thank god, I caught it with my last ball.

You just realize the significance of something only at a time when you desperately lack it. C'est la vie.

We decided to take some time catching some more.

Gotta catch'em all right?

Yikes. This is where all the zombie parade happened for the onstaging of Snorlax.

Night is young.

Do these Psyducks infuse themselves?

Think I caught them one too many. Hope I didn't make it go extinct... (not!)

YY got just enough Magicarps to evolve them into a dragon...I just succeed in getting half the number.

Every store was bustling with pokemon catchers. No wonder revenue is skyrocketing for shops in this area. Colonel's chicken place was packed with people.
I ordered a new menu called "Chiza" (mix of Cheese and Pizza) which does not taste as fun as its name sounds.

Then on my way down the stair, I got my first encounter with Pikachu!!!!!

But this ended up with terrible breakup as the creature ran away....orz

Maybe I should buy some and throw at dodging zombies.

Meanwhile, these guys stick to their classic game. That's why it's called classic because it doesn't change by ephemeral trends like Pokemon Go.
These are the real-deals.

See my inventory? It was just pathetic. Left with only one ultra ball...

Man, talk about well behaving zombie here..

All-you-can-catch-fish

Just too many pokemons pop up at the same time, don't know who to start with.

Even Goldduck is not that rare here.

OK, let's call it a day. Seems like these people will stay here forever.
It was a bit tiring but certainly a worthwhile pilgrimage to a somewhat like Pokemon safari theme park. Even if I proudly call myself not to be an otaku, it was very interesting to experience a big social phenomenon up close.