I was very much left behind, eating Pokédust, when Pokémon Go first launched in Thailand. At the time I was back in Bangor in Northern Ireland (UK) held back by a whole bunch of limitations, like not even owning a phone (as I otherwise never use them). I did ask Fanfan to borrow hers but she can only offer her Windows phone, which is pretty much useless when it comes to Pokemon. Not only was the App never brought to the Windows phone, but the unofficial PoGo app, runs the risk of a ban. Thankfully I did manage to load it onto Fanfan’s iPad, which was supposedly a temporary solution, which continues to this day. It does work but, given its massive size, it also looks pretty obvious, and ridiculous, and I really hoped to play Pokémon more discretely. But again there were more limitations even with the iPad where there’s no sim or data connection, and instead I am forced to local wi-fi spots in my town centre, coffee shops, and supermarkets. I would drive in continuous circles at my local Tescos , each day, to hatch eggs, and catch lots of Drowzees. But this was the height of excitement. On the plus side I did make more sociable as I was out more joining the family to go shopping, or out for breakfasts and meals together. They do now think of me as some ginormous man-child Pokédork, which is true I guess. But this won’t hold me back.
A Void in Transit
It was a month after Pokémon Go’s release when we finally travelled to Thailand, and much of my excitement was for killing time at the airport with free wi-fi and Pokémon Go. In the end, through three airports, I found not one Pokémon. Zip. Zero. This, I guess, is for security reasons, where they don’t really want diehard Pokédorks sneaking through secure areas, or stampeding through passport control, in pursuit of a Snorlax or whatnot. So my Pokémoning was again limited, and I instead dabble in a bit of evolution. With loads of Rattatas in my Pokébag, I transfer them over to Professor Birch and evolve a Raticate to be my new high-ranking Pokémon. With a CP of 327 he is still piffless, but I am still Level 10 at this stage. Things however, will quickly change when I arrive to Bangkok. Even in my hotel room, I am surrounded by Pokémon and without getting out of bed I can even twizzle a Pokéstop. So my Pokébag is quickly filled to the brim which Pokéballs which I find to be essential when I step outside.
One Night in Bangkok
I start my hunt in our old stomping ground of Asoke where I set-up a three month data contract on the iPad at the Terminal 21 mall. Finally I can Pokémon Go without the restrictions. The connection comes through as I am already out the front doors of the mall and beginning along the stretch between the Asoke and Phrom Phrom Stations. Between Terminal 21 and the Emquartier malls. All I can say is the Pokémoning is Pokétastic. Almost every Pokéstop along the Sukhumvit Road is lit up with lures and, despite being held back for much of it with torrents of rain (it’s still rainy season in Bangkok) I manage to bag myself a whole load. New additions to my Pokédex include Pinsir, Jigglypuff, Dodou, Polywags, Weepinbell, Abra, Staryus, Tangela, and the big catch of the evening, an Exegguter. The Exegguter comes in at a massive 628 CP which now doubles my recently evolved Raticate. I even found Sukhumvit 22 to be buzzing with Pokemon where a bunch of sexy massage parlours had become registered Pokéstops, and lures had been set-up to capture Pokémon playing man-children. Possibly expecting them to be unable to get laid, and probably right with many. But I didn’t have the brass neck to start Pokémoning in front of them “handsome man!” and, because of this, missed out on a Bulbasaur 🙁
I Heart Shopping
I was levelling up quick in Bangkok and Pokémon catching became trickier than before. Now I was forced to use Razz Berries to lighten their moods, and my first feeding of a Polywag on my hotel bed, was nothing but adorable. Anyway, the next day we were back out to the malls for Fanfan’s shopping, which is normally extremely depressing given I despise shopping. Now Pokémon had at least given me incentive to be there, and it distracted me from the hellish boredom I normally have in malls. But the day did start off relatively slow until lunch time, and the work break, when Pokéstops suddenly came alive again with lures and the malls were lit up again. We were in Siam Paragon at the time, the world’s most instagrammed destination at one point, and I was soon standing on lures upon lures which are found through the multistory levels of the shopping mall. I soon have so many Rattatas, Pidgeys and Weedles rattling around my feet, that I have to ignore most of them. But this is what I had been searching for. I was finally in the thick of the Pokémon phenomenon. The heart of the hive, the belly of the beasts. Throw in some incense and a lucky egg, and I would have been leveling up like nobodies business, although I only learnt this later. Following a month of plodding slowly along, like a Muk, I was now chasing up a very steep learning curve.
A Night Out Anti-Socialising
That evening we had to meet friends, and socialise, which made Pokémoning harder. But it definitely didn’t stop me and one of the highlights of the night had to be catching Meowth while eating som tam, in the new Siam Square One mall. While walking the skywalks, from Siam Paragon to Central World, I then hatched both a Geodude and a Manky which, again, was making for a great night out. However things change when my battery dies, mid-pub crawl through Central World’s new Groove entertainment zone, and I am forced to socialize and acknowledge those around me 🙁 Noone wanted to talk Pokémon and I was forced to talk about boring, real life, non-augmented reality things. Anyway, by the end of our second night in Bangkok, my evolved Raticate had already been relegated to the third tier of my Pokébag. And, with just two days in Bangkok, I achieved more than I had over the past month while in the UK. I arrived to Bangkok with 35 Pokémon in my Pokédex and, by the time I was leaving, I had 52. And multiples of many. In total I caught a staggering 168 Pokémon in the space of two days. Pokétastic.
Into the Sticks
For the coming months we would be living in the small village of Broken Road which is 340km from Bangkok, and from there it’s a further 70 km to the next major city of Buriram. On the bus out of Bangkok I manage to hatch an egg, and win a measly Rattata, which felt like a sign of Pokémoning to come. And, the further we travelled from Bangkok, the grimmer the Pokémoning outlook became. I would open the app along the five-hour journey, at each intersection and village, and each time found next to no Pokestops. I was therefore surprised to find not only Pokéstops, but a Pokégym, in the nearby town of Nang Rong. Things became even brighter as we arrived to Broken Road, to find the only Pokéstop within miles was at the entrance to the village. Just a quick 3 minute walk from our home. So I was quickly out on my first beer run when I came across another Rattata, which was a bit soul-destroying. But, when trying to catch it, a betel chewing granny come to join me, and starts to point at the screen laughing “Pokémon, Pokémon”. Apparently Pokémon is even well-known in these rural regions of Thailand, and has even been banned on the roads due to dangerous driving. When thrown in with all the drunk drivers in these parts, I can somewhat understand this.
The Snack Shop
The Pokéstop is at Baan Khanom, or snack house as it translates to in English, because landmarks here are otherwise few and far between. So over the next two weeks the Snack Shop is one of the few places I’ve actually found Pokémon. Another was at the local market. But, given the I had just levelled up from 10 to 13 in no time, I was now struggling to catch Pokémon. I even need blue Great Balls to catch the simplest of Rattatas and Weedles. So, inevitably with just one Pokéstop in the area, I was quickly running out of Pokéballs. And, in two weeks, the only new Pokémon I captured was a Koffing. One of the biggest disappointments had to be when I stood toe-to-toe with a Poliwrath with a near empty bag of Pokéballs. Yes, I can easily get to the Pokéstop to load up, but when I do I will likely get pokéd by grannies. Plus, I really don’t want to look like a ginormous dork in front of all the village kids. This isn’t so much that I’m an adult playing Pokemon, but I’m using this huge iPad, while these supposedly poor rural kids, have their androids and iPhones. Instead I would sneak my bike round from the opposite road, and twizzle the Pokéstop while out of sight. But it all feels too desperate and, admittedly, I am getting bored.
It’s Quiet in the Rice Fields
Much of my original motivation for Pokémon was to force myself to be more active, and to lose weight. I’m huge right now. I was excited to take the bike out into the rice fields each day, in search of some of the lesser known rural species of Pokémon. They have real King Cobras here, so the Pokemon must be gnarly. Each day I would pack the iPad into my backpack, and crank up the Pokémon music to motivate me. But, after going two weeks straight to the rice fields, I have found absolutely nothing. Because all the Pokemon are back at the snack shop, where chubby kids go to get fat. Not cool Niantic. But I do continue to cycle each day where I can still hatch eggs, and the buddy system was just released, so I have been levelling up my Clefairy. I also allow myself the occasional incense lure so I can still catch Pokémon out in the wild. But I am still at a major disadvantage locally, where every 10-year-old, in their Ben 10 T-shirts, have their own motorbikes. They just circle round the village, and hatch eggs, without doing any of the leg work.
The Journey South
In less than a month from my arrival in Thailand, I was moving again. This time I was on a VISA run to the Malaysian borders where, after a short night in Bangkok’s Chinatown, I would take an overnight train to Malaysia. It was another great night of hunting in Chinatown but the big bonus was the Pokestop next to my hotel room and I soon my bag fully replenished with Pokeballs. As I was otherwise empty. The train journey takes nearly 24 hours, and given Thai trains are ridiculously slow at times, I manage to hatch a few eggs along the way. From the get-go I never expected to ever compete at gyms yet, miraculously, I manage to defeat four Pokemon, and take the gym at Phatthalung Railway Station. I guess there’re not many hard-hitting Pokemon players around at 05:00AM in the morning. Crossing the border I again find myself with limitations where I was again without data connection on the iPad. So I really didn’t expect much in the coming days.
Pokemoning in Penang (Malaysia)
But when I arrived to the island of Penang, and checked into my hotel, I find that there’s another Pokestop on my hotel’s doorstep. This may be dumb luck but I’ve stayed in three hotels over the past month and each have had Pokestops next to them. Anyway, with three days with plans of little more than eating, drinking and pokemoning I manage to rack up a good few levels and Pokemon. I realize then that there’s a low-level gym directly opposite, with Pokemon trainers half that of Bangkok, so I go get the wifi from the Indian restaurant next to it. I drank beer, ate tikka, and kicked ass. Having evolved some more Pokemon, and used ‘level ups’, I was now starting to sport Pokemon into the 1,000s. From no ambition for Pokegyms, I find myself owning them (well, I helped guard them).
Bangkok’s Built-Up Suburbs
It has been two weeks since my return from Malaysia and they have been somewhat boring weeks. Pokemoning in rice fields is now beyond boring and, even with a return to Bangkok’s central areas I found all the same Pokemon as before. But I noticed that the lures have been fading and the game has been slowing since I was last there, near a month before. I have also reached level 20 now so leveling up is now harder than ever and excitement in the game has kind of waned. My Pokedex now sits at 85 and, other than the occasional shadow on my radar, the last new Pokemon I can remember catching was Voltorb when back in Malaysia. Otherwise all my new Pokemon have come from eggs and evolutions, which again haven’t been too many. Although, I have been holding back a few for a lucky egg. Anyway, we now have rented an AirBnB apartment in the outer districts of Bangkok, Ramkamhaeng to be specific. Arriving to the apartments there’s about a 1km stretch of apartments after apartments with about 5 Pokestops along it. One every 250 meters and two beside each other at one point. By some ridiculous fluke my apartment for the next 10 days sits directly above the two of them. The Pokegods are obviously looking down on me. So far I have found that taxi rides around the area are really quite lucrative not only in catching Pokemon but in hatching eggs. This is due to constant traffic jams which keep me at a good pace. I also find myself twizzling back-to-back Pokestops, as there are just so many of them in these squashed together suburbs.
Life on the Canals
There is a slower pace to Pokemoning here and, again to keep me active, I have been out in the early mornings strolling along the riverside. This runs past the back of the Lumpini condos where we stay, and there’s an entrance straight out to it. So I was out this morning at around 06:00AM and passed a few more Pokemoners along the route. This is actually the first I’ve noticed others as they otherwise blend into a crowd. But, as the morning progressed, it seemed that every other person was a Pokemoner. They were all adults as well, many much older than I am. A few nodded in recognition and one fella stopped me. This fella had moved here from Singapore, and he goes on to explain that there was a Dratini spawn here the other night, and that’s why there are so many Pokemoners here this morning. How he knows about this, I have no idea, but there does appear to be like a Pokemon sub-culture, with the more die-hard of Pokemoners. He goes on to tell me about the nearby national stadium, Rajamangala Stadium, which is where these Pokemoners meet each night. Apparently there are loads of them. Anyway, so far I’ve been enjoying Pokemon again, after I kind of lost interest, although it’s more for the walking and relaxed riverside charm. Through the next week, each morning as the usual early bird, I would be walking the canals at around 06:00 AM. For almost 2 hours before I return for breakfast with Fanfan. And the Pokedex began to fill again as I found these canals are littered with lesser found water type Pokémon.
The Local Community
Notice how I’ve stopped mocking Pokemon players? While I don’t mind mocking myself and the game, now I have become somewhat part of the community and I don’t really want to offend them. They all seem like an amiable bunch. Like there’s this older guy who obviously lives near by as he always greets me with “good morning and a salute with his coffee mug. While I never did turn up at the stadium to mingle I would pass them daily along the banks of the canal. They all know me as well as I’m again obvious being foreign, and white, and I shout at the screen a lot, for example “Screw you squirtle”. He’s a tricky wee turtle at times. When I saw a bunch of them I’d stand nearby expecting a spawn nearby. Because they are clued up on the game. One minute they’d be huddled at one place then a player on a motorbike would turn up and talk, in Thai, about what they caught further down. Then they’d all break up and chase to the next place. I also bumped into that Singaporean fella again and he told me of an online app which tracks the Pokémon. So I went on, found a kabotu on the map, followed it and that’s one more ticked off the Pokedex. But it of course lacked the excitement of finding it in the wild.
It’s All About the Dratini
Even without this App I was ticking off names again like Omanyte, Slowbro and Tentacruel but, by far, the biggest came after five days, from what before was little more than a pipe dream. By picking up roughly 20 Magikarp a day, I managed to evolve them into Gyarados. The biggest possible evolution in the game. It took 400 candies. Anyway, I never thought I would reach these heights in Pokémon and, were it not for all those wasted days in the U.K. And rural Thailand, I would no doubt be owning this game. So, with the Evolution of Gyarados I use that Lucky Egg I’ve been holding onto. With it I barely squeeze half the evolutions I had planned into the 30 minutes, But I still increase my Pokedex to 92, I level up to 23, and I am now closing in on CPs of 2,000. With 120,000 vials of stardust in my Pokebag I can also power up a lot of my Pokemon although this apparently wasn’t be wise. I have been following closesr now as I have been around people who take the game competitively. And they all seem to be out for the perfect Pokemon. This is where I find that there’s more to a Pokemon than just its CP. Comparing movesets, calculating IV numbers and only evolving the appraised “Wonder” Pokemon. So apparently my new awesome Gyarados wasn’t really that good 🙁 In fact noone really cared about Gyarados at all. It is all about the Dratini and evolving them to the perfect Dragonite. Some guy apparently has 9.nine Dragonites.
Hitting the Gyms on Halloween
Over Halloween there was a bunch of added perks such as quadruple candies for your buddy and double candy for catches and transfers. So I found myself out meeting the same Pokemoners as before. So I have met this Singapore fella more often and he asked me along to hit some gyms, which ironically is one of the few times where you’re not doing excercise. Mpre ore less you fight at the Pokegyms, take down other teams and try hold and level uop the gyms of your own team. But this brings me back to the whole excercise concept of Pokemon where the Singapore fella would said he would barely leave the couch before Pokemon came about. But, for me, this is what is so revolutionary about this game. It encourages gamers, and socalled geeks, to get out and exercise. It’s a bit like geocaching only it is fun, and there is so much potential in the concept. Imagine Final Fantasy, for example, in augmented reality. Personally, I don’t have a nostalgic connection with Pokemon, other than through my nephew. as I was about seven years too early. But there are other games I could probably get into more. Kids these days. They don’t know what fun is. We didn’t need smart phones. RFemember we could buy popsicles cost half a farthing. Kids with their faces stuck in smartphones, so anti-social, why don’t you get out and talk to the people next to you, get a life. But I think many of those people who have their heads stuck in smartphones, is so they don’t have to listen to said sanctimonious douchebags like this. Stop attacking people for having different interests than yourselves, and stop blaming modern society for your own insecurities and loneliness. not modern socieites fault that you’re lonely.
