Do you know that scene in Korean dramas, where a character runs after a departing bus and sighs in defeat as it keeps driving away? Well, I had the lucky chance to live through that, and let me tell you, it’s not fun–especially when you’re in a foreign country, it’s 12:30am, and you realize you just missed the last bus of the night.
After missing my bus, I frantically checked KakaoMaps for other options. But, alas, the next buses and trains only started up at 5am. However, I had a backup plan: KakaoTaxi! I’d read multiple times on the internet how it was an easy way to call a taxi, especially for foreigners with little grasp of Korean. The app was easy to navigate. After setting my destination, I requested a taxi and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Apparently the app was not as useful as the internet claimed. I spent over 20 minutes and attempted to use the app at least 3-4 times, each attempt timing out without a taxi appearing. I also tried to flag down taxis driving by, but the street corner where I missed the bus was barren. Empty taxis were few and far between. The one taxi driver that stopped for me just shook his head and left after I asked him to take me to Myeongdong, where my hostel was located.
Running out of options and not wanting to take an over one hour walk back to my hostel, I crossed the street to a police station and tried to ask the police inside for help. There were some communication struggles, as I knew pretty much no Korean, and their English was on the basic side. However, they were extremely kind and patient.
Armed with a Post-It note with the address of my hostel written in Korean, I attempted again to flag down a taxi. A couple of minutes later, the kind policeman that wrote down the address came outside and helped me.
After 15-20 more fruitless minutes, the policeman seemed to give up and told me to follow him. I followed him to one of the police cars parked around the station, where he had a quick conversation with another policeman sitting inside. Then he opened the backseat and motioned for me to sit inside. I slid into the back and fumbled to put on the seatbelt. After all, I didn’t want to get in trouble for not wearing a seatbelt while IN a police car.
“Is he going to drive me back to Myeongdong?” I fretted in the car. He seemed to be driving further away, as I tracked our journey through KakaoaMaps.
In the end, he pulled over by a taxi stand, with a row of empty taxis sitting still, waiting for passengers to arrive. Flagging down an empty taxi, the policeman had a brief conversation with the driver, and I handed over the little Post-It note with the address. The taxi driver nodded, I slid in, and off we went back to my hostel.
Finally, I was homebound.
PloddingPanda 