The 1:09 Tainan Express
It was 1994, and I had been in Taiwan just 5 months and was living in Taipei behind NTU in Gongguan and commuting to my teaching gig at Hess in Banquiao. I was still getting familiar with the buses and trains, and still getting my bearings, when I thought I would get smart and jump the train to Banqiao (Hess Chongqing Branch was behind Banqiao train station in those days). I rushed on to the 1:09pm train, hoping I could just make it for my 1:30pm class at Hess.
As Banquiao train station swept passed, I walked the train looking for a conductor. “Where is the next stop?” The conductor laughed as he looked at my unreserved seat ticket, “Next stop: TAINAN!”
No cellphones back then, I found a payphone on the train, and dialed my Hess Branch. As luck would have it, the CT (Teaching Assistant) who least liked me answered the phone. “IRIS!” I screamed into the payphone, “I cannot make it to class today!!” In those days, the payphones showed the value of the call ticking down.
“What is it this time?” She asked as I noted the time (1:25pm) and the call value nearing zero
“Wrong train! Out of change … Pls tell Steve, (myHead NST)…” (Click – the call got cut). Iris, must have thought I hung up on her
All I had with me were my N5 books for the classes I was supposed to teach. Without a reserved seat, I sat on the floor and read them over and over for the 4 hour ride.
In Tainan, I left the station to look for a postcard to mail to the girl I recently went out on a date with back in Taipei. What a funny-sad story this would make, so I may as well postmark it. Sadly, had I stayed in the railway system and simply walked to the northbound track, I would not have had to pay for the ride to-and-from Tainan – or so the ticketing booth explained to me. This was shaping up into a sad biting day.
On the ride back, I at least had a seat this time. I then remembered the girl I sent the postcard to did mention she was going to the south to conduct some trainings for a company she was with. I couldn’t remember where down south she went, so I decided to look around the train after we passed Taichung.
Walking up and down the train, just as I was about to give up, I suddenly spotted her, digging into a bowl of noodles she was eating on the train! We found a place on the train to talked the rest of the way, practically continuing our previously date the week before. As the train rolled into Banqiao train station in the evening, we decided to hop off and catch a movie in the nightmarket across the street.
What began as a terrible and embarrassing afternoon became a magical second date in the evening. A few years later, we were engaged, and later married and started a family. Over the decades, so much has changed in Taiwan – I even doubt there is still a 1:09 express train. For me, I’ll never forget it.
(Btw, I’m in Tainan today to watch a concert! Today is our wedding anniversary)