Pyramid's Dirty Little Secret

Taichung's Pyramid

Pyramid? The triangular-shaped structure located in Giza, Egypt? 不對! The pyramid that I meant is the one located in Taichung, Taiwan. Eh? Is there any PYRAMID in Taiwan? Yes, there is. Well, it's not the real-sturdy 'construction' as the real pyramid, one of the seven wonders of the world, though. Nevertheless, let's just consider them as a twinning. So, what's the creepy story behind this well-known Taichung landmark?


As we all know that there are more than 160.000 (to date) Indonesian migrant workers who are tempting fate in Taiwan. Some of them are working in the central part of Taiwan, -Hsinchu-Changhua-Taichung-. Every Sunday, if they are lucky enough to get a permission from their boss (老闆; lǎobǎn), they will hanging out and mingling in the downtown with their friends. This what so-called Pyramid is their 'meeting point'. Before heading to the shopping centers or Indonesian stores, a swirl mass of them can be seen at Pyramid. 


Last week was definitely not my first time to go to Taichung, to be exact to Pyramid. But it was without doubt one of the most spine-chilling moments, yet. Albeit you are a taekwondoin, you'll still goosebumping if you're facing this kind of situation I'm going to tell. 

The swarm remnants : alcoholic beverages, food packagings, plastics, etc

As the time went by, the swarm of people in front of me were getting bigger. FYI, it wasn't an ordinary people's swarm. It was a drunk-gambling-babbling swarms. Why didn't I move to another place? Well, the answer is because I need to stay on that specific place since I was 'guarding' zakat booth. So well, yeah. The tipsy guys kept walking back and forth. And every time they passed me by, I got goosebumps. Oh my...I really felt as if I was in the lion's den and ready to get munched Y-Y. Imagine you're facing the same situation. Finally, when the sun almost set and one of the drunk guy fainted, the swarms were thinned out. Whew...alhamdulillah~~~


That's it? Well, not exactly. When I got ready to wrap up my 'work', one of migrant workers approached me and said "Kok berani-beraninya sih ke sini, Mbak. Di sini ini sangat berbahaya. Pekerja2 Thailand, Indonesia dan Vietnam itu sering berantem dan terkadang tusuk-tusukan di sini". WHATTTTT???!!! #almost fainted. Ya Allah...thank you for protecting me >,< ~~~