Schrödinger's Bridge

Whether we like it or not, Google has made quite an impact on how we travel.

Whereas in the past we used large paper foldout maps, nowadays we rely solely on the screen of our mobile phone, GPS, and Google Maps, or whatever kind of digital map app.

In many ways, this is much more convenient, but occasionally things go dramatically wrong.

Depending on your settings, Google Maps usually aims for the shortest route and never indicates the type of road: highway, B road, public road, private road, or dirt track...

I remember the time when I was my friend’s, The Deplorable Edward Pastanga, navigator on a road trip to visit a friend in Kalasin.

Google Maps was supposed to bring us there using the shortest route, right...

Unfortunately, Mr. Google chose a dirt track, which made for some unpleasant driving and caused TDEP to utter more than a few curses.

To make it worse, the internet signal suddenly disappeared…

We ended up on the edge of a dry lake, but with a sort of military camp on the other side.

I walked in front to make sure it was more or less safe to continue driving, and luckily it was!

After that, TDEP refused to use my navigational skills (based on Google!) and chose the main road to get to our destination.

My arguments about the fun of trying off the beaten track roads and it was a cool adventure, were all to no avail…

Another weird aspect of Google Maps is at the end of some roads near khlongs/canals.

There's only a narrow footbridge!

On the above footbridge

Whether Google then starts hallucinating is unclear to me, but several times I have encountered dead ends where digital roads are shown as continuing!

Recently, I experienced the opposite, which was kind of unreal.

The best explanation I can give is that I was suddenly dealing with a sort of Schrödinger's Cat variant.

As most of you probably already know, Schrödinger's Cat is a theoretical experiment in which a cat (in a closed box) can be both dead and alive simultaneously, a quantum physics effect.

In my case, I was cycling to khlong-side Wat Phra Non in Nonthaburi, just for having a quick look and maybe taking a few photos.

The temple itself wasn’t particularly special, but these days I like to explore side roads and find out whether they connect to other roads.

Very often they don’t and my journey ends with a welcoming committee of enraged howling dogs!

Best thing to do is to turn around straight away and cycle as a maniac back to the main drag.

This time however, I saw a pretty stable concrete bridge across the khlong!

I checked Google Maps again, but it clearly showed no bridge…

Not trusting this information, I restarted my mobile, but the results were the same…

Carefully, I approached the non-existent bridge and climbed the stairs while carrying my bike.

Nothing happened; the bridge remained as solid as ever, so much for quantum physics!

In the middle of the bridge, I stopped, wandered around a bit before taking some photos as proof of its existence.

Finally, I continued across, carried my bike downstairs, climbed on it, and slowly cycled away.

I stopped one more time and looked back, yes, the bridge was still there!

However, checking my mobile told a different story, just like before, no bridge whatsoever…

This quantum experience might be used for a new X-Files episode!