On Friday I had resolved to stay in my apartment all day, assuming it was too dangerous to go outside during a typhoon, although I probably would have been fine outside if I looked out for tree branches before they fell on me. I did, however, hang out on the balcony a little. There were a surprising number of people on the road, even though it was raining and the wind was going every direction. It's a pretty cool feeling when the wind goes one way, then the other, then another way. Kind of unnerving too. It feels like something is very, very wrong.
I did make a trip to 7-11 but that was it. It's lame living alone when you're holed up in your apartment during a typhoon! I watched movies and listened to podcasts and napped all day but that got kind-of old. At least on snow days you can go outside and play!
Then I got a call that school was canceled on Saturday too. Saturday it didn't rain much until the evening, and I made a trip to a friend's house to watch movies, eat pizza, and hang out. Thank God, or I'd have gone crazy in my apartment. On the way, I took pictures of some of the damage.
The typhoon was only a Category 1 (winds 74-95 mph) and Taichung is protected by a lot of mountains to the east, so it wasn't so bad here. Apparently the south was hit pretty hard and there is a lot of flooding. Many people are missing and some people are dead. There's a video online of a hotel collapsing into a river! Luckily everyone had already evacuated the hotel beforehand. I guess the typhoon is now hitting China pretty bad. I'm glad Taichung wasn't hit badly. My scooter didn't even fall over!
On Sunday it was still windy and rainy, but Kristin and Matt and I drove up to a town called Yingge, near Taoyuan, which is where the airport is. We took a car they'd borrowed and it was about a two-hour drive to the town. The town is known for its ceramics and "Old Street," which has like a hundred tea stores with a bajillion kinds of tea ware and tea. It's quaint and cute. I really liked it. We just popped in some stores and walked around, looking for tea ware. We tried some Puer tea from Yunan China and I bought some, since I haven't bought any tea yet. It's bitter but really good. We had some lunch at a little place and then drove home. It was a nice day trip!
1 comment:
That hotel collapse was insane. So most of the flooding was to the south and east? I'm glad it didn't hit too hard in Taichung.
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