Advertisement
Published: August 21st 2007
Edit Blog Post
Is that a Fact?
This picture at Shepai MRT Station in Taipei astonished me. There is a "wet floor" sign, up three or four steps, in front of a two-foot high flood barrier. I guess, if the water is that high, there is a good chance that the floor might be wet! Well, vacation in Canada is over and it's back to work tomorrow. Lao-puo and I had kind of an interesting trip back.
TRAVEL TIP 1:
When flying from the west coast of North America to Asia, snag a window seat on the right hand side of the aircraft. Our flight took us from Vancouver over the Island--right over top of Nanaimo, Courtenay, Campbell River, Port Mcneill, and Alert Bay. The clouds then socked us in until we were off the west coast of the Charlottes, and we could only see the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We flew farther north than usual, over the south coast of Alaska instead of the Aleutians. The sky was mostly clear enough to see below--but from the left side of the plane we only would have seen the incredibly vast expanse of the Pacific--to Tahiti and beyond.
It's not much of a stretcher (well, I guess it is) to imply that we live in French Polynesia. It is true that we live on an island in the Pacific, three thousand miles from Hawaii, where French is an official language. Sorry. How can I digress after just one paragraph?
In any case,
With all the leaves getting blown off...
...drains (including this one on Kim's outdoor patio) clog up like crazy. it is quite impossible to ever become ho-hum about flying across the ocean to Asia.
China Airlines was as wonderful as ever, and we had a smooth flight into Taipei. Having said that, China Airlines had yet another accident in Okinawa yesterday. An aircraft had landed, and an engine inexplicably caught fire and then blew up. The passengers were zipping down the chute and then running (literally) for their lives. Hence the old joke "WHY ARE THERE NO BATHROOMS ON CHINA AIRLINES PLANES?" The answer is appalling, "THE PASSENGERS CAN WASH UP ON THE BEACH."
BLOW YOU OLD BLUE NORTHERN:
We landed in Taipei just ahead of a honking typhoon named Sepat that was bearing down on the east coast. Here are excerpts from the “Taipei Times” article about it:
“Sepat injures twenty four, forces evacuations
Potential mudslides caused 1,785 people to evacuate their homes in mountain villages, while one person died and another was injured while driving…Typhoon Sepat lashed the country with strong winds and torrential rain yesterday, cutting power to nearly 95,000 homes, injuring twenty four people and forcing more than 1,000 others to evacuate. Four people suffered minor injuries in Taipei after being
They Typhoon Blew Down a Sign in Tien Mu...
...and it was even worse in Hualien. Trucks have been out all day, since the typhoon, replacing signs. God help anyone fool enough to have been walking around during the blow. blown off their motorcycles while one man was wounded by falling rocks in Kaohsiung, the National Fire Agency said…Another 1,785 people had to evacuate their homes in mountain villages that were threatened by mudslides, the Central Disaster Control Center said…Several vehicles were crushed by a falling billboard in Taipei, scaffolding collapsed at a building on the outskirts of the city and, in mountainous areas such as Taichung County's Lishan, workers battled to clear uprooted trees and rocks blocking roads…Nearly 95,000 homes suffered from power outages, the center said…"Some of the unrepaired ones are located in the hardest hit areas, including Hualien, Taitung and Nantou counties," he said…The eye of the typhoon, which passed over the estuary of the Hsiukuluan River (秀姑巒溪) in Hualien County at 5:40am yesterday, left Taiwan proper at the mouth of the Choshui River (濁水溪) in western Taiwan at 11am, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday…Sepat's radius reached 250km. The maximum wind speed near the center was measured at 126kph…From midnight through 2pm yesterday, accumulated rainfall had reached 727mm in Hualien County…All Taiwan Railway Administration express trains were canceled yesterday. Some commuter trains continued to operate on certain sections of the network…As of 5:30pm yesterday, the
Lucky the Sign Missed Those Cars!
Many people in Taiwan drive very expensive machines. Status, I suppose. The first time I saw a Jaguar with ROC plates, I remember thinking "It's nice, but it's not an 89 Tempo". Directorate General of Highways reported that 13 provincial highways had been partially damaged and have yet to resume normal operations...The Council of Agriculture estimated that Sepat had caused at least NT$830 million (US$25.1 million) in damage…Strong wind and torrential rain had damaged about 2,500 hectares devoted to fruit and vegetables in Hualien County, with 1,340 hectares of cropland completely destroyed, bureau Director Tu Li-hua (杜麗華) said after inspecting typhoon affected areas earlier in the day yesterday."
Stephanie (the minister’s wife) has been staying at our place for the last two weeks to finish up her master’s thesis, and now she can’t get home because the highway is blocked indefinitely. The only way for her to drive back to Taipei is via Kaohsiung (11 hours). She might take the train home today, and come back for her car later.
We had hoped to do a lot of things during our weekend in Taipei, but we got the edge of the typhoon and it would have been unpleasant to be outdoors very much. (a bit dangerous as well). We hung out with Kim, (the minister), and had a really good visit with him. We flew home to Hualien yesterday afternoon,
Broken-off Branches were all over the place...
...and Taipei was sheltered from the main blast. Evidently the centre of the storm made landfall about 30 km south of Guangfu. having chosen TNA (Trans Asia Airlines) over FAT (Far eastern Air Transport). I’m not making this stuff up—those are the real abbreviations.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0768s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb