August 6 2006 - One Heck of a Typhoon

Hong Kong was brushed by another typhoon last week. The warning signal never went above a 3, but as it turned out, it made a big mess, and now the head of the Hong Kong Observatory is in trouble because winds that should have caused the signal to go to an 8 were recorded in The New Territories and some of the out-lying islands. But apparently they go by what the winds are like in Victoria Harbor and those weren’t quite as high.

There was a lot of wind though. I was amazed that none of my plants went sailing off my balcony. I guess the balcony is really well protected. On the other side of the apartment the trees on the side of the mountain were really twisting in the wind. When I went jogging yesterday there were trees and branches down all over the paths. I felt sorry for the street cleaners with their bamboo brooms; what a Sisyphean task!

On Thursday, the day with the worst wind, I went with a friend to a mall in Kowloon. It was another one of the malls with a Japanese influence. I like those malls, not necessarily for clothes, but definitely for the stores with household items like napkins, candles and the like. And there’s usually a grocery store with meticulously packaged fruit, incredible fish and scary candy! I have pretty much converted to buying fruit in the wet markets though. The quality tends to be better (fresher) and it’s SO much cheaper!

We weathered the typhoon just fine, didn’t lose power or get stranded anywhere. If the signal had gone to an 8 the trains shut down and everything closes. Apparently the Hong Kong airport had a big mess on its hands because so many flights were cancelled. It’s taken them days to get things cleared up there – they were still people waiting for flights at the airport on Saturday that had been there from Thursday. Everyone was being very oriental and apologizing like mad, but nobody was doing anything about it.