Saturday drive to Sanyi

We decided on July 26 to take a drive to Sanyi, a town north of Taichung about 45 minutes. It is an island center fro woodworking and has a wood sculpture museum in addition to many shops and studios. 

We wandered up and down the main street. Many of the shops have a huge range of pieces from small "touristy" things to huge, ornate tables and desks that require cranes and other machinery to move. All of the wood is beautiful and much (I think) is local, though some articles now talk about importing of Chinese wood sculpture. There are a couple of interesting articles here and here on the town.  We bought a couple of small items.  I would like to know more about one of the gods depicted in many of the sculptures. He is variously hidden and in full view, often in a powerful stance. We took pictures so we could ask more about him. We bumped into one shop owner, Michael, who had obviously lived and studied in the US. His English was great and he explained many of the wood types to us.

We also knew there was a restaurant in the area called the Crescent Phoenix which is part of a group of five restaurants. We have eaten at two in Taichung (Santorini's and Jardin Giverny) and had great meals. The view from Crescent Phoenix was beautiful and the food delicious (though I would pass on the aloe appetizer myself). There is a good review of the place in Compass magazine, one of the great publications for expats in Taiwan. 

All in all, a very relaxing and fun day. We would like to go back and visit another little area nearby with an historic train station.

Typhoon Fung Wong

On Monday July 28, Typhoon Fung Wong came to Taiwan. Since the government was severely criticized for underwhelming the response to the previous typhoon, they went overboard this time. By Sunday night, the entire island had declared Monday as a Typhoon Day. 

Unfortunately for us, we had about 30 people here from all over the world for a business meeting. So after many phone calls back and forth on Sunday night and Monday morning, we decided to proceed. It was still not raining at all when we went to work on Monday morning and our normal 35 min drive took about 15 min with no traffic at all.  We had our meeting as planned, though with less attendance from the local folks who observed the Typhoon Day. Many people left early - Teresa took a taxi home at about 2PM - and had no issues. I left about 5PM, unfortunately just after the rain had started. I got wet getting to my car - and the driver's seat is still drying out - but otherwise had no issues. I had another vision of wild typhoon driving, though no photographer in the passenger seat to document it.

I would have thought (silly of me, I know) that in the pouring rain and wind, drivers would be more careful and polite. It seemed however, that wild and crazy maneuvers got even wilder and crazier. People drove on the wrong side of the road, made left turns from the right lane, and all the things I have come to expect, and then some. I guess this is another cultural difference to ponder.

Storm damage

For the days after Typhoon Kalmaegi, we kept our eyes out for storm damage. There was not a lot visible as the issue was mostly rain and the amount of it. However near our apartment is a canal that directs the flow of a river through the city. Usually a small center section (deeper) is the only part that is full and flowing. This is one of Teresa's pictures of normal flow. 

During the storm the full canal was flowing and the level rose (we heard) very high. One of the bridges across the canal near our apartment failed and fell into the canal. In a couple other spots, the walls of the canal were undercut. The city government removed the fallen bridge on Sunday after the storm and buttressed the walls in spots with concrete pieces that look like kids toys. We'll post pictures of that area soon. One of the spots gone (seen below before the storm) had a lot of interesting graffiti.

                                     

Typhoon Days

It has been a while since posting, due to mostly work, and a little fun.

On Friday, July 18, we were driving to work a little earlier than usual for an early meeting. We left the house at about 7:15. We knew there was a typhoon coming but had no real understanding of what that meant. Typhoon Kalmaegi (that means seagull in Korean), came with lots of rain. We spent the next hour (7:15 to 8:15) driving from our apartment to about halfway to work and then back again. The rain was unbelievable. Sidewalks (or what usually passes for them) were rivers flowing rapidly. Intersections were mostly lakes. It was not so bad to drive, especially with my Tribute, though probably more dangerous than I knew. It was more interesting to watch the people and cars and scooters. Mostly traffic was not moving, except for the scooters. Luckily, Teresa had her camera and her pictures are posted here.  

Scooters were up to the middle of their wheels. Some scooter drivers tried to stay dry with all their rain gear. Others knew they were getting wet and were in t-shirts and shorts. It was a hoot to watch. The water at some intersections was above the bottom of a small car's doors - keep those doors closed! In several intersections (aka lakes), scooters and a couple cars were stranded, probably stalled out. We finally got to Taichung Gang Rd (the main street to work) and found it blocked and closed by police). That and several phone calls from work colleagues convinced us to head back home and take a "Typhoon day". Apparently, sometime early in the morning, the government had decided the storm was bad and declared a "Typhoon day". This means all schools, offices, and other non-essential functions are closed along with most businesses. Our plant runs 24/7 so some of the shift workers who were there ended up staying for 24 hours to cover for those who could not get there. One problem with the Typhoon day was that the word came late and at least the middle school near us had some school kids already there and parents scrambling to get there to pick up their kids during the height of the rain.

We later heard some of the statistics. The storm delivered a full 1120 mm of rain (44 inches) in 24 hours. And the worst hour of that was 7-8AM (when we were driving) which saw about 140 mm (over 5 inches). About 20 people were killed in the storm on the island, mostly due to mudslides in the mountains.

The government was severely criticized over the following days for being to slow to react and for not alerting the public sooner.