Idyllic dreams of dolphins languidly banana bobbing, whales misting welcomes from impossibly picture book glassy seas, long walks with ocean vistas, easy evenings of fine Hunter reds and "Aussie"food, and delightful catch ups with family and friends, dissolved pretty quickly a few days after our return. Although we'd tracked the fury of Typhoon Soudelor as it ransacked its way across Saipan and the Sea of Japan, we had no idea of the hell about to be unleashed upon Taiwan. Vaguely prepared with food and water we settled in to a Friday evening with no trepidation, rather a slightly unimpressed view of this so called "super-storm" as it only managed to trickle a few drops and blow a bored zephyr as we settled in for a night's sleep.
An unearthly roar and hideous cracks and shrieks first woke us in the late hours of Friday evening. The street was being whipped with a giant, flailing hand. Monster sheets of water were pelting down our alley at a near horizontal, as the cyclonic wind howled and moaned. Metal signs were flung about like tic-tacs and the majestic trees in the park opposite were quickly shredded of vegetation and limbs, the latter cracking off with gunshot intensity. It was altogether too horrific to watch, so we quickly checked all our window and curtain protection before retreating back to bed and hoping that the defences would not be breached.
The air conditioner rumbled and spat, and the power snapped off about 2 a.m., not to return for another 40 hours. We again huddled at our bedroom window as yet further atrocities were perpetrated on our neighbourhood. The wind and rain squalled with such intensity that it was unlike anything we'd previously experienced, and the entire building had begun to shake. The windows were bowing under the pressure and everything, including things that were "tied down", were jettisoned wherever the typhoon felt like taking them. Trees were being uprooted, cars were being crushed and garages flooded. Pot plants were tiny porcelain missiles and entire motor scooters were flung skyward before coming back to earth with metal screams. The sounds were worse that the vision, and unidentified splintering of wood and tearing of metal went on all night long. It was a relief when the sounds subsided to more familiar typhoon overtones of slashing rain and howling winds. At least the worst seemed over, and as dawn timidly started to light up the carnage we fell back into a fitful slumber.
Although the wind continued to speed through the streets and trees and the rain belted down, the worst was over as Saturday morning matured into the afternoon. Against my better judgement, I got out and about to see what damage had been caused. Despite the fact we knew it was really bad judging from what we'd seen and heard in the night, nothing quite prepared me for the near apocalyptic scenes in the neighbourhood (some of which are shown above). Cass warned me not to get "sliced in half" on my wander, and I could see why as I dodged signs skidding along footpaths and huge tree branches hanging on by splinters overhead.
We endured a couple of days without power, yet the romance of candlelight wore off well and truly after the first night! Without cable modem internet connection, I was reliant on the 3G capabilities of my phone to find out what was going on in our little world. What we found out was that the school campus would be shut down for three days and our first day back would now be Tuesday. We felt sorrow for the six Taiwanese who lost their lives, but amazed and thankful that there weren't far more fatalities. We were mindful, too, that we were lucky enough to be in a solid house with good support networks to help us if needed, and our first world problems of a little inconvenience paled into insignificance compared to the plight of thousands of others.
So, welcome back to Taiwan! When we recover from all this shock, horror and excitement, I'll do a little back-track on the blog here to illuminate some of the teasers I wrote about in the first paragraph during our "summer" holiday back in Australia (perhaps next week): for the moment, at least, it all seems like another world entirely.
Our Typhoon Soudelor slideshow.