Class 8 Typhoon Day
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
2
16
Trip End
Aug 21, 2008
Hong Kong,
China
Thursday, August 7, 2008
We woke up this morning, much earlier than we had planned to. Yesterday, Sash had told us about the current Class 1 warning that was in effect. They had anticipated it to move to Class 3 by today. However, we were woken up by gusting wind and sheets of rain slamming our window. Turning on the TV, it had moved to a Class 8 typhoon. Pretty much, what that meant was: all stores closed, please don't go outside. Strangely, the typhoon grading system was: Class 1, 3, 8, and 10. The numbers in between weren't used. Why they don't just use 1, 2, 3, 4... who knows.
Looking out our window, we could see sheets of rain plowing through the courtyard, and the courtyard trees bending at almost 90degree angles! Men in yellow hard-hats were sectioning off areas of the courtyard where a glass pane had broken and tree-leaves had blown
Cloudy evening at the peak
. By 10am, we had tried to go used the internet at the apartment complex clubhouse, found it to be closed, and settled on instant noodle bowls and beers at the 7-11 downstairs from our apartment. Long (and uneventful) story short, we didn't end up leaving the apartment until 5:30pm. Maggie had called to make sure we had food and explain the whole typhoon warning. We set a time to meet up at the Avenue of Stars for dinner, and we headed out on the MTR. By the time we found our way to Victoria Harbour, it was 6:30pm. The wind and rain had died down to a Class 3 warning. We made our way down the Avenue of Stars, finding Jackie Chan's hand-print, getting blown around by the wind, and taking pictures across the harbour. By 7pm, we had met up with Maggie and Sash, and found our way to the noodle and dumpling place I had frequented with Frank last summer. After dinner, we had hopes of seeing some more markets, only to find them pretty much shut down due to the storm.
Still, it had been a pretty interesting day, with the tropical storm and all.
Unfortunately, it was our last day in HK and we'd be flying out the next day at noon.
Back at the apartment, we watched the only English language channel for a while before passing out.
