Taiwan–Day 2.2

[I’m having lots of problems with my photos on a new iPhone. Life was much easier with an Android!]

The day started off with a bike ride to a market site along a river through Taipei. Judy and her son Dominique were my guides. The bicycles are a city project, effectively used there to reduce the number of miles driven in cars. Our trip, under 30 minutes, was free.

Another community-living service is umbrella rental! If you’re caught in the rain without one, public buildings have these rental racks.

We bicycled to a subway station and left the bikes there, and then took the underground to a volcanic hot springs that is in Taipei. Very interesting. You can see the steam rising from the 44ºC water.

Taiwan–Day 2.1

I was really impressed with the social services and community experience of Taiwan society. There is so much consideration and services for people who are not so wealthy. The Family Mart in the housing where my friends live has a variety of accommodations and services for people who are poorer.

When entering the Family Mart, it looks very similar to a 7-11 you might see in other countries.

But this convenience store also has washers and dryers for neighborhood people who can’t afford such in their homes.

And this store also has a copy machine for its customers and a mailing service and allows customers to have mail sent to the store address to be picked up there.

If people buy packaged meals or foods here, they can use the store’s microwaves to heat it up and then use the counter on the left to eat. The counter is also used for school tutoring, small meetings, and similar activities.

Typhoon Wipha

Today I spent the day in my borrowed apartment in Wanchai in downtown Hong Kong. Typhoon Wipha arrived early last night and the #3 wind warning went up. When I woke up this morning, the #8 warning was hoisted and that changed to #10 at 9:30 AM. #10 indicates the strongest winds, above 70 MPH.

The #10 typhoon warning mounted on the elevator panel of the building where I am staying.

The #10 signal has been hoisted only 4 times in the last 13 years but the center of Typhoon Wipha passed just 30 miles south of the city so the effects were strong here. Gusts of 120 MPH were recorded.

I used to like typhoons when I lived in Hong Kong. Work places and schools were closed and it was like having a snow day when I was in elementary school. Today I ventured out when #10 was raised just for the experience and it wasn’t much. There was little rain at that time and even the winds were not that bad. One little palm tree was felled on the street near us but there aren’t many trees in the concrete and asphalt city so it was not a good reflection of the damage that was done elsewhere in the 80% of the colony that is forested hills.

Perhaps the greatest sign that something was different today were the empty streets. Hong Kong is densely populated and at 2:00 PM the streets were EMPTY.

Arrival Problems

I left Taiwan Friday afternoon and flew to Hong Kong. Peggy, a long-term faithful volunteer with the Catholic deaf group, took me to the small apartment of Judy Wu, the former volunteer I had just left in Taiwan.

Problem 1: I have a new iPhone that only uses eSIM. It is not possible to inset a SIM card into the phone. I had signed up for an eSIM account but when I tried to activate it in Hong Kong, I got a message that my phone cannot use eSIM which is not true. We went to a phone shop and the tech person said that the Hong Kong government prevents eSIM from being used in Hong Kong for some reason.

Problem 2: Needing Internet connection while here, I opted to install a physical SIM card in my old phone. But it wouldn’t work even though the phone shop installed it! I just now–24 hours later–got it to turn on!

The notice on the elevator at the apartment building where I am staying.

Problem 3:We have scheduled a Catholic deaf gathering for tomorrow (Sunday) so I can say goodbye but now a typhoon is approaching. Signal #3 has already been raised and it is expected to hit #8 in a few hours. All transportation, everything, closes and stops at that point. Now we need to wait and see if the typhoon moves quickly through Hong Kong or goes slowly. If the latter, we will postpone the gathering until Monday night.

More to come about the typhoon!

Sorry!

My schedule in Taiwan has been extremely busy and have been away from home and on the road all day the last two days. It’s now 11:39 PM and I’ve just posted the first message from here in Taiwan. It should be better the next few days–I hope!

Taiwan–Day 1

One of my last tasks while before returning to the United States is to say goodbye to the many good people I have known and worked with in Asia.

I am now in Taiwan and I came here to visit Judy Wu and Henry Wong and their son Dominique. Judy was the main force behind the Catholic deaf people and the volunteers for the group when I was in Hong Kong. I had to transit through Hong Kong on the way to Taiwan.

The flight to Hong Kong was about 2:20 hours and was rather uneventful. The new HK airport, which was build while I was living there, is now expanding still again and it a long time to get from the remote terminal to Immigration inside.

The flight to Hong Kong was delayed but I had a three-hour layover there so it was no problem and I landed in Taiwan after a 1:30 hour flight.

Judy Wu’s and Dominique’s smiling faces were there to greet me and we took an airport train and then a taxi to their home in Taipei. A good first day of the trip.

The roof leaks…

Today I went to Russian Market to buy a few gifts for people I will see in Taiwan and Hong Kong and Macau later this week. The market is quite an experience as you might surmise from this photo.

Then it started raining–really raining–outside and water started coming across the floor from different directions.

The vendors don’t pay much attention to the rain coming through the ceiling except when it drips on their merchandise and then they have plastic sheets to cover the counters.

The rain certainly cuts down on the number of tourists, though, so all in all, it was probably not a good afternoon for the marketers.

Respect for Creation

A tree located in the girls’ area of our hostel fell over a few days ago. Before staff and students organized to cut it down, chop it up, and dispose of it, Mom, a houseparent (squatting) organized prayers for the tree.

Mom and the students offered coconut, water, sweets, and incense to the spirits of the tree who are now displaced.

New Clothes

Clothing is much cheaper here than in the US so I am getting some things to wear when I get back. Today Sophy, a very competent and practical member of our management team, took me on a DDP moto to a small tailor shop located by our DDP barbershop. Sophy helped me with Khmer, to make sure the tailor understood what I wanted him to do.

The young tailor has made some clothes for me before so I trust him for this relatively big job. I take him clothes that fit, to copy, and pick out some material from a swatch book, and then he checks measurements as a precaution.

I ordered a black suit, three clerical shirts, and two pairs of pants, and he is charging me $232. The clothes will be ready in two weeks.

Kike’s Anniversary 6

The morning after the anniversary we headed out on a circuitous route to Phnom Penh, for some sight-seeing. First, though,we had breakfast.

The first stop was a durian plantation. Our group really enjoyed that and bought probably a couple hundred pounds of the fruit with the spikey hull and pungent smell.

The second stop was at a park along really high and really fast river. People enjoyed nature for an hour and then we ate lunch in the little shelters around the area and then headed home. Good trip….