Twisted

Wow big words for someone from the Philippines who only experienced signal #3 typhoons.! Got to go with my mom to HongKong last Thursday 8/9/07 on board Cathay Pacific. The plane got off on time but due to some turbulence we arrived a little bit delayed.

We took the A21 bus to the city and got off at Nathan Road 50-60+, went to look for our dwelling place – Kowloon Hostel now known as USA Hotel. The whole floor on the 13th were hostels with different owners. We did not stay at the one we booked online because it was super stuffy and super small, although it has a bath. I felt that I will not be able to rest right so we upgraded our room from a US$39/2 person/night to almost US$65/night. The $21 difference was worth it because it was spacious and windows surround. Not much for views but ventilation was way much better. But the Tv has poor reception, the aircon was ok the first night but not anymore on the second. Nevertheless it was much, much better. The staff were ok although speaking their language or mandarin would have more advantage, then you can get more detailed info if you have inquiries. Similar to the small restaurants that we went to, even the Coral Place… we had to point to pictures for them to understand what we wanted to order…

Anyway on our second day after we have achieved our goals in the morning we went around shopping at Sogo, Causeway Bay. Around 3pm, the Sogo personnel asked everyone to leave the premises due to an announcement that typhoon signal #8 was declared. Apparently this alarmed everyone to go to their own home immediately and that all shops will be closed. Imagine the rush, the panic, and the way people really followed the government’s warning despite it. My mom and I followed the throngs of people to the subway. There we experienced having to walk down the stairs that they have because both the escalators and the elevators were full. I have to tell you when you say going down the steps it was really deep…I have never given a thought on how deep a subway is, only then. With our belongings, which was a lot because i have started shopping items for my kids, the weight was doubled while going down the steps and even more so when we had a long wait for the train due to lots of people and delay of the train’s arrival. Finally arriving at Tsim Tsa Tsui station, you can see people buying groceries left and right, bread off the shelves in a blink of eye. Even the bread that I was eyeing was taken off the shelf by another buyer…seems like courtesy is gone out the window once people are on a panic mode… Have I told you that despite my encounter of the above mentioned, in my mind I was still thinking…are these people over reacting a little bit? Because if I compared the weather when I was there and the one I experienced in the Philippines it did not seem at all threatening.

When we reached shelter, I called up a cousin who lives nearby and asked how grave is signal #8 . She told me just to stay put and not leave the building because it has not experienced such an alarm for a long time. She said that all stores closes and so people really stuff up on food just in case the typhoon might stay a while. She also mentioned that incidents of falling debris had caused accidents to happen. After some more chitchats, we said our goodbyes and i called up another cousin who lives in Yu Tong area. We made a previous appointment of meeting at 5 so I was supposedly cancelling but she said it was ok to travel since it is by subway…and so we did. We had a nice evening and then returned to the hostel.

Back at the hostel, news of riot at the subway one or two station way from where we alighted made both me and mom sigh of relief. relief that we had followed our instinct to instantly go home or else we would have been stuck like them… By the way the wind was strong and gutsy the rain was not much though, probably why I said it did not seem like an 8 but more of a 2 for us here.

We came home last night. Hongkong was overcast with grey clouds I guess they’ll be experiencing more rains. I felt I was finally home when I saw my spouse and heard my son shouting gleefully at the top of his voice.