ulrichjohannes

After we got back from our trip from the Taroko National Park, we received the fantastic news that tropic storm Dujuan significantly increased in strength and was now rated as class 4 hurricane. This message contained a mixture of feelings. We were excited and also little bit feared of an intensive typhoon like that. While it was raining non-stop in Taipei since Saturday evening, the actual typhoon was supposed to hit Taipei on late Monday afternoon. On Monday noon it was still possible to go out for lunch and buy stuff like water and food at 7/11, but the wind and rain was getting stronger every minute. A couple of hours later the typhoon hit Taipei with its full strength and the rain was flying rather sidewards than downwards. At this time it was definitely a good idea to just stay inside and we decided to gather in someone’s living room and just watch a movie.

On the next morning the storm was over, but because of possible damages every citizen of Taipei got a day off and there were also no classes at university. Okay, that’s not the full truth. On days after typhoons all karaoke bars and restaurants are really busy, because everybody is enjoying the additional holiday. So did we! After a small walk in the morning to see the results of the storm, I met friends in the afternoon and we had an amazing dinner.

On the next day life had been completely returned to normal in Taipei, except that the weather was horribly humid. Because we went on a trip the weekend before, we decided to stay in Taipei and do several activities in the north of Taiwan. On Saturday we went to the Taipei Zoo not only to see the pandas, but also to take the gondola from the zoo to the Maokong. The zoo is pretty nice and according to Geert the most exciting thing there is. For me the highlight of the day was the stunning view from Maokong. The best way to enjoy it is to sit in one of the tea houses enjoy the beautiful landscape and sunset while drinking local tea.

On Sunday we went completely lazy and just spent a day at the fulong beach. Unfortunately the beaches are quite far away from Taipei, so it took us around to 2 hours to get there, but laying in the sun and swimming in the sea are definitely worth a little journey. So the summary of the week is as follows: apart from the typhoon the week was quite chilled and relaxing. Next week: Road trippin’