Travel Diaries Hong Kong 2006 Day 10 - Typhoon Signal 3 | Day 10 - Typhoon Signal 3 |
| Wednesday, 13 September 2006 | ||||||
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Throughout the night I had heard the rain pouring down and hitting the windows. When we woke it was still coming down and visbility was so bad we could hardly see the top of any of the buildings close by - let alone see Kowloon! Today we were going to go to Lamma Island but the weather was too bad. We decided to wait until the afternoon to see if it got any better before venturing out. Through the course of the morning while watching TV a small image of an upturned T with a 3 next to it appears on the top right corner of the screen. Clara tells me this is Typhoon Signal 3 - which has been raised as the weather has got so bad. Outside the rain is torrential, I've not seen a weather report to see how close the typhoon is, but the weather is pretty bad already! A typhoon signal 3 means that the kids will be sent home from school at lunchtime as a precaution in case the typhoon gets any closer and it is the last signal before a typhoon signal 8 which means that everyone should stay in their homes and return home from work. We've just been watching the 12 noon news and (according to Clara as its all in Chinese) they are not going to raise the Typhoon Signal 8 as the typhoon has passed. From what I could see on the TV the typhoon came within 400 miles and we got the effects of one of the tails of the typhoon hitting Hong Kong and brining in the heavy rain and winds. Earlier today there was a red rain storm warning also raised - this is to show that heavy rain will fall in the area and is different from the typhoon signal 3. Anyway, the typhoon has passed and the rain has started to subside, but looking at the pictures on the news there were a lot of people getting blown away on the way to work and what looked like waterfalls coming down the hillside! During the afternoon the weather broke a little and the rain stopped pouring down. We decided to go for a walk in Causeway Bay to do some shopping. We took the number 23 bus down to Causeway Bay and got off outside the Sogo store where we had a look around. Sogo is a large department store, set over about 7 floors, and packed with every possible thing you could ever want to buy! After a short look around we moved onto a couple of DVD shops to have another look, but didn't really find anything. The streets were not too busy today, people were staying indoors after the earlier heavy rain. Next we took a walk down towards Wan Chai to visit 298 Computer Center, a whole shopping mall dedicated to small computer shops selling computer components and software, both legal and illegal. This was a great place for a techie to look around, and everything seemed to be on sale. The prices were a little cheaper than on the internet in the UK, but not enough to warrant purchasing without an international warranty and taking the risk! After looking round the three floors we walked back to Causeway Bay buying a bun from the bakery on the way. Back in Causeway Bay we took a quick look around the $10 shop (Clara's favourite) and then went to meet Andrew in a bar under the Excelsior hotel. The bar is very western and according to Andrew used to have old leather chairs very similar to an old gentlemans club in London. Now the bar is brighter, and would really be called a sports bar in the UK, as on every wall there were pictures, flags and jourseys from all sports, some are even signed. On the wall there is even a picture of Prince Charles and Diana having a drink in the bar - its called Dicken's by the way. After a couple of drinks (I even managed to get John Smith's - but only from a can!) we came back home by taxi and the rain had started to pour again. When we got home and turned on the TV the typhoon signal appears to have gone, but there is still a yellow rain warning. Plus on watching the news it seems there is another typhoon approaching in the next few days, so maybe we won't have that great weather after all! We ate a meal together of fish, pork ribs, green vegetables and fish soup with melon (that's savoury melon, not sweet) and then rested for the evening. Tomorrow we're going to have to wait to see the weather in the morning to see what we can do. All being well we might go to see the large Buddha on Lantau Island, but it could still be pouring it down in the morning and that might not be possible!
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