Home, again

Trailing the typhoon's destructive path, I flew home, again.

Though I was not due to leave Singapore till Saturday, Eva Air managed to arrange a flight early yesterday morning with Singapore Airlines. So at 6am, I left my friend's place, and crept silently towards the bus station, and onwards toward Changi Airport. Though early, the bus was filled with people already...most catching those joyous and much-needed few minutes of an eye-shut. The dawn sun slowly light up outside the window, revealing rows upon rows of condos, well-planned skytrain networks, and the usual cleanness and organised streets and forests of Singapore.

SQ 872 to Taipei took 4hours and 40 minutes. It was all smooth flying, until we got to the southern tip of Taiwan. The skies quickly greyed, and violent turbenlent winds rocked the plane, making the fuselage squeak and shudder like I've never experienced before. I was prepared for a bumpy ride, as I knew the storm was just a few hundred kilometers ahead, but I didn't expect it to be that bad. Drinks spilled onto people, as people's faces tightened with fear. And I thought about the fact that a few days ago the jade Buddha I always carry around in my pocket broke into two... local beliefs say that jade breaking is a very bad sign, which signals the oncoming of bad luck. The forty minutes or so of shaking, shuddering, and watching the wings literally flap up and down in the strong winds over Taiwan were long minutes. And suddenly, out of nowhere, green paddies, white match-box houses and factories revealed themselves. As we touched down, I felt a tear of relief...maybe it was the longing in the past month, maybe it was the joy of flying through a turbulent storm unscathed, maybe it was just the green fields that I remember so well as the beatutiful sight of my homeland...home, again.

Met with mum and dad for dinner and coffee, and told them all about the joys and pains of the one month away. It seemed much longer. But then, how can I describe all that I've seen, experienced and felt in such a different world from this one? Hindered by my shortcomings in expressing myself well in speech, I described the people, foods and landscape with adjectives and words, which now, thinking back, seem so very inadequate. Every detail, every face, every sound, ever drop of rain, every blade of grass, each call of a child, each effort exerted by the hardworking streetvendor...the pollution, the noise and the dirt of Jakarta...the beauty and magic of Borobodur, the tranquility of terraced paddies...the dangers of riding a bus at night alone, the helpfulness and kindness of so many I've met, if only just for brief moments... the contrasts, the eye-watering poverty, the luxuries and riches that could rival any world city... you must be there to feel it.

Outside, the rain continued to fall. As I watched the news late at night, the extent of the damage revealed itself through images and voices on various the news channels. Even after midnight, the media-crazy Taiwanese are able to access live images beamed in from across the country, as newsrooms and reporters compete to bring home pictures and sounds of the latest tragedy and/or news item. Though Typhoon Haitung had official left the island as of last night, its outer rings continued to affect the skies above Taiwan. The diameter of the storm was around 3000km, equivalent to the size of 10 Taiwans (or around the size of 10 Hollands)! Thousands of milimeters of rain fell especially in the south and central parts, wreaking havoc and destruction everywhere. Winds blew up to a speed of 250km, or around wind force 17, as billboards, trees and houses were uprooted. On the streets of Taipei, leaves and branches are littered everywhere...and this is just the part of the country that was least effected.

In the south and central, landslides, mudslides, rolling, sweltering rivers of mud and rock washed away houses and agricultural land, just as rising waters swelled into homes and factories...to an estimated damage of around NT$20billion (approx EUR50million). And this may not be the worse typhoon this year... Seeing the broken roads, washed-away bridges and houses, I cannot but think that maybe much of the destruction is man-made. Years of illegal logging, illegal betel nut tree plantations, illegal lodgings, illegal constructions and exploitations of the land and rivers...and the effects reveal themselves clearly during massive storms like this.

Ｉwatched the TV images of fallen pommelos, fallen apples, pears, pineapples and soaked watermelons, or of beaten cabbages, spring onions and kangkungs...I tried to imagine what must be going on in the minds of those farmers, as they risked their lives to salvage whatever fruits and vegetables they could muster to sell. All the year's hard work and toil, countless drops of sweat and blood shed, all the effort and energies exerted in cultivating such beautiful fruits and vegetables...all ruined in a few hours of nature's fury. Poor farmers... here we say their 'meals depend on the heavens'. And especially here in Taiwan, where extreme weather conditions are prone throughout the year, farmers must look to the mercy of the weather goddess for a decent living.

At the Lungshan Temple in downtown Taipei, I thanked the gods and deities for their blessings during my one month abroad...but I also did not forgot to pray for an end to the terrible winds and downpour, to ask for blessings for the millions who have suffered in two, and potentially many more, typhoon nights...

Amid the calls of the returning black cicadas, sunlight broke through the grey clouds.