Typhoons Are Not for Sissies

Typhoon Mujigae

Every year on October 1 China takes a week to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic.  I had the week off from work and had a pretty good itinerary of festivities lined up with trips to beaches and islands as well as get togethers with friends.  Of course, these events were weather dependent, and the weather looked like it might try and delay a couple of beach forays.  There was a tropical storm brewing the other side of the Philippines, and it was headed our way.

We've been through numerous tropical weather events here.  There have been enough that they seem pretty old hat.  You lay in some food and recreational beverages, fill some extra water jugs, and make sure the flashlights work.  This storm was categorized as a tropical storm, and would fluctuate between that and a category 1 typhoon as it made its way here.  It looked pretty mundane, the forecast called for a few inches of rain and wind gusts up to 80 mph.  Nothing special, a day spent indoors watching movies, a day for cleanup, then off to the beaches!

Typhoon Mujigae (the name means "Sneaky Asshole") arrived Sunday morning.  Our new flat is on the third floor of an eight story walk up nestled snugly among other buildings and is pretty sheltered, so we didn't have a great view as to what was going on, although we could see that this storm was exceeding expectations.  Trees were bending over nicely and there was a lovely chorus of e-bike and car alarms which always go off in high winds.  A friend of ours, who has a much nicer view from an eighth floor apartment was sending us videos of the mayhem, with lots of debris flying around.

At 12:30 the power went down.  It was dark.  The two lovely flowering trees in our courtyard were looking sad.  The big one was down and the smaller one had pretty much disintegrated.  There was a period of calm as the eye of the storm passed over.  Our friend went out and took some photos which he sent to us.  I urged him not to stay out too long.  He got back home in time to watch one of his windows get blown in.
We got out a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, since it didn't look like we'd be watching any movies that day.  It turned out we weren't going to be watching any movies for several days.

At the time, we didn't realize just how bad it really was.  We were in contact with friends via phone, and knew that everyone had no power or water.
The next morning I went out to view the damage and to get some easy to cook food.  We live near a pedestrian street which, for the holiday, had dozens of vendors in tents selling BBQ, various foods, cheapo toys and other gimcrack.  Or at least they were up until the typhoon struck.

 The day before the typhoon and all is fine.

Mmmm, not so fine... 

 Enterprising lady selling chestnuts amid the disaster.

 The regular cleaning crew awaiting instruction.  It was going to be a long week.

 Our street.

"It ties the room together."

A friend let us know, the day after, that the authorities said we might not have water or power for four days.  It was time to go into urban tropical camping mode.  I was a little concerned.  How would people here react to this?  Were they as prepared as we were?  Did they have enough water?  Would there be riots?
We fortunately had gas, so cooking was not a problem.  We also had enough water, as long as we kept squatty potty flushing only for #2 events.  We were mostly out of touch with friends, since the phone service was completely overloaded. We managed a few text messages now and then.  I kept my phone mostly off to preserve the battery.  I read a real book, reserving Kindle for nights.
It was sticky and steamy.  Fortunately our flat has good ventilation, so what little breeze we had, managed to make it through.

The worst times were after dark.  Our bedrooms face a high rise apartment building.  They ran generators to keep the elevators working.  The lobby was lit, and this attracted people.  Chinese people in groups have only one volume for normal conversation, a kind of low volume shouting.  It doesn't matter what time it is, or where they are.  1 am is not too late for some group confab when you are recovering from a natural disaster. Someone eventually figured out that if they turned the generators off, that the crowd would disperse, and they did.   However, since it also gets extra muggy at night here, sleep was less than satisfying.
The third evening after the storm, the power came on.  Oh, joy!  I plugged in all electronics, turned on the air conditioning, and saw that the internet was working. I got a couple of emails off and read about the storm.  There were tornadoes, and utility crews from all over the province were working to get power and water restored.  Then the power went off.
It came on again the next morning.  And then went off.  It came on again in the afternoon.  And went off.  It came on in the evening, and we turned the AC on in our bedrooms set at really cold temperatures so that when it went off again we could keep the windows closed so we didn't have to listen to the convershouting next door.  It did go off, but we could at least sleep with windows closed.
The power finally came on for good the next day, so we were able to have a comfy temperature inside, but still no water.  Our friends in various locations in the city were having mixed luck as well.  You could take a bucket to a nearby building, which did have water, if you needed to.  During one morning deluge, I managed to fill a large bucket with water from a downspout from the roof.  It's always nice to have an extra flush or two.  The loo was getting a pretty nice pissy smell, although with the power restored we could at least keep the exhaust fan on.
On Wednesday a friend called to joyfully declare that he had water.  We should be getting ours soon.  I saw that the building next door did too, as indicated by the large amounts of laundry hanging from the windows.
Thursday came around and still no water.  We were greasy, sticky and stinky. Our friend offered us his shower, so in the midday heat, we strolled over to his place, climbed stairs to the eighth floor and went in only to find that the power and water were off.  
However, there was water on in the apartment that we use as a classroom, so we managed a shower a shave in the crappy shower there.  That was good, since I had a class that evening, and I did not want to subject the tykes to my disgusting, barbaric self.
On Friday we finally got water.  For some reason there are two sources of water in our place.  The laundry room had no water.  We do have a top loading machine, so we hauled water back there to do some laundry, and both took showers.  I began to get ready for the epic cleaning job ahead of me.  Then we lost water.  It came back on a few hours later, and I filled some big jugs again, just in case.  We did the epic cleaning and finished just in time for the water to go off again.
The water eventually came back on for good, as well as the laundry room water the next day.  After wallowing in our own filth for a week, life is more or less back to normal.
This storm took everyone by surprise with its severity.  It was the worst typhoon to hit the area since 1996.  The damage to crops, and infrastructure is massive.  There were some injuries and deaths, mostly to people who should have been inside.  But people here are resilient. Most of the trees around here have been trimmed and propped back up.  They always make a pretty good comeback.  Trash and debris have been removed.  Businesses are open and windows are being replaced.  It's a good time to be in the window business.
Bottled drinking water was available immediately, and to the small local store owners' credit, there was no price gouging that I observed.
By next typhoon season I want to add a few things to my survival kit including an LED lantern and another jigsaw puzzle.  Maybe a couple of more big buckets.
I had enough vodka, though!
A few parting shots from the news:

 Fishing boats

 The new sports stadium across the bay.

Civic Self Improvement

Our city is trying to improve itself.  This is an effort to attain official recognition as something other than a massive village populated by uncultured peasants.  From time to time, high level officials from the Guangdong government make an inspection of the city.  Their reports determine whether or not Zhanjiang can be classified as a green city, or a tourist city.  It managed to get green city classification recently, but the tourist city status keeps eluding it. That bar is apparently set higher.

Recently there was another official inspection.  Cops were out in force.  Water trucks were constantly spraying the streets.  Street cleaners were working overtime, and there wasn't an illegal sidewalk vendor to be found anywhere.

There are many tactics used in the grand strategy for self improvement.  On the back wall of the nearby middle school these posters appeared.  They are part of the Anti Douche Campaign, a bold effort to get people to behave better.  I could have made an effort to have these translated, but I think for the most part they are self explanatory.  Even illiterate and foreign douches should get it.

Click the image for larger view.

 Don't paint graffiti on the Police. 

 Don't park like an asshole.

 Don't drive like a Chinese person.

 Get out of the street, those are Chinese drivers!

Do not disturb the spirits of your ancestors.

Five Year Economic Development Zone

Zhanjiang is in the midst of a Five Year Economic Development Zone makeover.  Last year it was given FYEDZ status and big changes have been happening.  The big picture projects are centered around a major expansion of the port.  It is a very underutilized deep water port which is the closest port China has to all points south, including the Middle East.  This means oil.  The refining capacity is being increased.  Rail lines are coming, including high speed trains.  There is a new airport in the works.  Buildings are going up at a dizzying pace.  Lots of money is being poured into the place, much of it actually going into projects after satisfying the greed of those who control the projects.  Schools are being built.  Roads are being improved.  Bus and ferry stations are being replaced.  This is pretty impressive stuff.
There is also a big effort to improve Zhanjiang's image.  Zhanjiang has no image, per se.  It is an unknown backwater of 7 million souls.  Most people here are just a generation or two removed from rural life.  It is kind of a mega village.  The people are mostly what the urbanites here snidely refer to as "countryside people".  They litter, they spit, they pee in the bushes.  In general they are lacking in social graces.  Many are small entrepreneurs.  They have fruit carts.  They sell vegetables on tarps on the sidewalks.  They run businesses out or closet sized shops that spill out onto the sidewalks.  They have unlicensed cafes that spill out onto the sidewalks.  The sidewalks are crowded, with wares, tables, stinky tofu stands, meat, produce, motorbikes, and people.  It has its charms, and is a centuries old tradition here.
The people in charge of Zhanjiang's new image are changing all this.  Early this year, trash bins went up on my street about every 20 meters or so.  A couple of months ago, our favorite barbecue place, an awesome enterprise that was rolled out across the street every night, was shut down.  Then businesses started closing--unlicensed, I suppose.  Then all the food stands, fruit carts, and street vendors disappeared.  All the retailers that used to spill out onto the sidewalks have all their wares crammed into their too small shops.  These shops were for all practical purposes, night storage places.  Even the old guys who used to set up their card tables and play cards on the sidewalks are gone.  Sidewalks are clear and walking is a cinch.  It's boring, and it has ruined the livelihoods of countless people.  Some economic plan!

Traffic

Americans don't realize how well they have it made, at least in terms of driving.  The comments in the papers and online about such earth shattering problems such as bicycles rolling through stop signs and people texting at the traffic lights are kind of quaint when compared to Chinese drivers.  Our city is growing rapidly, and the road infrastructure is unable to keep up with the increase in cars and motorbikes that the improved economy has enabled.

Throw in a lack of traffic law enforcement and the local propensity for chaotic crowd behavior, and you get some exciting street action.

There are not enough traffic signals in this city.  The only way cars can merge out into a busy thoroughfare is to stick their noses out in front of the passing traffic, hope that they stop, then go.  The traffic yields, maybe honks, but the guy manages to get out.  Obviously buses are more successful at this maneuver than smaller vehicles.  This is a yielding culture when it comes to cars.

Pedestrians have to be alert at all times, since at any time or any place some kind of vehicle could ruin your day.  Electric stealth motorbikes on sidewalks are especially unnerving.

Traffic signals, where they do exist, are obeyed mostly by cars.  The rest of the driving public consider the lights an infringement on their right to operate stupidly.

Honking is constant.  Everyone honks when they want you out of the way, and pedestrians are at the bottom of the horn chain.  Buses honk at everyone, cars honk at everyone but buses, motorbikes honk at bicycles and pedestrians.  Motorbike taxis also honk when they want a rider, when they are entering an intersection without stopping, and just about all the rest of the time, too.  Their horns are shrill, and I'm sure that besides being douchebags, theses riders are also nigh deaf.  

One of my favorite sights is to see an elderly person bicycling at a leisurely pace down the street, with an irate car behind them blaring his horn.  They continue, placidly ignoring the horn as if to say, "I survived the Japanese, The Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution.  No BMW is going to faze me, so pound salt, sonny!"

This is an intersection in my neighborhood.  I use it whenever I go to the supermarket.

Commuting

My commute, as well as my neighborhood has changed since the last school year.  I no longer have to endure too much time on crowded buses, going to a part of town I don’t like.   I live in a more working class neighborhood.  The neighbors are a lot more friendly, the trees are bigger, and the motorbikes more plentiful.

I also have a fairly easy walk to work.  If I take the shortest route, I go past the neighboring middle school.  Since I need to be at my school at 7:30, and the middle school students need to be at school at 7:30, I get to negotiate the scrum at the front gate.  Hundreds of kids are funneling in, along with the requisite cars and motorbikes.  The streets are narrow, and crossing can best be described as “cheating death”.  This is because of my dear friends, the motorbike taxi douchebag dicks, are going full throttle through the crowds, using pedestrians as slalom poles, and swerving to whatever path appears to be open at the moment.  This includes sidewalks and the opposing lanes.  They deposit their precious cargo of adolescents, then zoom back out for another load, piercing horns blaring. 

Many cities have outlawed these guys as well as all motorbikes, but you won’t see that happen here anytime soon, I think.  The local police are not exactly the hardest working force on the planet, and traffic here is pretty much self regulating, just like Wall Street, Big Banks, or Congress. 

I try to avoid this microcosm of the American Legislative Branch, and take a longer more scenic route to work, 0ne that involves only 2 brushes with death  street crossings.  It takes my through beautiful Haibin Park, which adjoins our school.  It’s a steamy jungle this time of year, which I enjoy, even when it causes sweat to drip from my nose.

This is the street I live on.  It's a Sunday morning.  Normally it's very crowded and the sidewalks are full of vendors and overflow merchandise from the shops.

I walk down this street.

Hey, look Graffiti!

I cross here...

And if I don't get hit, I'm viewing Haibin Park!

Park workers. 

Aerobics class

Our School!