Ever since my stay here in Nagasaki, we've been watching the weather and five kept showing me that we were about to get hit with a Typhoon. Each day the typhoon came closer, and closer. So yesterday, we picked up some food so we didn't have to go out.
five recommended these Onigiri Senbei which were great.. I also FINALLY found some green tea that doesn't taste like crap:
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Later on in the afternoon, around 3pm i suppose, the typhoon smacked Nagasaki. There was a ton of rain, but it only lasted a little while. The winds were fierce and battered against the trees and buildings around us:
After the rain stopped, we opened up the window to stick our heads out and see what was going on. It was like sticking your head out a car door window when you're driving down the highway. I took some pictures: one and two. It was pretty crazy. Frequently, plastic bags would just shoot on by the window. You could see things knocked down in the streets below. Every once in a while, we'd see some ceramic tiles fly on by and smack into the ground or the roof of another house. Also occasionally, you'd see a huge surge of light and a bunch of sparks..
It had to die down eventually though:
We were in a pretty unique location, nestled in a little valley between mountains.. The mountain would absorb alot of the storm, and when it reached the Valley, the wind would blow the storm away.. You can see the mountains in the distance eating up the storm:
So it was clear skies for us in the middle ^_^
here's some more panoramic shots: one, two, and three.
Then the eye of the storm really began to take a turn... the sunset:
Panorama-rama: one, two, and three. Then the sunset and some clouds began to roll in: one.
After the sunset it was pretty boring being in the apartment, especially since our power had been out for quite a while already. So... we ventured forth to find some destruction. The streets were littered with broken roof tiles. Some trees from the 26 Martyr shrine was unearthed or snapped off. The stray cats were just hanging out.
Soo... we went down to the Nagasaki Station/Mall to find some more destruction, though we were a bit disappointed. There were leaves and branches all over the place, and bunch of bikes that were knocked over, but otherwise Nagasaki faired pretty well, though all the potted plants at the station had been knocked over.
We went inside and checked out the arcade. This UFO machine had a bunch of little dogs with their heads wrapped around car tires... O_o
They also had the Half-life 2 arcade game. Plus an Evangelion slot machine and pachinko machine. The book store around the corner had a LOST book too.
We went downstairs and bought some food.
This is the weirdest fruit i've ever seen... It looks so.. alien. They call it a 'Dragon Fruit'. I'll need to try one, even though they are $4 each.
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Overall, it was quite a trip. A few minutes after we got back to the apartment, the second half of the storm hit, though we couldn't see anything outside, so that was boring. The power had been blown out pretty much everywhere except the hotels and large establishments which obviously had their own generator. You could look over at an apartment building that was completely black, but some of the windows had flashlights moving around in them.
And now today... we have the aftermath. I think i'm going to grab one of those roof tiles that landed in the grass still in tact.
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Update: