After a great vacation in Taiwan, it was time for my wife to fly back to Bangkok. We had decided that I would stay on in Taipei for a couple of extra days, waiting until the 1st of January, when my visa would reset with the new year.
On our last morning together, we decided to try out a famous local porridge shop called Zhouji Meat Porridge.
After dropping Pinky off at the airport, I returned to my hotel, settled into bed, and got ready for a good night's sleep... only to be woken up around 11pm by a loud blaring from my phone and a horrible sensation that I had experienced just once before.
Taipei had been hit with a magnitude 6.6 earthquake (later reports said 7.0). It was technically weaker than the 7.5 that had hit Burma and Thailand earlier in the year, but I was very close to the epicenter, which was right off the coast, this time. The effect was a horrible rocking and swaying that brought back terrible memories of that awful day back in March.
This time, I knew what to expect. I ran to the doorway between my bedroom and my bathroom and hunkered down in the doorframe until the quake subsided.
Taiwan is no stranger to earthquakes. Located on the Pacific Rim, the island sits astride the collision point of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, and is rocked by frequent tremors, with roughly 200 strong enough to be felt by people each year. This was one of the strongest the island had experienced in decades, and I was unfortunate enough to be there again.
Fortunately, there were no injuries and little damage. Still, I was shaken. I had gone through more than three decades of my life without experiencing a single earthquake only to go through two very strong ones within the same calendar year. What luck...
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