Back in the UK

Just in case you're wondering, we got back to the UK!  We flew out through the typhoon a bit like in a movie.  I was rather relieved once we had left Taiwan.  Since we left they have had 5 more typhoons.  Crazy.  I think we'll leave it a few weeks before we head back.  

Typhoon

So the typhoon has officially hit Taiwan.  From now until tomorrow morning there will be torrential rain and extremely high winds.  All quite exciting.  There was a huge amount of anticipation from everyone here.  The news channels are covering it 24 hours a day now.  Seeing the tv footage of past typhoons confirms that the dangers are real.  Lots of flooding and damage to buildings and cars has started to happen on the east coast of Taiwan.  Hualien is being battered and it's quite weird to look at the tv pictures and recognise all the places we were only yesterday.  

Me and Julianne are sitting tight today and staying inside.  90% of the shops have been closed and we are all under government orders to stay at home.  Now all that is left is a photo-shoot tomorrow for our record company.  I hope the plane is still able to fly on Sunday when it's scheduled to.  We could be stuck here until Tuesday though.  No one seems to know what is going to happen.  

Hualien Episode 2

It's quite interesting…  There is a big typhoon approaching Taiwan from 200km out in the Pacific Ocean.  If the typhoon hits tomorrow (Friday) then we will be stranded in Hualien because the trains will stop.  If the typhoon hits on Saturday then the 2 best gigs we have lined up will be cancelled because they are both outdoor ones.  If the typhoon hits on Sunday then all flights out of Taiwan will be grounded and we will be stuck here.  It seems our decision making process will have to make allowances for this turn of events!  I have peace though.  God has been taking such good care of us thus far and He will continue to do so and work things for the good. 

 

The Taiwanese seem to be very geared up for typhoons in the same way as the Swiss are geared up for snow.  All the beaches are being closed by the police and there’s an extra buzz on the streets as people are getting all the food they might need for a couple of days stuck in the house.  Right now it’s just like a small English gale blowing.  The palm trees look like a giant hairdryer is blowing them and the sea has turned grey.  The waves are seriously powerful - maybe 7 or 8ft (maybe 2ft in Si’s book).  Which reminds me…

 

Yesterday Jimmy, Sunny, Going Nowhere, Sui, Julianne and I all went to eat hotpot together.  I won’t describe the food in case it isn’t tea time for anyone reading this (please see earlier blog episode), but it was very tasty.  After the meal we rode in Jimmy’s 4x4 down to the beach and onto the sand.  The moon lit up these massive waves which were tearing the beach apart.  I’ve only seen that kind of power in Hawaii when I was 6!  (I’m sure Mum will be happy that I remember that).  The 4x4 did well until we got near to the line of seaweed on the beach.  Then it got stuck… disaster…. so massive waves… big tide coming in…… and the 4x4 isn’t so 4x4 anymore.  We all got out of the car and Jimmy tried to drive the car back up to the road.  Except it wasn’t so easy.  The tyres dug into the wet sand and he had to reverse and drive forwards 3 or 4 times just to make 10m.  Cue us asking silly questions like “Shall we call the RAC?” and then “do you have the RAC in Taiwan?”.  Then the 4x4s engine blew up.  Lots of smoke billowing out of the engine like a Ferrari F1 gone wrong.  I could almost hear Murray Walker screaming “and he’s ooooout!  He’s gonnnnnnnnne!  This blowout is the most spectacular thing I have ever seen since Jesse’s infamous formula micra write off !”  The radiator had exploded and lots of plastic bits were the engine.  The sound of the waves seemed to grow louder in our ears, especially as lots of people had lost their cars on this beach before.  It would be a sad way to end a good day.  We poured drinking water onto the radiator, prayed that Jimmy would make it and watched as he revved the engine up.  lots of spraying of sand…lots more smoke from the radiator…a few inches forwards  and then suddenly a good bit of grip and the car jerked forwards off the sand and onto the road and to relative safety.  Goodness, that was a close one! 

 

By this time it was 2am.  Our friend Going Nowhere proved to be the hero of the hour and came to drive us all home.  What a star!  His first words were - “first Jesse’s fishball blew up” (I forgot about the star shaped pattern of soup on my shirt from earlier) “and now Jimmy’s engine’s blew up…why everything blew up today?”  All’s well that ends well, the car got fixed today for £100.  Not bad…and we live to fight another day (or maybe a typhoon). 

 

Earlier in the day we spent our time driving through a huge gorge called Taroko Gorge.  Then we had breakfast after swimming in this clear mountain river.  I would say it’s the most beautiful place I have been in Taiwan.  It was near deserted, the water was semi rapid and very pleasant to swim in.  I also decided that it was good to copy the lizards.  As soon as I got cold in the river I lay on these river rocks and soaked up their heat.  The only other people who we saw were a tribe of aboriginees who had just caught a wild boar.  They offered us a leg if we would go up into the bush and help carry it down.  Another day and with more time, we may well have accepted the offer. 

 

It’s good coming to Asia.  It is so different from the West.  It’s like being underwater culturally here.  People behave in a different way towards things and towards each other.  There’s a lot of respect, which I suppose used to be in England 40 or 50 years ago.  There’s a different way of thinking as well. 

 

I must say I’m looking forwards to coming home.  I’ve loved it here, but I need time and space to think and review my priorities.  I think it’s so important to be making a difference in the world and using our music, but it could be easy to get on a touring treadmill and find that we have no new ideas or songs in a years time.  Also friendships need time to be built.  2 days after I got diagnosed with diabetes I’ve been on the other side of the world playing lots of shows.  Ha ha ha ha.  I need to assess what toll it’s taken on me.  We’ve done 25 now.  At least I’m much better than 1 month ago and have a lot more confidence.  I’ve enjoyed it to be honest.  Much better medicine than moping around at home. 

Hualien First 2 days

Firstly I have to say a big Happy Birthday Jance.  I haven’t been able to get to the internet to post this for a while, so I’m afraid it’s late. 

 

Here we are relaxing in Hualien.  This is like the New Zealand of Taiwan. Everyone is chilled out and the pace of life is much slower than Taipei.  The first day here we drove along the coastal for an hour to a seafood restaurant.  The road has a spectacular view, because there are steep jungle covered mountains on one side and deserted beaches on the other.  We arrived at Jimmy and Sunny’s favourite beach at about 5pm and spent a few hours relaxing there.  The beach had a natural lagoon which was sheltered from the waves.  Just outside the lagoon was a coral reef.  Never mind the scores of multi-coloured nemo fish and sea snails (and sea snakes which thank goodness I didn’t see as they are 13 times more poisonous than lands snakes), the coral itself was one of the most beautiful things I have seen.  I’ve only ever seen coral in tourist shops when it’s plain white.  We waited until evening and then Jimmy went snorkelling with his flashlight and brought back a squid, a lobster, and a couple of nice looking crayfish.  A good catch - so we barbequed it all back at our house.  Sorry for writing more stuff about food on this blog!  You need to read it near dinner time, because it will make you hungry! 

 

Today is Tuesday and me and Julianne have had a late start. A blissfully late start in fact.  We’re hanging out in the flat together... not sure what else will happen yet.  

September

Well since the last episode a lot has happened. 

 

Yesterday we had a fantastic day.  The various radio stations got cancelled which was great.  We’ve done about 11 interviews now and the chinese speaking ones can be pretty difficult.  Well mostly difficult for Josh, but I think that he enjoys it.  Me, Julianne and Josh went for a meandering bike ride next to the river.  We had to convince the guy who was renting the bikes that we would actually be back and that we wouldn’t ride on the road (that would be a death wish here).  Even after all our assurances that we would comply, he came out of his shop and watched us all the way out of sight!  Maybe a bad experience with Westerners in the past…

 

Today me and Niall went to have a practise with Josh Chen.  Josh Chen is a great musician and a good friend of ours.  He is going to appear with us at our concert in The Wall, Gonguan tomorrow.  His new album is released on the day of our concert.  The chord changes in the song are so jazzy that it’s like taking part in one of the sight reading tests that I gave my students at Castle. 

 

We had lunch with Josh after the practise in a Taiwanese style restaurant.  I had wantons and some kind of egg fried rice.  So much more authentic than in England.  It’s also nice to know that it only costs £2 and drinks are included!  No wonder the average Taiwanese person never cooks. 

 

We then walked to go to a meeting with our record company.  I ended up getting a bit wiped out, because we walked from one tube station stop to another one in an underground mall.  My hamstrings went numb and I got a headache so I had to sit down.  I’m not used to much exercise yet.  Anyway they’ve offered us a management contract as well as the existing distribution and promised to help us tour and play concerts when we come to live here.  It’s a serious breakthrough.  They need to know soon so the next couple of days will be chatting through the options and then seeing whether we want to.  

Baybeats 2008, Singapore

Baybeats festival was fantastic - here's a few pictures before I fall asleep.  Thankfully we made it back to Taiwan now.  Yesterday we played an acoustic show in Singapore, had some media interviews and finished by closing the Nokia Arena stage for the festival.  Then we got up at 5am to catch our flight back to Taiwan.  Needless to say me and Julianne had a short kip this afternoon.  Good to use the internet a bit and chat to friends and family.  Really this is a big week coming up.  We're collaborating with a number of good friends and musicians that have a real reputation across Asia.  I'm looking forwards to it a lot.  

Me and Julianne will catch some xiao long bao in the meantime!  

Singapore

So far Singapore has been great.  I'm writing from our hotel room whilst watching the Premiership.  A nice reminder of home!  Weird that it's free here and not at home.  It underlines what a global brand the premiership is.  It also accounts for any mistakes found in this blog entry - I always seem to write when I'm annoyed or tired!  

We have been put in touch with a great church thanks to our friends in Taiwan.  Sharon and Allen have looked after us really really well.  They picked us up from the airport in 2 cars, showed us around the city at 11pm and then took us to Crispin Hill's place (Pete Hill's brother).  He's a real dude.  We stayed in his place in a nice suburby type area of Singapore.  It's near the east coast.  Me and Julianne slept outside on the veranda in a hammock-like sofa.  

I went to pastor Kong He's church today.  We attended one of the 4 services that are held over the weekend with 5,000 passionate Singaporians.  Everyone was praying in tongues for 30 minutes before the meeting which was so powerful.  Then in the worship it was like everyone just gave everything.  Sharon and Allen then took me to see their singing dog!  So funny.