Graychalk.com | Misplaced Pieces
40 Minutes of the Twilight Zone
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 09:08 pm
Having lived in Taiwan for the past five years, you’d think I had experienced this before… but nope, today was the first time I was actually out on the street when the air raid drill took place. It completely took me by surprise since I had not realized the drill was taking place today, which was rather unfortunate because it meant I was caught unaware and stuck out in the heat for over 30 minutes.
It happened while I was waiting to cross the street- this loud, wailing noise that went up around the city, similar to the kind you’d hear in war movies. I blinked and looked around in confusion for a moment, an image of bombs dropping from the sky briefly flitting through my mind along with the incredulous thought, “Don’t tell me China is attacking?!”
The lady standing next to me must’ve been having the same thought, because she looked at me a bit wildly before glancing up at the sky. But then most of everyone else seemed to be moving about normally at the time, so I shrugged and went on my way. So that was that until the sirens trailed away a minute later, making it suddenly eerily quiet on the streets. And it would be too, because I realized all at once that I was the only person on the street! Call it a dumb moment on my part, but I didn’t even notice anyone clearing out until the streets were completely deserted. No cars were running, nobody was walking about… nothing.
I stood there feeling like I was part of some freakish movie set… perhaps Resident Evil after the zombies have taken over the city and left it abandoned. It was that weird, because Taipei without noise, traffic, and crowds just don’t make sense. I wasn’t left alone for long though, since a cop came running towards me and gesturing for me step out of the streets. It was also when I was finally informed that the air raid drill was moved to today and I’d need to “hide” for about 30 to 60 minutes until it was over. The question was where, because there wasn’t anywhere I could go without being able to walk down the street. And so I ended up standing in a little alcove where I was stopped, with only an ATM machine for company.
It was really hot and whole thing felt like it took hours- the latter probably because I wasn’t able to do anything other than stand and wait in the heat. The ironic part? About 15 minutes into this whole thing, I heard the sound of an airplane. Being the only noise in the vicinity, it was especially loud. At first, I wondered if it could be fighter airplanes participating in the drill… except, no, it turned out to be a normal commercial airplane. It kinda made me giggle a little. After all, this was an air raid drill. The last thing that we should ever see in an air raid is a commercial airplane taking off from the nearby domestic airport!
All in all though, I guess I can at least say I got to see Taipei deserted- something one wouldn’t exactly see on a normal basis. I snapped some pictures, but since I wasn’t allowed to move about to get a better shot, I couldn’t quite capture the true emptiness of the streets. I wish I could convey how odd it really was.
Well, after about 40 minutes, life returned to the streets quicker than ever with another sound of the sirens to signal the end of the drill. As annoying as an air raid drill can be, I suppose we should all be thankful that it’s only a drill and not the real deal.
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