My tiny brush with the typhoon

Our Hongkong trip became memorable because of the slight brush with the typhoon.It is the typhoon season in south china sea, and by extension in hong kong as well. But then when we planned the trip, we took the national holiday at singapore into account, but not these minor matters.But then our guide in hongkong told us, that typhoon never directly strikes hongkong, it usually gets diverted to south China I was reminded of Chennai and the storms going and hitting, ongole and rayalseema and sparing us chennaites, many a time.
On the second day of our stay, typhoon signal 1 was hoisted in the hotel lobby and all train stations. But then everybody went about their business, so we followed suit. The same evening, it was upgraded to signal 3; again no panic or ostensible change in routine life.So we set out for ocean world.When we reached the ticket counter, we were told that the facility is closed today due to bad weather. Then we headed for 'giant buddha'.Boarded bus 23 at Central and were nicely meandering our way up the hill.Half way up we realised that a storm is brewing; the scenery was just out of the world, with the sea, just kissing the road we were taking and the turbulance was palpable; koots said she does not want to look at the sea at all.The other side was the mountainside and greenery all around.We saw the steady and heavy rains and powerful wind, lashing against the bus, but we were cocooned as it were and did not realise the powerful drama that was being played outside.
A little before the destination, we could see the giant buddha rising from the mist as it were.The bus stopped, and we got out. And then, without warning, a giant squall hit us, and we went reeling, literally. Koots instinctively caught on to the railings in the bus shelter and i held on to her.The other passengers took precaution.The wind blew with a giant whistling sound for a few minutes, the roadside shops with tin roofs making a 'percussion orchestra' which we did not enjoy. But then suddenly everbody burst into laughter, as we knew we were witnessing something unique.All of them tourists, could relate this to their grandkids!
Of course there was no question of climbing the steps to giant buddha, or to visit the monastry nearby.We just waited for the bus to come back, and we clambered back to the safely of its interiors.
We just witnessed the tail wind of the typhoon crossing south china sea on to the land at that time!
Lantau island, became memorable.Our journey back was more sober and i was busy wiping myself dry with two cloth hats. Koots was amused, i was not!