Earthquake in Taiwan!

This past week, one of my very best friends from Chicago came to visit me.  She had been traveling around Asia and before coming to Taiwan, had visited Hong Kong, Bali, and Singapore.  Taiwan was the last (and best) leg of her journey.  We explored Taipei, ate lots of dumplings, and drank A LOT.  Typical of a vacation spent with Kathleen!  After 5 days of solid partying and laughing so hard for hours and hours on end, we knew although our battered bodies tried to tells us to stop, we had to keep going and cherish the time we had together. 

Our last night was Saturday, and my body was beginning to hate me.  She was to take off at 7 a.m., so we stayed up until around 5 when she had to jump in a cab to Hong Kong for a connecting flight to Chicago.  A journey through Sunday, to be up and ready for the real world on Monday.  God bless her, I bet she is struggling at work right now. 

When I got back to my apartment, I lay in my bed, sad to see my friend off, but ready to get back to reality... And that’s when it hit.  This surreal feeling that everything around me was moving: my walls, my jewelry dangling from their holders, my plants and everything around me.  In fact, I was shaking and grumbling along with them, and without consent. 

This must be an earthquake, I thought.   It was not as scary as I would have imagined, but this could be because it was 5 a.m., I was a few sheets to the wind, and exhausted. 

I was more intrigued than terrified, because this was my first earthquake. 

According to Taipei Times, it was a strong, deep earthquake that struck 70.2 km southeast of Yilan County, where I hiked Camel Back Mountain.   The magnitude was a 6.5.  

Although, I was not terrified, it is a bit scary to think that the world can just move around you without any apparent warning. 

DUNH DUNH DAANNHHH.