Divine Wind - Typhoon SEPAT

The Kuomintang vs the Communist Party of China was the first thing that came to mind (trust me to turn anything into a military inclined story) as the rush to get to Taiwan was on to shoot DOTSTAR - a storm immersing (they actually fly around and above the typhoon) research flight headed by academics from the National Taiwan University. The plan called for an extended shoot if typhoon Sepat made landfall.

Of course it did.

Notwithstanding the issue of coming into a natural disaster unprepared (I completely forgot about the 110V rating for appliances, plus I had no rain gear except for a camo boonie) that and being in such an insane rush, add my rudimentary Chinese in to communicate with a cameraman that doesn't understand a word of English, 4 hour drives to Central Taiwan to chase Sepat as it hit the mainland and flights being closed on my proposed day of departure (just as well since the shoot was extended), the best part about it all was a category 5 storm that was brewing just off the coast with the island's name on it.

Besides the somewhat pretty betelnut girls (had a conversation with a colleague in SG and she told me they were slutty instead of pretty and that my line between the two descriptions was largely non existent) who my Chinese fixer very kindly showed me how to order from (which another colleague promptly made a face as she tried the ones I brought back home) the divine wind experience was a twister of sorts. Sorry no other clever puns.

Holed up with a rescue and fire dept in Nantou County, Central Taiwan, was quite the opposite of what I expected. The crews were professionals, just don't let the somewhat relaxed atmosphere and them smoking like chimneys in the ready room fool you. Since the area is mountainous, storms have always been pretty nasty. When it did hit it was intense. But as we shot the crews coming out to clear the mountain roads of huge uprooted trees and talked to Taiwanese academics and experts, we found out one thing - Taiwan was well prepared and lucky.

The more compelling story was actually the news agencies trying to outdo each other, as usual. When one managed to get people crying as they were evacuated by chopper, the other would get shots of a whole bridge demolished. Then they start outdoing each other's disaster closeups. When all else fails they'd resort to one thing - as one feisty young reporter who was trying out for either a promotion or the Taipei natural disaster news agency award did - stand in the middle of the storm next to the coast and scream while trying to stand upright, as all good typhoon reporters do. This young chick was in a yellow disposable raincoat flapping insanely in the wind, eyes squinting in the heavy rain, shouting into a microphone attached to a cameraman that was trying his damnest to keep steady, hollering incomprehensible grunts about the arrival of typhoon Sepat. Really it's coming? No shit.

If she had jumped up about an inch she'd have been blown clear across the mainland back to Taipei, cameraman included. As the crews sat around watching we all had the same thought - she looked more like an idiotic circus act. At least they didn't get the science and human profile stories we got. if I was younger I'd probably have done what she did - but only because I think it'd be pretty cool.

Then again, if you were a journalist covering the storm, what gripping story would you go for?

More photos here.

Friday, August 24, 2007 | posted in news, rescue, Sepat, typhoon | 5 comments [ More ]

Saigon.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm starting this blog. It may be a culmination of what I'm thinking and intending to do in work and research, that plus succumbing to peer pressure and of finding something else to do in what little I have left of spare time.

Saigon City was a Communist pate (I coined that term for my friend who was describing what pate was, then laughed hysterically) experience of sorts. To actually see what I've only been reading about in tons of military history books at home was a blast, but the biased viewpoints and historical sites being somewhat of a touristy circus was not. Have to admit though - it was fun tramping around the Cu Chi tunnels and finally getting to fire an AK-47 and a Makarov 64K pistol. That 7.62mm AK round has a hell of a recoil compared to the 5.56mm, as we all know. Least I know how much recoil it is first hand now. Interestingly our guide was a translator for the ARVN during the war, working with US forces. There was also a tracked (disabled) US M41 Patton tank which was destroyed by a mine. Tourists were standing on the turret and taking photos like it was an army open house. My friend and I had the same sentiment - we found it disrespectful. The War Remnants Museum wasn't so great either. We all know how much propaganda goes into Communist writings and literature. But I really do think the photo exhibits of (Agent Orange, torture, Dioxin) victims need somewhat of a (pardon the expression) facelift. If you come in as a neutral observer with some semblance of history, you'd find half the images and captions doubtful.

The photo journalist section was something else though. Amongst Henri Huet, Eddie Adams and countless other names (half of them died in combat) there was a lone Singaporean combat journalist. I can't quite recall his name, but he was KIA as well. But it was Eddie Adams Pulitzer Prize winning photo (wasn't in the museum) of Brig Gen Nguyen Ngoc Loan putting his service revolver into the head of a VC insurgent in the middle of a street that prompted a heated (but friendly) discussion surrounding the Geneva Convention, human nature and war.

That photo was one of many that truly changed public opinion of the conflict. My argument (a little ironically in a nice French cafe in the heart of Saigon) was that it, like so many of the photos, lacked one thing - context. The VC murdered another South Vietnamese colonel and his whole family. Eddie Adams fully understood the General's actions. So did I, though I feel he could've done it in closed doors, not during the Tet Offensive in front of dozens of his own men. My friend was on the other side, basically arguing that we have to adopt the higher moral ground. So the argument went from rules of engagement to putting yourself in a grunt's (infantryman) shoes to peacekeeping to Iraq to Afghanistan to the hearts and minds approach. I won't bore you with the details. We sorta agreed to disagree. Next stop Dien Bien Phu...

Would you have killed the VC?

more photos here.

Monday, August 13, 2007 | posted in Ho Chi Minh city, journalist, Saigon, war | 3 comments [ More ]