Hengchun employs rocks to weigh items down and counter winter winds
Hengchun employs rocks to weigh items down and counter winter winds
2024-01-25
If you’ve ever been to the far south of Taiwan in winter, you might have noticed an interesting sight. The people of Hengchun Township often weigh down their items with heavy rocks, to keep them from being blown away by the wind. Market stalls, tables, and even scooters are all at the mercy of sudden gales. The winds are caused by geography. Winter monsoon winds, blowing over the central mountain range, accelerate where the mountains dip down to the sea at Hengchun. The local people have a special name for the northeast monsoon: the “wind that comes off the mountains.”
A Hengchun night market. Each table at this stall has a big rock sitting on it. Diners are enjoying their snacks right next to the rocks, but this tourist is perplexed. She’s laughing as she films the video, wondering what on earth is going on?
Member of public
They’re heavy, stop the tables getting blown away by the wind.
The rocks aren’t here to deter would-be table-flippers. The northeast monsoon winds are too strong here in Pingtung’s Hengchun Township. This stall owner is afraid the tables might get blown away. Even the lids of the cooking pots and the signs are weighed down.
Member of public
Everyone working here has to pick things up – plates, tables – it’s a shame.
Where the central mountain range dips down to its southern end on the Hengchun Peninsula, the mountains are just 400 to 1,000 meters high. As the northeast monsoon winds blow down off the mountain range from October to April, they produce strong winds in Checheng, Mudan and Hengchun. A sudden gust can even reach “near gale” speeds, equivalent to a tropical storm.
Market stall owner
We have to weigh down the tables and the things on the stalls with stones. Sometimes the northeast monsoon winds here are stronger than a tropical storm.
The “wind that comes off the mountains” can even flip over scooters, which need to be weighed down too. Locals think nothing of it, but tourists might need to watch out.
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恆春落山風如輕颱小吃攤防"翻桌" 祭出大石頭
2024-01-25
有民眾到屏東恆春逛夜市，看到小吃攤每張桌子上，都放了一顆大石頭，笑著拍影片說超誇張，難道是怕客人翻桌嗎?但這其實是因為恆春半島現在是落山風的季節，強勁的陣風甚至會達到輕颱的等級，怕桌子被吹翻，攤商才會壓上大石頭。
夜市小吃攤上，每一張桌子，都放著一顆大石頭，顧客就對著石頭吃飯，遊客看了一頭霧水，邊笑邊拍下影片，覺得很有趣，但這到底怎麼回事?
[[民眾]]
“比較重啊，不會被風吹走。”
原來桌上放大石頭，不是為了怕顧客翻桌，原來是屏東恆春落山風太強，擔心桌子被吹翻。在這裡，不止桌子要用石頭壓，連小吃攤的鍋蓋、招牌都得壓住防風。
[[民眾]]
“做生意的人都要撿，撿盤子、撿桌子很可憐。”
中央山脈到達尾端恆春半島，高度只剩1000到400公尺，每年10月到隔年4月，東北季風翻過山脈而下，在車城、牡丹、恆春，形成強勁的落山風，瞬間陣風6、7級，也相當輕度風颱風。
[[攤商]]
“要用石頭壓桌子，攤商，壓攤位的東西，攤商，因為這邊落山風有時候比輕颱還要強。”
落山風強勁甚至還可能吹翻機車，因此都得用重物壓住，居民雖然已經習慣，但也不得不小心。
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