Postboxes battered by deadly Typhoon Soudelor become visitor attraction in Taiwan
The two iron postboxes in Taipei, one green and the other red, were bent out of shape after being struck by a billboard ripped from a nearby building by strong winds
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A pair of postboxes in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, which were battered by the deadly Typhoon Soudelor last weekend, have become an unlikely attraction – drawing thousands of visitors and even serving as the backdrop to a wedding photo shoot.
The two iron postboxes, one green and the other red, were bent out of shape by a billboard ripped from a nearby building by strong winds, and now stand as if leaning to the right.
“The mailboxes drew thousands of visitors the past three days,” said Tu Li-teng, an official at Chunghwa Post, which owns the postboxes.
“On Sunday alone, we estimated that around 4,000 people came. We’ve had to send three people over every day to help maintain order and traffic.”
A 20-year-old woman, who identified herself as Mimi, said while waiting in a long line for photographs on Tuesday: “The two boxes are really cute. We saw them on internet, so we decided to have some photos with them.”
A bride and groom were also waiting in the queue for their turn to pose alongside the postboxes.
“I’ve never seen such a thing during a career of more than 30 years,” said a postman, who was helping to manage the queue.
“This could be the only happy event I could think of from the typhoon,” he said.
Typhoon Soudelor – which struck Taiwan in the early hours of Saturday and was billed as this year’s most powerful storm – uprooted trees, brought down electricity poles and knocked out power to a record 4.3 million households, leaving eight people dead and another four missing.
