Somehow I managed to slip out of school early. At 3:30 David asked me do I want to switch my after school monitoring responsibility with him on Monday. I looked out the window at the fine day it had been, and I said sure! It took me a bit of time to get my classroom cleaned up, but out the door I went and it was only 3:45 - wow! I jumped on the 612, and was home and into my biking shorts as fast as I could go. I think it was 4:22 when I rolled out my door.

The usual bit of traffic as I started my ride -almost went the wrong way! Had to cut around 7-Eleven and go around the block. I was headed for what we call the Satellite run. Was feeling a bit of lethargy past the Palace as the road begins to incline, and made the turn past the abandoned amusement park - the start of the serious climbing. At the first big curve where you can look back over the city, it almost took my breath away: the city looked so sparkling clear, and I could see past the city to the mountains on the other side - a rarely-seen view as I have mentioned in a previous post. It really was a stellar day. Up I went, and each view was more beautiful than the one before. As I finally got to the top I was realizing that the sun, although strong, rode very low in the sky. The natural light would soon be gone. Yet still the beauty amazed me. Now, looking northward into the mountains, I saw tufts of clouds down low in the valleys, while the peaks still caught the fading glint of the setting sun. It was just dark enough that the darks on the earth are just beginning to pool into darker hues, and the streetlights and house lights are dotting the landscape. Even the glow of the red neon looked amazingly beautiful in the flame sunlight against the purple darks.

I passed some schoolchildren and shouted "hello!" to them. They were shy at first but then began shouting "hello!" back to me. Later, as the darkness dropped further, I paused to change my lenses, and the kids caught up, excitedly shouting "hello"" all over again.

I climbed onward, the air freshly cold up there, but I still kept to my short sleeves. The cold was thin, just the air, not yet absorbed by trees and buildings at the top - just enough to keep me alert. I had a set of sleeves in my bag, and I kept visualizing when I'd pull over to put them on - but I never did.

The initial descent was cool, but I was still warm enough from the climb, and by the time I had gotten to the little city behind the Cultural College, the air was already warmer. I rode through the AIT housing, and made the quick climb to the overlook - and again I was amazed. It really remained as beautiful as before, only now with the light nearly gone from the day.

The heavens were a deep indigo, which quickly faded to a pale lavender towards the horizon, then dropped suddenly to a deep carnelian. The horizon itself was a dark blur in the distance, but in the mid-ground the mountains drew a sharp contour against the growing blue of the sky. It was no longer cold like higher up, and I went down the rest of the way without sleeves.

I'll try posting a picture of the sky, but it was only shot with my cell phone. You can barely make out the lights at Taipei 101. I was happy to see it so clearly from there.