Racing the Sun

I ate Peking Duck tonight and it was magical; but last night I raced the sun.

I finished teaching at 4:30 yesterday, pedaled home, slipped on the slippers and wondered what to do with a rare free night here in the Big B. Then as I sat down to read about the upcoming Packers Tuesday Morning Football game against the Bears (Tuesday Morning Football doesn’t have the same ring as MNF). Then I realized that I was in Beijing on a brilliantly blue mid-September day, and here I was about to read some analysts analysis of a game that has yet to be played – farts in the wind.

I thought, “Who do I think I am? How dare I put JS Online over a smog-less sunset.”

So I slipped off the slippers and hopped on the DeLorean and pedaled in pursuit of an adventure. I was racing the sun. As it sank in the west I sped south to Jingshan Park. This park is a manmade hill just north of the Forbidden City. Emperors believed that cold and evil winds blew from the north, thus this fake mountain was built to protect his highness from the sinister northern winds. Thank you northern winds, because Jingshan Park is the perfect spot to catch a Beijing sunset. I rolled into the park with no time to spare. I paid my two qui entrance fee (30 cents) and scampered up the steps to the pagoda cresting the hill like a cherry on top of a dome of custard (from Oscar’s) and wound my way through a battalion of photographers that flocked to the park’s cherry to inhale the breathtaking sunset.

I whipped out the Rebel and began to shoot just as the orange slice slid behind the teeth of the mountains in the distance. The sun saw my face at dusk and now sees yours yawning.

What an unselfish fiery orb.