ZT and I were just out on a ride around town. We took my electric bike, and traced a graceful loop around the city. It's a pleasant ride in the summer, especially later at night when few cars are on the roads. The dim yellow glow of the roadside lights give everything a quiet feeling, surreally dislocating you from scene after scene of basically unforgettable snapshots of real life: people chatting and eating and drinking roadside; mangy dogs chasing each other across roads; watermelon trucks sneaking into and out of the city; a star bravely shooting past every light and every odd, just to show itself to us; even just a park entrance or housing complex with a certain shadowing to it --- it all starts to feel like more than it really is, and that's a nice feeling sometimes.

That hectic, bustling mess people call the real world, as you probably know, sucks. So leave it once in a while if you can. Get on something faster than it, and you can escape its gravity for a time: the longer and faster you move, the further away you get.

Heading to bed now.

Picture: Suzhou

Chris