Hiccups again! Really unusual so many times in one year. So what I said before about "managing" them? Banging my head against the wall with each hiccup is a legitimate way of, um, managing them. That was in the 21th hour, by the way. In the 27th now.

Incidentally, classes start tomorrow, so if there's any hint of suspicion that the iccupshay are entalmay, I have nothing to say against that. Or they may have something to do with scotch, which is why I bought vodka this evening.

I did take a closer look at the consciousness transference training in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and found that it wasn't totally alien. It wasn't like 'what the hell am I doing, I feel stupid', but rather 'oh, I think I'm doing this the way it says to do it'.

Although there's nothing in the chapter which says anything about the 'hi-ka' gasps being involuntary. But actually the involuntary nature of the hiccups actually made trying it more potent.

So classes start tomorrow. I completed that ride to Pinglin yesterday that I abandoned several days ago. I have nothing to prove. When I give something up I have no qualms and I'm perfectly fine letting it go, but I just felt the Pinglin thing had to happen. Partly because I knew I could do it and would eventually try it again anyway.

I discovered I was right to abandon a few days ago. Not only was I right that riding down into Pinglin meant riding up out of it to get home, but it turns out the ride out would have been brutal, and I wasn't prepared for it a few days ago.

Rte 106 out of Pinglin to go back to Taipei was immediately steep and relentless, and peaked 150' higher than the easy sloping climb riding into Pinglin on Rte 9. On Rte 9, I didn't go down to my granny gear at all, but on 106 I bottomed out on the granny gear and still struggled.

The downhill afterwards wasn't that bad, so I'm thinking if I do that ride again, it's better to ride into Pinglin on 106 and ride out on 9. Come to think of it, I didn't see anyone else doing that 106 north out of Pinglin.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 6:56 a.m. - Cemetery on Rte. 9 to Pinglin. Morning fog burning off.

7:13 a.m. - Kinda looks like a bus stop protected by a bodhisattva. Rte. 9.

7:26-7:29 a.m. - Rte. 9 descends into Pinglin and meets up with a river on the approach. I got distracted by the water and took a detour to explore.

8:13-8:17 a.m. - Pretty Pinglin town. It's famous for its tea and is absolutely beautiful. Definitely probably worth a visit more than a ride-through.

8:27 a.m. - After riding through town and finding Rte. 106 out of Pinglin, the road immediately starts ascending, but almost as immediately there was towering statue that begged to be visited. So I took a break before I even started the climb and atop a few of stairs (see photo at 8:17) is Guanyintai. Guanyin is what the Chinese call Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion (Kannon in Japan).

8:28 a.m. - The north end of Hsuehshan Tunnel on Nat'l Highway 5, the main passageway from northern Taiwan to the east coast. It opened just last year and drastically cut down the travel time from Taipei to Yilan.

8:31 a.m. - Really hope to return someday.

Today I just did an easy urban 20 miler with my camera bag on my back. I managed to get home before the rain started. At no point did it look like it was going to rain, but this is Taipei – it poured like a typhoon for two hours. I hope these hiccups are gone by tomorrow's class. I don't want to have to explain to another teacher that no, these aren't your normal hiccups.

But I will put too fine a point on it that if they happen again during the semester, they are a reason to skip class.

SEPTEMBER 2 - Exploring beyond Taipei city into unfamiliar townships across the Xindian River into Taipei County. I'm guessing most of this is Banqiao, but possibly Zhonghe or Yonghe townships. Pentax ZX-5n, Ilford XP2 Super.

Hearse and "spirit car"

Footbridges over the flood walls lead to riverside bikeways and parks. Come to think about it, the flood walls lining the rivers are quite an overlooked feat of construction.

Construction of elevated freeways.

Ongoing construction, everywhere. Red filter.