Why a sunrise kicks a sunset's arse
Monday, March 21, 2005
Geoff Dyer, in one of the early sections of his book "Yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it", complains - rightly - of the sameness of sunsets. I don't think the same can be said about sunrises, however. Why? Well, consider this: When the sun has finally set you are left in darkness, in a place that could almost be anywhere. To watch a sunrise - especially in a place new to you - is to see it gradually illuminated, woken up, revealed. There's probably no better way to see a new place for the first time than in the gentle early morning rays as they spread across the landscape.
The best sunrise I ever saw was on the edge of the Sahara in southern Tunisia. We rose early in an oasis and caught a bus into the desert, where we lay against the dunes like waiting legionnaires. As the sun rose, an unimagined landscape of sand and rock and the occasional palm tree and range after range of escarpments was revealed. Behind us lay a vast lake of salt from which rose jets of of steam as the sun hit it. And all this with a hangover from some rough local red wine.
The best sunrise I ever saw was on the edge of the Sahara in southern Tunisia. We rose early in an oasis and caught a bus into the desert, where we lay against the dunes like waiting legionnaires. As the sun rose, an unimagined landscape of sand and rock and the occasional palm tree and range after range of escarpments was revealed. Behind us lay a vast lake of salt from which rose jets of of steam as the sun hit it. And all this with a hangover from some rough local red wine.
