I thought I would never have this experience . . . but I was almost struck by lightning last night! 

Last night, I wanted to go for a bike ride before approaching typhoon (hurricane) Sepat hit Taiwan. Some effects from the typhoon was starting to be felt here in Taipei but the weather wasn't all that bad when I decided to go out. There were a few flashes of lightning in the distance, but again it wasn't that bad. HS was against me going out, saying that I'd get zapped by lightning. Yeah, right, I thought and dismissed her concerns and headed out anyway.

Well, soon after I set out from my apartment, it started raining and soon before I knew it, it was raining pretty hard. I rode to the riverside bikepath where I usually ride, figuring that the tall elevated freeway which runs alongside the path would be good protection against the lightning, which was starting to increase in frequency.

Riding merrily along in pelting rain, I watched lightning flash across the sky above me in increasing intensity and frequency. When I clearly saw this huge blue-white bolt slam to the ground at what must have been a mile or two off in the distance, I decided it was time to turn around and head home.

As I started back, this feeling of unease and a little bit of fear started welling up inside me. Up until this point, the idea of acutally getting zapped by a billion volts of electricity seemed pretty remote. I actually thought getting hit by lightning would be kind of cool and wondered how it would feel like. Needless to say, as the flashes across the sky got brighter and the claps of thunder got louder, such silly ideas left my mind and getting my ass home had this very huge appeal.

I was crusing along this straight strech of the bike path when suddenly from the corner of my eye the sky above and to the left of me, near the river,  gets all bright and  I see this blue-white line zig-zag down from the sky and stop about 15 feet from the ground in this huge orange fireball. Debris and flames flew about as the lightning ignited what must have been the branches of a small tree that was merely 100 feet away from me. The lightning flash and ensuing fireball lasted for about only about two seconds. Needless to say, I was scared silly and started pedaling furiously for my life!

I had always thought that lightning striking so near would make an enormous thunder clap, but it didn't. The thunder from the lightning strike definitely was loud, no doubt about that, but I've heard louder thunder from lightning I've seen strike miles away.

I managed to get home safely, thank goodness. Next time, though, when there is lightning out, I'm definitely staying at home. My curiosity about lightning up close has been satisfied! I guess the next tiime HS gives me a warning, I'll also pay a little more heed!

Cool from afar, scary up close! Source: Wikipedia