Sun Moon Lake!
After finishing another long Saturday teaching in Longtan, I made my way through the small town to find my favorite tea shop and mexican stand. I met up with Benjamin, the owner of the tea shop, who introduced me to a friend of his, Mr. Su.
Mr. Su knows people pretty much everywhere in Taiwan and after some bad Chinese on my part and a little English on his I found out that if I let him know where I will be stopping along my trip he can find places for me to stay throughout Taiwan – Sweet!
Most won’t speak English, but will know that I am coming and will have a place for me to sleep and hopefully some tasty treats as well. So, as that goes, the planning for the cycling trip is getting better, and will be trying to tie a lot of the route together in the upcoming week.
That night, after arranging the time with the driver, Mr. Liang, the 8 of us piled into a passenger van around 11PM and made the trip down to Sun Moon Lake. The van ride was fun, and after stopping a few times for drinks and bathroom breaks we finally arrived at the lake. We drove around the lake for a little trying to find a place to pitch some tents and eventually decided on the main parking lot. We found a small patch of grass and set up shop around 3AM.
Two hours later we were up and getting ready for the swim. We had to meet a guy named Mark to get our race caps and info. We didn’t want to be fashionably late, because he might be fashionably gone…. After dealing with him and getting everything taken care of, we made our way down to the starting dock.
Walking to the start
The crew waiting at the start
People arriving, many had crazy balloons tied to their feet or floats
The swim was 3.3 km or just over 2 miles with over 27,000 people. Its the largest mass swim in the world. Since I am as buoyant as a brick, I was a little worried. At the least, I figured I could grab on the someone if I started to drown.
The swim was amazing and I had a ton of fun. Everyone was required to have a float, although, a lot of times it would have been much easier if I didn’t have to drag that giant thing with me. Katie, Paul, and I finished together and were with Ingrid and Rachel for the majority of the swim.
Lifeguard chillin at the swim
Nearing the end of the swim
Swim!
At the end we were greeting with a large number of volunteers who wanted to help you climb the steps out of the water. I didn’t understand this until I got upright above the water and realized that I was much more tired than I had originally thought. As we staggered through the finisher alley, we were greeted with warm tea, weird eggs, and delicious chocolate. We met up with everyone, ate our lunch-boxes and then caught the ferry back to the other side of the lake.
Ferry ride back - Ryan, Rachel, Me, Scott, and Paul
The swim was super cool and taking the ferry back made you realize actually how far the swim actually was. Once back to the start, we watched thousands more stand in line for their chance to jump in the water. It was insane that there were still that many people wanting to start, hours after we began. Unfortunately, I found out later that poor weather moved in and they stopped the swim. A couple thousand didn’t get to start and the pulled a ton more out of the water.
We found the driver, changed clothes and then went to find some shaved ice. After some confusion with finding a beach, we ended up in a giant park outside of Taichung. Super cool to see, since parks don’t really exist near cities in Taiwan. We wondered throughout the park for a few hours and then headed back to Chungli.
Wandering about the park
More paths in the park
Once back a few of us went and grabbed some dinner and then ended the day with a Taiwanese movie at the theater called Jump, Ashin. It was a true story about a gymnast who turned into a gangster and then back. Sounds ridiculous, and I was skeptical at first, but it was a good movie and a nice way to end a fun day and a half.