Monday, September 16, 2002

I, along with 15,197 other people, made the swim across Sun Moon Lake yesterday. For the record, I was at least 20 minutes faster than Taipei Mayor Ma. The swim was actually quite pleasant: the lake was free of debris, calm, and the temperature just right. My fellow swimmers were more annoying: everyone had to swim with some sort of floatation device (usually a rescue tube), so most people hung off of the tube and slowly kicked. I swam through the crowds.

On the way down to Taizhong Saturday morning, I realized I had forgotten how loud Taiwanese people are. I took part in the swim with a tour organized by the Xindian Carribbean Pool, and on the way down, my fellow riders insisted upon loudly singing karaoke. This was at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning! I felt like throwing things, but thought that saying "shhh!" and glaring at the two locals talking in rather loud voices behind me was enough Cranky Foreigner Behavior.

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