53km marathon Taipei - Jiaoxi

I joined a marathon between Taipei and Jiaoxi (at the east coast on northern taipei) yesterday...
It was only about 1000 people joining the event...
Some people start to recognize me from other sports even in taiwan...which tells how small the marathon (running, swimming cycling) industry is in taiwan...
This is the name of the race, i think...
We had limited time to finish, but the extended it, i thinkg because it was very warm, so many people needed more time...
I ran up there...somewhere...on the raod between Xidian and Jiaoxi, pass Pingling...it was a very hilly road...and like 30-35 degrees, the problem was that it was barelyt any shade ion the road, and without sunblock, i burned myself alot...
But it was ok...as usualy I think that I should never do things like this again..but I always forget the physical pain...to bad...

Swimming competition in Kenting

I joined a swimming competition in Kenting last Sunday...
It was cheaper, since we went there, me and 4 friends...compare to alternative transportation means...
They swapped my debit card, incase we could get a scratch or speed ticket on the trip...
They had a detailed map over the lakes in taiwan...so cool...
We got a car with GPS, they said we had a USB connection, but they means a external cable for walkman etc...
We stopped in Tainan to have lunch...
In taiwan, it is normal to have food blogs, we used some blogs to find famous places to eat...this place was one...
There we ate this...some rice dish...
This is another "famous" dish...
Here is a part of the swimming team...
...at a restaurant where they served this...some rice starch...
After drinving for some hours, my classmate alison took over...so cute and funny, she drove the car as if it was a scooter...(short distance to the vehicle in front...)
We also passed by this bar, where i have been many times...apparently very famous...
Posing at the famous restaurant, at the very central of tainan near ducth old houses and fortress...
This is what I ate...soybean pudding with milk...
Enrique was more brave and had red beans with some white ice...
Its very nice to have a GPS showing the way, but it goes slow to drive in cities, where a trafiic light waits every 100 meter...Alison didnt always follow the GPS, it was exciting to see where we will show up...
We made a stop at a family mart where I also stopped at when I cycled around taiwan...
We also stopped at a steam bun place that was famous...
They made their own buns and one kind was with cheese, it tasted very good...
Finally in Kenting we concluded that it looks the same..people walking on the small road back and forth...
We stayed at a Raggea bar, I have a malibu pineapple drink...it was ok...
I also found a Myanmar restaurant...so cool...and rare...
There were many people at the spot on the swimming day...
We lived not that far from this spot...but it was convenient to bring a car...
We got water and a swimming cap...
The sun was really strong this morning...
They never offer places to store things when there are swimming competitions, according to my experiecne in taiwan...just a few lockers, that was here from the beginning...so we put things in the car, and hide the key...
Alot of sun block...the girls used more clothes that the guys, but many other swimmers used a wet suit...and asians dont want to get tanned, in contrast to europeans, who usually do...
This was the beach from where we swam...
And this is how people swam, straight out (about 1,5 km, maybe a little shorter), and back...
A balloon was placed out on the other end...
and boats were at every 100 meter, observing people...
they even had divers under tha water...to endure safety (plus the floating equipment), maybe taiwan should implement mandatory swimming classes in school!?!...
Alot of people were at the beach ready to people swimmers up...
There were no timing, not boundary to cheat...people were aloud to turn whenever they wanted...
Afterwards there were buckets of water, for people to clean themselves...just like when i ran my 12 hour marathon...
We also got a lunch box...I was hungry, did not sleep much the night before due to high amount of caffein drinking the lunch yesterday and of 3 km swimming, however I was more thirsty, since I been swollowing alot of salty ocean water and been swiming in the ot sun for more than 1 hour...
We also got this diploma...it was a nice memory...
We lived in a 6 bed room, it was very cosy...
On the way home we stayed in Kaphiung to eat and to drop of alison...
We did not have much time to stay in kenting nor mingle around in the city...since people were catching the train on the way back...
We went to another "by a blog recommended" restaurant...
And it was pretty nice...I concluded that there is no mayonnaise in taiwanese fish dishes...
We passed by the second highest building in Taiwan on the way home...after droping alison...
It was a nice sunset but rain in the hirison on the way back...
Finally at Hsinchu, we ate at burgerking near the trainstation, i ordered a whopper with cheese without mayonnaise..."have it your way", sometimes I feel that thesauce taste wierd on the whooper here...
When returning the car I took a better picture of the map with the lakes...and the lady there also gave me my own map, in pinyin...so professional...
Alison told me that binglang girls do not only sell binglang, but also tea...
Near the car rental place they also had a binglang store, so I tried to by a tea...supporting the binglang industry...maybe the maffia...
Now its back to school...I soon have a quiz in chinese...

12 hour marathon in Taipei

I joined a 12 hour marathon in Taipei today...
I came in last second beffore start...
People were running in circles...
After 1 hour I looked at my watch, concludint I have 11 hours left...
At the start they had drinkgs etc...
I ran the first 50km, however I havnt been practicing running since last year...and togetter with drinking to much, I puked and walked for some laps...
There were a count down...
I took it very easy...talking to people wtc...some woman had done 100 marathons...most people who joined had done atleat 30 or 40 marathons...so I really felt like a beginner with my 3 marathons if U include my ironman...
To bad that my camera died...but when it was 15 minutes left, staff went out on the track, every 100meter...and when time was out, they noted where you were...so that u got an accurate time...at start they counted how many laps you had done, by a chip on our leg. I did 27,5 laps...its like 82km...i think its ok regarding that i did not prepare...last time I exercied running was in december...I was also by far the heaviest person on the track...so it feels like a good excuse...
I burned myself heavily...it really hurts...
I never got really tired during the race, and really kept passing many people the last 30 minutes...but my stomach didnt feel good...and my final posisiton was in the middle...of everyone...
Its ok...next time I know how it works...

18km mud track...

Me and my ex classmate pablo was suppose to participate in a 18km mud track race this sunday, but he never participated...so i did it on my own...
I started a little late, due to so many ppl were squeezing in the front, and thus i needed to queue even longer on the track...
there were alot of stairs, running up and down from mountains near taipei 101...it was interesting...
It wold have been fun to handing out with pablo as a change, but i felt that he was kind of henpecked...
So I took the MRT to the second IKEA of taipei...
It is the largest IKEA in taiwan...perhaps true...I just passed by the shop, and bought cordial, chocolate and oboy...
Then back home to sleep...since I barely slept 4 hours last night, and I still had a fever...

Taipei marathon

Some students in school told me they were aboutto run Taipei Marathon...
So me and my classmate Pablo also signed up...
There were someperformance at Taipei main station when we came there...I find alot of this in Taipei...
The marathon started 07.00, but were had to be on place 06.40...
There were alot of acvtitivies going on at the starting area...
The start was near Taipei city hall, and thre were alot of stands there...
It was near Taipei 101, a landmark in Taipei...
It was super crowded near the satrt...all distances startet at the same time (marathon, half-mara and 9k, etc)
The elite runners started a little bit ahead of the rest of us...
It was a gap of some 200 meters between us and them...
I didnt practice that much for this marathon...my goal was to get a faster time than last time, which was not that good...I got 3 hour-something as time...so it was ok...
The winners were, as usual (also in sweden) africans, I dont know their time, but I guess it was around 2 hours.
At the finish we got some 7-11 food...
And some red bean thing...I will ask some taiwanese person if they want this...im not a big fan of sweet beans...
I also met another NCTU student, Oscar, who ran, and his supporter, a GMBA alumni Fernando...
I saw alot of people with interesting outfits...the Super Mario bros...
A bee, I also saw skeleton, some Taiwan beer super hero and people with traditiona clothing...
After a while I met Pablo...he was tired...
Since I already wlkted around for som ehour at the finish, I knew exactly where to go...so we picked up his food, returned time timechips and left...
On the way back, we saw people from the marathon on the street still running...
Another one...
And some other ones...
They closed the finish after 5 hours and 30 mins, so I guess they asked ppl on the field to go directl back to the finish, since they cannot finish in time...
After a quick shower, we went to Ikea...we had some problems walkingin stairs, dirctly after the marathon...
I bought as usual meat balls and mashed potatoes...(20 balls as a change...)
I also got to try a Daim-tårtbit...
We also passed by the store, where I bought some normal swedish stuff...however the milk chocolate was gone...to bad :(
BTW, thanx to everyone who supported our run!

2011 Taitung International 226K Ultra Triathlon

2011 Taitung International 226K Ultra Triathlon, a.k.a Ironman..even though Im not sure if they paid alot of money for the name, was what I did last weekend...
I left Hsinchu by train...since it was on the east coast...the most exotic place and my favorite city in taiwan...Taitung...
I signed up to live in dorm...like I use to do in sweden when I do interesting physical challenges...however it turned out to be the most fancy hotel in town...
We got the equipment in the lobby of the hotel...it was interesting, and good service...
It is interesting at the east coast of taiwan, cuz everthing must be typhoon and earthquake safe...
We got a nice dinner in the evening...
It was also an information section for the participants...
Just like in sweden they serve beer (or sometimes wine) when it is sports event...as a complement to the sports drinks...
While my room mates left their stuff very neat and nice...
... I spread out over the room, showing my territory...as usual...
We couldnt keep the bikes in the rooms, so they had guards in the basement...
I didnt know how to find the start...but one of the staff promised a japanese to show him 5 in the morning, so I joined them...resulting that I was one of the first to arrive to the starting point...
they had 3 sections in the tent, one for equipment...
...One for changing (for the ones who were not professional)...
and one section for bikes...
As usual in Taiwan U never run a route...u always run back and forth on the same road...the same was with the swimming, 2 laps around a river that they ones made to a lake...
After some hour, more people showed up to the starting point...
And 30 mins before start...almost all the 321 participants were there...many people were using buoyant wetsuits, which is considering cheating in many races..since it goes faster...but people r not that strict in this part of the world...
I knew I was a slow swimmer, and I was careful not to get cramp...
Instead I catched up during the cycling...I was the only one with surfer shorts and the official T-shirt...when doing the race...all the rest had professional clothes...just like when im compeding at home...im not a gadget guy...
The cycling was ok...more like a long boring transportation part...with street dogs walking on the road (I almost hit one, like 50 cm close), another disturbing thing here in taiwan...not sure if it is culture...is when a tai is passing you buy, they hail you, and go super close in front of you and the slow down...so annoying...many times i bumped into them to show them that they have to take distance.
When I reached the goal later on there were still alot of people out running...i came in as 65 of 321 i think...I think it was good, concidering that I took it easy.. I wonder what position I would get in Sweden...probably not that good in position (the cut off time in sweden is 15 hours i heard) not 17 hours),...at least the first people finish within 8 hours, here they were in at 10...could also be due to it was warmer here that in Kalmar...where the swedish dito is...
This is how the finish looked like...they had a stage for people to take pics on...
They had a nice breakfast...not like the one in Pusan in Korea...but it was still ok...
The staff were all wearing hawaii shirts...so exotic...
Taitung is famous for its hotsprings I think...and maybe for surfing...however, a visit to a farm was payed...I found a cow with Bhutans flag on it...so exotic...
It alsya wonder who this area remains after all the typhoons (I really  need to go here some day to find out), however most of the trees were supported by sticks etc...
They also had buffalos...covered in mud...
Many times here in taiwan it can b hard to find the toilet...u need to know the characters..and not that many people speak englosh, nor understand my chinese...so it is convenient when they have the international sign for resrooms...(in this case they also had english text). It was really a touristic place...with most thing where the cusomers could waste their money...
They also ahd places reminded me of the alps...like places with grass, which I dont find that common in Taiwan...it was exotic...
After this visit it was time to take the train back...
Now I wanna do a Ultraman instead, hopefully it will be more challangeing...

Taipei super runner...

I joined a running competition today...

We went up early in the morning...

Many runners were there...maybe more than 10000 (which i guess is much for beeing taiwan).

Me and my classmate Pablo were the ones who participated...but we had great support from another classmate as well...it was just in front of the presidential palace...

Everyone started at the same time...it was thus like Vasaloppet...
I better b in the front, since I hate having to push myself through slow people...
I think I got the time 45 mins something...which was ok...since I really never felt tired...and didnt have time to eat anything before the race...

There was alot of freebees that was given to the participators...however people needed to queue to get them...
super long queues...

Afterwards people got diplomas...

And there was also a lottery, based on the start number...but we didnt have energy to wait  for the drawings to finish...

We didnt sleep that much in the night (especially me, who drank tea in the afternoon the day before)...so we were kind of tired...and hanged near some stage where they played music...before we went back to the hotel...

Last pic, but after the run...of the palace...

We passed by sheng kai shek's memorial hall on our way back to the hotel...I have never been there before..I have to visit it some day...

The hotel cooperated with Mosburger...so we picked our breakfast there...

It was knd of stupid...since our breakfast coupon was on 100nt, but the most expensive set was only 65nt...and we coulnd add extra things on the coupon, we had to pay extra...

The hotel didnt have floor 4, since that means bad luck...(the pronounciation is like the word for death or something).

After the checkout we went to a german restaurant in taipei city...

It was the same beer that I tried at casino cosmopol in Gothenburg earlier this summer...it was good, but more bitter than in sweden...

I ordered some Tyroler pan, but got swedish pytipanna...it was good...

They also had some souvenirs...with the german flag on

We also passed by ikea before it was time to go home...and perhaps sleep alittle bit more...

Swimming?!? carneval in Sunmoon lake...day 2

Beep beep beep...time is 4.30...light is turned on the the for me warm bedroom...they others were freezing they told me...

We went on the road donwhill again..and stopped at the same 7-11 for breakfast...

I treid to catch the lake (Batan) again on camera while riding in the car..but it was not easy...

Taiwan is a moutain island...it is easy to forget when u live in Hsinchu...however I got flashbacks from my moutina climbing trip when I saw the peaks in the horizon...

Near the lake it was hard to fid parking lots...

We managed to find a spot...and planned to take some shuttle bus to the lake...

However the bus never showed up...

So we decided to walk...besides the traffic was heavy...walking took as long time as driving...

It was kind of chaotic...but ok. many ppl spent their night in the cars...saving hotel money...

After some while we came to the lake...and there we had to find some gourp...not sure why but I gues it had to do with that we used an agency to complete our swimming team...
we also got hats...

There were alot of tents...reminded me of Goteborgsvarvet in Gothenburg...whoever this event was much more in international focus...even though physical events are not as common nor popular here as in sweden...

After another km of walking we almost reached the starting point...

We took of your shirts...adjusted the floating equipment that we were forced to use...

And went towards the sea shore...where we had to spend another hour of queuing...
The we passed some shower...a chip sensor and of we went...
it went faster than we though...however only 1% of the tai acctually swam...most of them were flotaing on their floating pad, shaking their feet blocking the path for the swimmers...but it was ok...not that many of these people actually had in mind to swim...I guess...

When we finished we got some snax...there were alot of people in the other town at the goal...

We got some taiwanese food...but they were also serving chocolate and pinapple cakes at the tents near the goals...

People were keep on dropping in all the time...
All the way (the about 3 km) there were bridges every 50 meters...and boats going back and forth...
It was a big difference from home, like vansbrosimmet in sweden, where floating equipment is forbidden and considered as cheating...or flippers that many tais were using would disqualify you directly...

I saw flippers that were smaller tham my feet...
I guess big feet is an advantage...
However I consider myself as a bad swimmer, i really need to improve...if i wanna be swedish standard...even if i had a swimming pool at home when i was young...

The 3 swimmers in my team...
It was fun...

We had to take th boat back, since it was quite a bit to walk around the lake...and there were many boats in service...

Mostly swimmers were going back...but it didnt take us to the start...it was to another village, 20 mins walk from the start...

They kept on starting even when we were back...

We passed by the start...and there I saw him/her...the last swimmer...maybe I can b the last next year...just for fun

The traffic was still heavy, but not as chaotic as before...

Here one can slightly see the brdges that makes the track crossing the lake...

After this we went to the car and went back home...

We passed by McDonalds in Taizhong though...on the way...

I got hope of taiwanese society when I saw this recycling bin...perhaps some kind of compensation for all the pollution they r causing with all the scooters...

But NO, when i opened the bin it was all in the same bag...just an inital metallic plate...making it look real...what a disappointment...

Later on that night I ate dinner at Costco...it was nice...hyped myself with caffein from a bottomless glass of coke...

 


Swimming?!? carneval in Sunmoon lake...day 1

I was going to Sunmoon lake for a Swimming?!? carneval...

The Tais that organized the trip for us wanted us to go up early...since they dont have the "day before weekend concept" meaning that sunday and saturday mornings might be in bed a little longer...so we were suppose to leave a 9, i put my alarm on 9 and as expected, the pick up was about 1 hour late...

We had a car, that would take us near the highest road in taiwan (near the moutina i climbed last december), since the hotel was there where we should spent the night, it was kind of far from the lake but most hotels were full booked...

It was a hilly terrain...

We visited a wine museum...

U could not bring in ice...who would like to carry in ice?fire would do more harm...

People could try ancient equipment to carry things that would end up being alcohol...Tai people often call alcohol "wine" since its the same word in chinese...which is confuzing...since u ask for wine an get whisky, sherry or some liquor...

We tried some wine and brandy...

We also passed by some kind of temple where the god of wine was on a painting...

I treid to take a pic of a lake I saw near Hehuan shan...so exotic, a lake that is not sunmoon lake...I surely have to return to this place another time...

We got a hotel where breakfast and dinner was included...the altitude was over 3000meters abovee sea level...they didnt even have AC in the dorms...since they didnt need it...

We got waffles and honey and tea at our hotel room...it was nice.

We came there early...so we had some hours to kill before dinner time...
We ate lunch in Taizhong...

It was foggy outside...so we could barely see the moutains...

We started by visit some night market...

We wanted bananas...but they didnt have it...

They were selling honey and some fruit...

They showed us how they extracted honey...

They were also selling pollen...

Pablo bought a bottle of honey...
Night markets in Taiwan are often controlled by maffia...and there were a guy here who seemed to be in maffia...so I called him "Mr liu man" which means Mr maffia...he was kind of mean to some sellers...(the guy to the right on the pic)

We continued walking in the area...people were talking about a sheap show...however we missed it...since we were late...

The view was great...but the clouds made the scienery soso...

We continued passing some sculptures...

I knew from before that it was suppose to be a 7-11 in the area...and after 40 mins walking we found it...
We bought some snax and took a taxi back to the hotel...

It was as I feared an expensive taxi ride...and the driver was smoking...not good...

We had hotpot for dinner...

Then we went for some beers...

We were suppose to leave at 5 am the day after...I put my alarm on 4.50...the others on 4.30...
We spent the night watching movies...some in chinese some in english...


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