Okay, it is a lot faster and rougher than parts I have seen, though common swimming sense and skills should be enough to get you through safely. Like you said it’s people who can’t swim well and panic. I recal one day on the Jia Jiu Liao having to help a friend of a friend to get onto a rock safely in the middle of the pool. Idoit just went slack and wouldn’t do anything to help herself up. Then when I finally got her on the rock her legs were caught by the current and started to (slowly) sweep her round. Instead of tryig to climb up on the rock, she went even more slack and started to slide off. It took an effort to pull her up and then I got some others to help her back to shore. Idiot.
surrounded by ocean and interspersed with streams and yet 90pct of TAiwanese can NOT swim
That’s 4000 years for ya. Better to teach your children to fear water so they avoid it, than teaching them how to play safely within it.
1 Like
That’s 4000 years for ya. Better to teach your children to fear water so they avoid it, than teaching them how to play safely within it.[/quote]…and then get angry at the furriner for suggesting they have no business in the water if they cannot swim…
That’s 4000 years for ya. Better to teach your children to fear water so they avoid it, than teaching them how to play safely within it.[/quote]
That’s interesting, especially since the water temperature is between 20 and 25C, and swimming in the water is q method for cooling down. Also with limited land resources and the amount of fish they eat, you’d think they’d have a closer tie to water and the ocean
I remember when I was in school, only a few of us in our class could swim. I still can swim badly
My parents could not swim. Father grew up on a farm, mother grew up in a town, and both lived about 3 miles from a beach
Then again in Ireland the water temperature varies between 8C and 12C all year round, and the sea is rough
It has been said that Irish people see the sea as an anomaly, something that just exists there, you use it only when you want to leave the island. Maybe the same for Taiwanese
1 Like
I think most of the fishers here can swim, though. They seem very comfortable in the water, as do the shellfish harvesters that work the reefs.
Fishers? Do you mean fishermen or fish? I hope the fish can swim, though this is an odd place and I often see masses of them dead, washed up on the shore.
Old thread that fits my comment perfectly.
I saw a guy swimming like laps or something closer to the cliffs then under the bridge and on. recently.
I don’t know if it’s legal to swim there now or not and anybody know anything?
2 Likes
I know some triathletes train there very early in the morning. But I don’t know if it’s legal and they just swim early so that there’s no boats or it’s forbidden and they want to avoid fines. :s
2 Likes
Maaaan - this thread has all the old classic posters from my youth !!!
3 Likes
Didn’t someone die swimming there within the last couple of years? Someone did die. The last couple of years is the bit I’m sketchy on.
Bitan lake is still fine for swimming in 2022, especially as the weather gets warmer. You may have to enter the water wearing a mask. 
2 Likes
I used to live near there. It was rumored that more than one person had died there. The story was that it was a place for suicides because the spirits of the dead were trapped in the water and drawing others to die so they could escape, that old story. I did see a woman possibly pretending to try to jump off the bridge while her family stopped her. Like everyone else I just walked on by.
I saw more than one person swim in the river in the six years I lived there. If it’s illegal, there’s surely a sign. There’s a sign almost every place where it’s possible to swim if it isn’t allowed there.
There used to be a Taoist or Buddhist monk that would walk down the steps from the temple and go swimming everyday. That was near the cliffs a few hundred meters past where the dragon boats used to start their races during dragon boat festival. I usually see people swimming most of the stretch all the way up to wulai with a few people setting up hot spas where they feel the sand is warm. As for Bitan right opposite Xindian MRT I hardly ever see people swimming there anymore. Maybe that’s the part where it’s illegal. And those ghost stories pretty much interchange wherever you go in Taiwan. Especially on the East Coast. The truth is most Taiwanese just don’t know how to swim and have never been taught about currents, tides, or rips.
1 Like
I crossed the bridge today and saw one guy swimming close to the cliffs. Looked like he’s doing it everyday.
3 Likes
I saw someone just playing around in the water for at least 30 minutes yesterday morning around 7am.
Below the cliffs and hiking trails there are a few plastic docks.
It was already hot and I wanted to jump in but didn’t.
I was in high school and classmate and I went row boating at Bitan
Then a popular thing to do
And a body floated past us
3 Likes
Wow. Massive buzz kill right there. Way to go, Tommy!
5 Likes
Well to elaborate I was with a girl classmate out on a pseudo date and I was rowing
There are whirlpools in that area and the water was pushing our rowboat onto the small cliff face there
I was getting a little
Concerned but didn’t want to let my friend know
I did manage
To
Row us out of that whirlpool influence when she let out a little yelp and we both saw this all white half submerged body flow right past us
The current was not super strong but there was definitely a current
We then noticed that there was a motorized boat with some people in it that were chasing after the body
The dead floated by within ten feet of us so it was quite a shock I still remember and that was summer of 75
Was always told not to swim in pitan and that
Drove the point home for me
But I always saw locals
Kids jumping and swimming there just not in that particular spot
So if you know the spots you could be fine if you don’t well then
Many people drown in Taiwan’s creeks yearly
2 Likes