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crazy swimming pool...does my entry fee go to buy a BMW?

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Shanghai Expat Forum Index » Community Discussion Forums » Chinese Culture Discussions

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shanghaisimmo

Lurker

Joined: June 17, 2004
Posts: 27

Status: Offline

Posted: July 18, 2004 - 09:53 PM
Post subject: crazy swimming pool...does my entry fee go to buy a BMW?

I took my first swim at East China Normal University on-campus swimming pool about a week ago and no one there had any traffic sense.

I collided at full speed with an oncoming swimmer and lucky we weren't hurt...just bruised....plus the lifeguards didn't even notice...about eight of them sitting on high viewing towers. Everywhere below these guys, people in the deep end were trying to swim laps but some people chose to swim the length ways of the deep end and others side to side.

I couldn't work out this mess and started to wonder if the guards were really there to quell unrest amongst those who sought to get angry over the stupid pool arrangement...therefore no-one got angry and they just kept swimming, stopping or colliding, and going on.

This is so inefficient...surely my 10RMB entry fee could be used to install lanes side to side of the deep end...I calculated that there were proabably 150 people there at that time....1500RMB...times that for visitors everyday and it will be something like 10,000RMB...300,000RMB per month. Why was the water also so dirty?

This fee is similar to that in my home country. Is it this high in China because the pool is not local council subsidised i.e. it is full user pays?

Or are the entry fees being channelled into the director's new flash, 300,000RMB +, BMW savings fund?

Andreas
Board Royalty

Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6332
Location: 31 N 121 E

Posted: July 19, 2004 - 03:30 AM

Welcome to the P.R.C. which translates to the Peoples Republic of Cheats

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If it has tits, tires, or a transom, there's gonna be issues!

lucar

Board Royalty

Joined: July 05, 2004
Posts: 6262

Status: Offline

Posted: July 19, 2004 - 12:36 PM

Sounds like Europe. I had the same experiences in Italy and Austria. ...No lane lines, crazy behavior. I was always worried that one of the other swimmers would wind up with a spinal injury due to a nasty collision or being jumped upon.

Tip... Swim with hard plastic training paddles and put a bottle cap between your big toe and the adjacent one. You can always slice your way across the pool. On a more serious note...I would scan the water constantly and would swim with my head and eyes up a little higher than usual. I would also give a hard kick or punch into the water to creat a splash in the face of anyone who got too close to me. If there are people playing on the edge of the pool in or out of the water you can make a huge splash when you flip.

Edgewood
FooSlinger

Joined: Jan 28, 2004
Posts: 3906
Location: Colonial Shanghai

Posted: July 25, 2004 - 11:31 AM

I know the place you mean. All I can say is take at look at 'personal hygeine' here in this place, then imagine thousands of 'people' washing and relieving themselves and God-only knows what else, all in a pool of foetid water.

Invest in a holiday to the seaside in a civilised country is my advice.

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Conlige suspectos semper habitos

karnex420

Raver

Joined: Mar 08, 2004
Posts: 488
Location: Shanghai, China
Status: Offline

Posted: July 28, 2004 - 07:32 PM

No wonder why Chinese people get so pissed off at you.
Trouble is when someone says something really dirty, it's usually the next guy that get's punched. Why don't you guys just be quiet and clean your own cesspool?