捷運木柵線

Decided to go check out the neighbourhood around the classy apartment in Linguang (麟光). The apartment was just 2 minutes' walk from the Linguang MRT station, so that was good; it meant that it was convenient and accessible although it was still quite a distance from the bustling part of the city. However, it didn't seem like there were many grocery shops or eateries nearby. But there was a lovely Fuyang Ecopark (富陽自然生態公園) just behind the apartment. A lovely park, but I wasn't sure if it would be a source of thirsty mosquitoes or other nasty bugs... :P

Then I took a long and leisurely walk from Linguang alongside the MRT Muzha Line (捷運木柵線) all the way back to Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT Station (忠孝復興站), stopping for some mee swa and chilled beancurd with peanuts along the way. Discovered the 3rd California Fitness at right outside Da'an MRT station (大安站).

There's also tragic news today. A 70-plus year old man has died from a heart attack shortly after embarking on a 3-km swimming event (日月潭萬人橫泳) in Nantou County, Taiwan. This was an event which had attracted swimming enthusiasts from all over Taiwan. Later on in the same event, a 46-year old man who completed the course struggled to the medical point before his heart also gave way. This brings the number of fatalities at this event to two.

There's now a lot of buzz in the media about whether the organisers had done enough to ensure the safety of the participants. There were medical check-points at every 50m of the route, and a total of 300 medical staff present. However, members of the public are questioning whether 300 medical staff were sufficient to handle an event that had about 20,000 participants. They are also asking why the organisers had required the participants to show proof of their swimming ability as a prerequisite to join the race, but did not find out whether the participants had any history of medical problems.

I hope those concerned, both organisers and participants, will learn important lessons from these fatal accidents, and take steps to ensure that they don't happen again in future.