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Swimming in lakes?

Ilan G. (17 posts) • February 23, 2012, 1:36pm 0

Hey everyone!
I've been wondering for some time : is it possible to go for a swim in the "reservoirs" scattered around Kunming? (since of course Dianchi is not an option...)

I was thinking about having a nice hike and swim one of these days.
Has anybody ever tried?
cheers
Ilan

dr. chibbles (36 posts) • February 23, 2012, 5:17pm 0

@Ilan
This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but I do think some reservoirs are fine for swimming.

www.gokunming.com/[...]

Unfortunately, right now water levels are extremely low everywhere so it may not be the best time to look.

John Xie (109 posts) • February 23, 2012, 6:21pm 0

I never try this. but I saw a beautiful reservoir wild duck lake野鸭湖, the water level is the highest in my last couples of visits, even though most lakes water level is low in this drought season.

hedgepig (273 posts) • February 23, 2012, 9:36pm 0

there's a reservoir in the west of the city that's explicitly set up for swimming. it's not super easy to find, so have a poke about on Google Maps - it's off of Zhaozong Lu. expect lots of self absorbed preening Chinese males who spend a lot of time sunning themselves and far less time swimming.

i've swum in a reservoir in the northwest of the city, and i've heard of people swimming in the Songhuaba reservoir in the north east, but it's pretty clear that it's not allowed, so don't be surprised if you get thrown out. the water level thing probably means it's not a good idea anyway.

don't forget about Fuxian Lake. some of the cleanest water in the country. and, erm, the sea's not so far away: www.gokunming.com/[...]

Ilan G. (17 posts) • February 24, 2012, 4:34pm 0

Thank you all for your input,

@hedgepig : I think I managed to locate the one off Zhaozong lu, is it free though?

anyway good advice on fuxian lake, I didn't know it was swimmable (and so deep, no worries about drought there...) i shall go for a dip some time in the spring! (for now i'm sure the water temperature is far below that of reservoirs... you don't heat up a 100m deep lake in a few weeks...)

@John Xie : could you give me a rough idea where I could find this wild duck lake? no luck on google maps

@dr. chibbles : haha thanks for the info, at least it shows that you can swim in reservoirs (some of them anyway) but I think I'll leave these gentlemen in peace for now!