Yangtze Swim–Bobbing Along: Slovenian Martin Strel has taken to the waters of the Yangtze and is swimming away in his attempt to paddle all the way to the sea. Click here to watch a video of Strel on departure day (warning: contains scary shots of Strel in a Speedo). After some classic Maoist ceremony (banners, music, a confused Chinese crowd), the vid finally gets to the river, which is moving pretty damn fast. It also has some shots of Leaping Tiger Gorge, which looks, umm, formidable. Strel keeps getting sand in his wetsuit (that can’t be comfortable) and the land-based team can’t keep up with him and his kayakers in the rough, almost road-less country he is swimming through. But at least the locals keep killing chickens for him…



Strel Submerges: “Hmm. It’s cold. It’s muddy. It’s gonna get polluted. What the hell was Mao thinking when he went swimming in this cesspool every year…”