Who let the pigs out?

To my grandmother: Hejsan Fammo! Allt är toppen här som du säkert kan läsa. Stora soliga hälsningar från mig, här i Taiwan!!!

The five day weekend (Moon Festival + indepen- dance day) has started with a bang. On friday the center for foreign affairs organised a BBQ for all the exchange students. With Li-tings BBQ under the belt we knew what to expect and the evening was quite fun without ever excelling. We decided not to party as we had a 4:30 wake-up to head of to the Boar hunting festival! We had registered a team of 12 people (10 ordinary and 2 backups) to take part in the very popular taiwanese manhood test known as the boar hunting festival. Our team was made up of:

1. Tristan (Captain) (USA)
2. Pavel (Czech) (In our basketball team)
3. David (Czech) (In our basketball team)
4. Mig (Malaysia) (In our basketball team)
5. Vitaly (Russia)
6. Slava (Ukraine)
7. Me
8. Charles (France, Pavels roomate and good friend, also in the basketball)
9. Marco (Italy)
10. Vincent (France)

11. Guillome ( France) (alternate but took part anyway as the judge thought no-one would notice if we were 11 instead)
12. Andreas (alternate, stayed behind as our super photographer)

We did not know what to expect and had only heard rumors of what the contest contained. We left at 6 by bus to ping teng (i think) and arrived at the grounds a little before 9. The place was set up like a huge outdoor rock festival full of stalls and a huge stage. We checked in and got our traditional costumes (black skirt and red headband). We were team 82 so our start wasn't until 12 o'clock. Before the start there was a big opening ceremony were the county mayor held a speach and welcomed everyone, there was music (karaoke) and traditional dancing to chinese style battle music (kinda like "ride of the valkyres" with a techno touch :D) Finally the first ten teams were off, followed by another 10 teams every 20 minutes (83 teams of ten in total) There were several thousand spectators who were chearing everyone off. During our wait we got information as to the structure of the competition and the mayor offered us free food and a place to build up strength (which was what we were going to need). The contest was built up as follows:

1. Run 5 km along a riverbed built up of large rocks and generally really tuff terrain. Included crossing the river several times which was between 30cm and 140cm deep.

2. Return to the start and jump into a pond conataining fish. Catch 3 fish with whatever we could use about our person (the skirts, a basket and a hat)

3. Run off to the boar catching area

4. Catch a wild boar using only our hands, then tie it to a bamboo pole.

5. Cross the river on a log with the pig

6. Cross a "lake" with the pig (wasn't very deep and if you stuck to the sides it was easier)

7. Run up the "hero slope" which is a very steep incline up a very steep hill, then run down again.

8. Run back to the finish

We completed the course in about 2 hours 15 minutes (the best team was only slightly better completeing the course in just under 1 hour :D) But we didn't finish in the last 5 which was nice. During the entire race we were cheered on by the locals and the other competitors who "high fived" us and encouraged us with cries of "JO JO JO!" and "only a bit more!" etc. They cheered for us way more than the locals and when we ran past the main stage with our captured pig the crowd went wild (an amazing feeling and a huge rush!". The same happened at the finish line. We were then ushered up onto the stage were we donated the pig to the mayor who thanked us. All the time the crowd was cheering. The mayor then offered to buy us dinner and two representatives of foreign affairs took us to a restaurant were we ate to our hearts content.
The whole exerience was incredible! It was so much fun working as a team and having the entire crowd and the other competitors behind us. After the finish we weren't left alone for 5 minutes. Constant requests for fotos with us and tv interviews (we were on the 6 o'clock news that evening :D) actually became a little nerve racking at the end but it was great fun. I actually think we got way more support, cheers and tv interviews than the winners (who won 100,000 NTD, which is like 2000€).

One thing that bothered me though was how the pigs were treated. What you catch, you can keep was the policy so the locals were very rough with their pigs and after the race just left them laying (tied up) neer thier camp for later "use". This was a bit unpleasant. We on the other hand named our pig mien ham bao, which is chinese for beautiful hamburger and we took well care of her all the time. This was also why we gave her to the mayor, so that she wouldn't get harmed :). What we didn't know was that any pig given as a gift was to be sacrificed the next day and grilled for all to enjoy so mien han bao is no more :(

During the afternoon there were several other fairly brutal contests that usually ended up with more or less animals loosing their lives to the hunt (turkeys, chickes squirrels etc.). We didn't take part in these.

Completely destroyed we headed back to Kaohsiung by bus for some well deserved sleep. I have to say the entire contest was extremely exillerating and probably the best time i have had in a very long time. The teamwork also built our friendships further which was a very good thing!