A 29-year-old insurance agent from Chongqing, China, has come up with an ingenious way to beat rush hour traffic. By paddle-boarding across the Yangtze River every morning he has cut his daily commute time from one hour to just six minutes.

Liu Fucao sells insurance in Chongqing’s Wanzhou District, but lives on the other side of the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia. Up until six months ago, he used to drive or catch a bus to work like everyone else, but then authorities started doing maintenance work on the bridge he had to cross every morning, and his daily commute got even longer than usual. It would take him an hour or more to get to work, and at one point he just couldn’t stand being stuck in traffic for so long. He has been paddle-boarding competitively for two years, and one day he decided to use it as an alternative means of transportation. It took him less than six minutes to paddle from one side of the river to the other, so he’s been doing it every morning since.

The 29-year-old puts his belongings – including his laptop and his coat – inside a water-proof bag before getting on his professional paddle-board and paddling 1,000 metres from one side of the Yangtze River to the other. When he comes ashore, Liu pulls his suit jacket out, puts on dry socks and shoes, and walks to work with the paddle board under his arm.

“It’s little more than 1,000 meters [across the river], but if I drive my car I have to take detours to get to work,” Liu Fucao told Pear Video. “It took me six minutes to across the river. There are some waves today, so I was slower.”

 

Liu’s novel way of commuting left Chinese internet users impressed, but the young insurance agent warned people not to try it themselves without undergoing rigorous training beforehand and using professional safety equipment.

If you thought paddle-boarding to work was ingenious, check out this German man who swims to his workplace every day.

via People.cn