A few of us were talking with Sifu the other night, about purchasing weapons and the like over at Shaolin and Beijing, and he basically said "You won't find any good weapons there, only the bad ones." Turns out its like going to the maratimes for lobster--all the good ones have been shipped out. There are basically 3 grades of weapons made in China, and the best ones are shipped overseas for sale, the 2nd grade ones are shipped to Hong Kong, and only what's left is sold in China. Yick...

But, they are cheap. }:) Or can be... talking to Lori one dinner after class (who has been on a tour before) she claims Gene's law is we have to bargain to prevent the next hapless tourist from being ripped off. :P That, and they won't bargain so low as to not make money anyway. Interestingly, if you want to buy more than one, the price doesn't go down, it goes up. Seems they then think its worth more to you...

So, dunno if I'll pick up any weapons or not, but certainly some uniforms and other goodies, yes.

On a completely unrelated note, here's a link to the CDC's travel page for the region: http://www.cdc.gov/travel/eastasia.htm

Not much to report at the moment. The deadline for application has passed, so I'm assuming that soom we'll be hearing what the deal ends up being, and how many of us there are. }:) My biggest question right now is about meeting Sun Jian Yun -- since the majority of us I'm sure do not know Sun Style TaiChi, will Sifu teach us some before we meet up with her, either at the Kwoon (though that'll not be good for those who are not part of our Kwoon) or on the trip before we head to Beijing?

One minor, interesting addition to the story Lori was telling us above -- apparently the way they bargain in China with foreigners is through the use of a calculator. An old, LED-display calculator. Its a way of breaking through the language barrier. They type in a value into the calculator, show it to you. You hit clear, show them your offer, and back and forth until you decide on a price. }:>

Saw some clips off the 'net of some Temple sets, they look intense! :P

Sifu came over and talked to a few of us the other night, about the trip and about my question as to our meeting with Sun JianYun, specifically, were we going to learn some Sun Style before we headed over? To me it seemed odd to show up with the grandmaster and go 'Hi! We know nothing!'. Sifu, of course, replies with 'That's what she's there for...' }:) Nonetheless, we shall not be learning Sun Style, but only because it's a very long form and we wouldn't have a chance, either before or while there, to absorb it all. Instead, we'll be learning Xing Yi, a slightly more external internal form (yes, that does make sense); one that, movement-wise, is closer to what we already know. That, and Sifu figures Tai Chi is too slow for us young folk };). (I know not why he thinks that...) I'm a bit disappointed--I was looking forward to learning Sun--but it will still be very cool to know Xing Yi. And maybe even more advantageous at this stage...

3 months left, wow.

Less than 3 months to go! According to the list sent out, there are 35 or so of us going (including a rather large contigent from Bermuda, interestingly). Not a bad number at all! Got the Chinese Visa application form (which is much shorter than I thought it would be), and realized that it will be my first chance to see the interior of the new international terminal at SFO (done by SOM, and apparently quite nice). Now its a matter of starting to think about what to bring along (balance between being prepared and being overburdened!), continuing to train up for the rigourous schedule we will have there (while not burning out too early just from the training-to-be-training!) and trying to live through the anticipation. }:)

Sifu expounded on a few things the other night, including why he thought Tai Chi wasn't for us younger people. Well, it isn't so much that it "isn't" for us, so much as we should use the time now differently. An external style can be learned and improved on only until one is about 35-40; afterwords, the body begins to decline. This doesn't mean one cannot continue to practice and get better, or even to learn new forms and the like, but even someone in as great shape and full of chi as Sifu and Si-Gong (who at 70 is one amazingly physiqued individual) the body will begin to weaken/degrade, and one's performance will go down with it. Tai Chi, on the other hand, is not as affected by this at all. So, the reasoning (as I understand it) is that while one can learn Tai Chi for just about forever, an external style has a finite time to it; learn external for as long as you can while your body can take the learning process, then begin to learn Tai Chi.

Not to mention Tai Chi is so different. Either way, I think Xing Yi will be a great 'bridge' to Tai Chi and excellent to learn now to build up some internal strength (along with our Small Golden Bell Qi Gong and Iron Palm) and prepare for Tai Chi later on.

Switching topics completely, I still need to get innoculated... and figure out what I sould get innoculations for :P

As it turns out, we will be learning 2 forms at Shaolin--a hand form and a staff set. Which sounds about right. I've seen the staff set before (or at least some of their staff sets) and they're pretty intense but look like a lot of fun, so I'm looking forward to that. At Wudang we'll be learning an internal style of some sort, though not sure yet exactly what. (See below) And then in Beijing there is, of course, Xian Yi with Sun Jian Yun, but since she's retired and will teach us only one session, we may learn something else as well with one of her sous-students. All in all, a lot of learning! A lot of forms! We'll need to practice them lots when we get home to be sure we don't forget them... :P

Regarding Wudang, Sifu was mentioning that it is really well known for its internal styles. 'Like Tai Chi?' 'Like Tai Chi.' 'What style of Tai Chi?' 'No no... this is _before_ styles of Tai Chi.' Woah.

I still haven't gone for my innoculations, silly me -- must pick a time to do so soon. Got my passport renewed and back, so that's good... :P And just genrally preparing. That's it for now...

About bloody time, I finally got my innoculation. So far, the shoulder hurts not from the Tetanus -- we'll see how long that lasts. :P Also handed in the first payment (time to pull money out of the savings account) and the application (and there goes my passport again).

Not much else to report otherwise. I really do not know what to do for a camera while I'm there. On the one hand, I have my SLR and nice lens, but it'll be large to carry around, I'll be a bit worried about it, and after film, processing and digitizing, we're looking at $$. Or I could get a digital camera -- small, already digital, bit harder to have 'prints', and it would cost $$ $$$ x $$$$ up front. On the third hand, I could go the disposable route. Cheap, small, not worried about it -- but what about pic quality? Sigh. Not much time to figure it out...

One last thing... take it from me. Don't do this with a sword -- it hurts and is kinda scary too!

Thanks to Sifu, my wrist actually feels like it belongs to me again and that it isn't trying to rebel by causing me the most pain possible. I'm going to cut back on the sword form until after the trip -- this is not going to be a thing that'll hold me back!

Well, Xian Yi is out... instead we will be learning a Bagua form. (There isn't that many weeks left before we leave -- they can't change it too many more times! }:) I'm a bit dissapointed -- I was getting psyched up for Xian Yi (though I'm not sure why), but Bagua is also very cool, all that circular walking. Sifu says there are some 80 different forms of Bagua; the one he knows is the 'Mother' set, from which all the rest are derived. There are 8 basic hand positions, and 8 basic footwork/joiners/forms, for a total of 64 moves. Not that I think we'll learn all of those by any stretch of small time }:) Sifu will spend the two weekends before we leave teaching us some of the Bagua basics, so I'll soon find out just how much fun it can be. Maybe I'll find that end fight from The One just to watch the Bagua again (poor film, but to see Bagua used was tres cool).

Vitamin E rocks on wounds! Its only been a week, and already... look! }:) Can hardly tell what happened at all...

Well, I think the countdown can officially begin. Less than one month! It's approaching at light speed -- work ended up deciding to shut down for the entire week of the 4th of July, which is kinda bad since that'll mean 3 unpaid days, but good, as now I don't have to worry about packing/etc until that week, and I'll have three full real days to do it. }:> Hopefully I can pull it all together during that time...

One of the people coming on our trip, who runs one of our affiliate schools, sent around a letter with suggestions as to what to bring, and what to prepare for. This is very useful! Tiff, Evan and I ahd started working on a list, and we even have stuff not on his list };), but this'll give good indication of what to bring, since its from a twice-already-gone-person. And he suggests two suitcases into which we can bring home ALL sorts of goodies...

So, what am I planning on buying over there? Not entirely sure yet :P I do want to get a couple of sets of the monk robes (for myself and a friend), maybe a sword (even at lousy quality), some wall scrolls (artwork, yay!), and some DVDs... that's what's at the top of my mind right now, at any rate.

On the good news front, I found a friend willing to loan me his camera for the trip! Its a Canon Ixus 300, one generation earlier than the one I was thinking of, but should still do fine. 2.1 MP, and he has a 64 and a 128 MB card (though I may purchase another one to be sure I have enough space). Once the battery thing is taken care of :P I'm all set... and its small. Bonus!

So that is about it. Its going to rush onto me very fast -- ankle is now better, wrist is still a bit dodgy, and my inner-thigh muscle still feels real damn pulled. Heal, dammit! Not much time left...

Wow. Just when you think that all is pretty much settled...

Bad news is that Sun Jian Yun's health is not very good, and coupled with the fact we are in Beijing for only a short time, we will do no training while in Beijing. It does mean more site visits, like the Great Wall et al, but I'm actually quite bummed. One, because of the masochistic desire to do as much training as possible, and two, because it would be a nifty internal style with one of the grandmasters. We may end up learning Bagua at Wudang (it'll be a nifty internal style no matter what we do there!) but still. I hope her health recovers soon either way...

On a closer-to-home-and-just-what-I-didn't-need-front, I am not allowed to work right now. My TN-1 visa expired, and my H1-B visa hasn't arrived, because, you know, submitting it in FEBRUARY obviously isn't enough time for the INS to process it, even though their own phone system says 30 to 60 DAYS. Which meant I spent the whole weekend worried ill how I was going to pull off the trip without a visa (as I had no idea when I would get the paper) and returning and not having it be considered abandonment and having it all collapse around me. Oh, did I mention the INS lets you pay an extra 1000 bucks to guarantee a 15 day turnaround? Yeah, like I have that lying around (and like I should have to pay that much for no guarantees I would get it before I go anyway!). To save you the bore and the long story, I got word from the lawyer today that it shipped out friday. So the trip is saved... well, there was no question I was going to take the trip no matter what, but I should get the H1 before I leave and thus be worry-free.

It does mean, however, that I can't work until I get the paper. So I have this week off, without pay. That sucks. The time off doesn't suck (an extra week of packing/prep isn't bad), but the lack of pay certainly does. Grrrf. Oh well. I'll play with LightWave more this week is all. Won't garner me money, but its good skill fun }:)

Better news... camera works great, should be fine for the trip and I have more stuff to buy there (is that good news? :P) Just got introduced to the Zoids line of toys/anime... and they are very cool and sexy! Must buy all I can find... if I can find. :P

It's amazing how much difference my time in Kung Fu has affected my stamina and general condition. Went running (after climbing) on sunday at Rancho San Antonio for the first time in a year. Outdoor trails, with some elevation climb--and I could do practically the whole thing running w/o much pause, and without even having to open the mouth and pant like I was about to keel over. DANG! Weird, but tres cool. };)

Should be another update or three before we take off... }:)

News is my H1-B has arrived... so I can pick it up tommorow. No worries anymore, for which I am glad.

Second news... first cut has occured: have a look. }:) Not the greatest pic, but then the battery died :P

This is the final stretch. Just 48h and I'll be aboard a China Airlines (which hopefully wont' be to scary) jet on the way to Beijing to start the tour. I've purchased most of what I need, I've started to pack, and the anticipation is building. Chiropractor fixed me up on monday. Class tonight will be very entertaining, being that 'final workout before we go' sort of thing and all (that, and its a test night, though I'm not testing).

Tommorow should be an interesting day, with lots of last-minute running around to be sure all is packed and well. I need to ask tonight a few of the others and the experienced how much of what clothes they are bringing, suitcase sizes, etc. Not that I'm overly worried of what I have in mind, but it's good to check.

Went shopping for sunglasses yesterday, and what a rough time that was. :P Especially without my hair, I have a narrow head, and most glasses are just monstrous or too wide on it. In the end, I'm not sure what I got look perfect on me, but they are of a brand I'm familiar with and like, and since I wasn't sure about any of the styles, they'll do. :P

I think that's about it. This will likely be the last update, so the next one will be post-trip! Which means many, many pictures are coming... :P But until then, for me, its time to take a deep breath and prepare for heat, humidity, and training unlike anywhere else on earth. }:>