This time, we left from San Jose Airport.

A couple of months ago, Air china cancelled our direct flight from SFO to Beijing. So, this time around we're on an AA flight to Tokyo, where we'll spend about 90 mins in the airport before heading on to Beijing. So, my first trip to Japan will be confined to the airport. 10h flight (exactly) on a 777 right now.

We're on time and on schedule this year. We are 24 participants on this tour, 6 from our school including one of our younger students with his grandmother -- which is nifty. No other Wing Lam satellite schools this time, but we do have two students from "O's" (as in Onassis' school) with us, which is very cool. Haven't had a chance to get to see everyone's martial styles and skills yet, but will soon enough. While apparently there is a typhoon hovering over Beijing right now, no delayed flight this time.

Our schedule is a bit different this time down. Two days of Bagua in Beijing, then we fly (yes, FLY) to Wudangshan. Then to Shaolin, and back to Bejing for sight seeing at the end. Of course, the schedule, like traffic lanes in China, is just a suggestion…

So, I'm totally excited about this trip, and really have been for the past 3 years, actually. Almost as soon as the wheels touched down at the end of the last trip I was totally ready to go again. After writing two articles and working on the two-dvd set, I'm definitively psyched for this trip. I'm in a good space too.

It's strange, I feel like I should write more, but not sure what to write yet. I just know this trip will rock, so I'll write as it rocks.

One thing I do want to write is I'm curious to see what changes have been wrought in the three years since our last visit, especially in Beijing. I know Shaolin village has been razed, and I also know the hotel at which we stayed in Wudangshan last time was illegal (!) and the owner has been punished. I can only imagine what has taken in Beijing, the Olympics notwithstanding…

[Note: I shall probably warn that this journal will contain, for better or for worse, many, many comparisons to the previous trip, be it on the changes in China, how X compares to Y on the previous trip, and so on. The previous trip set a certain benchmark, and so I correlated much of what occurred from that benchmark. There is also a tonne of new observations contained within as well, however!]

Oh, too funny. Kung Fu Hustle is one of the in-flight movies. Very appropriate!

08 10 05         22:00

Brain kinda tired, been up lots with little sleep after the 10h flight, 2h layover, 3h flight. Given the early rise to the day, this makes it way past my bedtime.

Our schedule, as is to be expected, has mutated. Tomorrow: Forbidden City, then we fly to Wudangshan. Four days in Wudang, four days in Shaolin, back to Bejing, with only one day of Bagua training.

So far, can't tell too much difference in Beijing -- of course, it's night. Same mix of mostly 70's style soviet with some new condo buildings. Haven't seen any of the 20-tower uber condo complexes we saw advertises the last time here yet. Still a billion billboards all over, though.

Evan brought along his PSP with a Hero minidisk, so we watched that along with Kung Fu Hustle during the flight to japan. An interesting mix for our trip's start, being the ends of the spectrums in terms of seriousness. Art, calligraphy, swordfighting and how they all come from the centre, how they're all about paring away outside influences to get to the core (as Evan said) and… well, pure wackiness on the other end.

Time to shower, then sleep.

Addendum: The meal on the JAL flight was awesome. Chicken breast tenderloin with this amazing sauce, rice, egg, seasoning, salad w/ slaw w/ onion dressing, potato salad, abalone, prosciutto and melon, sweet custard/gelatin with grapefruit.

And, they had a camera mounted on the nose of the plane! During takeoffs and landings, the cabin monitors showed the view from out that way -- which was a lot of fun.

08 11 05         17:50         Beijing Airport, Terminal 2

I don't think our plane is even here yet, so we wait for it to arrive. Like last time, we will arrive in Wudangshan after nightfall… I'm curious to see where we are staying and what it will be like. Though illegal, I must confess that that last years hotel/temple has set the bar in terms of expectations and beauty, tranquility, and pure cliché but oh so good Chinese mountain retreat. I hope for the same (and the same morning discovery of just how beautiful our location is). We shall see. No matter what, it'll be good.

Something new this time: the condo billboards have mostly disappeared to be replaced by subdivision billboards: Villa Yosemite, Napa Valley, Condo La Vie, ForestHills. And in great subtitling: The Frist Landscape of China. (Frist, yes)

Our day today was a visit to the Forbidden City. OH! Tiger came out of "tour guide retirement" (works on the Beijing 2008 committee right now) just for us, to take us around on our trip. Woohoo!

So it was a day of seeing the FC and seeing Tiger again -- a day of memories in a way. Tiger led us on a tour through the FC, walking us along some of the centre, some of the sides. There is a LOT of work going on right now, some 700,000 yuen worth per year until 2008. Lots of restoration and new painting of the walls. Which, when completed, really stands out from the surrounding buildings in brilliant gold and blue.

Tiger expressed his displeasure at the restoration and the repainting. His preference is for the older colours (more green) and older script (writing). It's an interesting question. When in "use", the city (and temples) were never static forms. They were up kept, built over, changed, repainted, burned, rebuilt, etc. Colours could change, carvings could be re-chiselled to something completely new, building functions shifted, etc. So… what to do now that they are 'historical' and 'monument'? These sites were inhabited and used for 500ish years. Hence their 'evolution'. So, using the simple terms of good & bad, is restoration good or bad? Repainting vs stabilization? Reproduction (and if so, from what period) vs new colours? Renew all, or keep some of the old? Revert the buildings, or keep; as they are now?

I'll throw in Venice right here… as this question affects sites and monuments the world over. Venice was, in centuries past, 'raised' ever few decades, built up and built over, to take into account the settling (ie sinking) of the city and buildings. Now, that isn't done. It's a 'monument' city. All sorts of methods are being devised to keep it save, with barriers, dams, etc (nevermind rising sea levels).

So, back to China, what choice to make with the Forbidden City? Stabilize some, repaint others? All one? Al the other? Should anything be reconstructed? If they demolish a stair (as they've done) to rebuild a replica of it -- same material, same look, same technique -- but now good as new… or is it new? Return the site to its 'operating glory' or as a historical ruin? Something for everyone to think about.

It's kind of neat to spend this one day in Bejing right at the start of the trip, as the driving about gave me a chance to see those changes.

And good timing, as I'm now on the plane, just before takeoff and finished reading the onflight magazine, Wings of China. A very good example.

Let's start with cars. 190,000 more cars than in 2002, but definitively an increase in foreign cars. Honda, VW, Audi and Toyota are all seen aplenty. Traffic seems a little better behaved (but it always was in Bejing compared to the rural areas). Tiger says lots more traffic jams though, every day. Many more car ads abound too.

Onto housing. The 1970s soviet is still the dominant type standing, well, everywhere. What's new this time is less ads for the 3-12 tower condo complexes, and some of those complexes have been built and we have seen, all marching down in a line, easy to see in their repetitiveness. Their ads have been replaced by ads for subdivision homes now. And not just any subdivision homes, but full-blown "western lifestyle" homes. The older condo ads usually had, interesting, a westerner (or three) on them -- these evoke California living with full on materials, articulation, some 'chineseish', some 'chateauish'. There's also some "100 HA of waterway w/ 11 peninsulas holding 155 homes" -- Fantasy Land living. "International Community. Courtyard Lifestyle." Proclaims another. I don't know exactly where they're building these things -- is it the commencement of Beijing sprawl?

The condo ads haven't disappeared entirely yet, though. While they may not show westerners, they still evoke them -- "La Vie" for example.

If there is a 'bright spot' (to display my bias) is that some of the subdivisions are quite modernist in their design -- something very rarely seen in North America. Clean lines, pitched and oversized roof planes, expanses and strips of windows. Very nifty.

[made some sketches of the houses in my journal]

So it certainly seems like the emergence of an upper-middle and upper-class continues to grow in China. Reading the onflight magazine, it looks pretty much like any other inflight magazine, ads and all (save, perhaps, more housing ads than the usual car ads).

08 12 05         Wudangshan Hotel Part 2

Picking it up a little later…

Quote of the Day: "Farmed catfish, you know, they feed from good bottom"

After the flight last night we bussed it on a new super-highway to hit a hotel in a mid-sized town @ the base of a mountain. Pretty generic hotel, though it has an internal double-height atrium/greenhouse space with some rather large bamboo (about the same height as the greenhouse). A couple of us went walking around the town last night, and got a sense of country-town China at night. A bit… distressing, or perhaps not so, just what is present in many a small town around the world: a few older people doddering, some inebriated wanderers. But otherwise pretty quiet, one bar open, one open-air restaurant also open that had many a patron as they conversed in the space between two buildings.

Did another walk this morning down the same streets and found the local market, with much spices, seafood (river/lake caught?), tofu, live chickens (or plucked & dead for your convenience), and more all in an open air (but roofed) area. Nifty to see and nifty to experience, certainly authentic. This is where I imagine many people in this town did their shopping, set up every day in an ad-hoc manner by the vendors, making or catching their goods and making a living. The town by day also displayed the usual mix of construction/deconstruction that seems forever occurring, the buildings in various states of completion.

After breakfast we took our ride to the hotel that would be our home for the next two nights, a (again) generic hotel, rising a bit up a hillside. We passed the temple that was our hotel last time on the way up -- apparently we'll visit it on our last day in Wudangshan, so that'll be amusing. I won't lie and say I'm not 'disappointed' with this year's hotel, it certainly isn't as serene and isn't looking onto any beautiful views (well, it is but from where the rooms lie it's obscured by the buildings across the courtyard) and above all, it doesn't have that magnificent patio to lounge and converse late into the night (not to mention paths around a temple to walk at night). But it does reside right next to the Daoist college from whom we will receive training.

After lunch, our instructors-to-be (and a few others) gave us a demonstration of several internal forms, both open-hand and scholar's sword, and they certainly seemed competent enough. I asked Sifu what he thought of them, and he replied they were good. 45-65% of internal concepts were applied during their demonstration, and he figured the average master would be around 58%. So, we should be in good hands, though likely with the time afforded we'll only just learn the movements. Sifu also said he'll teach us a concept course on both internal and external styles/movement, so that will help my learning for sure. I've been practicing what we learned at Wudang our last trip, and while I've definitively made progress without any training my grasp of the internal sets is still pretty rudimentary.

Sifu also related a story he saw on the TV news about the school from which we'll be learning -- apparently it sent out letters to many people saying "You're highly qualified and pre-qualified. You can start training next month!" Only thing was the recipients were 70-80 years old and had never done martial arts before. So what's up with that? Aggressive marketing campaign, OR clever ploy to get on CCTV for advertising (as you can't actually buy advertising). Interesting either way!

Sifu also just gave us a little lecture on training and martial arts. All training boils down to teaching these three things:

Speed -- Balance -- Power

So, some moves may have no application, but are included to teach the above. For example, power: If you practice a move where your arm is behind your back, it isn't an application move, but one to learn your linking & power, even in an awkward position. So, simpler moves become easier, and in a fight you're never unable to generate power no matter where your arms/etc/position may be (or where they end up after your opponent's technique).

Lastly, Sifu mentioned, as I sit on this stone pillar for a stool, that people in China are generally way ahead of us in terms of Iron Body training as they have few padded surfaces here. So they have a head start, so to speak.

08 12 05         Wudangshan Hotel Part 2 -- Continued

WOW

Amazingly, we are training at the actual, real, veritable Purple Cloud Temple. In the main courtyard. OK, that's pretty darn cool! Just as clichéd as last time, but again, I love it! As a bonus, we're on display for tourists…

The set we're learning is very, very different from the set taught to us last trip. We're also learning at a much faster rate (also two groups, which helps a plenty) so I think I'll know all the set when we leave. Well, natch, at least the movements, not necessarily the internal connections behind it. But with Evan's and Sifu's help, I'll get it.

The martial styles of Wudang are really a mystery to me, in terms of name and identification. Really, that could be said of martial styles in China as a whole -- there are about a zillion of them -- but other than this region and its kung fu being the founding-heart of what has become Tai Chi, my knowledge of what's taught here is pretty much nil. The sets I know mainly as simply Wudang Fist or Wudang Sword; the only 'named' set I know was the demonstration of Cannon Fist last trip out. So I can't identify this set by name, and calling it Wudang Fist clashes with the Wudang Fist I learned last trip…

08 12 05         Wudangshan Hotel Part 2 -- Continued again

As the temple was closed, we trained outside the gate in the failing light. Kinda hard to see by the end (where did he move his hands??) but we managed well enough, at least until the night REALLY came on and the light was gone.

Very fun so far, very nifty form.

At this point, I'm quite far behind in this journal. So, point form a bit! Back to the Forbidden City…

-- Not sure if my impressions are that different vis-à-vis the last time. With Tiger taking us the whole way on a tour (ie, not self-directed) got more information and history to the rooms, on the Emperor(s) and on the overall happenings of the city. Also saw some of the side rooms/museum rooms (different ones from last time, they rotate which ones are open, else it would be crazy) and saw some artefacts from the last emperor/empress, very English. As in British -- writing desks, chairs, the gamut. Though I kinda knew the history, I had also kinda forgotten and it was a shock to see it/them, until I remembered.

-- We did, however, end up doing Shaolin #6 in a side courtyard in front of one of the museum rooms, which was definitively fun! And we got good reactions from the locals.

-- Airport Terminal 2 in Beijing looks a lot like Terminal 1; a bit less fancy perhaps, but in its overall structure. Both are pretty modern and well InfoTechnology'ed , with plasma screens for information monitors everywhere. We changed gates nearly thrice, which was very amusing. The flight to Wudangshan only goes out once per week.

-- We now have a new battle cry! It describes things very nicely in a nutshell: "Gate Change!"

-- Also saw some AIDS awareness posters when we arrived to Wudangshan, so the government is taking action -- complete with non0chinese Mr Happy Condom mascot! (I am not making this up)

-- What I miss most about the other hotel is the fantastic 1000 year old front 'patio', where we would spend the evenings as a group. Enough light and good chairs. Nothing like that really exists here at this hotel. There are plenty of spaces to sit outside, some nifty, some awkward, but none are really set up for gathering and relaxing as a large group.

08 13 05         Wudangshan

QotD: Future Cola -- The Future will be better!

We started our training at 05:30 this morning, in front of the purple palace. My legs are unusually tired, right above the knee… much weight transfer and weight on one leg. Though the sun had yet to rise it was certainly humid enough for us to sweat buckets; now THAT I remember from last trip for sure. We're going pretty rapidly through the set, but mostly doing well, only a bit lost now and again. Still not really getting connected, haven't gotten it really down yet. We have another hour of training in a few minutes, then another two hours this afternoon. More later.

08 14 05         20:40         On the Train

"You're giving all your Donkey Away!" (Which, BTW, tasted like corned beef. In case you wondered.)

Let's try to catch up.

Legs REALLY sore after all the Tai Chi training. The style/form we learned this year has a lot of low stances, including one low bow and with lots of single leg stances and weight shifted (one of the base principals in Tai Chi Sifu told us in another impromptu lecture).

08 15 05         21:30         Back in Deng Feng

So much for catching up on the train. So here we go... catchup extreme!

Different hotel in almost a different city (vis-à-vis the trip three years ago).

Some more thoughts on the Wudang set -- for one, we finished it (unlike last time). Still, from the demo given of Wudang Fist last time this set pretty different, kind of more obviously martial in some parts, shorter and with deeper stances. That being said, the cannon fist demo from the previous trip was pretty short and very martial. I don't know much about the traditions of Mt Wudang, but I am assuming there are many different schools and lineages… maybe? It seems there is indeed at least a good number of sets if nothing else. Made my legs sore!

As a nice bonus, they handed us a sheet that listed the lyrics for the set, as well as the name: 28 Style Taijiquan. By the name, I'm guessing it's a recently made set (using the term Taijiquan), and while it says 28 style (28 moves) a lot of those moves actually contain 4 or 5 movements...

Sifu held an "Ask Me Anything About Martial Arts" session on our last night in Wudang. Was very cool, a lot of talk about Tai Chi, as we just finished something very similar. He made very interesting distinctions between "concept" and "style" -- the former being the principals behind every Traditional Chinese Martial Art (TCMA) and the latter being whether you are hard, soft, open, closed, what direction, what finger position, etc. The placement of arms and waist has a bigger (overly) impact while the little details are used less and are more style. (This is a simplification of the whole discussion)

Sifu had also mentioned earlier why he wasn't learning any of the sets on our trip -- he didn't need to. After X sets, the more they are the same, just different transitions. Also, the concepts (as above) are already in place, so more forms would be counter productive. Which reminded me just how much he really knows!

Later on, sitting on the hotel's patio (as we had a power failure due to some pretty intense rain), Sifu talked about the student/teacher relationship in a discussion a few of us had. A sifu is analogous to a lighthouse: You're in the boat as a metaphor for your training, rowing about unevenly and aimlessly. A sifu helps you gain a bearing, guiding your training, helping you steer a path along your martial development. You go about, your path wavering as you learn and try things, figure things out, with sifu always there to guide you back along the route. After a time you do not need him and can guide yourself, on your own, rowing towards a destination.

A story to go along with that was shared that went like this: A student studies for a time under a sifu, and trains real hard. One day, the sifu says "go off for three years, and train by yourself." The student does, and when he returns, he is horrified. "Sifu!" he says, "one third of the sets no longer feel like they did when you taught me!" "This is indeed grave," comes the reply, "go off and practice another three years. Three years pass. "Now it is worse!" the student cries when they meet again. "Now two-thirds of the sets do not feel the same!" Again the sifu sends him away for three more years. The progression continues: "Sifu, now none of the sets feel as they did when you taught me." "Good," says the sifu, "now you have progressed."

Our last day in Wudangshan was allocated to visiting some scenic spots (as they are termed here), starting with the Purple Cloud Palace, given it was right near our hotel. With no training to do we got a broader look and more time to examine the area. We then hopped on the bus to head up the mountain. Basically, there are two roads that head up that way (one fork in the road): the one leads to where we took the gondolas to the Golden Temple last trip, the other leads up to a town where begins a hike that eventually leads you to the Golden Temple. Unfortunately, while I had high hopes for it, we didn't have enough time to do the complete hike to the Golden Temple (starting from either location). Our hike instead had us travel along the mountain but for a short(ish) distance, affording us some rather spectacular views of the valleys, passing several ruined ceremonial buildings (of some sort), seeing some CRAZY construction that was built right into the side of the cliff faces (of the type you may have a mental image already).

At our hike's destination (we backtracked to return) we visited a temple that had a large forecourt/main-courtyard, with a series of structures behind (accessible via staircase and walking around the main temple building) that were affixed to and carved into the mountainside. The large temple building was under reconstruction/renovation, so we did not see in there. Before heading around, however, we did stop to attend a tea ceremony (in one of the buildings adjoining the main court), made with water drawn from the courtyard well, a well that is apparently renown for it's excellence and health properties.

We were served three, very interesting, teas. The first was a green tea grown locally on Mount Wudang. Steeped for half a minute thrice (well, four times, the first is discarded), the first cup tasted rather bitter, the second cup tasted pretty neutral, but the third cup was very sweet. But then came the surprise -- the fourth drink is of but hot water, and somehow it too tastes even SWEETER. Quite amazing. The next two teas were more medicinal in practice -- the first was more of a 'ladies tea' as it was good for the complexion, while the last was a tea said to aid one's digestion. I bought some of the first tea, thus adding to my collection of teas that I don't nearly drink often enough to make a dent in.

Once done with the tea we headed up and around from the courtyard to the smaller buildings along the mountainside, the valley spilling out from right next to where we stood. The buildings were very pretty, and amazing for how they were built into/onto the cliff/mountain side. In amongst the buildings were various... games I guess they could be called, but it isn't quite right, more like the candles placed along the aisles of a church, devotional offerings. There were wells to float coins in, bells -- protected by a shield -- to throw coins at and try to ring, and a couple of other similar things. There was also a flying incense burner (the exact name escapes me now), a small carved beam if you will that jutted out from the building and overhanging a very long fall to the valley below. The very faithful would come and step out to light incense, and it is told that many fell in trying to do so. It is quite chained off now (but still possesses an incense pot, so perhaps it is still used by the Daoist priests).

Our next stop for the day was the Valley of the Monkeys. No, I am not making that up. Monkeys live amongst the trees of the Wudang mountains, and with a source of water this valley apparently sees a lot of them. I say apparently, for when we were there we saw no monkeys, told as we were by a local vendor that they usually come down only late-afternoon/early evening, and now they were hanging out on the upper mountain sides. Thus our visit was to no avail, and consisted of walking along some paths, criss-crossing the river a few times, and seeing some chains and play-things constructed for the monkeys to frolic on, when they arrive.

From there we returned to the bus and headed down to none other than the Fuh Zen temple, aka our hotel from last trip. I was really looking forward to seeing it again (it is truly a gem), and some major changes had taken place, most notably the very large parking lot that now accommodates tourists like ourselves. The path/stairway that leads down from the temple was also completed and led to this new parking lot (no more climbing up a small hill). The trail leading to where the hotel was is now closed off with a visibly new piece of railing at the patio by the temple's entrance, and the path itself was overgrown and pretty much 'invisible' of having been there. Inside not much had changed -- there was an odd stage in the large courtyard where we had trained, and where the hotel was is now labelled off limits. We peeked within and saw they had peeled off the room names/labels (but hadn't repainted where the patch was, so we could tell where the patch had been). It was really neat to re-visit, and I feel especially doubly lucky to have been able to stay there when we could.

The beauty of the temple, of course, remained and I somehow managed to take yet more photos I hadn't taken previously. Also, the site seemed busier in terms of visitors than three years ago, which really wasn't a surprise, given the new highway road up there, parking, etc.

On the way out, I had a flash of remembrance and a flash of an idea, and pressed my shoulder up against the wall, thus anointing the shirt with some of the red paint (I remember the wall doing that). So I have a bit of a souvenir!

Our last stop of the day was at the Grinding Needle Temple. The story of which I copy below:

While the story is very impressive and illustrative, the temple itself was a small affair, only a few buildings with a few stones and steel shanks to grind.

Our schedule got squeezed enough that our planned visit to some weapon shops did not come to pass. I had been holding off buying any swords in hopes to see a lot of swords at once on this last day, so I left Wudang empty-handed weapon-wise. Wudangshan is very well renown for it's straight swordplay, and the hope was to get a nice straightsword. I'm a bit disappointed. Alas… I will shop for some in Deng Feng instead.

Some last thoughts on Wudangshan as a whole, and I would say overall there are many changes in the past three years. New super-highway to reach the mountain road, and the roads leading up the mountain has been upgraded, with many, many road signs (built to overhang the road) announcing not only directions but also messages about cultural heritage as well as safe driving. So there has definitively been an effort by the local government (at least) to open up the mountain, for good or for ill.

And now...

Back to Shao Lin!

Our train ride was interesting, leaving Wudangshan around 17:00ish and arriving in Zheng Zho around 04:30 -- an overnight train. It was similar to our train to Wudangshan last trip, with 6 bunks per open-faced berth. The big difference was that it was air conditioned -- coupled with the shorter duration it made it a bit 'easier', but somehow less of an adventure. From the train station we bussed it to Deng Feng, where we dumped our luggage in the hotel (different one from last time), then walking to the city park beneath the Pagoda (which we visited our first night in Deng Feng last trip). There we did some warm-ups, reviewed the Wudang Fist set, and generally tried to limber up (and wake up). Being crazy, Mike, Thomas, Evan and myself decided to, uh, run up the stairs to the pagoda. Actually made it about 2/3 of the way up before my legs waved the little white flag, filed a petition with the UN, and declared themselves an independent country.

After breakfast, we bussed out the 12km to the Shaolin temple -- a road that is now a 2 lane (with wide shoulders) highway. And that is just the start...

WHAT A DIFFERENCE 3 YEARS CAN MAKE.

For starters, and as known, Shaolin village (opposite the temple gates) is gone, as in, totally gone. Like, never been there. If you didn't know, you would never know of its prior existence. You also cannot drive up to the temple gates at all -- a new parking lot, entrance gate and obligatory souvenir centre are about 2500m away from the temple. Bordering the road leading to the temple, looking where the village used to be, is all fields, trees and a river. The Wushuguan is where it has always stood, as are a few other buildings and schools, but these latter are themselves in the process of being phased out. The temple will certainly stand alone soon enough.

The temple itself has changed. (Interesting note: The area in front of the gate is technically the only part that is known as the temple -- the areas within are actually part of Shaolin monastery. But I'll keep using Temple for the whole complex.) The current abbot was gifted a document from long ago, before the most recent Shaolin razing, that details the temple at that time. With that knowledge, the temple has begun to rebuild to match the illustrations/details, gaining several new buildings, some new walls, and perhaps even some buildings moved a little. Construction is still going on; the naked wood a striking and beautiful contrast to the finished buildings.

As before, we began our tour in the Pagoda Forest. A new Pagoda has been erected, this one to an abbot not yet deceased. Decidedly modern in style and material, not to mention round and not polygonal, this pagoda also features images embossed within, pictures of a train, computer, video camera, etc -- signifying the abbot's role in presiding over Shaolin in the 'modern age'. Our tour guide also pointed out the oldest (in 440ish CE), the tallest, the famous and the three communal pagodas (these latter ones for the monks who either had few disciples or who's disciples were unable to raise capital).

Inside the temple, serenity continued to prevail (further brought on by what I perceived as fewer vendors -- actually, I don't remember any vendors within, either they were removed or I'd gotten used to them). Along the central spine the new construction has not changed much (yet?). Most temples in China follow the same planning structure; we visited the buildings along the central axis, as well as the important side temples. Our guide gave us some info I hadn't heard (or remembered) from the previous trip, including "Tamo's Room", where Tamo is said to have slept, now named (though name escapes me) in honour of Hui-Ko, who cut off his own arm to create red snow and become Tamo's disciple.

At the back wall of the temple, I took the opportunity to pull out the same shirt I wore at the FuhZen temple, and rubbed the opposite shoulder -- now red shoulders from both Wudangshan and Songshan temples. Woo! Need to find somehow to preserve the paint on the shirt (if it came off the wall that easily, I imagine it'll wash out equally easy...

Last time I had the feeling of the temple feeling somehow less sacred than I expected. Despite the increased access and focus on tourism, at least outside of the temple, and despite the construction, the temple felt just fine this year.

After our tour, we stopped briefly at the Wushuguan, where we will be training this year. Yes, training at the actual school of Shaolin, with the martial monks. There we met said monks, and learned we would split up into 3 groups: basic, intermediate, advanced. As it turned out, the advanced group decided to learn chi na and some takedown techniques, while the other two groups would learn a form. While chi na interests me, I wasn't sure my wrists could take 4 days of it, and I really wanted to learn a set, so I opted for the intermediate form.

Lunch! Clothes changed, we now headed back to the wushuguan, for our first day of training, and our first taste of Shaolin conditioning. Our bus driver takes the opportunity today to slip in something other than the usual karaoke disk (Aurora, thy song is our theme now!). What should it be other than _Saving Private Ryan_. Somehow appropriate, all that death, destruction, carnage...

Remind me to thank Gene -- with what he brought to our school, there was little in any of the drills that confounded me (and what we do at the Lam Kwoon is very similar to the Shaolin training). Conditioning was actually rather light -- 45 mins long and a combination of running, stretching and drills. I had heard stories of brutal workouts, and what I gather from asking Sifu they indeed were more rigorous in past (as well as longer, plus more training -- our sessions were 2.5h in the morning and 2h in the afternoon, vs 2/3/3 hours of training in previous trips, yes that's 2h in the very early morning). It did get the heart going (when we weren't stretching we were moving quickly apace for the most part), and did warm and stretch everything out (the heat helped here too). There are also a couple of new drills that I hadn't encountered before -- Evan and I wrote these down and will introduce them to the school's repertoire.

The groups then split up. Our group (intermediate) was taught by the same monk leading the conditioning. The advanced group was taught by an older monk who was actually two generations ahead of the current abbot of the school, very laid back and very knowledgeable, from what was described. After a brief demonstration of the set, we got right into learning. Our monk knew only a few words in English (good, ok, no) so we learned mainly by his demonstrations and our watching, plus some hand signals that we figured out over time -- practice on your own, walk around the room and think of the form, get up/relax, line up, and most important of all, explode! That was the biggest recurring comment was to explode from stillness, to envision an incoming attack and to react quickly. The way this was conveyed was with a lightning fast move by our monk, accompanied with clawed hands and a very very wicked visage and growling-like vocalization. Quite effective.

We of the intermediate group were also treated to a great illustration to demonstrate some one of the prime principals of Shaolin kung fu. Rather than meeting the attack head on, our monk was explaining how one deflects it or goes off-angle, letting the attack pass with minimal energy (and hurt). After a few attempts to convey, he picked up a melon hammer. Facing the head towards him, hand extended, he brought it towards his chest. Miming punching it head/straight on, he 'owched', shook his hand, and said 'No.' He then did it again, this time stepping to the side and deflecting it on its side, miming a follow up attack. To me it was quickly gotten: get out of the way of the freight train.

Before we knew it, the session had ended and we returned to the hotel, and quite the hotel it was, with quite elegant bathrooms in our rooms! Very classy sinks. And a well put together shower to boot.

08 16 05         Day 6         Shaolin

Our days of training continued. Yesterday, John set into motion the plan to skip lunch the next day and head up Mount Song. As we drove to the temple it was decided that enough people wanted to hike up the mountain that we would instead start afternoon training an hour earlier so we could head up after class. Which mean that all the food, water, etc I was packing for the lunchtime trip was quite unnecessary. No worries, though... not like I was carrying it during training. And what a training it was. Very humid, albeit cooler than last time -- still, that didn't prevent me from sweating so much that I got wrinkles from the sweat (!). That was a new one, sweating so much that it was like I'd been in a bathtub. Wild.

The set progressed along. It's a bit strange -- while this trip we are doing actual conditioning and thus working harder (than the previous trip), it feels somehow slower and more 'easy' as we're only learning one set (vs one hand and one weapon set). I think we're also getting one less day training this year overall -- which is when we learned Ba Dua Jin and the sparring drills last trip. I don't know the exact name for the set yet -- someone has it written down -- but it is something akin to 'Emperor's Fist Boxing'. It is full of nifty goodness so far.

Before we headed out to lunch, we saw the Wusuguan's demo team perform in a large octagonal hall that forms the centre of the Wushuguan's main building. It was surprisingly short, with only a few animal forms demonstrated (including monkey forms, of course), very few weapon demonstrations, and no gauntlet scenario at the end. Of course, the Chi Gong demonstrations were impressive, including one I'd never seen before. A 1/8 to 1/4 inch glass plate is walked around the room for all to see and inspect. Meanwhile, the Chi is gathered. Up is held the glass plate, behind which is held a balloon -- ok, what's this all about. The Chi Gong demonstrator takes something from an armband, rears back, and launches his hand towards the glass. Nothing happens, but we do hear a little tink. More Chi gathered, another retrieval, another windup, release, and POP goes the balloon. The glass is once again displayed -- with a neat hole right at its centre. A needle/nail had been thrown through the glass, making a small hole, bursting the balloon behind. Quite neat to see.

Our legs now firmly affixed in place after sitting so soon after workout, we drove to lunch. Given different hotel and different destination, the route is a different one from the route we took last trip; while it ends up on the same road, the first half (or last half, returning to town) is another street. At first I didn't realize this, and thought that many of the schools had been razed and relocated, including the large government training (and military training) school, but they're still there. We learn some facts: there are even more students now than before, close to 60 000 students practicing kung fu in Deng Feng. The largest school, Tai Goo, has 13 000 students alone, dressed in their distinctive red with black sleeves uniforms. They actually have a school ground right near the wushuguan, though it too will soon be moved away. The school at which we trained last trip was still there (students dressed in all blue) and was in fact expanding. These large student bodies were no less impressive to witness this time around -- to see hundreds upon hundreds of them, either running along the road, or all working out on some truly massive fields, was a sight to behold.

A quick lunch, then back on the bus to Shaolin. We train 2.5h in the morning, and 2h in the afternoon. The road to Shaolin is all highway now, including the ubiquitous billboards. Yes, billboards, announcing a new scooter, food product, engine, etc. Again, what a difference 3 years makes. Heading out of town we also pass this park that has these very modern-sculpture-esque structures/follies. Not sure what to make of it, and I never get a good enough look over the park as a whole to really see.

The afternoon training passes well. Songshan Shaolin is a very similar style to the Bei Shaolin style taught at Wing Lam, so I am progressing quickly through the set. At least, our monk seems quite pleased with it. I've also fallen into the role of, not exactly translator, but interpreter, explaining movements and concepts when demonstrated. I'm not always sure it's necessary, but for most in our group, this is the first Shaolin style they've done, so it's a bit different than what they're used to and I err on the side of saying it even if not needed. The instructor side of me comes out too, and I've been offering (asking first if they want it) some coaching and hints to those near me.

Our workout done, we are joined by two younger monks (they don't look that young, but they're 18 and 21, as we find out) for our jaunt up Mount Song. Two veritable real-deal monks joining us -- having your tour guide be the head of tourism for the wushuguan has its privileges! We're leaving at 16:00; Tamo's cave closes at 17:00. Almost everyone chooses to come along. We're not taking the usual route, which heads past the temple, up a path to a series of stairs to end it, but instead we're heading from the wushuguan (which is about a klick out from the temple) up an alternate path. This path proves to be very scenic, very rugged, and very deadly for many in the group. Not for the monks though, who proceed to _run_ up the hill. I kid you not, they run. Up. For the third time that day, apparently. I try running, and conk out after about, oh, 200m. Michael runs, and keeps up with them better with his running experience and fresher chi-na only legs, but he's reduced to walking often as well.

We pause at a very nice vantage point, about half way up, waiting and waiting for the group to all catch up, and not knowing if some have turned around. Time passes. More time passes. At some point we choose to continue up, and up, and down, and over, and up and over and up, following ridgelines, walking in amongst the foliage, catching glimpses of the valley below, and we make it to the top of the hill, to the Tamo statue. By this point, we've already seriously blown our schedule. We take in the vista, and take pictures. Heading down, we stop by Tamo's cave, paying our respects outside the (closed off) cave (bow and kowtow), taking more photos. Then its down the steps, which the monks choose to demonstrate what Evan terms 'monk speed' by basically _flying_ down the stairs, legs moving so fast they barely touch each stair.

After much down, and the walk back, past the nunnery, along the main path, we arrive at the temple. Another gathering is held, and we begin the walk back to the wushuguan, very much late now. Somehow the group eeeeeelongates itself, and we arrive at the wushuguan 15 minutes apart, and after several minutes of trying to find the bus we are all reunited and head to the hotel for a much needed dinner.

On the bus ride back, I took on organizing a demo for ourselves. One thing missing from this trip, I think, was a sense of what everyone did martial arts wise, who everyone was in their martial arts guise. We stumbled upon it last trip when our flight was delayed out of SFO and we spent part of the 5h demonstrating for each other. Without that opportunity this trip, I think the group missed out on something. So, I'm trying to organize a couple of hours for everyone to get together and just do some sets for each other, a chance to get to know each other in a new way.

Tonight after dinner some of us headed down the street to a small-sized department store that's near the hotel (we haven't adopted a small corner store like last trip this time around). Some of our group had visited the previous night and mentioned shoes were available there (the ubiquitous and infamous Feivue shoes that all the monks wear, and that we sell and wear at the Lam Kwoon). We go in, and head up the stairs… and a sales lady at the top of the stairs sees us, smiles, gets our attention, and leads us _right to the shoes_. I guess she knew what we were there for! I bought four pairs at a very good price.

Talk about your unexpected and nifty: In front of the store, every night, they bring out a TV, and the sidewalk area in front becomes a dance floor -- for square dancing. That was an interesting juxtaposition, but there were a good two dozen or more, following along to some music and imagery, doing square dancing (maybe not the exact dance, but its what my mind put to it given its limited knowledge of country/western dancing). Apparently popular in DengFeng...

Given the condition of my legs, I opted for a massage that night. While the hotel offered massages, I went for something different, a so-called medical massage. What made this interesting was that it was performed by blind practitioners. That is correct, blind masseurs. As I learned, it is a time-honoured tradition in China, along with one of practicality (one of the few jobs blind people could perform in days of yore). It is also very effective: with their heightened sense of touch, and the fact they can only perform their task by touching, they are very good at feeling body position, muscle tenseness, etc. The massage was nothing like I expected in that there was no tui na, aka acupressure, component to it. After the massages I'd received the previous time, I thought it was a pretty standard part of therapeutic massages, but it seems not. With Henry as the translator, at the end of the massage I had them work on a hamstring injury/tightness that had been plaguing me, we'll see how it does.

08 17 05         Day 7         Shaolin

QotD -- The Difference, is Bullshit.

Point form for the win:

-- Day didn't begin well, as I found myself in the bathroom early in the morning, expelling for quite some time. I felt a little better after that, but have spent the rest of the day feeling queasy and, while fortunately nothing explosive or urgent, I have had to revisit the bathroom with not so pleasant results many times today. Looks like something caught up to me.

-- That it was a rainy day didn't help. With enough humidity in the air, but not much sun or heat, the day was clammy and a bit yick, yickier with the illness.

-- Despite the above, the training went relatively well today. I wasn't as intense as the previous day during conditioning, but I didn't keel over. I thought we were pretty close to the end of the set after yesterday, and we finished it today. It's starting to sink in well, and I'm starting to feel the flow of it. Our instructor is really pushing speed and intent -- almost all of his general comments are about this. Stillness, then EXPLODE. Then slow… flurry of motion! Intent, visualize, intent. It is a very cool set, an interesting feel and some very different movements to what I'm used to. After learning each chunk, the instructor had us split the class down the middle and then individually perform the set, then he'd pass on comments. I bonger the set a couple of times while doing this, forgetting a move here and there and needing to pause while I remember what's next. That notwithstanding, despite the short time the set still feels pretty good. While some new stuff, what we learn at the kwoon is definitively of the same lineage as Songshan (as it is supposed to be) so the foundation is there.

-- Lo and behold, the leg feels way way better after that massage last night, in that left hamstring injury -- no tightness at all as I do stretch kicks. Woo! The legs, on the whole, still are pretty darn tired, though.

-- Our instructor/monk has been introducing new drills during conditioning. One thing especially is working up towards aerials, that is, those fancy no-handed cartwheels -- or at least cartwheels for the beginners. With only a carpet to practice on… well, the prospects don't look pleasant. Still, I give it a shot once or twice, but even with an arm-up assistance by the monk it doesn't end very well. Evan, though, is gaining rapid skill, as are a few others who also have the experience and the limb coordination.

-- Managed to bridge the communication gap today between the instructor and us in a very humourous way. He was trying to describe a particular stance, where one of the heels is just off the ground. After he came to me and demonstrated, and after I got what he was trying to say, I turned to the group and indicated with my index finger and thumb held near each other saying "Just a little off the ground." The instructor laughed and mimed by hand/finger position: just a little. An amusing and cool moment.

-- On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a uniform shop. There are almost as many weapon/kung fu/etc stores here as there are schools… and most of them sell the same stuff, usually not of the greatest quality. Henry brought us to this particular store as they (directly make their own?) sell very high-quality uniforms. And indeed, there were about two dozen uniforms on the wall, in many colours, shades, and materials/quality. I was excited when Henry mentioned this store yesterday, as I wanted on this trip to get a set of robes. Now, I bought 4 pairs of robes on the last trip, so it was a bit of a thing for me to consider buying more (as in asking myself if I should spend the money), but when I got them I didn't pay perhaps as much attention as I could and bought some very fluorescent orange robes of the not so greatest material. So I really wanted a nice pair of saffron coloured robes. In the end, after much thought and some haggling, I bought two uniforms. I did get my saffron robes -- and WOW. You see, I bought the silk robes. They are VERY nice, but I know I'll be paranoid to ever wear them for practicing (happily wear them around the house or in a non-damageable environment). So I also bought a set of the blue-grey robes in a pretty thick cotton. Those I could practice in.

-- I also got for Reveille a sword, namely, Nameless' sword (no pun intended, honest). What was fun about it was the following exchange: "Hey Evan. Does this look like Nameless' sword?" "I think so." "Hmmm. Hey, do you have your PSP with you?" "Yeah, it's in the bus." "Could you go get it, and forward to a scene with the sword, so we can check?" "Yeah, OK." So, yeah, the sword was indeed it, and it is movie-comparison tested.

-- Another interesting find, though totally predictable (as I knew about it before heading over), is the World of Warcraft iCoke cans. I'd seen the commercials and heard about the promotion before our trip, and finding the cans is, admittedly, fun and cool. There are several cans: human mage, night elf, orc, and tauren. What's really funny is that it was Thomas' grandmother (who is accompanying him on this trip) who gave me the first can -- how we found out/were reminded about the cans here. She's quite the amazing grandmother, and not just for her energy.

-- A massage again seemed in order tonight, though this time I opted just for the massage in the hotel, a bargain at 8 bucks for an hour. Pretty much a similar massage to last night's, no acupressure, much beating and palming and some pulling and some rubbing. From the stories going about the group, there is apparently, um, extra-curricular massage action also available, leading to a new term coined of "Fairy Tale Massage"… as it has a happy ending. I left no space for any such offers to be made, as, let's say, educational as that could be.

-- The demo organization is flailing a bit, I think most are too tired to give a thought to a demo after the days are done. The plan is still to head over to the pagoda park and give it a whirl -- perhaps now on our last night here.

-- Along with a Fairy Tale Massage, as one person put it, apparently there is also "Massage", complete with quotes, as in the girl saying: I come up to your room later, give you "Massage"?

08 18 05         Day 8         Shaolin

QotD: I've seen better Kung Fu on Peking duck.

-- The day dawns sunny anew (yay!), and my illness doesn't feel as much in the foreground as yesterday (double yay!). We head out to the Wushuguan for our training!

-- With the set complete, we spend the morning (after conditioning, of course) reviewing and tightening up the set. We end the morning with a very 'formal' style demonstration, very test-like, one at a time. But rather than be nervous, I had the most amazing experience up there. I performed the set, it felt really good, and even better the instructor looked very pleased, gave me one comment only, and generally indicated I did a good job. What was amazing, though, is that as I walked off I wondered if I'd missed anything, I couldn't remember necessarily doing it. I had, of course, done it all but had for the first time ever I really had gotten into the 'zone', and just was and was one with the set while performing it. Just being the set, not being my worries or concerns or doing the set. Being it.

-- We ended our lesson a bit early to take photographs with our instructor. I took two with him -- a 'formal one', and then what I intended to be a more interesting pose shot or similar. Instead, however, he took my hand and we photographed, not quite shaking hands but hands together in friendship. I felt very honoured.

-- For the afternoon training, we did conditioning. By this point, the instructor really had us trying to do no-handed cartwheels and almost having us do in-the-air summersaults before Sifu ran over and asked him to stop. Turns out he only wanted Evan to try -- he really had latched onto Evan as one who had amazing gift of skill (which he does). After the full conditioning, we parted, and those who wanted to test for a Shaolin Wushuguan Certificate got a chance to test. It wasn't a free test -- one had to pay -- but you got a red book, with your photo, date, scores, signatures, etc. The eight or so who wanted to test tested, in the presence of our instructors, the head of the wushuguan, and another official. After conferring, they returned to present the results.

-- The training now over, we lined up for an exchange of banners (plaques, really) as a symbol of the exchange of knowledge, the growth of Shaolin, a recognition of our school and our school's work, and of our visit there to learn, train, and take that knowledge back with us. A formal ceremony to strengthen ties and celebrate our visit. Evan and I were chosen to represent the school and hold the plaques at the centre of the semi-circle. Several people spoke (and were translated), and when it was time Sifu motioned me forward, and presented our plaque to the Wushuguan. Sifu then put me a bit on the spot and asked me to speak some words. My first instinct was to bail, pass it onto someone who spoke Mandarin natively, but I realized that was borne of fear, and that it would serve neither the school nor me well. So I spoke (and was translated), thanking them for the time and training we just had, that we were honoured to train here, we had learned much and, most importantly, we had grown. It was then time to head out front and take many group photos with the plaques.

-- From there we headed to the Shaolin forge to do some weapon shopping. Nicely quite sedate compared to last trip's frenzy, I found myself a nice mid-weight broadsword, a similarly nicely balanced scholar's sword, and a set of dragon-hook swords. I also got a heavier-weight scholar's sword for a friend who wanted me to pick one up. I'm very happy with my purchases, having very specific desires in mind. I can't say I don't still regret not having a chance to have shopped for scholar's swords in Wudangshan -- that is what they are famous for -- but the one I purchased here I know will serve me well. I got a large sand (punching) bag for free out the deal, as the head of the forge was there, and it is what they packaged up all my weapons for me to carry.

-- To 'celebrate', no one was interested in having a demo. Something about having just trained for 3.5 days straight, I think. Instead a bunch of us headed to the hotel's Karaoke bar, where we proceeded to sing ourselves hoarse (with us our only audience too) with much varied song goodness. Everything from Rebel Yell to Barbie Girl to I'm to Sexy to … well, while in Asia where Karaoke is big, might as well join in the fun.

And with that it seemed our time at Shaolin, and our training, had basically come to an end.

Training by the Shaolin monks. That is an experience I will never forget, something unique and definitively it was something exiting. As I said earlier, it felt in some ways harder, in some ways easier than the previous trip. I had been expecting to learn both a weapon and a hand set, and only learned the latter… but learning it for the three days with a monk who really could take the time to drill into us the feel of Shaolin was amazing. The beginner group amazingly learned three sets to our one, and from what I saw at the demonstration/test, their main set was certainly nothing overly short. I believe there were only four people in that group, though, which meant lots of attention -- I also wonder if that had the sets had been demonstrated prior to our having to choose what group to join, some in our group may have felt more comfortable in the beginner group (which may have been perceived by the name as being nothing a basics class) which would've evened out the groups a little more.

Again I was amazed with how much training one can get without language, if not even more direct.

Watching the monks do their exercise routines -- flight! We're talking 720 tornado kicks, where they jump into the air, spin, almost pause in mid air (torso does) as they do the kick, then spin again to land on kicking leg. Wow.

A last thing about Shaolin and the monks: through Sifu and Henry (our tour guide and the head tourism guy at the wushuguan) we learned some very interesting things about the Shaolin Temple's recent history. The fact it has a recent history can be attributed to one rather amazing thing: Jet Li and the movie Shaolin Temple. (!) When the film was planned, in 1979, there were only two monks still living at Shaolin. Most of the buildings had been wrecked yet again (along the trip I began to joke that somewhere, someone was making 'To Do' list pads for conquerors and emperors, and printed onto each sheet, before the first blank line, was "Destroy Shaolin Temple.") and were in shambles. The cultural revolution had banned Kung Fu and forced the monks to scatter. It took the film studio 3+ months to fix up the temple well enough to be presentable for the film. (They also hired all real wushu artists to take the roles of the monks) The film was a smashing success, hugely popular -- as fortune would have it that popularity would also rub off on the Temple. The communist party noted this popularity, and began to revitalize the temple. Buildings were repaired or reconstructed. A search began for all remaining 'masters' who held the old knowledge, the old kung fu sets. The era's prized wushu champions were brought to the temple and taught these old sets, taught the old knowledge, and formed the corps of the new breed of warrior monks.

Today, those living at the temple can be broken down into two overall groups: the scholar monks and the warrior monks. We never got a good sense of exactly how one joins the monastery, or how long one must remain exactly -- it seems some join for X period of time, then are offered a choice of becoming a monk or moving on -- but once you have made the choice and are a lifelong devotee all monks are true monks in the Buddhist tradition, and all (I believe) do kung fu to some extent. The warrior monks just devote most of their time to kung fu, while the scholars have other pursuits.

08 19 05         Train towards Beijing

Not as much to write today, as today we visited the three sights around Luoyan and there is little to update on what I previously (ie last trip) wrote about the Longmen Grottos, White Horse temple and the Guanlin temple, save some changes and some lucky timing.

Guanlin temple was probably where we saw the most changes, as it was festooned with many colourful flags along the central axis, livening up what had been somewhat subdued. Again, got my pic taken with the Guan Do. On the free time we were given to explore, Evan bought a 3-pack of honkin' huge incense sticks, and he, myself and Mike took one each, lighting them and prostrating ourselves before General Guan's tomb, as homage to him (being the Patron Saint of Martial Artists) for both our own training and for our position as instructors. (I should explain that while in Wudangshan our tour guide introduced to us the ritual of three bows, prostrate, repeat thrice) The vendor there was all smiles and helped us a bit, some students came up to talk to us (and practice their English), and then the vendor introduced us to this Chinese hand wrestling exercise/drill/completion that I didn't really get (and don't really remember).

When we got back to the group, we recounted the story to Sifu, who of course knew the drill, invited me to have a go with him at it, and he promptly had me landing onto my butt.

At the White Horse temple we were blessed with fortuitous timing, for at one hall there were 'services' in progress, so we got to hear some monks chanting, while at hall further in there were a group of women (all laypeople) who were also singing. Very nice.

08 20 05         21:05         Beijing

QotD:
"Have you seen this square, metal, box thing, that isn't really square, metal, or a box?"
"You just undescribed everything…"
"I'm pretty sure I only negated two of those."
"No, all three."

The train arrived into Beijing @ 06:00 this morning after an 11h ride or so. Onto the bus we hopped, and arrived at the hotel where we proceeded to actually get our rooms by having our overall tour guide (who has a high position in the gov?) say Sifu was a congressman or senator … in short a) we got our rooms at 07:00 rather than 14:00 and b) somehow Sifu did not. Ok, very odd. We put our stuff in our rooms and headed out on the bus for breakfast and to start our Bagua training. At the hotel we stopped to have breakfast, we get saluted as we get off the bus… also odd.

(A quick note about the various tour guides mentioned here -- when you're in China what seems to be the norm is to hire an overall tour guide, who then contacts and arranges for regional tour guides (though they usually come along as well) who may even in turn arrange for local tour guides as necessary. So our overall tour guide, whom has chosen the name Hot Mama for herself (I'm not sure she fully grasps the implications of that name) is who I am referring to above, and who seems to be in some position of power)

Heading over to the area where we will train we are in south Beijing, an area that apparently is where the city is either growing or redeveloping. A LOT of new condo complexes, each 3-12 buildings, or more, some low-rises, many high rises. Some "modern", some banal, some -- uh, some very western kitchy. But a lot of them. Just as interesting was the streetscape that went with it. Beijing residents as a whole have more $$ than those in the countryside by default (in many/most areas), but as the 'new' spot to be this area had a very different look and feel, especially the people. Dogs on a leash as pets, jeans & polo shirts, fewer crazy vehicle types, western-style stores. Very interesting to see… another expression of the clash of East/West, Old/New, Urban/Peasant unfolding in China today. This area was positively yuppie, almost scarily so; blink and it'd be indistinguishable. It was almost surreal.

Evan and I just had (it is night here as we write in our journals) a conversation about the West here in China. While out walking tonight, I saw a salon that was very trendy, very chique and very western. All the ads for condos last trip had westerners on them. All the brochures for Kung Fu schools have pictures of them training 'foreign' students, and our trainers always want pictures showing them doing just that. What is it in China that has this occur? Do they aspire to the western lifestyle? Is it a service thing, where they are reminded that the west gives money for their goods and services (as the China economy is geared today)? Do they idolize the western? Gods? With the Kung Fu, is it to show westerners so that they will come train there? Or, as I think is more likely, is it for the Chinese market, saying we're good enough to train even foreigners?

It's curious.

Back to the morning, we got to our training location that I later learned was an activity hall for retired party officials -- basically a 6 floor building with arrangements on different floors for different activities. Took the stairs, so ended up being one of the first people to step into the room where we would train (and boy are my legs tired!) and got a round of applause. (See above, about the westerner thing?) I guess they were expecting all of us to walk in at once. Was neat, though.

Bagua was certainly different. Very different. Foot work is 'simple', and constant as you circle-walk and can be thought as a step, a stance and a kick (straight kick or hook, depending on the foot) all at once. It's also an odd style -- stepping motion, with feet always flat, never off the ground, almost skating, keeping weight centred, one foot doing forward, one foot hooking in. They hand position is held static until the transition, which is where most of the application is. The twisting and positions, though, are actually very medicinal in purpose. So, as an internal style, it's very good for health (and power generation). EVERYTHING is circles in Bagua, be it direction, twisting of arms, spaces between arms, body, armpits, fingers, etc.

Eight different palm positions and eight different transitions in this base set. Totally hard to know if I was doing well, or if right, or whatever. I asked Sifu if he had any pointers if he watched me and he didn't answer, saying something akin to "It's a different style" so he didn't want to say something contradictory. In the end, he did help out with my stepping, though I do think I lost most of it by the later afternoon as my knees just got tired. We learned the whole set in one day -- eight and eight wasn't too hard to get through it all. At least, insomuch as one can learn an internal style in one day.

I don't know if I'll practice much of this when I return, but I'll likely try to keep it somewhat fresh. It's definitively interesting, and … I dunno. Odd thoughts around the whole deal right now.

Lunch was also oddish. We did hot pot -- very good and very cool. Lamb was one of the meats, which was definitively cool, accompanied by strange and sweat plum tea. One 600ml bottle of beer PER PERSON. Our tour guide goddess was nearly slamming back drink after drink, toast after toast. I ate a tonne (at least 1 lb, I'm sure) of lamb, chicken and beef, along with veggies, mushrooms, and tofu. Good (kind of like a fondu with broth), tasty, delightful, but like the whole day an odd experience.

On the way to and from lunch, we saw something very amusing, what could best be described as an elder person's playground. Colourful metal, looking all like a playset, but with devices for exercise, like these large angled wheels, things to spin, weight-machine like things. What to do after the morning Tai Chi, I guess.

After dinner, did a walk around the hotel and found a supermarket/goods store and bought myself a larger tea-thermos thing with built-in strainer. I had bought one last trip, and wanted a larger one. Also bought a cane to use in the cane set back home. Tried to get a photo of this restaurant that had a fire-powered oven with ducks hanging within, but with the glass between me and it and the darkness it didn't really turn out well, boo.

08 23 05         Flight AA 128 from Tokyo to SJC

So, another trip over in the blink of an eye. Let's catch up the last two days.

Being back in Beijing meant a bit of a repeat from the last trip. Bad food in the hotel (5 items only available, had Americanized Chinese food @ dinner) for one thing.

Sunday saw a visit to the Great Wall. Very busy on the weekend, let me tell you. Went to visit the same spot as the previous trip and went up the same route on the same wall. But it's a grand section of the wall and a good hike to boot. Also might have gotten ripped off on a jade bracelet.

Speaking of Jade we went to a different jade factory before heading to the Great Wall -- a private factory this time. Brought 3 dragons, one for myself (unplanned, but a very nice small one, very translucent, very cool) and two as gifts. For the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace (which was new for me to see). Place is huge, around a very large lake. LARGE manmade lake, manmade hills, pavilions, large buildings, corridors, etc. When Beijing got hot in the summer, during the Ching dynasty, the workings of state were moved to the Summer Palace. Very different place from, say, Versailles though about as grand on the same scale. Also different purpose -- it wasn't meant to isolate the nobles just to escape the heat and have fun.

Due to time we didn't see much of the buildings, a bit of a shame, especially considering the very large palace atop the hill.

Pearl factory, dinner next door (another culinary blah), back to the hotel, Hard Rock Café and then… BAD MOVIES. Yes! A gathering was held in one of the hotel rooms (maybe 7 of us) and we somehow discovered this German Film, humourously dubbed (voices were a riot) into English, named "Challenge: The Last Disciple" (aka, upon return, "Kampfansage - The Last Apprentice"). Wow, what a film. Admirable effort, but for our tastes it was campy fun.

Monday we headed out to a local martial arts tournament -- apparently most schools have tourneys for MA much like basketball tourneys in the USA. This one was trying to amp themselves up a bit by making it 'international', inviting others to come and compete. Kinda like the Berkeley tournament, but with less spectators and more internationalists. What we saw was some internal open, some combo tai chi and some wushu. Was interesting to sit near Sifu and hear his comments on some of it. Mainly on the internal open -- what was connected, what was not, what was the style (Bagua, Tong Bei or Connected Hands, some kinda wusuish stuff too) was done well or not. Very interesting comments on the forms themselves. Some had no 'structure' to them, to application, no style nor reason, just moves strung together as if by random. He was not generally impressed. Overall, the tourney was very well run, but not very exciting.

Afternoon was 'our time'. A bunch of us went… SHOPPING! Starting off at a hotel/office/shopping complex that was unabashedly "USA". There was absolutely zero to give any indication of being in China, even all the store signs were in english. Many international stores too. Didn't see too much, and before we headed to the street to explore a couple of people approached us and told us in their best English they were students of a local arts college, and invited us to see their work, they had three days to show it in a shared gallery space. We went to check it out. It was good, and the expected 'please buy' by the end of the display was almost a relief. Evan got two drawings and we headed out with only enough time to check out half a street and one other store for calligraphy supplies before we meet up with more from our group. Turns out two others had also been approached regarding the art thing (different people)… wonder what's really going on.

A few of us headed over to visit the Temple of Heaven. Very large, we got the 'grounds' pass only and proceeded on through. The main building was under restoration (2008 Olympics strikes again!) and covered in scaffolding which was a bit of a bummer. Programmatically there is not much in the compound, a few buildings down the centre and to the side, all related to the processional duties undertaken by the emperor a few times a year in their relationship to the gods. Mostly park, not heavily planted, as sparse as the Forbidden City is dense. We breezed through quickly.

In the evening Sifu and five of us representing the Lam Kwoon went to Hot Mama's house, with her husband and police chief friend. Turns out she's a party official with the Tourism and Olympic Offices, her husband is a head of about 5000 workers working for the railways. Both trained as classical Chinese dancers!

Their house was their weekend home, out near the 5th ring road of Beijing. Quite a modern design, in styling if not by footprint, three levels tall with lots of planes and glass. Out this way (4th and 5th ring roads) is also where all those subdivision ads we saw on the plane magazine come into reality. I had really wondered just _where_ those were being built, from my recollection last time of Beijing being basically full up. Seems out here there was space, and I do say 'was' because it is very filled in with some condo complexes punctuated by these large swaths of subdivisions. As we arrived at night we didn't see much of what the streetlife was like, but I'm imagining it is similar, if not even moreso in that direction, to what we saw on the way to Bagua. Here is where the sprawl is beginning, I guess.

I didn't know what to expect for the dinner… like the exchange of the plaques at Shaolin it was steeped in some formalities and in history. A cultural experience/tradition but moreso just an exchange between two groups to cement a friendship. Very good food cooked/arranged by her husband: lamb leg, roast duck, pork in a huge bamboo cooling vessel, beef, veggies… and lots of beer. Fantastic food, well prepared, and some nifty arrangement for a few of the dishes. We ate and talked for a long time. Mike bought them some music (a sampling of CDs featuring various western artists). We couldn't get it working very well but well enough and we ended the evening with dancing around.

Then back to hotel, 4 hours of sleep, eat, airport, flight, Narita airport.

Getting onto that flight was a bit of a bummer. Evan and I had bought some WoW iCoke cans as gifts for friends, for ourselves and to sell on eBay for fun. Turns out security needs to identify every liquid that goes onto the flight -- which would've meant opening each of the cans for them to smell it, including the 6 packs we had (3 six packs plus about 8 loose cans). No time (5 minutes before flight) plus carrying around open cans would be a recepie for disaster. So I ran and dumped 4 cans into the sink (one of each design) that we took with us and we left 22 cans behind…

At Narita our flight was delayed about 45 minutes, and the demo _finally_ sorta came to fruition. Kinda turned into four of us doing a bit of the sets none to quickly to demonstrate, talking about our styles and some of their applications, and a bit of teaching (Frank, who runs a school, wanted to learn Wu Bu Quan to use as a basic teaching drill at his school).

Now, we are on the plane.

And now we are home -- Post Trip: Some final overall thoughts

Two weeks seems like a grand long time when standing at the start of an adventure, but it passes by so quickly in practice, alas. Packed solid with lots of learning (in many different ways) the days flew by. I was in a good space for this trip, and got to savour almost every moment of it. Here are my final thoughts that encompass the trip as a whole:

-- Food on this trip had been, and I hate to say this lest it give the wrong impression, but _uninteresting_. Not once have we had to ask Sifu this trip "Sifu, what is this?" (with his enigmatic reply "I don't know.") At most we're checking what's beef vs pork vs chicken. No deep fried fish bones, few whole fish, no slabs of pork fat, no this or that. It's all kinda standard fare, and oft repeated too. I'm not sure if it's because it is being ordered for us this way (by the tour guides), if the restaurants see us and figure we'd like the less 'unusual' fare, or if the restaurants have changed what they are normally serving. As in, as the so-called standard of living is rising, and this kind of food is now considered more appropriate for higher-paid people. While on the last trip the food at Wudangshan was some of the most simple yet tastiest fare we had, this time it was pretty plain. The food isn't bad, it just isn't as adventurous… the most interesting thing we got was chicken feet.

-- Certainly, and perhaps this factors in with the food, the sites we visited were much more geared to cater to tourists this time around, and everything nearby had been upgraded. We took super-highways for the most part while we were bussing somewhere, the local roads had plenty of signs overhead for directions and more, parking lots were present everywhere... on the one hand it could be considered an improvement (less chance for haphazardness that may damage the site), on the other hand to me it made things seem a bit more mundane. But not necessarily less sacred -- the sites closer to the cities (or in the cities) were already pretty well set up on our previous visit, and still felt special.

-- One big change, though, was that we ourselves were no longer tourist attractions. I don't recall any time during the trip where people stopped our group to have our photo taken with them. Interesting.

-- As evidenced by the state of this journal, there was less time for journal writing this time around. It's hard to put my finger on it -- though we had a flight to Wudangshan and more superhighways and night trains, and even granting that the trip was a couple of days shorter, it felt like we spent less time training at each location and had less time overall. The evenings on the Wudangshan patio, or lounging in the Deng Feng hotel from last trip were strangely absent, leaving less of a 'group feeling'. And meaning less writing time for me.

-- A downside to all the rapid travel and superhighways was that we didn't see nearly as much of the countryside, which I would have like to have seen, to see what changes had occurred on the areas outside the major centres, and it was a missed chance for newcomers on the trip to see what rural China was like.

Another trip has passed. I'm already so ready to go again -- if there's a trip next year, you may just find yourself reading another journal, around this time, once again. Thanks Sifu for another amazing tour.

Oliver Bollmann, August 2005