Eastern Promise

I found about a Tai chi class given by the Hong Kong Tourist Board (HKTB) 3 or 4 times a week which was free to tourists. So of course I went along.
The class was given on the Avenue of Stars just next to the Kowloon Star ferry pier. It was taken by a very kind and small native Konker. His name was William though and his assistant Pamela of all names. They made a funny pair, but all good fun.
While William conducted Pamela was busy either running between demontrating or organising the Tai chi music or handing out customer service surveys.
William had a lovely Chinese accent, and then a sudden flash of a colonial past. In the middle of demonstrating he would pause to explain it after which, in the poshest Colonial accent, would say, “Carry on!”

The class was made up of the basics, breathing, form and demonstrations of application. I thougth the whole affair was jolly well run.

While at the HKTB I found another leaflet on an intensive Teacher Training Course in Wing Chun (the 1st Martial Art I practised way back when we were living in Crowborough). I was curious and so went along. The teacher was Sam Lau who eventually turned up rather late. His teacher, Master Yip Man also taught Bruce Lee – fancy that! (Will put a link on the blog to Sam Lau’s website if you’re interested).
Anyway, he gave me the lowdown on the course and of course the money side of it… What is it with these Chinese Martial Artists? It gets my goat!
Anyway, nice to see some southern Chinese Arts.
I also went to a bit of a Martial Arts show in ‘Kung fu Corner’ in Kowloon park that the HKTB organise (thanks again HKTB). All the students were quite young and some quite embarassed. The standard wasn’t as high as that of Zhengzhou but it was intersting to see the difference between north and south for myself.

Basically the difference between North and South Chinese Martial Arts is, quite generally, North is quite leggy with lots of jumps and kicks and the South styles are quite army, with lots of grips and punches. The reason quite simply is because in the South, it’s a lot wetter and so any disputes would be fought out in the paddy fields where you’re knee-high in mud and your feet can’t move much, therefore it’s all pretty army. In the North however, it’s a lot dryer and the ground a lot harder, meaning that you have the possibility to move about a lot more, jump higher and kick faster, therefore a lot more leggy…. Well that’s what I heard anyway and it seems to make sense. I am sure it’s a lot more complicated than that but there’s my take.
Although it could be something to do with the North being a lot colder so they moved around a lot to get warm and in the South where it’s far too hot, they didn’t want to get heat exhaustion… could be – who knows.

Hi everyone,

This photo-shoot day was a good opportunity to take lots of photos of everyone. So here are some more profiles…

Roomie Stephen

As you can see Stephen is one cool cat. Until 2 weeks before I left he was my room-mate. He arrive the day after me. He is German, of course, the place if full of them!

He’s 20, just turned while he was here, and a rather good basketball player (in a team and everything!). We got on really well laughed a lot at our daily situations, especiallt when I moved into his group with Tai chi Shifu.

He is really a clever young fellow, sensitive too, but he is also a toast addict as you can see from the photo. He bought a toaster here, although just recently they have been banned. Stephen has therefore gone underground with his secret toasting and stashes of chocolate spread.

Before coming here, Stephen had done 9 months in the army. Sounded tough but ok, and Iwas glad that it is no longer obligatory in England. He’s doing 10 months Hard labour and good luck to him. It’ll be a hard slog especially as the weather starts to get hotter and hotter and hotter, but good luck Stephen and hope the Schizzel manizzel clears up soon! Read the rest of this entry »

Two weeks before I left school I went for a Sunday day-trip to Shaolin where it all began with Jon and Laurient.

It was a mission to get there. We got a taxi to the city and then a bus from the station all without hitch and in very good time. It was only after the 2nd stop off that we realised that we had got the tourist bust that stopped off at every possible tourist destination on the way. What should have taken 1 and a half hours in fact took almost 4. Oh dear, we were worried we wouldn’t get ack in time for the 6.40 meeting at school. Big trouble ahead, we did think!

Passes some interesting landscapes on the way… I think it was a quarry for brick clay that has is now farmland. What do you think?…

We stopped first at a temple complex. The 3 of us decided not to go in as we were all on a budget. Instead we took a liesurely stroll up the side of the mountain. The weather was very pleasant and the scenery splendid. Nice to be out of a busy place and somewhere a lot calmer.

Read the rest of this entry »

The week before I left I went to Dengfeng near Shaolin on my own, on the sly to buy a couple of weapons and clothes. Dengfeng is full of Kung fu schools. Some pics below.

I also saw my school’s twin based here in Zhengzhou…

Well, the 2nd time today? I must be in the zone or something. I think I am in desperate need of a travel partner, there is only so much fun you can have on your own. To be honest, all the other travellers are wierd. After 2 months in a pretty much all-Chinese environment, and then suddenly seeing new Laowais, is a bit strange. We Westerners are a funny-looking lot! I feel a bit self-conscious when I see other Westerners, thinking that I must look quite foreign too.
One of the great things about here though is that you don’t get stared at. In Zhengzhou you were a constant and obvious point of the Chinese regard. Outright staring, sometimes it was quite amazing to watch people look at you with such surprise or curiosity. There are so many foreigners here that it’s nice to blend in or be ignored a bit again. I can’t really sa, but there are a lot of different nationalities here, but it seems to work really well. I haven’t been here very long at all, but there is something here that works. Maybe it’s the fact that it used to be a colony so everyone is used to getting on or what. Watever it is it works here, or that’s the feeling I get so far. It feels very safe and I like it. There are ‘no spitting’ signs but I haven’t seen a single loogy since I have been here. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear all, no more photos today, there is no socket in the Hong Kong City Hall Library for my camera. Oo-err Ihere you say, well exactly. And Honkers Konkers is pretty oo-err missus all round really. I will get more of the final Zhengzhou Yo! photos on when Ican.

I left the school on Tuesday morning in the rain, then after theinternet Ihad a rather large buffet meal, so large in fact that Ihad to get a taxi to the station because I couldn’t walk very far! In my defense though, Iseem to have the heaviest and most bags on the Chinese rail network. Iwas surprised that Ididn’t get some sort of export tax on it all! Read the rest of this entry »

Hi again

I had hoped to get more on here this morning – however long you spend online, you always run out of time… but from now on i will be abe to update more regularly. Keep logging on for more profiles, more of the crazy-life in China, the trip to Shaolin and the climb to Bodidharma’s cave plus news from Hong Kong! Quality entertainment from Asia!

Bye for now

x

Last week we had a photo all together out of the blue. Strange – in China suddenly things happen or they never happen. You want something to happen and it doesn’t and then you something else happens completely randomly out of the blue… Suddenly all the shifus came out, shaved headed and sporting the painfully bright orange shaolin uniform, quite bizarre!

Here are some photos of the shifus and my kung fu group.

The head honcho Shi Shifu… Big poser!

The Shifues, starting top left going clockwise: Ciao Shifu, Shua Shifu, Sanda Shifu, Tai chi Shifu, Yuen Shifu. Strike a pose.

Plus Shi Shifu

And here are some shots of my group with Tai chi Shifu…

Ran out of time a bit… will add more of the photo shoot later

Hello everybody, I am sorry I haven’t been more present the last couple of weeks on the old blog-front. It has been a busy last couple of weeks at kung fu school, but it’s over now. I left today! I did my exam yesterday (which went really well) and packed up and moved on… Well actually, I am still in Zhengzhou, in the internet cafe. I have all my stuff with me (far too much – always the way, I’ll have to offload somewhere somehow) and it’s raining. Not ideal, but there we are… no going back now, on the road, next stop Hong Kong!
I have quite a lot of time before my train so I am going to spend a couple of hours trying to update you on what’s new in China. Then I think I am going to chao-down on a buffet lunch before taking a taxi to the station because I am too full to walk!
Here goes…