Orion Pies and a Shi Yan Christmas

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the delicious Orion Pies. If you've never had one, it's like a little slice of heaven covered in chocolate. I realized after my first Orion Pie that I was hooked on them. Now, I find myself going to the store with a few gongfu brothers and purchasing a box of 6 pies for 10 yuan (which are usually gone by dinner time). A few nights ago, I was chillin with 2 of my gongfu homies, Jeff and Simon, when Jeff let me in on a little secret...Cacao Pies. I thought Orion Pies were tasty and good, but these Cacao Pie were much better because they are made with real Cacao. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I return to the States without any Cacao or Orion Pies. I don't think I can go "cold turkey" on these pies, so I may need to start purchasing the 2 packs instead of the 6 packs. That way, when it comes time to leave China, I can control the urge to buy some Orion Pies.

Onto a more serious note...Christmas in China. I have chatted with a few of my friends on Gmail chat and Facebook and the one questions I was asked all last week was, "Do the Chinese celebrate Christmas?" Well, they don't celebrate Christmas, but what I find odd is that some of the stores decorate for Christmas. Even the supermarket in Wudang played Christmas tunes and the employees wore Santa hats around the store. I even noticed a few shopkeepers along the main road in Wudang setting up Christmas trees in front of their stores the day of Christmas. However, I'm not sure if Santa Claus has clearance to fly over the airspace in China (joking).

Since there are 16 foreigners attending the Wudang Kungfu Academy, we all decided to do a Secret Santa to keep the spirit of Christmas alive at the school. Of the 16, ten decided to participate with only a couple of rules. One was the limit for spending was 100 yuan (roughly $16) and the second was you were not allowed to discuss who you had with anyone else (that rule was broken on the first day). Jacky (Scotland) organized the drawing of names after one of the morning training sessions. I ended up getting Dane as my Secret Santa which worked out perfectly because he is one of the few guys that I hang out with at the academy. So this made it really easy to find a gift for him. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, I had convinced Dane that Melanie was his Secret Santa and he believed it till the day we exchanged gifts. He had no idea that I could have been his Secret Santa because he would constantly tell me what he wanted in hopes that I would relay the info to Melanie.

The day of Christmas, 12 foreigners including Sifu Yuan headed out to Shi Yan (about 45 minutes away from Wudang) for a Christmas dinner. We went to a steak house where we had a private room which included a mahjong table for our amusement. We arrived at the restaurant at 530pm and I tell you this because you will not believe how long it took to serve our dinner. After settling down and reviewing the menu, the waitresses took our order at 6pm. It wasn't until 8pm when the first plate of food was served. Around 830pm, there were 6 that were still without any food and when they received their steaks, they were over cooked or completely raw. And we were the first people in the restaurant. So a few of the students that spoke chinese went to the manager to ask for a discount, and sure enough we got one! So what did we do after dinner you ask? Well, my friends we went to the happiest place in Shi Yan....McDonalds! Yes, that's right, McD's in China after Christmas dinner. We all ate "ice cream" and those that didn't enjoy their Christmas dinner (myself included) ordered either a Big Mac, quarter pounder with cheese, "chicken" nuggets, hamburgers, or any combination of food on the menu.

This Christmas is one that I will not forget because I was able to experience it in China, a predominately Buddhist country. I am glad I had access to Skype because I was able to speak with and see my family on Christmas. Oh yeah, on a side note...on Dec 24th, a few of us went to Shi Yan to buy some goodies and Simon and I purchased some rasta headbands to wear around Shi Yan and Wudang. As a write this blog, I am still wearing the rasta headband (I take it off only when I sleep, shower or train).

Simon and I sporting our rasta headbands on Christmas day.

Infront of McD's in Shi Yan

Sifu Yuan "enjoying" his steak dinner.

Jeff and Tan-man at the Mahjong table

Exchanging gifts in Tan-man's room.

Jacky and Brandi celebrating Christmas with a nice bottle of wine.

Tan-man, Calvin and Myself in Shi Yan (Ladies, don't act like you're not impressed)

The essence of Wudang

This performance Wednesday showcased some new forms and hard qigong. I've decided to only post up some photos and videos of the event.

Also, I started taking chinese lessons an hour a day to learn the language. It only costs 5 yuan per hour, which is about 75 cents. I'm really excited about this class because I'll learn some conversational chinese as well as pin-yin. Eventhough I'm here at the academy for 3 more weeks, I feel that I will be able to absorb as much as the language in that time. So far, my favorite phrase has been "Wo fei cheng fengzi" which means "I'm really crazy".

Photos


Videos

Dane and I performing Ji Ben Quan
(Can you tell which one is nervous and which one is Luigi?)

Demonstration of Hard QiGong

Wulong Gong Shan

Today, Master Yuan took us to one of the sacred mountains in Wudang. Wulong Gong Shan (Five Dragons Mountain) is located in a remote part of Wudang and has not been exposed to tourist like Mt. Wudang. It was such an honor and gift to have Master Yuan show us around the mountain range today.

It started early in the morning at 7am when 18 of us met at the entrance to the school. Master Yuan led us into town for a quick breakfast (dumplings or noodles or fried bread) and after that, hop on a bus for a 30 minute ride to Wulong Gong Shan. Let me tell you, I sat next to my friend Jacky (from Scotland) and we were both scared for our lives as the busdriver took sharp turns trying to reach our destination along the mountain range. There were guard rails on the side of the road and he came close to edge on every turn.

Soon after exiting the "bus of death", Master Yuan began to lead us up the mountain. Not sure what the elevation was, but I would guess it was somewhere around 1000 meters or so. We hiked for about 2 hours (with a few breaks in between) and arrived at Wulong Gong Temple. What a mystical site, especially on a foggy day like today. We were greeted by a Taoist monk who allowed us to sit and eat our snack by the temple. Master Yuan told us the story of Wulong Gong Temple. It was a story of a Taoist who had been praying for rain to continue growing his crops. One day the Taoist looked up in the sky and, in the clouds, he saw five dragons circling above. From the day forward, a temple was built in honor of the five dragons that brought rain to the locals. Hence the name Wulong Gong Temple or Five Dragons Temple. This is one of the oldest Taoist temples in Wudang.

For lunch, we were treated to an organic feast prepared by some of the local Taoist priests. After lunch we proceeded to hike up to the peak of Wulong Gong Shan. The scenery and views were breathtaking. We spent roughly 6 hours hiking the mountain and stopping at various temples and "rest-stops." I must say that today was an energizing day because being up in the mountains, especially the mystical Wulong Gong Shan, was a great way to cultivate the Qi. Below are the photos and video of today's hike.

Photos

Videos

Washington Star Dragon Reid (that's his english name) is a badass!
Here, Washington is performing a scene from "Fearless"

Washington showing off his skills.

Karaoke Funerals

The reason I call this post "Karaoke Funerals" is because I had to endure a 3 day funeral ceremony. The funeral took place next to our school and it kept me up all 3 nights. If you have never experienced a funeral in China, let me give you a quick synopsis. The funeral is supposed to be a joyous occasion for family and friends so they celebrate death. And this is done by having a party where everyone comes out to sing, drink, eat, play music and set off fireworks. Yes, this may sound fun, but it lasts all freakin day! The funeral started on Tuesday with band performing some traditional chinese music which led into Wednesday Karaoke. Well I guess it was karaoke because it was mostly amateur singers "blasting" their vocals all night long till about 4am. Then followed the fireworks at 6am and 7am, which sounded like they were in our hallways (remember, our school doesn't have any insulation so any noise from outside our walls echos within our hallways). I felt like I was on the beaches of Normandy Wednesday morning. I nearly jumped out of bed and thought the world was ending....seriously. Oh, it didn't stop. Wednesday night I decided to venture to Shiyan (about an hour away by taxi) with some of my friends from the academy hoping to escape the Karaoke Funeral. Well, to my surprise, when we returned from Shiyan around 9pm the party was still going on. And more karaoke but this time the volume was set at 100%. Even with my door closed I could here the singing in my room! And guess what happened at 1am, 4am and 6am? YES MORE FIREWORKS! I just want to thank those at the Karaoke Funeral for keeping me up all three days...I really appreciate it.

Onto something more exciting. Today I ventured up Mt. Wudang with Volkan (aka Voltran the German student). We decided early in the morning that we were going to the sacred mountains of Wudang and experience the birthplace of the Tao. Before we headed out, we agreed that we were going in full uniform and take shots in various postures on the mountain. We set out after breakfast and thought we could take a short cut through one of the trails along the mountain. What we didn't know was that when hiked the trail, we ended up inside the Mt. Wudang site. We had to go back the way we came (an hour detour) and head through town to reach the entrance of Mt. Wudang.

When we arrived at the entrance, we learned that we could either pay 180 yuan for a single entry pass or 190 yuan for an annual pass. Even though I wont be staying a year in Wudang, I opted for the annual pass because there is so much to see at Mt. Wudang. It would take 3 or 4 days to soak up all the beautiful temples and sights at Mt. Wudang. Volkan and I started our morning by going to Nan Yan, one of the most scenic parts of the mountains. We took a 30 minute bus ride to the entrance of Nan Yan and began our exploration there. After about 3 hours of hiking and taking photos (see link below) we stopped and ate lunch at one of the local restaurants. As we finished, the bus had arrived and we hopped on to our next destination. When the bus made its first stop down the mountain range, we elected to get off and explore a new area. Not sure what the site was called but we ended up by a beautiful stream and some wild monkeys (could have been the notorious Monkey Valley, but not sure). To give you an idea, the elevations of Mt. Wudang are about 1300 meters (or 4265 ft. ). The good thing about this day was when we arrived at the academy, there were no Karaoke Funerals!

Check out the photos from Mt. Wudang here!

Some videos of Mt. Wudang (there is even one of me performing Wudang's Ji Ben Quan)

Performance Wednesdays

Every Wednesday, all the students (including yours truly) has to perform everything they have learned to date for Master Yuan. Here are some video clips of different students performing various forms. Enjoy!

Some more photos from Wudang

Training at Wudang - week 1

Well, this has been my first week training at Wudang and I will say this...its more than what I expected. The training is rather intense with qigong starting at 620am. The teachers here are amazing and very detailed. Here is what my average day is like:

Wake up at 6am
QiGong from 620am to 720am (we practice standing mediation and 5 animals QiGong)
Breakfast at 730am
Morning training from 830am to 11am, which consists of stretching, line drills, 300-500 situps, 50 pushups and practicing your forms.
Lunch at 12pm
We get a "break" from 1230 - 250pm (most of us either sleep, practice our forms, or email),
Afternoon training from 3-5pm, same as morning training.
Dinner at 6pm
Evening meditation from 8-9pm

As you can see, there is not much time to focus on anything else. In my free time, I may run to the market to buy some fruits and snacks. Some of us will either practice our forms or even our own kungfu (I don't want to forget my Wah Lum forms). This week was rather tough for me because I pulled my hamstring and groin muscle. The teachers acknowledge that you are injured but they push you to continue (if you show up to the training). Some of the students when injured just sit in there rooms, I elected to show up for training because I don't want to miss this opportunity to improve my skills. The teachers will not ask you to perform any stances, kicks, movements, etc that will cause further injury. But they will push you to your limits! I did have a breakthrough...I was finally able to perform a full side split (to the ground) with the help of HsuMing. I was about 8 inches from the ground when HsuMing came up to me and said "lower." I looked at him and said "yeah, right. This is how far I go." He decided to show that I could go lower. So he stands over me, his hands on my shoulders and begins to push me down while yelling "lower, lower, lower." And guess what, I made it to the ground!

Living at the academy has been an eye-opening experience. For example, we are not allowed to have heaters in our room (I guess it's supposed to help us with our kungfu). At night, its so cold here that I sleep with my hoody, leg warms, sweat pants, gloves, socks and my blanket. I can even see my breath when I talk on skype or with the other students in the hallway. Also, the lighting here is set on timers. For instance, the hallway lights are sound sensitive and they stay on for about 30 seconds before turning off. So if you want to walk down the hallway, you either have to make a really loud noise or stomp your feet to trigger the lights. Otherwise, you'll be walking the in the dark. The same goes for the bathrooms. Unfortunately my room is directly across the hall from the bathroom, so I can tell when there are students in the bathroom at night because they are trying really hard to keep the lights on by making loud noises.

The food has been delightful but you end up eating rice everyday with every meal. Most of the dishes prepared are vegetarian dishes but there are some occasions where they will serve us chicken or fish. However, I will not eat the chicken because it's served with the head in the dish and it freaks me out. I end up eating the scrambled eggs (which I must say is soooo delicious) with the veggies and rice. What I end up doing after lunch is head out to the market with a few friends and purchase some romen noodles and various snacks to hold me over till dinner time. One of the students from Holland went to Shiyan (about 1.5 hours by bus) and purchased some peanut butter for a few of us. That was a lifesaver because know I eat PB sandwiches everyday...yummy!!!

This afternoon, Master Yuan was talking to a small group of us on the development of Qi and moving softly. One thing he said caught my attention. He said, "In order to develop and feel Qi, one must first feel at peace internally. Otherwise, you will just be going through the motions and will never feel or develop Qi. So, when practicing QiGong and Taiji, just relax and focus your energy internally. Feel at peace with yourself." That blew my mind because its so simple and makes sense. He also said that by feeling at peace internally will eventually lead to a strong sense of Qi and improve our kungfu skills.

Master Yuan and his assistants have told me that my basics are one of the best (Thanks to Sifu Kee) and that I learning quickly. Today, HsuMing (one of the assistants) said the he sees that I have "good kungfu skills" and that he was impressed how quickly I learned Wudang's Jin Bin Quan (I took me one week to learn while it has taken anywhere from 2-3 weeks for most students, twice a day). I approached Master Yuan on Wednesday and asked if I could learn 2 forms (1 kungfu and 1 taiji) at the same time and he said, without hesitation, YES because of my basics. Im one of the only foreigners learning multiple forms. So, in the morning I learn new movements for the kungfu forms, and in the afternoon I learn new taiji movements. I anticipate that I will be finished with Taiji 28 Postures within 1 more week which will leave me the remaining 5 weeks to learn Tai Yi Wu Xian Quan (and 8 minute form when performed correctly). This is the description of the Tai Yi Wu Xian Quan from Master Yuan...

"Tai Ji is originated from the Infinity. It is the originator of the Two Extremes. The Two Extremes comes from the phenomenon of separating Yin and Yang.

Liang Yi Quan is also known as Tai Yi Quan. The practice includes hand, eye, body, steps and explosive internal power. Its characteristics are combination of slow and fast, soft and hard, lightening reflects, and thundering movements. In combat application, it equips one with ways of starting late but reaching first. It is a must for Tai Ji practitioners. In Daoism, it is said that “Tai Ji is formed when combining Yin and Yang; the Two Extremes are formed when separating Yin and Yang.” Infinity is for training in mind, Tai Ji in the flow of internal energy through control of mind, and Liang Yi Quan in using the mind and internal energy for external power. As Liang Yi Quan combines fast and slow, soft and hard, and Yin and Yang, it is called the Two Extremes."

Video journal entries from around China

Here are some video journal entries that I took while traveling around Beijing and on the train. This captures most of my journey so far.