Wu-Tang is Life

I got all Wu-Tang (a reference for the younger generation that reads this) and climb the mountain. By "climb" i mean take a cablecar to the top and then walk crazy far around the top. Some enterprising young communist decieded to build a massive stone path around this holy mountain so that a million people could ascend, shout "echo" in chinese, and get super sweaty and take their shirts off. Luckily for me, its wasnt a holiday and lady fair weather was not inclined to join us, i got bits and pieces to myself. It has crazy limestone formations that fell off the mountain and make for spectacular scenery and views down, and a great place to build a zillion steps that zigzag around the mountain. This was all great until the rain came accompanied by thunder and lightning, which, while beautiful, leaves one questioning one's exposure to the elements while clinging onto a path on the side of a mountain. I buckled down with a couple of girls visiting from Beijing under a tarp next to the suspension bridge over the chasm of death, and waited for the rain to let up. It was sweet though, cause the gave me a ticket to the rediculously overpriced Shaolin Tourist site i mean Temple, and we got to check it out sans tourists, cause everyone melted in the rain a la the wicked witch. I also scored a ride back to Dengfeng with one of thier uncles, who must be loaded cause we weren't sittting on naugahyde i'lll tell you that. But then i had to scoop a taxi back home cause the buses were finished, i guess friday night ends early for folks who wanna get back to the villages, it set me back 5 bucks, but i got to get dry and eat, which folks, is priceless.

Week One Survived.

Well, i have survived my first full week of training at the Chan Wu academy in East Nowhere, Nowhere, Middle China. (Actually, a village called Wan Shan, near the town of Dengfeng, which is close to Zhengzhou, if you're map gazing) Apart from sore arms and a resemblence to gumby (minus the green), im doing well. You quickly fall into the train, eat, nap routine out here, especially since its just about planet Mercury hot out here. Naw, im playing. We cleared this field behind the training shed so that we can train outdoors, which allows for a wonderful breeze, but has a downward slope that makes headknocking flying crane kicks a little tough to land. But you live and learn, or you fall in the dust. We started the staff form this week too, which is a nice change, and allows you to form really sweet blisters in between your thumb and forefinger. But if i ever get into a kungfu battle in the poolhall, y'all best watch out. We took yesterday morning off of training to go to this "festival" in the village where they were possibly "bringing out the new buddha" or something of that nature that involved serious drum banging, paper and incense burning, dancing, and more drums and incense burning. And firecrackers.

The old folks there are intense, (circus) You can tell they been through thangs, cause the either have some gnarly feature, like a missing eye or shark's teeth, or when they look at you it's with the world in their face and they say, in a half second glance, "y'aint know nothing lil foreigner with your camera, 30 years ago i had to hold this festival in my basement under a blanket. And i nearly choked from burning all this paper." They dont really say that, but they do have the look of ages. Anyways, they look really sweet.
So i got at least two more weeks here before heading out. Don, if you read this, and you get a phone call in the middle of the night, that's me, pick it up. Still planning the rest of this trip, here, suggestions welcome.
-----Will

Chan Wu Gong Fu

For those that don't know, i'm at a Kung Fu school near Dengfeng, Henan Province in Central China. I have survived my first week here, and can say that, as of this morning, after a bout with fluidity, everything is "solid." We train three times daily, starting at 5am with running and stretching.
Here's the school's website: http://www.chanwugongfu.com





Check the videos and the training schedule.



















Things you use daily that are unavailable at Chan Wu:
Mr. Crapper's illustrious porcelin invention
mattresses more than an inch thick
air conditionining
hot water
bread
television
communication devices
a washing machine

Things we do have:
dogs
fresh figs from the tree in the courtyard
a training dungeon
medieval weapons

Here's the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiru-sensei

more to come later. These computers are killing me. Next week will be my first real week of training. I trained monday afternoon to thursday this week, let me tell you, i may be a pretzel by the end of this. We got our Chi Gong belts yesterday so maybe i will break iron bars with my eyebrows before i leave. I can update on fridays or saturdays, as those are our days off, at least for now. I figure by next week i should be about Bruce Lee status, or at least Jackie Chan. Feel free to comment.

Chan Wu

So...
I made this so that folks dont have to catch mass emails all over their inboxes... I will try to update this as I make my way home from the Land of the Rising Sun to the Gateway to the South. I tried this once before and couldn't handle the technology though so bear with me...