Sifu Garry's 5th "Roots of Wing Chun: China Trip - starting in Beijing Nov 2012

Sifu Garry's Blog
My 5th "Roots of Wing Chun" China Trip
Starting in Beijing
Nov 24th 2012
Finally, my head has come back down to Earth! It has taken a while to readjust back to normality, but, I am back.
What an outstanding trip to china, this time. It was our 5th tour and we always say; how can we surpass the last trip. But, to say the least, this was so far the most outstanding and spectacular trip I have had the pleasure of organizing, so far.
This trip was twice as long as the last 4 and we did cover a lot more territory. Nearly 3000km, travelling from Beijing to Hong Kong.
From Beijing we rode the fast train for 750kms, to Zhengzhou (Yellow River and Shaolin Temple). From Zhengzhou, we travelled about 1500 kms South by airplane for around 2.5 hours to Guangzhou. Then, we had the luxury of a chartered Bus, travelling around southern China, finishing in Foshan. For the last leg of our journey, we caught a public Bus from Foshan through Immigration into Hong Kong, where we stayed for 4 days.
Beijing, the ancient city of Peking. All I can say is, “WOW”! Over 5000 years old. How can a culture of people be so intellectually smart and clever? There engineering prowess has to be seen to be believed.
Understanding Feng Sui and 5 Elements of Nature is fundamental to understanding and appreciating how the Ancients designed the engineering fundamentals of Beijing.
When we travelled to the Hutong (ancient, original narrow roads of Beijing), we visited a local residence where the Lady explained the design concepts of her house, following the 5 Elements of Nature principles. We visited the infamous Bell Tower and went to a Tea House where the host demonstrated making and explaining the ritual of tea making.
Atop the Bell/Drum Tower you can see the Forbidden City. There is a straight road, being 7.8 km long, which represents the back bone of a Dragon (Earth Dragon) and to the East there are 3 major lakes, which represents the Water Dragon, protecting the Emperors of China at their place of residence; the Forbidden City.
The Rickshaw ride around the Hutong was superb!
The Bell Tower and Drum Tower is an ancient form of time keeping which was destroyed by wars and rebuilt several times. There is still an original Drum to be seen there.
Our Hotel was a quick walk to Snack Street, which is notorious for their unusual selection of food. From scorpions, worms, centipedes to Tarantulas.
I was courageous enough to eat Scorpions on two occasions. A little bit of alcohol helped, though.
2 other Students were also courageous enough to eat some Scorpion.
Tian an Men Square is 800mts x 500mts, totalling 400,000 mts square. The biggest public square in the World, holding several million people. Opposite Tian an Men Square is the Forbidden City. So Big, so Grand, and very Opulent. Photos would better justify the grandeur of the Forbidden City, instead of words.
The Forbidden City was walking distance from our Hotel complex, so it was a good experience to walk the streets with the general populace, in the morning.
We were also very lucky to see a Kung Fu Live theatre show at the Red Theatre in Beijing, which was extraordinary. It was a story about growing up and the temptations along the  way for a small shaolin monk, with spectacular martial arts performances, during the show.
The markets were also exciting but some items were a bit expensive. I was saving my shopping money for Shenzhen, south China's shopping Mecca.
Visiting the Great Wall was a highlight of our stay in Beijing, We went to the Mutianyu section which has a Cable Car ride to the Wall and a Toboggan ride down the mountain to the little village at the base of the mountain, where we all had a marvellous lunch together. In the middle of nowhere, at this village, there was a subway shop.
Walking along the Great Wall of China was enthralling. We performed some wing chun forms and played some chi sao in our travels.
Beijing was mind boggling. I would suggest to everyone, to visit the Capital of China, Beijing.
On the morning of our departure from Beijing, we will be boarding the Fast Train for a 750 km ride south bound, to Zhengzhou.

Photos will be posted on my Facebook Wall, very soon!
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www.shaolinjeeshinwingchun.com.au