Choy Lee Fut Vancouver- Founders Dinner 2009 - Success~!!

[aktionmancer]

So last night (August 16th) was the banquet in Vancouver to celebrate our Choy Lee Fut Founder/See Zho Chan Heung's Birthday.

It was held at the Floata Seafood restaurant and boy was it a big affair. The entire restaurant was booked. There mustve been an excess of 150+ tables with 10 people per table.

The night started with a lion dance. 20 of them! It was phenomenal. Then of course the incense ceremony and then introduction of all the guests. It seemed like the entire Vancouver martial arts community was all in one place! (funny part was when after all the people finished putting up incense, some of the Sifus picked up the three roast pigs and also had them bow 3x each. hahaha. i was like "wtf?" hahaha)

Super VIPs included from what i heard (my chinese sucks!) was the the Great Grand Daughter? of Chan Heung, who came all the way up for California for the dinner.

Also of note was the presence of Master Lo Wei Keung of Lama style, who was in town from HK. (see my personal note at end!)

After the introduction of the guests all the guests, dinner started. The food was spectacular. I never really expect much from Floata because almost ALL kung fu dinners are there, but this time was good. (We even had REAL abalone - donated by Hilbert and Sandra? Yiu of Shung Ying Athletic Club)

and what would a Choy Lee Fut dinner be without some kung fu demos?
Members of Shung Ying (representing the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut Federation) started it off, followed by Choy Lay Fut Martial Arts Hall, then Shung Ying actual.
Then came another club (sorry! i dont know your name! i think white shirts, red plum blossom logo) then came Gary Szeto's Choy Lee Fut club and last but not least, me and the Hon Hsing Athletic Club boys.

Ill post links to pics/vids when i get them.

Personal Story
So I train in Choy Lee Fut under Sifu Peter Wong and Lama Pai from Sifu Parry Fung. My Sifu, Parry had started training with Master Lo Wai Keung he went to Hong Kong a few months ago and had become a disciple under Lo Wai Keung so because of this, I call Master Lo my Si Goong.

I try to get a pic of my Sifu Parry, Lo Wai Keung Si Goong, and my Si Dai. Mission accomplished, my Choy Lee Fut Sifu, Peter comes by to talk to Master Lo, so I say, "Si Goong, this is my Choy Lee Fut Sifu!"

Si Goong says, "Oh? Peter and I have known each other for about 30 years!! Wong Ha (my Choy Lee Fut Grandmaster) and I are actually Si Hing/Dais"

My jaw literally dropped at this moment.
We end up taking a pic of all of us together, my Sifus, Parry Fung, Peter Wong, my Si Dai, and my Si Goong, Lo Wai Keung.
I comment to Sifu Parry 'wow, this is my Kung Fu family all right here" =D

[aktionmancer]

So, please share any stories you may have about your communities Founder's day events or any stories you have from last nights dinner!

cheers!

[jdhowland]

Thanks for posting, aktionmancer. Looking forward to the photos.
jd

[iron_silk]

I am very happy for you!

I study Northern Shaolin kung fu in Vancouver as well but I wasn't able to attend our kung fu family dinner gathering this year.

I think it's wonderful you had some a great time.

I use to study CLF from Wong Ha (when I was a child) and I have met Parry Fung at various demo functions. When I watch Parry perform he's always got a lot of power.

I think you are very lucky to be able to study two different systems and your Sifu's to not only be okay with it but are close friends as well.

I would love to hear more stories and look forward to your pictures and video.

[warr10rdude]

Yesterday was the second time I had attended the banquet. The first time was last year, 2008, and I had just gotten back into martial arts (decided CLF permanently) after an absence of 5 years. So I was only doing CLF 2-3 months then before the banquet.

Anyway, first time affair was great... confused by my surroundings but still great. Second time this year was even better. It's been just slightly more than a year I have been doing CLF, but I felt more at home this time around. Of course, I think it helped that I got to know my sihings somewhat better overtime, not to mention suffer through training with them as well. :D So it was all good. Camaraderie was just excellent, and it didn't hurt that my wife also came along.

The lion dance was awesome! I was seated near the big screen projector, which didn't really help much since it was too zoomed into focus at a certain area. It wasn't until somewhere during the demonstrations that they had it on wide focus, so there was a lot more to see. Anyway, I got to see 3 lion heads close to the hanging projector screen, which was near the kitchen. Space was rather cramped at the area, and the poor 3 lion heads kept crashing up into the projector time and time again. I was beginning to wonder when the projector would finally come crashing down. Thank goodness it didn't. I guess sometimes you just have to make do with whatever space you have. :)

Then came the speeches, and then the demonstrations. Again, I could barely see what was happening until the projector zoomed out, so I only managed to catch bits and pieces here and there. It still looked good though, and from the little I saw I thought the schools present did an excellent job!

This year was also the first time I had to demo a form on the stage floor. It was, how shall we say, an interesting experience I would never forget as well. *sigh*

Finally, there was the photo session with my Sifu and sihings and our spouses and the Great Grand Daughter of Chan Heung. I was spent by the time the dinner was over since I had just come off a long work day, but boy was it a night to remember! :)