In Kunming

[ShaolinDan]

Hi all. Just want to say hi. I've been in Kunming, Yunnan, China now for about 12 days. I've been crazy busy and haven't had any time to read the forum, and I probably won't for a couple more weeks, but I thought I'd let you all know I'm still around.

Life is pretty good in Kunming. If you know the right place to eat it's possible to have a really good meal (and not get sick) for as little as one dollar. And a lot of the time the sky is even blue! Amazing. Very glad I know people here though, it would be very difficult without guidance.

Only had time to go to two kung fu classes so far, and also train in the park two mornings... Mostly I've seen just taichi and bagua, and mostly only solo training, but there are some people in the park with very good kung fu, whether or not they can fight. :)

Anyway, it's a great experience. It's great to be able to bring my kung fu to China and discover that it's better than a LOT of the Chinese practitioners, though in some ways that's disappointing also. I'll keep looking for the good stuff in my spare time...if I ever get any. :)

Wish you all the best. Don't let the trolls get you down. Peace.

[GeneChing]

If you have the time, check out the Shaolin temples in Kunming (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=959060#post959060). We'd love to get a 1st hand report on them.

[Scott R. Brown]

Who are you there with?

[TaichiMantis]

Have a great time, look forward to your report!:cool:

[ShaolinDan]

Thanks for the good wishes.
I'm here with my uncle and my new aunt (he recently married an English teacher from Kunming). They just opened a private language school.
It's going to be a long time until I have enough free time to travel--there's so much to do for the new school, but I certainly intend to visit at least one of the Shaolin Franchise temples. (Also, I'll try to find the Kingdom of The Little People and get some photos for you, Gene.)

[ShaolinDan]

Apologies for such a long post, trying to cram several weeks into one post. Anyway, as with the ISDFR thread, no one is under any obligation to read.

The good news is there is no shortage of excellent taichi here. Every morning the parks are full of people practicing tai chi and qigong. And while much of it is just okay, some of the taichi is really fantastic. The bad news, is that I'm really not interested in studying taichi at this point in my kung fu career. For now I'm completely content to just practice the silk reeling, qigong, and 18 movement form that I've learned from my Shifu. Still, I do enjoy watching it, and it's very inspiring to see so many very old practitioners doing their thing.

There is definitely more than just taichi out here, but it's a very small percentage. The other big styles here appear to be bagua and tongbei/tongbi, there is also a little bit of Shaolin and modern wushu, but not as much. While I've seen some good practitioners, for the most part they are only the teachers--their students have mostly been very unimpressive.

There are also a lot of solo practitioners who just seem to practice on there own. Again, nothing very impressive, but it's still inspiring to be surrounded by kung fu. I frequently see people doing qigong at the bus stop, or striking their own arms as they walk down the street.

The bad news is that outside of the Sanda class at my current school (which I can't join because it's barefoot only--I need arch support), I've seen almost zero partner practice, pad/bag work, and physical conditioning practice. I've also seen almost no weapons work outside of the taichi sword. It's almost all solo hand forms in the air. Even the Sanda class is disappointing--they do some good pad drills and a decent amount of physical conditioning, but they don't do anything we don't do at my school back home, and their workout is good, but does not even begin to compare to a tough class with my Shifu. What's even worse is so far, I have only seen them practicing striking skills, I've yet to see any throwing or falling being trained. Furthermore, while some of them have very impressive roundhouse kicks, even the best students have an absolutely pathetic jab/cross combination--frankly their punching skills are awful. :(

There are a number of different kung fu schools, as well as classes in the parks, that I will continue to check out. Perhaps eventually I will find an instructor that I am really happy with, but so far my scouting has not turned up anything I prefer to the school I'm currently enrolled at.

I did train for a couple of mornings with a group in the park right near my house. They come from a Shaolin school in the city, however, the school is on the outskirts and would be a very long commute for me. They demonstrated several weapons forms for me, as well as bagua taichi. The taichi was very very good, but the weapons work was just okay. Still the staff forms looked like good practical and traditional Shaolin. Using my aunt as a translator I told them I was not interested in learning taichi, but would like to learn staff with them. They invited me to come to the park to train with them five days a week from 6:30 am until 9:30 am. Unfortunately when I came to train with them it turned out that the short angry looking guy was the instructor (several of them were very nice and friendly), and that he insisted on me training qigong and bagua taichi instead of the staff work. I probably could have gotten very good at bagua taichi training with him, his taichi was excellent and he was a very tough instructor (made me use VERY low stances, and insisted I do twenty minutes of qigong and twenty minutes of standing post every morning), however, as I mentioned, I don't want to study taichi right now, and also with a training regimen like that I would have no time or energy left to keep up on the skills I've already learned. Finally, to top it all off, the guy was always scowling...I never saw him smile once. In the end I told him I preferred to practice what I've already learned and gave him a small amount of money for the time he'd spent on me. He took the money, counted it and then waved me away--never said a word. Good riddance, I guess.

One morning, while I was across the street from this park, waiting for my aunt to run an errand at the bank, I did see a group I thought I'd really like to train with. I'm almost certain they were doing Shaolin style, and what really sold me was that they were spending a fair amount of the class actually training with partners. They seemed to have a few different instructors (it was a big group) and their kung fu looked pretty solid. Some of the students looked pretty good too--they were certainly training hard. The instructors all had shaved heads--I suspect they are 'monks' from the Shaolin Temple Franchise just outside of Kunming. I have not made it to the local franchise yet, but it's on my list of things to do. (I'm sure it is both too far and too expensive to train at regularly, but it will be cool to visit.) Unfortunately I have yet to find this group again, but I will continue to look for it.

Finally, on to my current school and style: The school I'm enrolled at appears to be the best known school in Kunming, which is the capitol and biggest city of Yunnan province, so I guess it is maybe the most famous school in all Yunnan, though I'm not really sure about that. It does however have a few groups of foreigners who come for a week or two to train every year (mostly bagua, I think), so it is certainly known. It's headed by the 'famous' Sha Jun Jie, son of the VERY famous (at least locally, supposedly internationally) Sha Guozheng (now deceased). Sha Guozeng was a wushu coach for many years and is supposed to be internationally famous for combining taichi, bagua, xing yi, and tong bei into the Sha family kung fu style. There are some videos on youtube (which I can't watch here) of Sha Jun Jie and some of his students performing kung fu. Sha Jun Jie is certainly skilled, though it appears that he almost never teaches anymore.

The styles offered at Sha's school are bagua, taichi, xing yi, tong bei, sanda, and also modern wushu just for the kids class. The kids' instructor has some really good wushu kung fu, very impressive, it's really fun to watch him demonstrating for the kids. I've already talked about the sanda there (mostly taught by Sha Jun Jie's son), so I'll move on to the traditional stuff. Most of the students are studying taichi and bagua, some of them are pretty good, and the teachers are all very good (though quite old), but again, it's all solo forms work--pretty, but useless without the other parts of the training. A few people are studying xing yi, and only a couple (myself included) are studying tong bei.

The school is in an enormous gymnasium. Classes are informal and everyone trains at once. The teachers--there are always several--wander around from group to group teaching for a few minutes and then moving on. Most nights I'm the only one studying tong bei, and the others who do are training completely different skills, so I'm always on my own. In an hour and a half class, I will get an average of ten minutes instruction and the rest of the time I practice on my own.

The first night I went in there I did not know whether I wanted to study sanda, tong bei, or xing yi. Sanda was eliminated immediately because of the barefoot thing. At first it seemed that the instructors preferred to teach me xing yi to tong bei (no one was willing to demonstrate tong bei for me), but after warming up for a while, Sha Jun Jie's older sister said that because of my long arms (and I suspect because she saw I did know a little something after all) she would teach me the tong bei style which was based on a long armed ape. So, now I am training three nights a week, in the basics of the tong bei style, as well as going to the park in the morning as often as I can manage to keep up on my old material.

Thanks to this website I was able to find out a lot about tong bei/tongbi despite my lack of Chinese, thank you once again KFMF. :) So far I have only learned some basic exercises. In some ways this is just fine, it allows me time to practice what I already know and still be able to keep up with the new material I'm getting. I am happy with the style. It is definitely in the long fist family, but with a different flavor than anything I've learned yet--a good compliment to my Shaolin/Eagle Claw base. there are a lot of swinging arms and a lot of striking ones own body, which is cool--I get to train iron palm/body at the same time as I practice my techniques. My classmates are nice and friendly, and are very complimentary about my kung fu, and Sha Laoshi is always smiling and laughing--especially when I make a mistake, but this is much better than scowling/growling.

I just wish I had some partners to train with. I can practice my chinna and throwing in the air, but it just isn't the same. Being here has really helped me to realize what a good thing I had going back in Western MA. This trip will look great on my kung fu resume, but I really miss my school back home. :(

Well, I doubt anyone will get through this whole post, but if you do, thanks for reading and I hope I didn't bore you to death. :)

[Scott R. Brown]

HI Dan, Not boring at all. Very interesting. Please continue to share when you have the chance!

[GeneChing]

Nice to get some 'live' reports from your journey. Still eager to get some reports from the Guandu Shaolin Temples in Kunming (http://www.shaolin.org.cn/templates/EN_T_new_list/index.aspx?nodeid=326&page=ContentPage&contentid=2083). If you go, PM me - I might have something for you. ;)


Thanks to this website I was able to find out a lot about tong bei/tongbi despite my lack of Chinese, thank you once again KFMF. :) This is very gratifying to hear. Thanks for that.

[Faruq]

Apologies for such a long post, trying to cram several weeks into one post. Anyway, as with the ISDFR thread, no one is under any obligation to read.

The good news is there is no shortage of excellent taichi here. Every morning the parks are full of people practicing tai chi and qigong. And while much of it is just okay, some of the taichi is really fantastic. The bad news, is that I'm really not interested in studying taichi at this point in my kung fu career. For now I'm completely content to just practice the silk reeling, qigong, and 18 movement form that I've learned from my Shifu. Still, I do enjoy watching it, and it's very inspiring to see so many very old practitioners doing their thing.

There is definitely more than just taichi out here, but it's a very small percentage. The other big styles here appear to be bagua and tongbei/tongbi, there is also a little bit of Shaolin and modern wushu, but not as much. While I've seen some good practitioners, for the most part they are only the teachers--their students have mostly been very unimpressive.

There are also a lot of solo practitioners who just seem to practice on there own. Again, nothing very impressive, but it's still inspiring to be surrounded by kung fu. I frequently see people doing qigong at the bus stop, or striking their own arms as they walk down the street.

The bad news is that outside of the Sanda class at my current school (which I can't join because it's barefoot only--I need arch support), I've seen almost zero partner practice, pad/bag work, and physical conditioning practice. I've also seen almost no weapons work outside of the taichi sword. It's almost all solo hand forms in the air. Even the Sanda class is disappointing--they do some good pad drills and a decent amount of physical conditioning, but they don't do anything we don't do at my school back home, and their workout is good, but does not even begin to compare to a tough class with my Shifu. What's even worse is so far, I have only seen them practicing striking skills, I've yet to see any throwing or falling being trained. Furthermore, while some of them have very impressive roundhouse kicks, even the best students have an absolutely pathetic jab/cross combination--frankly their punching skills are awful. :(

There are a number of different kung fu schools, as well as classes in the parks, that I will continue to check out. Perhaps eventually I will find an instructor that I am really happy with, but so far my scouting has not turned up anything I prefer to the school I'm currently enrolled at.

I did train for a couple of mornings with a group in the park right near my house. They come from a Shaolin school in the city, however, the school is on the outskirts and would be a very long commute for me. They demonstrated several weapons forms for me, as well as bagua taichi. The taichi was very very good, but the weapons work was just okay. Still the staff forms looked like good practical and traditional Shaolin. Using my aunt as a translator I told them I was not interested in learning taichi, but would like to learn staff with them. They invited me to come to the park to train with them five days a week from 6:30 am until 9:30 am. Unfortunately when I came to train with them it turned out that the short angry looking guy was the instructor (several of them were very nice and friendly), and that he insisted on me training qigong and bagua taichi instead of the staff work. I probably could have gotten very good at bagua taichi training with him, his taichi was excellent and he was a very tough instructor (made me use VERY low stances, and insisted I do twenty minutes of qigong and twenty minutes of standing post every morning), however, as I mentioned, I don't want to study taichi right now, and also with a training regimen like that I would have no time or energy left to keep up on the skills I've already learned. Finally, to top it all off, the guy was always scowling...I never saw him smile once. In the end I told him I preferred to practice what I've already learned and gave him a small amount of money for the time he'd spent on me. He took the money, counted it and then waved me away--never said a word. Good riddance, I guess.

One morning, while I was across the street from this park, waiting for my aunt to run an errand at the bank, I did see a group I thought I'd really like to train with. I'm almost certain they were doing Shaolin style, and what really sold me was that they were spending a fair amount of the class actually training with partners. They seemed to have a few different instructors (it was a big group) and their kung fu looked pretty solid. Some of the students looked pretty good too--they were certainly training hard. The instructors all had shaved heads--I suspect they are 'monks' from the Shaolin Temple Franchise just outside of Kunming. I have not made it to the local franchise yet, but it's on my list of things to do. (I'm sure it is both too far and too expensive to train at regularly, but it will be cool to visit.) Unfortunately I have yet to find this group again, but I will continue to look for it.

Finally, on to my current school and style: The school I'm enrolled at appears to be the best known school in Kunming, which is the capitol and biggest city of Yunnan province, so I guess it is maybe the most famous school in all Yunnan, though I'm not really sure about that. It does however have a few groups of foreigners who come for a week or two to train every year (mostly bagua, I think), so it is certainly known. It's headed by the 'famous' Sha Jun Jie, son of the VERY famous (at least locally, supposedly internationally) Sha Guozheng (now deceased). Sha Guozeng was a wushu coach for many years and is supposed to be internationally famous for combining taichi, bagua, xing yi, and tong bei into the Sha family kung fu style. There are some videos on youtube (which I can't watch here) of Sha Jun Jie and some of his students performing kung fu. Sha Jun Jie is certainly skilled, though it appears that he almost never teaches anymore.

The styles offered at Sha's school are bagua, taichi, xing yi, tong bei, sanda, and also modern wushu just for the kids class. The kids' instructor has some really good wushu kung fu, very impressive, it's really fun to watch him demonstrating for the kids. I've already talked about the sanda there (mostly taught by Sha Jun Jie's son), so I'll move on to the traditional stuff. Most of the students are studying taichi and bagua, some of them are pretty good, and the teachers are all very good (though quite old), but again, it's all solo forms work--pretty, but useless without the other parts of the training. A few people are studying xing yi, and only a couple (myself included) are studying tong bei.

The school is in an enormous gymnasium. Classes are informal and everyone trains at once. The teachers--there are always several--wander around from group to group teaching for a few minutes and then moving on. Most nights I'm the only one studying tong bei, and the others who do are training completely different skills, so I'm always on my own. In an hour and a half class, I will get an average of ten minutes instruction and the rest of the time I practice on my own.

The first night I went in there I did not know whether I wanted to study sanda, tong bei, or xing yi. Sanda was eliminated immediately because of the barefoot thing. At first it seemed that the instructors preferred to teach me xing yi to tong bei (no one was willing to demonstrate tong bei for me), but after warming up for a while, Sha Jun Jie's older sister said that because of my long arms (and I suspect because she saw I did know a little something after all) she would teach me the tong bei style which was based on a long armed ape. So, now I am training three nights a week, in the basics of the tong bei style, as well as going to the park in the morning as often as I can manage to keep up on my old material.

Thanks to this website I was able to find out a lot about tong bei/tongbi despite my lack of Chinese, thank you once again KFMF. :) So far I have only learned some basic exercises. In some ways this is just fine, it allows me time to practice what I already know and still be able to keep up with the new material I'm getting. I am happy with the style. It is definitely in the long fist family, but with a different flavor than anything I've learned yet--a good compliment to my Shaolin/Eagle Claw base. there are a lot of swinging arms and a lot of striking ones own body, which is cool--I get to train iron palm/body at the same time as I practice my techniques. My classmates are nice and friendly, and are very complimentary about my kung fu, and Sha Laoshi is always smiling and laughing--especially when I make a mistake, but this is much better than scowling/growling.

I just wish I had some partners to train with. I can practice my chinna and throwing in the air, but it just isn't the same. Being here has really helped me to realize what a good thing I had going back in Western MA. This trip will look great on my kung fu resume, but I really miss my school back home. :(

Well, I doubt anyone will get through this whole post, but if you do, thanks for reading and I hope I didn't bore you to death. :)

Yeah, real intersting bro. I read the whole thing, and enjoyed it.

[Crushing Step]

This is terribly late, but I was in Kun Ming for about a month, two years ago. Great city with very few westerners!

[Syn7]

Sounds like a great experience. Glad to hear it's going relatively well. Stay safe. Take as many pics as you can then share when you get time.

[Sima Rong]

Thanks for sharing and all the best for the rest of your adventure! Yes, good to see you are focused on learning a few basic and practical things really well with good form and continually drilling them, since if you try to learn too much, it's too easy to forget stuff.

[ShaolinDan]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm glad some of you enjoyed reading, I'll keep posting. :)


Nice to get some 'live' reports from your journey. Still eager to get some reports from the Guandu Shaolin Temples in Kunming (http://www.shaolin.org.cn/templates/EN_T_new_list/index.aspx?nodeid=326&page=ContentPage&contentid=2083). If you go, PM me - I might have something for you. ;)

This is very gratifying to hear. Thanks for that.

Thank you, Gene. I'll definitely let you know when I get to the temple. It's just a matter of time, one of them is just a bus ride away.

Actually found the Shaolin group I've been trying to find again this morning. After watching up close (I was across the street before), I decided I didn't really want to join them, although it was good to watch. The teachers are definitely not from the temple. They only trained for an hour, all basics...I don't really want to pay for a class that's mostly holding mabu and gongbu while doing basic block/strike combos. It's all stuff I know enough to do on my own for free.

At the very end of the class they started doing some partner arm conditioning drills. I was there with my uncle and made the 'mistake' of showing him something similar we do in my school back home. Some of the guys training noticed and came over. Ended up knocking arms with a few of them for a while, and also caved in and demoed a form for them(twice). They were really nice, and were eager to have me join their class, but I guess I decided if I'm going to study in a class that's not as good as my class back home, I'm better off learning something new... I like the Tongbei/tongbi I'm learning a lot even if I'm not totally satisfied with the way it's taught. Maybe when my Chinese and my Tongbei improves I can find someone else in the class to practice with.

Still, I'll go back and check the Shaolin group out again, they're right in the park I usually practice at, just later in the morning than I'm normally there. Very happy to 'exchange' with them if they want, but I'm not going to pay them for lessons... Now how do I say that in Chinese? :p

[ShaolinDan]

Great! I seem to have found a good training partner to work with here. Spent a couple hours both yesterday and today and it seems like it'll be a consistent thing.
British guy my age who studies boxing, muay thai, a little BJJ, and Taiji, and has about 6" and 60lbs on me. It's such a relief to train with a real person again, I feel so much better. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Well, if nothing falls through I'll be be interviewing the head monk, Shi Yanbei at the Kunming Shaolin temples on Wednesday. Thanks for the hook up Gene!

[GeneChing]

I'll be very interested to learn what you discover.

amitoufo!

[ShaolinDan]

Well, if nothing falls through I'll be be interviewing the head monk, Shi Yanbei at the Kunming Shaolin temples on Wednesday. Thanks for the hook up Gene!

Well, that was very cool. It seems they were as excited to have foreign 'reporters' visiting them as I was to be interviewing a Shaolin monk. They treated us (me and my friend/training partner/translator) really well. Had their own photographer on hand, took us out to a very nice vegetarian feast, and gave us Kunming Shaolin brand Pu'er Tea to take home. Totally cool. Also invited us back to train and to attend a couple of Shaolin 'parties' in the city.

I tried not to have any fantasies about China before I came--but any fantasies I did have did not include being treated to a banquet by Shaolin monks. Thanks Gene and KFM!

If I don't screw up the writing too badly, maybe my interview with Shi Yanbei will be in the next Shaolin Special. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Cooler and cooler. Just a 'right place at the right time' thing. If anyone else on this forum had posted that they were in Kunming they'd be in my shoes now.

So, I'm getting to train at the Kunming Shaolin Temple for free--well, for the price of producing English language publicity material for the temple.

It's totally sweet and totally lucky. After training I'm going up to the Masters' rooms and drinking gongfu tea with them--**** good tea too (if you can't drink alcohol you do what you can). Also bringing home complimentary boxes of "Shaolin Cookies" all the way from Henan (they're delicious, by the way). I tried to put money in the donation box after training the other week and they wouldn't even let me.

Anyway, cool stuff. Got to thank Gene for the hook up.

Right now I'm in the process of advising them about what an appropriate training fee for westerners is...when that's all settled I guess I'll start a "Kuming Shaolin Temple" thread in the Shaolin forum.

For now I'll just say, Kunming is a really cool city (as far as cities in China go), and the training at the temple so far is totally old school--endless horse stance and no modern wushu.

If you're interested in more info PM me.

[GeneChing]

It's all about the guanxi. ;)

See Shaolin in Spring City Guandu Shaolin Temples in Kunming By Daniel Chase in our Shaolin Special 2013 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1088).

[Syn7]

That's sweet. Glad it has all worked out for you. Gotta love an adventure!!! I'm overdue.

[ShaolinDan]

Thanks Gene. Thanks Syn.

Totally understand feeling overdue for adventure. Spent ten years working as a cook in the same town (same job for 7 years), without any real adventures (except for taking up gong fu :) ). It took me three years to get up the nerve to make the change to China. Easy to get settled into a routine, but it feels great to break it.

Actually, I've kind of settled into a routine here in the last couple months. Kunming is a really comfortable place to live. Got my restaurants and bars and friends and gong fu school and have stopped feeling like I'm on a non-stop roller coaster ride. Not worried though, three more months and I'll be free to do some traveling. Really looking forward to that, there's so much here that I want to see!

[Syn7]

Yeah, people always prepare for things like that in the future then they never happen. You just gotta do it. I mean, you have to prepare, but there comes that time when you just gotta leap.

I'm going to Vietnam in the summer, that should be pretty cool. My gf is finishing up a degree at Cambridge and is there for about 6 or 7 months. So that will be fun, and she'll already know her way around and stuff. An added bonus.

[ShaolinDan]

That's sweet Syn! First time in Asia? How long are you going for? It's a **** long trip, I recommend staying as long as you can to make it worth it.

[Syn7]

Yup, first time. I'm gonna stay as long as I can. Couple weeks for sure. Yeah it's a ***** of a flight, for sure. 14 hour time diff.

[@PLUGO]

The Shaolin Temple You've Never Heard Of (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1092)

by Daniel Chase

[Syn7]

Nice... Props. Looks like you got to live out a childhood fantasy. Gotta love that.

Do you have a blog or a site where you put all your writings?

http://wordpress.com/ looks pretty user friendly.

[ShaolinDan]

Nice... Props. Looks like you got to live out a childhood fantasy. Gotta love that.

Do you have a blog or a site where you put all your writings?

http://wordpress.com/ looks pretty user friendly.

Sort of...it's nothing like the Kung Fu TV series, though. :p
I'm at least as excited about being a teacher instead of a cook and having managed to do some professional writing as I am about training at a Shaolin Temple. It's a sweet bonus though, never expected it when I came here...the Guanxi thing in China can be really annoying, but it's worked out well for me in this instance.

The KFM forum is my blog. :) Somewhere in the meditation section is a buried thread where I posted a bunch of old poems... Otherwise I just send 'mass' email updates to my friends. I also write separate mass mailings to my kung fu brothers and sisters back home--I don't think most of my friends want to read several page updates about the kung fu scene in Kunming. :o

On a side note, about your trip to Nam. If you can manage to stay longer than two weeks I'd do it. They say it takes about one day for every hour of time change to get over the jetlag. Possible to get around that though...My brother-in-law makes regular business trips to China and he's managed to get the sleeping pill timing down to a science. You seem like you'd be able to figure that one out. :D

[ShaolinDan]

Well, as long as I started posting pics from Guandu in the Guandu Shaolin Temple thread
(http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65758), I suppose I ought to start posting some of my pictures from around the rest of Kuming on this thread.

A note about Kunming in general: It's not a super exciting city and there's not a ton to do here, but it's widely considered one of the most comfortable cities in China to live in. The weather is great, the pollution is good (for China), and the people are laid-back and friendly (for China). :)

However, Yunnan is FULL of things to see (several of them within two hours of the city), and Kunming is the gateway to Yunnan. It's also a great place to travel the rest of Southeast Asia from. Kunming has a big new international airport with short cheap flights to the neighboring countries (Lao, Vietnam, Thailand, etc.).

Might as well start with the big picture. Here is a view of Kunming and Dian Chi (Lake Dian) from Xishan (West Mountain) [note Kuming is a valley city surrounded by mountains on all sides...much like Denver only without the snow]:

[ShaolinDan]

At first glance Kunming may look like just another a big sprawling city (and it is :p), but it also has several peaceful and green oasis to escape to. Probably the number one green getaway is Green Lake Park--happily only a few minutes away from my building. Not only is Green Lake Park a nice green place in the middle of the city, but it's also a great place to go and watch traditional singing and dancing. I'm not a city person at all, and being right near the park has been a real life saver this year.

Green Lake Park is also very photogenic. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Here are a few other spots that are good getaways inside the city:
This pagoda is on the grounds of an old Confucian Temple turned park (a favorite place for old locals to play cards, mahjong, chess, and anything else you can bet on):7443
Yuan Tong Temple is probably the most peaceful place I've found in the city:
7444
I also like sitting by the East Pagoda, which has a nice little park around it. Also between the West and East Pagoda are a bunch of really good (but expensive) restaurants. (The West Pagoda is pretty much the same as the East Pagoda, but with inferior landscaping.):
7445

[ShaolinDan]

Here is the most scenic bar I've ever been in. It's in the 'Old Town' of Kunming (not Guandu, but city center), and has a great view too. Drinking here is like drinking on the set of a kung fu movie. :) :
7446
7447
7448
And here's a rare treat. A quality imported beer. God I miss good beer. :(
7449
More to come...

[Syn7]

Sort of...it's nothing like the Kung Fu TV series, though. :p

I hear ya, but I would argue that the real experience is better than the TV version. Real is always better than make believe.

I just mean it must be neat to see the places where all the legends are based etc etc...

When I go to Asia I plan on seeing as much historical stuff as I can. Especially w/ architecture. I love old buildings, gardens, parks etc...

[ShaolinDan]

I hear ya, but I would argue that the real experience is better than the TV version. Real is always better than make believe.

I just mean it must be neat to see the places where all the legends are based etc etc...

When I go to Asia I plan on seeing as much historical stuff as I can. Especially w/ architecture. I love old buildings, gardens, parks etc...

It's totally neat. Living in America, old buildings are a real treat, loved that about Europe also.

[ShaolinDan]

The Bird and Flower Market is a great place to see old buildings. Unfortunately it's always getting less great. I can't blame them considering the state of the old structures, but old buildings are constantly being torn down and replaced with new old-looking buildings.
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It's also a great place to buy birds and flowers:
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And other stuff :p :
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[ShaolinDan]

April 29 to May 1 was the Kunming International Culture and Tourism Festival. Here's some photos from the performances and the parade, enjoy:

[ShaolinDan]

For videos of the Shaolin Performances see the Guandu Shaolin Temple thread:
http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65758&page=2

[ShaolinDan]

Just bought my ticket to fly home from Beijing on Aug. 21. Pretty exciting. Only have a couple more weeks left in Kunming and then I'll spend the next two months or so traveling in China. :) Will be stopping by the Songshan Shaolin Temple of course...also hope to make it to Emei Shan. Even though I won't be in Kunming anymore, I'll post about all that stuff on this thread I guess.

Anyway, here's a few pics of some of the special sites near Kunming, but outside the city.

The Stone forest (shilin) is kind of a combination of tourist trap and pristine beauty...like any National Park I guess. Anyway, great place to hike if you get out of the main areas. About an hour and a half from Kunming:
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XiShan (West Mountain) is just outside the city and is a great hike up to Longmen (dragon gate). Beautiful views and temples along the way:
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[ShaolinDan]

The lilies and the lotus are in bloom. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Well, not the worst loss of my life, but after trying several different companies it appears to be impossible to ship the spear, staff, and broadsword that I bought here home. If I was leaving straight from Kunming, I think the airline would let me check them, but I am traveling first and then leaving from Beijing. From what I have been told, I cannot take them on the trains with me. So I have to leave them here. :( Not sure how long it will be until I am in China again (maybe months, maybe years), but I guess I will fly home from Kunming next time.
Not the end of the world, but frustrating, as I chose some very heavy and traditional feeling practice weapons for myself that I think will be a challenge to replace in America...especially since I got all three for less than $40.
Oh well, easy come, easy go...

[Scott R. Brown]

Can you ship them somewhere else first and then home?

For example, do you know someone in Hong Kong or Taiwan or another Asian country you could ship them to and then have that person ship them home for you?

[ShaolinDan]

Can you ship them somewhere else first and then home?

For example, do you know someone in Hong Kong or Taiwan or another Asian country you could ship them to and then have that person ship them home for you?

It's a good idea, Scott. Maybe the problem is with the US, not China...I don't know. Anyway, it's too late now, I left them behind. Maybe one day I can come back and get them. In the meantime they'll sit in my aunt's house...

[ShaolinDan]

Ok, well, I meant to do this more often, but I've been busy running around and my hotel internet connections haven't been so good. I wanted to say more about the places I've been going, but I just can't keep up with myself. :) Anyway the following posts are a short summary of my travel so far.

[ShaolinDan]

Ok. First real stop in Yunnan was Dali. (Did stop at a chinese friend's town, but there really isn't anything worth saying about that place--yawn ).

Dali was fantastic. It's a tourist trap, but there's good reason for it. It's absolutely beautiful. Endless streets of old/old style buildings surrounded by beautiful mountains to hike and right near China's seventh biggest lake. Clean air too. Kunming is clean for a city in China, but it's still pretty polluted--the difference was very noticeable. Also home to the most impressive temple complex I've been to so far. Very very cool. Even had a great big statue of Bodhidarma, and for some reason the guy next to him had no left arm. ;)
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The tourist thing isn't all bad either--it means the streets are clean, the food is good, and there's even a British owned bar there that brews its own beer. Just lovely. I spent a week there and was sorry to move on.

Next stop was Lijiang, which was awful. Part of the problem was that I’d already spent too much time in the Old Town of Dali to appreciate the Old Town of Lijiang, but that wasn’t all. Aside from Disney World and Venice, I’ve never been anywhere more touristy in my life. Lijiang was really pretty, but just so fake. I felt like I was in a giant Epcot Center China exhibition—only made for Chinese people. Blech. None of the old buildings there are really even old—the place was demolished in an earthquake a couple decades ago and now it’s nothing but new ‘old’ buildings. Walking on the outskirts of the town I could see even more new-old buildings under construction. How this place manages to stay on the UNESCO World Heritage List is beyond me—but I guess the UN has bigger problems. Anyway, I only spent a day and a half there and then moved on to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Tiger Leaping Gorge was absolutely wonderful. I made it a two-day hike and despite the first day being pouring rain and cold, I still had a fantastic time. I’ve really been missing being able to take a walk in the woods. The second day cleared up for me anyway and the views were phenomenal. Misty mountains above me and a river below. Great variety of scenery from pine forest to bamboo groves to little farm villages…and lots of goats. I like goats. (I am one after all—1979). Highly recommend this to anyone traveling in Yunnan.
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[ShaolinDan]

After Tiger Leaping Gorge I made a change of plans. Originally I intended to continue on to Zhongdian (aka Shangrila) in Northwestern Yunnan for a taste of Tibet, then continue north to Chengdu in Sichuan—Close to Chengdu I really wanted to see Leshan (the world’s tallest Buddha, ever since the Taliban blew up the one in Afghanistan) and to climb Emei Shan (and see if I could hunt down any Emei gong fu). But I didn’t do any of that. One of the big attractions of Zhongdian is its old town and I was feeling totally burned out on old towns. Also I started to realize that going to a new place every few days for two months straight was just too much running around for me. So I decided to prioritize my travel.

From Tiger Leaping Gorge I went back to Lijiang and caught a plane all the way to Xi’an in Shaanxi. Before the imperial capital was moved to Beijing, Xi’an was the Emperor’s home, so obviously there’s some serious history there. The really big thing of course is the Terracotta Warriors. The next biggest thing is the old city wall. To be honest, both of these were not terribly exciting for me. I’m glad I saw them, but I just didn’t get the ‘WOW’ I’d been expecting. Maybe it was just too hot—I do miss the weather in Yunnan. Still Xi’an is a pretty nice city. The air pollution is not great, but otherwise it seems very comfortable. Wide roads and sidewalks, polite drivers for Chinese standards—a very well organized city in my impression. Anyway, though not amazing, I did have a pleasant few days there. One thing that I found very interesting was the heavy Taoist presence. In Kunming almost all of the temples were Buddhist and I rarely saw a Taoist monk, but in Xi’an it seems to be about a 50/50 split, so that was something new and cool for me.
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So, prioritizing my travel. This morning I caught a bus from Xi’an to Luoyang in Henan. Luoyang is a dump, but it’s on the way to Shaolin Temple and there’re some things I really want to see here. Long before Luoyang became an industrial wasteland it was a dynastic capital and so it’s got some history. The big draw is that right outside of Luoyang are the Longmen Caves—a collection of Buddhist caves full of ancient carvings (and another UNESCO site). Also nearby is the oldest surviving (though since rebuilt) Buddhist temple in China and another temple which is supposedly the burial place of General Guan—so i'll check those out in the next couple of days and then move on to Dengfeng where I intend to hang out for a couple of weeks.

[pazman]

If you are still in Luoyang, feeling extremely hungry, and have a friend who lives there, I recommend taking that friend out to lunch or dinner for Luoyang "Shui Xi" (water banquet). Luoyang's cuisine is very different from the typical Henan fare and is worth checking out.

And if you visit Henan without eating any "hui mian", you will make Li Shimin cry.

[Syn7]

DUDE. Jealous!!!

Nice to see that it's all working out rather well for you. Good luck as you move forward. :)

[ShaolinDan]

If you are still in Luoyang, feeling extremely hungry, and have a friend who lives there, I recommend taking that friend out to lunch or dinner for Luoyang "Shui Xi" (water banquet). Luoyang's cuisine is very different from the typical Henan fare and is worth checking out.

And if you visit Henan without eating any "hui mian", you will make Li Shimin cry.

Well, unfortunately I'm here on my own. I'd love to try the water banquet, but 24 courses of soup sounds like a bit much for me...maybe another time.

As far as Hui mian goes, well, Kunming has tons of Hui and I'm just coming from Xi'an, where, of course I had to check out the special Xi'an noodles, but don't worry, I'm on a budget, so there's no way I won't be eating my fair share of noodles in Henan.

[ShaolinDan]

DUDE. Jealous!!!

Nice to see that it's all working out rather well for you. Good luck as you move forward. :)

Thanks Syn. So far so good... Anyway, I've met a few people who had been traveling around SE Asia who said Vietnam was their favorite country, so you should be in for a nice trip too. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Luoyang was a pretty miserable and unappealing city--dirty, nothing going on, and terrible air quality, and almost no foreigners (which means way too much attention for me), but it was worth the trip all the same.

The Longmen Caves were not what I expected, I thought I'd be going inside caves covered with carvings, actually it was just thousands of little hollows carved into the cliff face--still cool though. There was also one VERY impressive set of enormous buddhist staues--not anywhere near the size of Leshan, but I still got to see a pretty big buddha after all, so that was cool.
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Guanlin Temple was a very cool trip for me. A different kind of temple than I've seen so far.
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Supposedly Cao Cao buried General Guan's head behind these doors.
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White Horse temple was good to go to since it's so old and important for Buddhism in China, but after all the time I've spent in Buddhist temples here, it just wasn't that exciting for me. The one thing that would have been awesome to see was the "Depository of Magical Weapons." But unfortunately that was closed. :(

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Funny thing about the White Horse Temple, is they're building an addition there of "International Buddhist Temples," so you can see (currently under construction) replicas of temples in India and Thailand (and maybe more later). Very funny to me. Might have appreciated it more if I hadn't already been to dozens of temples in Thailand this year. :)

Dengfeng in many ways is just as miserable as Luoyang, but the air pollution is not as bad and of course, it's got gong fu--and lots of it. Also, I've managed to meet up with Rendahai, so at least I have someone to talk to and to give me some insider info on the place. Mostly I've just been walking around, and checking out some of the local schools, and pondering whether or not it's worth the money to train at one of them for only a few days (probably not), but I did have a fantastic visit to Shaolin Temple a couple of days ago, but I'll post about that on the "Shaolin Journey's" thread. http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49520&page=6

So, I'm having a great time here, but Henan is a far cry from Yunnan. No blue sky, no beautiful perpetual spring weather, and the food here is relatively boring (noodles, dumplings, noodles, bread, and more noodles)--but it's cheap. Can't wait to have some real western food--one month to go! (and two days, but who's counting? ;) )

[ShaolinDan]

And if you visit Henan without eating any "hui mian", you will make Li Shimin cry.

Ooops, sorry Paz, I just assumed hui mian meant noodles made by hui muslims...didn't realize that in Henan, it's just one kind of noodles. Anyway, I ate them a few times, so Li Shimin can rest in peace.

Hung out in Dengfeng for a while. Some neat old things to see there even if it's not a very nice place and it was fun to see kung fu everywhere I went. It was cool hanging out with RDH and getting to see some of what he's learned out there. He's managed to tap into some pretty cool stuff.
My overall impression of the kung fu students in Dengfeng is that they're all over-training. Personally, I think they're academics, quality of life, and even their kung fu would all improve if they just trained half as much. Saw a few people with really amazing skill (especially young kids), but so many others who just don't seem to be getting as much back as they put into it.

Also spent a few days training at Shaolin Temple. Glad I did it. Wasn't sure I wanted to, but I'm sure I'd regret it if I hadn't...a bit more on that on the Shaolin Journeys thread...hopefully a lot more to come when I finish my next article for the ezine. ;)

Anyway, not going to post pics of Dengfeng or Shaolin. If you follow the magazine then you've seen it all before.

[ShaolinDan]

From Dengfeng I headed to Pingyao in Shanxi. A really long and expensive trip with no direct routes, but I did get to ride in a high-speed train which was cool-- 300km/hr is definitely the fastest I've ever traveled on land before.

Got to see a lot of the Shanxi countryside. Pretty beautiful, lots of terraced mountains and little farm villages.

Pingyao was very nice. Another old city. A really beautiful one, though, with city wall still intact and lots of "old" buildings that really are old. Also, like Dali, once getting off the main drag, there were lots of quiet streets free of tourists with just real people living real lives in real old homes. And unlike Lijiang, it's possible to find cheap places to eat and sleep.

I liked Dali a bit better because of the nearby mountains for hiking and because of its really nice expat scene, but I still enjoyed a week in Pingyao (most people only spend three days). It's too much traveling for me to keep hopping around, I'd rather just stay somewhere nice for a while.

One thing that made Pingyao unique is that it's the home of the first bank in China. This also made it the home of some of the first escort services in China. These old courtyard buildings have all been turned into little mini-museums. So I was able to go into not just the home of China's first bank, but also several former escort services (as well as a wushu museum). It was nice to be in an old town with a little kung fu touch. Unfortunately most of the captions were Chinese only, so I couldn't read about the lives and feats of the various kung fu heroes recounted there. :(

Anyway, great place to spend a few days, highly recommend it to anyone traveling in China, just make sure to wander the side streets when you get sick of the tourist nonsense.

[ShaolinDan]

From Pingyao I went to Datong in the far north of Shanxi. But more about Datong in the next post.
The real reason I went to Datong was to see the Yungang Caves.
On the morning that I intended heading to the caves, I got talked into doing my first tour in China. It actually worked out OK. I managed to see the Hanging Monastery (which I'd planned on skipping) in the morning and the caves in the afternoon.
The Hanging Monastery was really beautiful, but seriously overpriced. In the long term I'm glad I did it, but right now it would be nice to have that extra money. 124 RMB for a 30 minute walk through of a little temple just isn't a good deal. Still, it was unique and pretty...wish I was a student and could pay half price on all this stuff.
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Yungang Caves were absolutely fantastic though. I posted earlier about visiting the Longmen Caves outside of Luoyang. The Yungang Caves are the same deal only 30 years earlier--when the capital moved from Datong to Luoyang, Yungang was abandoned and Longmen begun.

However, Yungang was MUCH better than Longmen. Although Longmen is bigger (more ground and more caves and a bigger biggest Buddha), Yungang is far more impressive. Perhaps because Yungang is in soft sandstone, whereas Luoyang was carved in limestone, some of the caves in Yungang actually go in pretty deep, they're not just hollows like in Longmen. Also, in Yungang you are actually allowed to go inside a number of the caves and walk around (which is really refreshing on a hot summer day). Also, the statues at Yungang are far better preserved, some of them even still have the original pigments on them. There's even a huge gilt covered seated buddha (however no pictures allowed in that cave to protect the color). And finally, a band of Cultural Revolutionists did not decide it would be a good idea to smash the heads off hundreds of the buddhas there as they did at Longmen. So, this was fantastic. To anyone traveling in China I'd say skip Longmen entirely and just go to Yungang.
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Oh, yeah, also, you can see a little corner of a ruined section of the Great Wall on the hill above Yungang. But it's not very photogenic, so I'll hold off on the Great Wall pics until Beijing:)

[ShaolinDan]

So based on everything I read and everyone I talked to, I really wasn't expecting much from Datong. It's just somewhere people stop to see Yungang.
However, I don't like to sleep somewhere without getting to know the place, so I devoted today to walking around Datong. Actually I found it amazing.

Datong would make a very interesting case-study on China. It is a sh*thole that is trying to become a paradise. Originally a coal city, just five years ago Datong had gray skies and was covered in black coal dust. But now the coal mines are running low and the local government is spending huge amounts of money trying to make tourism Datong's new economy. Though much of the city is still rundown and dirty, parts of it are extremely nice--and it now has blue skies. Nowhere that I've been in China has so dramatically captured the contrasts of "real" China.

Although there are still some beautiful old buildings in Datong (and some rundown old homes), much of the old city is being rebuilt from scratch. The government has even undertaken the massively expensive project of rebuilding the old city walls (based on old photographs).
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It's really an incredible (if somewhat cheesy) undertaking. It's possible that in a few years from now, Datong will be a thoroughly beautiful (if somewhat fake) city, but right now it's an incredible mish-mash of everything. Really an incredible place. One day walking around Datong puts you right in touch with the pulse of China.

On one side of the road you have this:
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And on the other side (literally) you have this:
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Some of the new stuff is tacky, but a lot of it is quite beautiful:
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[ShaolinDan]

What can I say, I was inspired. :) This is all from just a half a day walking around the city, mind you.

[ShaolinDan]

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One of the real standouts of Datong is this 9 Dragon Spirit Wall. It's more than 600 years old and is China's largest glazed ceramic tile wall.
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There's also a lovely 5 Dragon Spirit wall:
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There were also some beautiful and very old statues in some of the temples, but no pics allowed in there.

Okay. Well, that's more than enough of Datong. It really did capture more of the essence of China in less space than anywhere else I've been. Sadly it will probably be much less interesting in just a couple of years from now. I'll be curious to find out if their bid at becoming a top tourist destination works out for them.

Tomorrow it's on to my last stop, Beijing. And two weeks from today I fly home. Yay!:D

[TaichiMantis]

I really enjoy this thread! Thanks for all the pics!

[ShaolinDan]

I really enjoy this thread! Thanks for all the pics!

Thanks, I'm glad to hear it. I'm enjoying it, too. It's nice having something unique to share. In a couple weeks I'll be stuck with just sharing my tired opinion on the same tired MA subjects. :p

[Dragonzbane76]

great pics!

[ShaolinDan]

Thanks man!

[Gowgee]

Thanks for sharing, Shaolin Dan!

[ShaolinDan]

Thanks for sharing, Shaolin Dan!

My pleasure! Here's some more.

So this is the end. Tomorrow I am flying home. It feels like a dream, but it's finally here. Hard to realize. I don't think it will really sink in until I've touched down in Boston. But this is it (for now).
I've been enjoying Beijing. It's a hip and happening place. Lots to see and do, great food, good nightlife, lots of shopping--a different China than I've seen so far. In some ways it's a lot like Taiwan or Hong Kong, only dirtier. :)
I couldn't live here, too many crowds and too much pollution, but it's a great place to visit. The pollution is funny, some days are fine--yesterday was clear blue and beautiful--and other days I don't even want to go outside.
Well, there was a lot to see here, I definitely can't post pictures of everything, but here are some of the highlights...(keep in mind, these are highlights for me--a lot of people think the Lama Temple is just fantastic, but I've spent so much time in temples this year, that it just didn't rate for me.)
I don't think many people go to see Dongyue Temple, an old Taoist temple in Beijing, but this was nice for me. Another temple, yes, but different. For one thing, it's cheap. Also it's not crowded. Had all these little chambers full of statues of the gods and semi-divine beings in charge of various realms. Cute. :)
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The Forbidden City was cool. There's a ton to see there, but summer vacation just isn't the right time to go. Way too crowded. Could spend all day there, but after two hours of dealing with the crowds, I was done.
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The Summer Palace was a highlight for me. Really beautiful grounds and tons to see. Also, even though it's crowded, the grounds are big enough that you can get way from everyone at least some of the time.
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Also checked out the ruins of the old Summer Palace. They're in a really beautiful park and it's on the way back to the city from the Summer Palace, so it was worth seeing, but not too exciting. the ruins are now a playground--China cracks me up. :)
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Saw four of the zodiac heads in the Poly Art Museum. They say they hope to collect the rest--wonder if they helped fund CZ12. Anyway, the pictures didn't come out good, but I saw Pig, Monkey, Tiger, and Ox...

The absolute highlight was definitely the Great Wall. I did not go to Badaling (the most visited section of the wall), but instead signed up for a tour that went to a 6km hike on a less traveled section of the wall. It was great! One of the things that I've realized on this trip is that the best times I have are when I go for a walk somewhere pretty outside--not something I need to be on the other side of the world for.
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Anyway, it's been a fantastic year, but I'm glad it's over. Next time I post I'll be home! :D:D:D

[GeneChing]

Those photos bring me right back (and I haven't spent any significant time there in over a decade now :( ).



I don't think many people go to see Dongyue Temple, an old Taoist temple in Beijing, but this was nice for me. Another temple, yes, but different. For one thing, it's cheap. Also it's not crowded. Had all these little chambers full of statues of the gods and semi-divine beings in charge of various realms. Cute. :)
http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7741&d=1376987166
Love those demon pics. Chinese demons are my fav. This is how I visualize most of the forum members here. ;)

[ShaolinDan]

Well, I'm home! Just got in yesterday morning. A bit jet-lagged and out of it, but it's good to be back. Bagels, cream cheese, and lox and Anchor and Shipyard beer and drinkable tap water and decent coffee and clear air and youtube and... It's the little things in life that make all the difference. :)


Those photos bring me right back (and I haven't spent any significant time there in over a decade now :( ).


Love those demon pics. Chinese demons are my fav. This is how I visualize most of the forum members here. ;)

Totally! You can even see that the one in the middle is typing on an invisible keyboard. :p

[GeneChing]

Totally! You can even see that the one in the middle is typing on an invisible keyboard. :p
Actually, all the middle three look like they could typing away virulently. A little photoshop and this could be our next KFM forum meme. ;)

[ShaolinDan]

Actually, all the middle three look like they could typing away virulently. A little photoshop and this could be our next KFM forum meme. ;)

Shhh! Don't tempt Ross to come back and post that naked pic of himself with your head again. Ickk!!

[ShaolinDan]

Not actually in Kunming right now(though I'm using it as a homebase here) but a few years ago this thread served as my China travelogue, might as well keep things tidy, even if my old photos are gone. :(
Floated down the Li River today from Guilin to Yangshuo. Pretty awesome. :D99059906

[ShaolinDan]

Back in Kunming. Yangshuo and the Li River were incredibly beautiful. But what the pictures don't show is how hot and humid it was there. Started pouring sweat whenever I left the air conditioned room. It's great to be back in the Kunming weather. :)

[ShaolinDan]

Kunming continues to grow, with new high rises in the ourskirts, and new high end shopping malls downtown. Burger King has arrived to join the well established McDonalds and KFC.
However, much of Kunming's charm remains intact. The weather is temperate, the air quality remains among the best of China's large cities, and the pace of life is as slow and friendly as in any city of several million I've ever been to. In Green Lake Park, the people sing and dance, and admire the blooming lotus flowers. "Improvements" to the bird and flower market area progress at a blessedly slow pace. Many of the original structures I thought I'd seen the last of yet remain untouched.
The comfort of Kunming continues to support a thriving expat scene which caters to each other's needs. Craft beer has come to Kunming!

[ShaolinDan]

In Dali now. Was probably my favorite place to hang out for a bit last time I was in China, so I decided to come back. Just chilling out here for five days. It's nice. The combination of old town and beautiful mountains makes it really nice. Nice enough to ignore the heavy tourism.
My first stop this morning was the temple to General Guan. Was pleased to find a small class of novices learning staff from their teacher there. A good place to train gong fu.
Trying to upload a nice photo, but it's taking forever. Chinese wifi. :/
May have to do my picture posting after the trip is over.
Anyway, it's **** pretty. :)

[ShaolinDan]

There we go! View from atop the city wall.

[ShaolinDan]

Went down to Erhail Lake yesterday. Very pretty. The walk back up to Dali old city was really nice too. Walking down country lanes and seeing rural China up close. Usually end up just driving by these scenes on the way to a new city. :) Heading back to Kunming today for a final farewell.

[ShaolinDan]

Well, that's it for China this year. In Bangkok now for a couple days, then a few days in Bali, and then back home. Four weeks in China flew by. I will miss it, but I will be back. They are giving Americans a 10 year visa now. Amazing.
Surprised no one commented on that last picture. ;) Really has gotten quiet here. :(