Frank, tell us about what you've been up to in HK

[saulauchung]

Frank, I hope you are not too tired from your recent trip to Hong Kong. Any chance of letting us in on what you've been up to there? Photos taken would be nice too, if you have any. Cheers.

:cool:

[jameswebsteruk]

OK, give me a day or to so I can write it up, and scan the photos in.

The short version of each day:

Up at 11am
shop/sitesee all day,
6pm to 10pm train at various WC schools
10pm to 1am Meal with schools students
1am to 6am Bars and clubs
6am to 11am Sleep!

This schedule was slightly interrupted for me due to the Night of the Free Beer. And a very expensive date. And getting slapped in the face by a Mongolian lady of the night. Still, all part of the fun.

Met some great people, too.

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[joy chaudhuri]

I hope do share information on your visit including the schools, what they do, who they leanred from, skill levels etc. BTW what kind of slap did the Mongolian lady use <g>? :D

[jameswebsteruk]

The standard one. It was too fast for me. I tried to pak da, but her lut sao jit chung was too strong. :)

Seriously, she was trying to get me to dance, when I was far too tired, and she just got fed up and belted me. According to her friends, I had insulted her ego by not jumping at the chance.

They were quite shocked as well, and apologised on her behalf. Apparently, whacking potential clients is not considered good form. Uh, perhaps that was not the best choice of words...

Anyway, I am no stranger to being hit by a woman. I posted a story earlier this year on how I was attacked by three fifteen year old girls on a train. Is it something Im doing wrong?

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[saulauchung]

... whacking potential clients? What sort of services were they offering?

:cool:

[jameswebsteruk]

I imagine the standard sort of service. You know, 10 dollar, me love you long time etc. ;)

Naturally, I have no first hand experience of this...

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[Sharky]

LOL that just cracks me up man.

" me love you long time "

*s******s*

=================================
What we really need is chicks with a whole new kinda orifice - Fish

Sharky, I should expect this level of immaturity from you after seeing your post titled "Hm." regarding the woman that lives next door to you. I think everyone who unfortuneatly read that post is a bit more ignorant now for doing so. - Spectre

All i wanted was some RICE CAKES! Now? WE MUST BATTLE.

[vingtsunstudent]

frank
how long ago were you in hong kong?
i am just curious as a few of the guys from our school have just returned yesterday from over there as well.
vts

[jameswebsteruk]

If it was Bill and some of his guys from Australia, then we overlapped a few days, they arrived towards the end of our stay.

I met Bill before at the 1st conference, but it was good to see him again. There were loads of people from different countries training at Cliff Au Yungs place, Germany, UK, the US.

I will write it up and post photos, I promise!

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[vingtsunstudent]

hi frank
yes it was bill, if you'd like top e-mail me & let me know your real name i could let bill know that i have chatted with you on here.
vts

[straightblast5]

Hello Frank,

Did you by chance meet my student Keith Voney from the U.S.? He was also at Cliff's place a couple of weeks back.

Phil Ng
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association (http://www.ngfamilymartialarts.com)

[jameswebsteruk]

Yes, we did meet Keith! He was a great guy.

We had a hilarious taxi-ride back from a club one night, with him berating the driver who he thought was taking the long way round.

"Stop bending me over, man! We know where you live!"

then as an aside to us: "They love it when you abuse them."

:)

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[jameswebsteruk]

Hong Kong Trip, November 2001.

16 of us from the UK arrived in Hong Kong at 2pm on Monday afternoon. Proceeded to the hotel in Jordan, got settled in, slept. 7 pm, met up in the Jordan MTR (Mass Transit Railway/Underground/Tube/Subway/Metro), to meet 9 German students.

Everyone got their Octopus cards, and we headed off to the Ving Tsun association headquarters for the WSL Lineage lesson.

When we arrive, it turns out that the lesson times have been rearranged, currently Yip Chun is teaching a small class there. For those of you that haven’t been, the headquarters is a relatively small room on the 4th floor in a block that varies enormously in function, having ladies health shops, food vendors, fish restaurants, and the ever present 7-Elevens, which are really useful for jet-lagged culture shocked westerners who need a Coke or a Mars bar to restore their constitution. The building is on a busy shopping street, right next to the MTR exit.

As there was at this point 25 of us, it was politic to withdraw, with such a large group visiting a school is a diplomatic exercise, as we pretty much filled the room, and don’t wish to appear to be ‘invading’ a class to which we had not been invited.

Turns out that the WSL class is scheduled for 8, so we hang about for a bit, grab Cokes and coffees in nearby cafes, and head back. Chen Kin Man actually runs the class, but it is “officially” presided over by Simo, Wong Shun Leung’s wife.
She doesn’t know any WC at all, but is involved in some way I could not quite determine. We squash into the room, which is pretty dingy, with a dummy, some mirrors, and a big pillar slap bang in the middle. Just the way I like it, I felt right at home. :)

Training in HK is very different to most schools I have visited in the UK, but the same as we do it. Very informal, people wander in and out. There is no uniform to speak of, some turn up in suits and roll up the shirtsleeves, others change in to shorts and t-shirts. Most start with the forms, and then roll for a bit, moving on the chisao.
If you want to stop, go outside to get a drink, or whatever, then that’s fine. There is no warm up, or press-ups, or stretching, just pure WC.

My instructor chatted to Simo after handing over the obligatory presents. We are not permitted to have a go with the local students, but after a while are given the ok to do a bit amongst ourselves. This was the same last year, I believe the rationale behind this is to build up a relationship, so that neither side feels “challenged” and the chisao doesn’t get out of hand.

At this point most of us, myself included are too jetlagged to do anything but watch and occasionally stare out of the window at the girls. The students all seemed to be relatively low level, mostly beginners.

At one point I fall asleep sitting on a stool. At 10 the lesson finishes, and we rouse ourselves to go for a meal with Simo and some of the students. We hit a restaurant nearby, and hit the beers. The beers are served by a “Carlsberg girl”, who is Sweet. Green Carlsberg jacket, short skirt and knee high white boots. :)

We stuff ourselves, begin to feel human again, and about 12.30, fortified by beers, the more adventurous of us decide to hit Wan Chai for some clubs and bars. The others wuss out and head back to the hotel. We roll right up to the Strawberry Bar, a favourite hang out, as it is about 20 yards from Cliff Au Yueng's WSL school, and is full of honeys. We have a top time, meeting loads of girls, some of whom are not in fact ladies of the night. One of our guys is a singer back home, and gets up on stage to belt out a quality version of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer", whilst the rest of us kowtow before the stage in a Waynes World "We are not worthy!" style.
At 5 am, we finally have enough, and zip back to the hotel.

The next morning, I feel really blooody rough, but are scheduled to visit Yip Man's grave at Fa Lin, so we take the KCR overland train. Those of you who went to the conference will remember trudging morosely up the hill in the blazing heat. This was the same, except as we started to clamber over the graves, the whole place looked different, incredibly overgrown. Turns out that we cant find the grave at all. The grass in many places was over 8 feet high. We spend an hour climbing round trying to find it, and in the end narrow it down to a massively overgrown impenetrable area. There seems to be no attempt to keep the area free from undergrowth, which is a shame, as they are many other graves there, not just Yip Mans.

Having tasted bitter defeat at the hands of nature, some head off to do some shopping, others go back to the hotel to sleep.

We meet up in the evening again to visit Cliff Au Yuengs school. Cliff is a student of WSL, teaches in Wan Chai, and has known my instructor, Clive, for 10 years. We are made very welcome at his school, its great to be there again and see some old faces from the previous few years. We immediately get stuck in for a sweaty training session. Cliffs place is really nice, air conditioned, mirrors everywhere, two dummies, heavy bags, speed balls, a gym, the works.
It is easily big enough to accommadate our 25 and all Cliffs guys (and girls!).

Again, apart from one or two, most students have only had a few years training, the people I really wanted to see was those with 8-10 year experience, who werent to be found.

I had a great session with a very feisty lad, only about 17, who had been doing it for only 1.5 years, and was surprisingly good. Seeing as we saw him the previous night at Simo's, I suspect he trains hard every night, so it is maybe not that surprising. We were able to have a good give and take, as we have known Cliff long enough to build up the trust relationship, so if someone did get clocked a good one, then it was taken gracefully and goodhumouredly.

After 3 hours of this, we are sweating like pigs in a sauna, and in dire need of refreshments, so we run the gauntlet of the Lockhart Road girlie bars to eat at the FookHing Hot Pot Restaurant.
(These girls quite frankly have to be seen to be believed, they are that hot. They stand outside the bars, trying to cajole you in, sometimes, in the case of my instructor, even grabbing part of your anatomy, in the hope that the rest of you will follow them into the dark recesses, where who knows what sordid pleasures await the weary traveller. Er, I digress. ;) )
Cliff informs us that there is a special promotion on that night, and we have to pay for the meal, but not the drinks!

Thus, the Night of the Free Beer was born. :)

Tune in next time, for more exciting adventures!
This programme has been brought to you by TsingTao beer, and the letter S.

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[jameswebsteruk]

Anyone know how to post pictures, I have them scanned as .jpgs, but they are not hosted online anywhere. Can I upload them from my hard drive, or do I have to link to a hosted version?

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[saulauchung]

Cheers Frank, can't wait for part 2 and more.

:cool:

[Sihing73]

Hi Frank,

If you would like you can e-mail me the pictures and I will post them for you under whatever message you would like.

You can e-mail me at any of the following:
Sihing73@juno.com
dmcknight@rcn.com

Peace,

Dave

[jameswebsteruk]

What I had forgotten in part 1 was that after failing miserably to find Yip Man's grave, we visited a fantastic Daoist Temple which is just down the road from the cemetary. Amazing place, if you've ever seen "Monkey", or "The Water Margin" series, you'll know what I mean. Red and gold decoration everything, big pictures of Lao Tzu, great plants and trees, red pillars and roofs.

Anyway, I'd left you at the start of the Night of the Free Beer, at that Fooking Hot Pot place. The meal was ok, but the guys were getting a bit sick of fish dishes, and wanted more of our standard Hong Kong fare, which is plate after plate of choi sum, fried rice, and char sui chow mein. Choi sum, or "Green stuff" as it is referred to, is a particular favourite of ours.
We consoled ourselves with bottle after bottle of Carlsberg and TsinTao beer. At about 2am, we decided the time was right to show the ladies of Wan Chai what real men were capable of, so we waddled unsteadily down Lockhart Road (aka The Street of Shame) performing the remarkable feat of boozily eyeing up the girls whilst still managing to avoid eye contact. Harder than it sounds, let me tell you.

We ended up in the Strawberry Bar again, and had a great time, that was when I got slapped by the mongolian hooker. I somehow managed to arrange a date for the following night, with what turned out to be probably the only girl in the bar that wasnt on the game, a lovely Filipino girl called Regina. And, no, it doesnt rhyhme with... you get the idea. Got to bed at 6am.

The next morning, we had to be up at 11, I felt like a lump of living ****e. And, of course, that morning was one of the most important, the visit to pay our respects to Wong Shun Leungs grave at the cemetary on Hong Kong Island. One of Cliff's senior students is a taxi driver, who had organized a group of taxis to take us there and back, as the place is so big that it takes about an hour to walk up the winding road past tier after tier of marble headstones. There must be literally tens of thousands of headstones, maybe hundreds of thousands. We found the grave easily enough, as we had been many times before. Then we paid our respects in the traditional way, lighting incense, burning hell money, paper clothes, spilling wine, and lighting incense sticks in nearby graves so their spirits dont feel left out. The place is amazing, its so peaceful, looking out over these hundreds of rows of beatiful headstones to the sea. All have a headstone, except WSL. I think that this is absolutely disgraceful, but as it can only be placed by the family, it is not really my place to say anything. My instructor has many times tried to find out what is going on about this, but has never received a satisfactory answer.

So, with this casting a bit of a downer on the proceedings, we toddled off to the hotel. Some went to eat, some went shopping, some went for a general look round. Personally, I puked my guts up, and went back to bed. Thank god I was able to hide my hangover until we had finished at the grave.

In the evening, we went back to Cliff's school and trained, went for a meal, and then on to a bar.
I, however, had a date! After training at Cliff's until 9, I changed my tshirt, sniffed my armpits, sidled unobstrusively out of the training hall and slipped, unobserved into the Strawberry bar, which had just opened. As the only customer there, seeing as it doesnt really get busy until 3am, I was able to fortify my hungover condition with a club sandwich and some diet coke. Sweet!
Eventually Regina turns up, and we hit some Wanchai nightspots, including the highlight for me, the Bar With The Big Boobed Thai Girls. :) (I think it was called Neptunes, if you are ever in the area).

Her friend tagged along, and after a few drinks I realised that each round of three was costing my about $180HK, which is about £17. Ouch! And I was drinking Coke! Still, we have a great time dancing, grinding, and spending my money, until I realised that this date wasn't going anywhere, and I was going to finish up with "ball lightning" and an empty wallet.

So, I make my excuses and leave, then consoled myself by going to another of our favourite bars, La Bamba, and meeting the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life. (Drifts off, mumbling happily to himself....) Ahem. Sorry.

Due to extreme lack of sleep ;), the next day sees me stuck in bed until 3pm. The guys were off to see the Peak, which I had seen a couple of times before, so was not concerned about missing. In the afternoon, myself and my mate Richard head of to Tsim Sha Tsui to have a look at MP3 players, but get tired of being consistently lied to by unscrupulous salesmen, and go instead to Sham Sha Po, for some software of the, er, shall we say skull and crossbones variety. :) Any cd, whether a game, a cd of Adobe utilities, or even Windows XP costs about £1. Mad! VCD are all legit, about £3.50, as are the DVDs, about the same price as in England, £20.

In the evening, we head off to Tsim Sha Tsui to visit Wan Kam Leung's school. Wan Kam Leung is a former student of WSL. He claims in his brochure to be WSL first student, but is not. There was a guy at the WC Conference who had that honour.

WKL is an extremely fit, powerful individual in his late fifties, who is a real showman. He had modified the way of WSL in a several ways, but the modifications seem less this year than last year, as he seems to constantly develop and refine his ideas. Nothing wrong with that. He asks a visiting student to perform SLT, then breaks each part down to show why the student is doing it wrong, and how to do it "right". I say "right" not because I think his way is wrong, because it obviously works for him, but does it work for his students? I saw no evidence that his students were any better than those from CLiff's school for example, or our own, and we were not permitted to chisao at all, to see what these improved techniques were like.
Thus, we were forced to pretty much just sit and smile and be told our concepts, as taught to my instructor, to Cliff, to Barry Lee, to Dave Peterson etc by WSL, were "no good". But we managed it. :) My mate Richard, who doesnt do kungfu at all, wanted to twang his braces, then run off, in some sort of bizarre Marx Brothers style lark. We managed to dissuade him, with not too much difficulty. ;)

After leaving WKLs school we went back to the WT Headquarters to meet Simo and visit Yuen Yim Kuen's school, another of WSL's oldest students. There we were permitted to chisao with his guys, and had another good session. I cut my friends lip several times, which I felt bad about, until I met him after HK, at which point I realised he had improved so much that it must have been my expert tuition. ;)

These guys were a bit more experienced, direct, efficient and powerful, just the way we like it.
Probably the closest in style and feeling to our school out of all that we saw. Cliff's guys tend to be a little bit softer in my experience, a tiny bit more defensive, perhaps. Nothing you can quantify, just a general feeling. Varies of course from person to person.

Then we went on for a meal with Simo and the students. Luckily we had asked not to go to a fish restaurant, and were tempted with dishes of Sticky rice, chicken, and all sorts of other tasty grub. Plus, green stuff! Simo heard that we went to visit Wan Kam Leung and was not happy, she seems to think that we will all start modifying our WC. That is just politics, IMO. Clive (instructor) has been doing WC for 32 years, and is constantly on the look out for ways to improve. His approach, which I agree with, says that if a new way of doing something makes WC more direct, simple, and efficient than WSLs way, then he will change. He hasnt found it yet, WKL included.

So, we got back from the meal at 2am, and a group of us were up for hitting the night spots again. In the end, enthusiasm sort of sputtered out, so we had an early night at 3.30am. :)

And we are still only on Thursday! Stay tuned for: The Challenge, When Richard Met Yvonne, When Frank Avoided Regina!

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[jameswebsteruk]

Thanks, Sihing, will do. :)

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[jameswebsteruk]

The photos should be up here in the near future. If you guys want pictures of anything in particular on the trip I will see if I can dig them up, as a group, we must have got a picture of just about every place we went.

I'll do the 3rd part this afternoon, if anyone is still interested. :)

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[jameswebsteruk]

Ok, if anyone is still reading this, here is the third and final part.

We had left our heroes slumbering peacefully at the hotel, restoring their batteries for a full-on three day assault on the best of what Hong Kong had to offer.

Here's the funny thing, I really cant remember at all what happened on Friday during the day, so I imagine we went shopping and eat, and stuff like that.

In the evening, myself and Richard went to the end of Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, to get pictures of the amazing HK skyline across the channel from Kowloon. There is a fantastic viewing plaza, you could literally spend hours there, watching the waves and the lights of the skyscrapers change colour. If you remember the scene in Rush Hour 2 on the boat? That is the piece of water you overlook.

We then had a browse round TST HMV, and had a McDonalds. Well, a taste of home every now and then is not so bad.

Come 7pm, its back to Cliff's school for more training. That was the evening that Bill and his students, from Barry Lee lineage in Australia turned up. I finally got a chance to have a go with Ruspa (hey!) who is an old student of Clive's and WSL, who moved to HK a good few years ago. Note to myself, more work on stance needed!

Big friendly discussion ensues about Bong Sao, as WSL has taught slightly different versions to Cliff and to Clive. Agreement is reached that the difference reflects the completely differing body shapes and heights of the two instructors.

After training, despite multiple requests to revisit the Fooking Hot Pot Restaurant, largely because of the name :), we all head off to eat at another restaurant, with Bill, the Austrlians, the Germans, and loads of Cliff's guys. Here we get another break on the beers, and are finally able to build Beer-Henge, when the empty bottles completely surround the revolving dish platter.

At 1 or 2am, we try to find a Karaoke bar, so Roland can do some more singing. This proves fruitless, so end up in the Beer Castle in WanChai, which is an English Pub, with Carlsberg Girls (Yay!). Richard teaches Cliff how to juggle, and does some coin tricks and other bar games. End up in Strawberrys, as if by magic, where Richard meets the lovely Yvonne, another filipino girl and close friend of Regina. I have to explain that I quite like Regina, but cannot afford her expensive habits. Spend the rest of the night avoiding her, and end up being insulted by some thai girl.

Cliff and some of the boys have taken up residence in the corridoor leading to the toilets, and proceed to drink beer, discuss and practice chisao until 5 am. At one point some loser comes up, yells something indecipherable at Cliff, and throws his hat down in a challenge.
Our guys move to intercept, as we dont wish to cause Cliff the embarrassment of having to layout some drunk in a bar. Luckily, the bouncer sees this happening, grabs the guy and throws him out before the situation can escalate. Resolved peacefully, and we are able to get back to the ladies and the WC, depending on our particular moods. The bouncer was remarkable tolerant of the training in the club, but Cliff is well known and respected in the area. He has loads of posters up around Wan Chai, and the girls loved it:
"What, you are with man in the picture?"
"But of course, my dear. Now, another drink, perhaps?" ;)
I again see the most beatiful girl in the world, and we arrange to meet some time before I go back in three days. (I have a photo, but its a bit grainy and blurry.) Get to bed about 5.30am

The next day is Saturday, and we have planned a trip to Ocean Park. This is a fantastic leisure park. There is The Abyss (Feel The Depth! :) ), one of those rides that drops you vertically from a great height, and then bounces you. You come off it with this massively cheesy grin, and liquid bowels.

The highlights for me were the Shark Tank, and the Reef Aquarium, which were both bloody amazing. We dont have things like that in England, the tanks were huge, you could walk through tunnels and around them, and the fish were unbelievable. Some enormous sharks with sets of teeth that you wouldnt believe, and some fantastic groupers, rays, and eels.
I got severe blisters on my little toes from walking round all day (new trainers, you see).

The evening was spent at various English Bars and pubs in Wan Chai, attempting to find a TV which played the England/Greece football match. A fruitless search. We consoled ourselves at the Bar Of The Big Boobed Thai Girls, and then on to La Bamba, where we proceeded to get extremely drunk and unsuccessfully tried to take pictures of really hot girls. Not cause they werent hot, but we were laughing so hard we couldnt hold the camera properly. :) Hey, it was Saturday night, give us a break. 6am to bed.

OK, Sunday! Arsed about, shopped, slept. Sunday night was our last in HK, so at 8pm Cliff had laid on a tremendous meal for us, loads of chinese food, beers, and fruit. We had insisted on contributing this time, as last year he had laid it on free, and we felt bad. Gentleman that he is, we had to really force him to accept our money.

This was fantastic, loads of food, loads of beer, loads of chisao, discussions, training whilst getting steadily tanked up. Alchohol is a great relaxant, I noticed that some friend's skill markedly improved after several beers. Or did mine just deteriorate? :) Who knows. This goes on until about 1am, then the hardcore party people amongst us waddle off to La Bamba. The others stay and drink and train at Cliff's until at least 4am.

We stay there until about 3, at which point I realise the The Most Beautiful Girl In The World is at the same club but with someone else. Richard suggests that I wait until he goes to the toilet, then lock him in and steal his date. I manfully rise above such petty devices, and we bugger off to Strawberrys, where Richard hooks up with the lovely Yvonne, and I again spend the rest of the night avoiding Regina, until I finally meet a Thai sweetie who is hilariously funny, and most accommodating. ;)

The next morning we go to Stanley Market on the island for the touristy shopping needs. Bargaining is a skill I do not possess. :)

The reason for walking round the market all day is so that by the time we hit the airport at 9 for a midnight flight, we are so knackered that we easily fall asleep on the plane. Except that the tv screens in the seat backs were showing Final Fantasy and then Planet of the Apes, so we had to prop our eyelids open with matchsticks until they had finished.

And that was it. Ive left loads out, but I imagine you are not that interested in the holiday aspects. Fantastic time, everyone made us really welcome, especially Cliff and his guys.

Same time next year, people!

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

[Sihing73]

Here is the start of Franks Photos, more to follow:

My appoligies for it not being as crisp as I woudl like. I promise to work on the image as I have more time.

[This message was edited by Sihing73 on 11-29-01 at 09:50 AM.]

[This message was edited by Sihing73 on 11-29-01 at 09:52 AM.]

[Sihing73]

Hello,

Here are more photos of Franks Trip and there are still more to come.

Peace,

Dave

[Sihing73]

This is the last of the Photos. I added my own comment to one photo but hope Frank does'nt mind.

Peace,

Dave

[Martin Foot]

Thanks for taking the time to write up your expedition.
Sounds very good to me.

Regards
Martin Foot
Body Mind & Spirit Kung Fu

[saulauchung]

Excellent, Frank. Looked like you guys really enjoyed yourselves. Same again next year?

I see that Cliff Au Yeung is a small guy, and him and a few of his guys are fairly well built, what are their standard like? What about the others you've touched hands with, ie, Yuen Yim Keung and Chen (?)?

Other than CAY, YYK, WKL and a few others, did you get to visit others schools - Ng Chun Hong, Chiu Hok Yin, the Yip brothers, Tsui Sheung Tin, etc.?

:cool:

PS, Where are you in the photos? Thanks again.

[Wei Sui]

Thanks for the details and pics of your trip.... Sounds like you had a blast!!

*************************
Dai yut tow dai :)

[mun hung]

Great story and great pics! You leave us all green with envy.

You European's sure drink alot of beer! :D

How much did your entire trip cost?

*It takes effort to learn to do something effortlessly*

[jameswebsteruk]

So many questions!

First off, thanks Sihing for taking the time to post my pictures.

Sau Lau Chung, Cliff is indeed a small guy, but extremely strong and well built. His standard is excellent, as you would expect from a direct student of WSL who has practiced for decades.
As he is small, once he gets in close, you are pretty much screwed, as he is able to uproot you with ease.
I will ask my friends who chisaoed more with him for their comments. I personally spent more time with his students than him. We didnt get a chance to roll with Yuen Yim Kuen and Chen Kin Man, as they were instructing.

And no, didnt get the chance to visit Ng Chun Hong, or Chiu Hok Yin, which was disappointing. Im not sure whether Chiu Hok Yin has an active class at the moment? The general consensus was that we had a good training place at Cliff's, we decided to spend most of our time there to cement our already good relationship with him and his students.

As mentioned in Part 1, we did run briefly into Yip Chin during his class, but their lineage's interpretation is very different from WSLs, and since the main thrust of the trip is to visit students of WSL, and as we had not arranged a meeting beforehand, we made to further effort to meet up. As far as I known, Tsui Sheung Tin was not around this time, which is a shame, as he is a really nice guy, who made me feel very welcome on my first trip to HK for the conference 3 years ago.

As for where I am in the photos? Behind the camera most of the time. :) On the "Cliff and Group" photo, Im the pink blob just up from the first row squatting on the right, between the guys in the white and black tshirt. On the "Frank Having Fun" picture, the guy with black tshirt, grey combats, dancing with the girl in bra top. :)

Mun Hung, the trip cost £650, from London, including the hotel for 7 nights. The flight was on Cathay Pacific, excellent, the hotel was decent, aircon, ensuite, clean and roomy. The cost is based on sharing a twin bed room. If, like me, you dont like the idea of sharing with your mates smelly feet, you could pay an extra £100 for a single room.

The big evening meals cost about £15 to £20 each, drinks included. Spending money? You could get away with maybe £150 on top of that, depending on how you like to live. I probably blew an extra £600, but did buy an mp3 player, and its my main holiday of the year. So lets say, overall maybe £750 minumum all told.

The funny thing is, I dont touch beer at all in England, I hardly drink. Maybe a glass of red wine in the evening, and an alchopop or two down the pub. I guess HK brings out the worst in me. :)

The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison,
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!