Adventure in Shaolin wk4

Amituofo!

Time for the last episode of my Shaolin adventure already.

This week I played tourist a little more then past weeks. 

Sunday, my resting day, I decided to finally visit the Fawang Buddhist temple. This temple is located in a Unesco nature park in the North of Deng Feng. When I arrived at the entrance of the park I had to pay 50 kuai yuan to enter.... Dutch as I am I decided to walk a bit and see if there was a entrance where I didn't have to pay, since I didn't came there for the 'tourist' attractions anyway... 

A couple hundred meters further down the road there was an entrance to the park where I could walk in without having to buy a ticket, so I walked in there. After a nice hike, 1,5 hours of walking, upstairs up the mountain, I ended up at an entrance for a Scenic route, where I again had to pay 50 kuai yuan.


1,5 hours of walking upstairs to get up the mountain... Seems easy but your buttocks start to hurt after an hour I can tell you.... and that on my resting day

There was a map at the entrance of the Scenic route, but it was not really clear, never the less I had the feeling I was not going to arrive at the Fawang temple if I would enter. So I decided to turn around. The moment I did so I so another sign which confirmed my suspicion it said 'Fawang temple to the right'. The other side of the sign, which I passed on my way to the scenic route entrance, had other info and did not say where the temple was however, that's why I missed it before... Chinese logic I guess. I continued on the way to Fawang temple. After again half an hour of walking on a nice mountain road with beautiful views over Deng Feng I took a right because some other steep mountain road got my attention for some reason. It appeared to go to a building I could see in the distance up the hill, also looked like some temple kind of thing... So I walked up that road.

There were some animals running free here... I had to make a selfie of them, cause each time I looked at them they would hide in the bushes, and as soon as I turned my back they came back out :) 

When I arrived at the end of the road the mysterious building was just some restaurant or something... no temple. I again turned around and continued my trip to Fawang temple.
After 2 more hours of walking I finally ended was there! 

But when I wanted to enter, some guy in a Unesco blouse wanted to see my ticked... With hand and feet I tried to explain him I had no ticket, but I would like to buy a ticket. Guess what... still 50 kuai Yuan. Apparently the entrance price was including a visit to the temple :( That's what you get for being cheap... ehhh Dutch... Anyway, I gave the man 50 kuai and I got a used ticked in return and I could enter the temple.

It was a beautiful temple. Almost no tourist there (except for myself of course). Really nice and quiet and lot's of birds living in the Temple. Really what I would expect from a peaceful Buddhist temple.

This temple also has Kung Fu students nowadays but unfortunately I didn't see them train.

 

 Pink pigeons on the roofs and in the temple.

The mandatory cliche Kung Fu picture at the temple main building :)

It was really a worthwhile day! And it was worth the 3.5 hour walk.

I decided to take a taxi back to Deng Feng. Since I walked more then enough that day. And then I found out that the Temple was located roughly 5km from the main entrance which I didn't enter cause I was being Dutch... :(, Well at least my legs got good training :)

In Deng Feng I went to the pizza place, and I realized that this would already be my last Deng Feng pizza :( 

Monday my last training week started. This week Tyson will not train us since holiday season started here and he had to train the kids. So we need to train our self this week.
Training started OK but it is going to be a though week. I started with my core/upper body workout like always, but as expected the increase in repeats was quite a challenge.
Later that day Sifu came by and I got a lot of very good tips from Sifu. He tells me a lot more about body dynamics then Tyson which makes it a lot easier to understand. He explained how to move my hips and body and how to generate force from that without using (upper body) muscle but purely on body dynamics. Biggest circle movements are in the Y-axis from the hips. Added to that is a small circle from the hips/SI joint which connects the feet/ground to the upper body. This movement is reinforced from the knee to give the Y-axis movement more range.

The rest of the day I practiced on this Gong Fa. 

On Tuesday I did the same, mainly practiced Gong Fa, and a little Taolu. Training the full day is OK now, but my body is really done after such a day... I do have energy but my body doesn't want to move anymore :). My left should started to ache as well now... My joints need to get used to the more explosive movement from the new techniques I learned.

Do you know that song: "Sleep, Train, Eat..... repeat....", That's my rhythm at the moment and I am really starting to like it...

BTW. Did I tell you we moved to a hotel? Because the holidays started and lot's of parents are dropping their kids for summer camp and stay a couple of days, we got upgraded and could stay in the hotel next to the school. It's lot more quiet in the night, and a lot less crowded with fly's.
But for some reason I liked the 'school' accommodation better. (Maybe because the boiler on my shower doesn't work.... and I have no fan in this room)


In the night I took a painkiller again since my hip started acting up. My shoulder started hurting a bit more and also my knee is swollen a bit. Some moist build up from 2 consecutive days of quite intense training. So today, Wednesday, I need to take it a bit easier again. I didn't do the 3x20 pushups in the core workout, stopped at 13, then my shoulder acted up. And I shortened the 2nd training block a bit. I did do my 'Dutch' Taolu at high speed/intensity, let's see how that works out... In the afternoon I tried to do Xiao Hong Quan and Qi Xing Jian fast, man that feels different after 2 weeks of training a lot of Gong Fa and basic parts from the form. Not bad at all.

Thursday I played tourist again. I finally am going to Shaolin Temple! The birthplace of Wushu!
I left early. Started walking at 6.30h, and jumped in the first taxi that stopped (yes if you walk next to the road a lot of cars will stop, some to say hello, some to take a picture of the Laowai and some offer you a ride). I arrived 7.15h so it was nice and quiet. Not to much tourism going on yet. I heard it could get sort of Disneylandish here in terms of tourists... So I hope I came early enough to be ahead of that. When you watch the pictures down here you see that I was ahead of most tourists... :) 

 

Shaolin entrance

 

One of many buildings and training grounds of the Tagou  (One of the biggest Martial Arts school in China, Housing more then 30000 students!)

Shaolin theater, where Wu Shu demo shows are held nowadays.

Luckily there where no tourist yet.
So I could continue my way to the Temple without to many pictures being taken from me...

When I arrived at the temple there was a school making a movie in front of the Temple. It was a lousy school with a low level of skill unfortunately. And I could not make a cliche picture because of it.... 

I entered the Temple and immediately got disappointed a bit. There where market stances all over the place where you could buy 'healing potions, cremes' and other ' Chinese medicine' stuff. Not really what you expect from non-materialistic Buddhists.

More and more tourists started to come in now so I didn't take to much pictures, still got a couple of nice shots though... 

When I was on my way out of the temple I walked thru a door that was closed earlier. 

And all of a sudden I was standing in between a lot of Wu Shu students that were training here in the Temple. Students here in the temple are wearing the same shirts as students in the school where I am training. 

I wasn't supposed to be there but since I was wearing my Wu Shu outfit no one noticed me. Another Laowai who was training there greeted me, after watching for a minute or two I continued my way. 

Since I had spend only a couple of hours in/around the Temple I had almost a full day left. So I decided to do a nice hike and visit Damo Cave and Damo Statue al the way on the top of the hill. 

It is a huge hike with lot's of stairs, and I mean really a lot!

After a long climb I reached Damo's Cave... a monk was sleeping there at the entrance :) But she woke up to fast so I couldn't take a picture inside the cave... I went a little further up and went to Damo Statue.

 

I spend half an hour mediting and chilling here, reflecting a bit on my month in China, and then I went back down. When I was back I still had half a day left. So I visited Pagoda forest, the old burial grounds of the temple. In the past you could train here, but the many tourist almost destroyed the place so now it is fenced and you can only watch. 

 

I went for some lunch and then I decided to take another hike.


There was a mountain route where you could go up with a cable car, but I decided to walk that route since I had many hours to spend left. At the end of the route there was a path the a mountain temple.

I walked all the way to the top where the cable car ended. Took me 2 hours to walk up there and again, many many stairs.

Gotta love 'directives' and chinenglish translations.

 

 A small burial ground I passed on my way up the mountain

Stairs, Stairs, and some more stairs....

That's why I wanted to hike, and not take a cable car, beautiful little 'zelda' alike ponds hidden in the mountains!

And then I was at the top. Man my legs are sore at this moment after 2 hours of walking stairs (not counting the trip to Damo Cave in the morning!). At the top it was really busy with tourist who had taken the easy way up in the cable car. (See the difference in wetness of t-shirts in my picture with a chinese tourist...)

I could go further and walk to the mountain temple that lies 2 hours ahead, but I decided not to do that, since I had to walk back as well.

After taking some pictures of the beautiful cliffs here I ate something and resumed my hike back down the mountain. 

 

On my way down I needed to take some more pictures with Chinese tourists.

When I came back at the Temple it has gotten a lot busier, but still far from Disneylandish

I bought some ice cream and took a long rest after that immense hike.

Took me 4 hours of walking . I counted the stairs on my way down from the mountain, it where 1956 stairs. (+/- 50, not including the trip to Damo Cave earlier in the morning!).

Shaolin monks going to the Temple for a 'jian' demo

After my rest I decided it was time to go back 'home'.

On my way out of the temple premises I noticed the Tagou training grounds were now filled with students. So I took some time to watch them and take some pictures.
Although I like the surroundings here, the kind of wushu they learn here is really modern show wu shu. It's nothing like the Traditional Shaolin Wu Shu I am learning at the school. So I am glad I did go to the school, although this would also be a great experience and maybe a bit more 'shaolin' feeling.

 

This is where my Kung Fu buddy Sam will be training in a couple weeks from now I guess, since he is going to Tagou. 

I took a cab back to the school, went for diner there, did some Qi Gong and went to bed. Man what a long day... my legs are so sore...

Now the last 2 training days are starting! 

On Friday my hip feels OK, my shoulder hurts a little. My knee is OK again and my spirit is UP. So I will try to go 'all in' for these last 2 days. No evening training on Friday and Saturday so I can give it all during the rest of the day, since its only 6 hours of training. 

I trained modern and traditional Taolu (forms) and Gong Fa at full intensity for 2 full days,  and I finished these days without any problem even though I trained really hard.

My body has finally adjusted and appears to be used to the training, but unfortunately the time has come for me to go home!

More on my trip back in the final part of the story.

Amituofo!

Adventure in Shaolin wk3

Amituofo!

After a week of trying to rebuild my new home, it is time for week 3 of the Shaolin story.

This week a new Laowai (foreigner) arrived. Philip, a new-zealand guy.
He was here last yeaar for almost 2 months and he will stay here for 3 weeks.
He arrived very early in the morning on Sunday relax-day. This Sunday I went to the massage therapist, who also gave my neck a crack this week :(.. (did not really like that and it came kinda unexpected). Further more I did some grocery shopping and went drinking tea in the tea shop with Bart & Philip. After words I went to grab a Pizza :)

Drinking tea with Bart and Philip

Monday did not start out well. This morning at 6.15h I was running but was not really awake yet... I missed a rock on the path and went down pretty hard. I was able to catch myself but my hand got messed up. Big open wound on my hand. The ground was rocky and covered with dirt (and quite some trash) so I hope it doesn't get infected. I ran back to the school, cleaned out the wound, pulled out all dirt and rocks from it, and then went back to training. Still did my core workout but changed the push-ups to fist push-ups, since I now cannot lean on the inside of my hand.
Later that day I finished learning the movements of the new word form, Qi Xing Jian. Also did a lot of Gong Fa practice and paid close attention to Tyson. I noticed Tyson makes large circular movements but breaks them on the end of the movement, which in terms of physics means loosing the power you generated with the circle... Bart uses circular movements and ends the move in the line of the circle. His movements look a lot more powerful due to that.

Ouch, hope that doesn't get infected

On Tuesday I had to take some pain killers again. Done to much yesterday and my hip hurts like hell. Also got stiff again (stiffness and hip pain seems related). I was supposed to start a new stick form today, but since I wounded my hand yesterday that doesn't look like a good plan.
After training block 2 (so after 3.5h of training) my body feels like the end of week 1. Every thing is tired, stiff and sore. The heat, moist level, lack of sleep in the past days, sore body and the open wound on my hand make me feel shitty, not really having a good day today.  I decided to take an afternoon of rest, but in the afternoon I revoked that plan and still did some practice (but on low intensity level).

Wednesday I did take some rest. I really feel depressed at the moment, and the wound on my hand won't close properly. Still did the core workout in the morning. But after that I went to Deng Feng to get some bandages. Kind of a nice challenge to get this kind of supplies without speaking the language. No training today, hope the wound closes.

On Thursday the same regime. Starting to get in a negative mood do to the combination of shittyness.  I didn't come here to sit still and do nothing. And my stomach also got a little upset. Nothing to serious, but doesn't help in keeping a positive mind. I watched Bart and Phillip practicing the stick (gun) form. I don't really mind not learning this one. To much movements in there which I do not really 'feel' and believe are use full. I'll stick to the Gun forms I know.
In the evening I practiced some Qi gong and stretches and that's about it for today.

Bart and Philip practicing Gun with Tyson.

No tiny little thin Wu Shu performance sticks here.. :)

Finally, on Friday my hand wound appears to be closing up, and I had some good sleep tonight. Today I will start training again. The weather is also perfect, since it rained yesterday evening and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. Just what I needed to get in the positive mood again.
I asked Tyson to correct my Xiao Hong Quan, which already goes much better. Qi Xing Jian also starts to feel more natural. Time for some video...
Also did core workout this morning. Next week that will be tuff, because I will increase the repeats in the 3 sets to 15-20-15 on resp. mo-wed-fri. Last week I did 10-15-10 and it was already pretty tough on Wednesday. Later in the afternoon I did some high intensity training and in the evening Qi Gong and stretching. I was completely exhausted at 20.00h already and went to bed early.

Kids training, end of block 1 always ends in some endurance exercise 

Man... On Saterday morning I could feel that I trained hard yesterday, but I do admit I do like this kind of soreness, this is what I came here for :)
After I forced my self out of bed, and managed to open my eyes I started with a good Qi Gong and stretching session. 2nd training block I took it easy. Did some hiking, lots of stretching and some taolu practice. My knees are starting to hurt from all the training so have to watch that a bit as well but I am used to that.
Today Sifu returned from 10 days of film making. So there was a small celebration (with pretty banging fireworks ofcourse :))
3rd block of training I repeated the second block.

Just a nice little temple in the mountains near by our school 

Adventure in Shaolin wk2

Sorry, my stories are taking a bit longer than expected. I started rebuilding my new house and have no internet access... so have to do one story each weekend...

Time for week 2 of Shaolin! : .......

Sunday resting day, and I needed it. Went to a get a massage, Sifu had recommended one to Bart in the past, so we went there. It was a good deep massage very nice for the muscles. After that I said goodbye to Bart and went exploring DengFeng on my own. After 2 hours of walking I literally found nothing that I was looking for :) except bananas. But my hip started hurting so I went back to find the bus station. Later that day I did some laundry (by hand , also good training, in the same sink where the dishes are done, and the fish is cleaned, see the kids in the picture below :))

In the evening a kid got attracted to my "Learn Chinese" app on my phone and all of a sudden I had a private Chinese teacher who kept telling me whole stories... my answer 99% of the time being ' wo3 ting4 bu4dong (I don' t understand).

Then the 'working week started again'. I cannot run or do kicks with the current state of my hip so I decided to bring my upper body and core to shape again with a regular ' build-up' scheme consisting of 3 sets of: various planking exercisers, push-ups, crunches, and bench ups. Did this training I did 3 times a week on the first training block. the other 3 days I did qi-gong practice. The other training blocks I did Xiao Hong Quan practice and Gong Fa practise. But I also took a lot of breaks and watched the kids train. Man they have too much energy. Even after 6 six hours of training they still act like kids on a sugar high (and they don't eat much sugar)! Also noticed how they discipline kids here... old school style, I really cannot get used to that and did not like that. Also seen with my own eyes that it does not work and even has opposite effects. So I don't understand why it is still done this way. Anyway, guess culture needs to catch up about 20 yrs here... During diner I got some more Chinese class from Ie-Ze or however you write my diner-friends name. In the evening there was no training cause the kids had to present what they learned in a demo to Sifu... Sifu was in very late though so only half of the demo's are done...

Tyson and the kids waiting for Sifu to arrive for demo-night...

On Tuesday I started 1st training with Qi gong after a bad night of sleep to to heavy thunderstorms in Xishilipu village. Later in the day I continued Gong Fa and Xiao Hong Quan practice and we started with a new straight sword form, Qi Xing Jian  :)
Later in the evening there was again no training but the second half of the demo's were done.

Wednesday I woke up after a good night of sleep. Starting to get used to my wooden bed :). Did my upper/core workout in the first training block. After that I continued with Gong Fa, Xiao Hong Quan, and Qi Xing Jian. Later that day I went to DengFeng and this time I found all the shops and the bank that I was looking for. I also went to buy tea. That was fun. I got invited to taste various tea's, the owner was selecting some local teas for his shop. Spend an hour and a bit chatting and drinking tea with the 2 brothers who owned the shop (yes, they spoke English pretty well :) ) and after that I bought some tea and went on to finish shopping for some groceries. In the evening I did some more practice. Even with the hip problems I still want to train 6 hours at least... Then off to bed.

"Tea tasting at the tea shop with one of the owners"

Thursday I started with Qi Gong, hip is not feeling so got even though I took some pain killers last evening. So taking it easy today.... Second block of training my hip was feeling better already so I went a bit deeper again. Focussed a bit on the movement dynamics today and I have some things in the movements that I do not quite understand yet (you basically combine 2 circular motions, one on Y-axis of the body and the Z-axis, both come from the hip, but I do not see the added value of the Z-axis rotation). Later in the afternoon, I ran to the hills to do some training there. When I ran out of water I went back and took a little break to watch Sifu teach his class. And after that I continued training. This time a high-intensity training, training my own known TaoLu from holland at full energy level. In the evening training I focused on some Qi Gong and Yoga exercises. My muscles are tired but are getting longer due to all stretching that I do here.

"Sifu training his students"

Friday I wanted to leave early and visit Shaolin Temple. But unfortunately the gate of the school was locked (I realized that in the middle of the night... luckily, I did not get up at 4.30h to find that out). So I'll visit the temple another day. Today is core/upper body workout day again in the first block and luckily on the 3rd day of this schedule the amount of repeats go down a little... cause I am really tired today. During the second block I tried to do some kicks again, since my hip is feeling a little better after all the core exercises. I noticed that on days that I do the core workout my hip feels a little better... do I have a hernia then after all, and not piriformis syndrome? Who knows... In the afternoon I went out to the fields to do training at a quite place. When I ran out of water (which happens quickly when you train on a sunny 35*C day) I went back to the school and did some more training there on my spot on the bridge. Eating is problematic, I am getting sick of eating the same stuff 3 times a day 6 days a week, and the temperatures here are also not helping.
In the evening I practiced all my Taolu on 'qi', did a good stretching and went to bed.

"Practising Gong Fa on the bridge, here I am starting a double punch from the behind leg, through the hip, to the fists)

Saterday was not a good day. Started out with Qi Gong. Can do ' tree-standing' exercise now for 60 breaths... (started out on 60 seconds), so is about 5 times as long. So that was fine, but my body doesn't feel good today. Completely stiff and my hip is acting up pretty bad. Since we have no training from Tyson on I decided to try and find the little temple Bart was talking about on a track in the hills near the school. It was a bit busy with Chinese hikers, who all want a picture with the Laowai but aside that it was a nice trip. Made some cool mountain pictures to :)
3rd Training block I trained Taolu. It is bloody hot today, and the humidity went up to 70%, in contrast to last weeks 20%. Last training I focussed on stretching, and qi gong. And that was the end of the week again.

"Posing, eagle stance, in the mountains :)"

Do have to admit that I am starting to feel pretty homesick and am getting a bit depressed from that (miss my girlfriend, miss my ' regular food', feel shitty that I cannot train to my max, get really annoyed with certain Chinese habbits), but hope that' s just temporary.

Amituofo, or as Ie-Ze would say "Peace"

Adventure in Shaolin wk1

The flight to China went pretty smooth... I arrived in Hangzhou on schedule and after clearing customs and a little search for the domestic flights terminal I was on my way to Zhengzhou. Got a little delay on my flight to Zhengzhou due to bad weather conditions but the taxi that the school arranged waited, so that was no problem. KLM has quite OK airplane food btw. Be aware, I do not have an expensive taste, but I actually liked it.

When I arrived in Zhengzhou I had a fun suprise. I was looking for a taxi driver with a Mr. Derks sign, but instead I noticed a western looking white guy. It was Bart, a guy who I trained with in Arnhem and Nijmegen a couple of years ago.
He turned out to be coming to Shaolin Temple Traditional Wushu institute for a couple of years in a row already and he was now here for a couple of months. Bart can speak mandarin which can come in useful here...

We drove from Zhengzhou to DengFeng (or Xishilipu village actually) and a little later we went to DengFeng to get some dinner. When we returned I went to bed. My bed took some getting used to because it was literary a wooden board with a blanket on it, no matras or such...

After a good night of sleep I woke up at 5. According schedule (on the internet) but apparently far too early because I was the only one awake... Around 5.45h the first school kids started coming out and a couple of minutes later Sifu came out somewhat agitated at the kids that they were not yet training. Not much later everyone was 'kicked'  out of their bed and training started. After an hour of running, push ups, Ji Ben Gong (basic kicks and such) and stretches the training was over, not to intense, good warming up for the rest of the day. I already noticed that the kids here behave like school kids, just as in our western schools... if they get a change to do nothing they will :)

Now time for breakfast. Not to bad, rice with (over)cooked vegetables and some fried bread sticks. Second block of training started after breakfast. I noticed that there is lots of attention for movement dynamics and body structures, little less for 'stances' and 'accuracy' of movement which you see in modern Wu Shu.
Legs and hips are getting tired after this second block of training. After the training we had lunch and a long break. Then the 3rd block of training started. Roughly 3 hours later it was over and immediately after we had dinner. Do have to say that all 3 meals tasted the same. Sifu gave me the tip to use much less energy when training, he predicted my legs would be ruined within a couple of days.

The last training block Tyson (our coach) asked me to relax, to give my legs a chance to adjust. So I practiced Qi gong and Tai Chi and did half an hour of stretching. Legs are tired as hell so was not a bad choice...

 Average look after training

IeZe (or however you write his name)
my chinese teacher during meals 

Tyson, our mysterious teacher. He learned himself english with books of riddles, saying and phrases... resulting in a 'master yoda' a like way of talking.

The day after this first training day the pain in my muscles was not to bad... better as what I expected. We started the day with running again, a lot further this time. After that some stamina and power training on the highways and in the ditches aside the road.

Second training was less fun :(, sore muscles finally kicked in. Never the less I trained the full block. But did a bit more Gong Fa (basic concepts) and lots of stretching. Started learning some Taolu (forms) aswell.
3rd block of training I went on to train on my own. My hip feels pretty ok till now. Last training block I again took it easy, mainly qi gong and stretching.

Next night my body was really sore and the 'wooden board' 'matras' was not really comfortable any more. Did not sleep much this night. Next morning my body was really sore... I discovered muscles that I didn't know they existed.
First training in the morning now consisted of running again, but this time to some restaurant... here we did some exercises on the nearby stairs, frog jumps on the stairs, on legged jumps, etc. 2nd training we had private lessons from Tyson again. These lessons have the same daily structure. First stretches, then some Ji Ben Gong, then Gong Fa practise and dragon steps and then Tao Lu practice. 3rd and 4th practise of the 3rd day were a disaster. My body is objecting and everything is sore and tired.

4th day my hip started acting up, which is really shitty because here all movements come from the hips... Tyson told me 5-6 hours training is really the max I should do... when my body has adjusted I could do more. So I skipped the 3rd training block and went for a walk exploring the environment. 

In the evening I was invited to come and drink tea with Sifu and a couple of his friends (producer and some crew of a movie they are going to make).
The rest of the week was pretty much the same regime. Hardly slept, woke up tired, muscle pain eased up a little. 3rd and 4th block I trained fairly relaxed. Never the less the pain in my hip got worse, and by friday also my finger went numb... which was not good, would I have a hernia instead of piriformis syndrome in my hip/back then? Also started taking some pain killers.
Saterday I took some rest to give my hip a chance to recover, but I have a bit of a depressed day this day... would this already be the end of my training here? Sure hope not....

Later on the day Sifu took me out for a ride and we went to a building site where he was building a new school. The old school will be making place for tourism in the coming years and on this place he will have a new school. Very cool to see and very cool to see how proud Sifu was of his new place with the beautiful view on the mountains.

(not the view from the new school... but still pretty nice view of the mountains near by the school)

First week was a week with some ups and downs. Basically trying to get familiar with the training regime, finding out how far I can push my body and my hip injury... Lets see how next week go's

Amituofo!

Returned from Shaolin!

Amituofo!

After 29 hours of travelling I returned yesterday from my trip to Shaolin.

It surely was an experience of a lifetime. I learned a lot about kungfu, about myself, about my life and about chinese habbits, good and bad ones :)

In the coming week I will be writing 4 articles, one for each week I spend in training at the Shaolin Temple Traditional Wushu Institute.

So if you want to read my story then make sure to come back this week.

Amituofo!