Fellow Virtual Travelers,
Saturday, May 3rd started out with a pleasant surprise! Victor came back up the mountain the night before and invited us to join him and his students in an early session of Tai Chi Chuan this morning! So we left the hotel around 6:30 am, walked up the street, through a man-made cave that takes you through the mountain to a patio overlooking the lush terrain and overcast, hazy sky.
Upon arriving we were introduced to Victor's students (about 5 people) and an old master and long time friend of Victor's who led us through some Brocade forms (very similar to what is taught in our Kung Fu school). So the nine of us followed the old Master in stretches and forms. Then Victor worked with his students on the first few moves of one of his Wudang Tai Chi forms. By then, we'd gathered a crowd with many of them joining in the class! One set of grandparents who joined in had two grandkids with them, the youngest of which had shoes that made a loud squeak with each step! Helps you keep track of where your young one is, but was so funny to watch and see that concentrating on Tai Chi stepping was a challenge!
Around 8 am Victor and his students headed to their breakfast and the old master asked us to stay and perform some of our Kung Fu for him! So we had a cultural exchange with tourist onlookers, sharing two forms from our Shaolin Kung Fu art and two forms from the old Masters knowledge! How fun! He even gave us a thumbs up, which felt very humbling, as we are not even close to his aptitude!
It started raining in the afternoon which made a meeting with Victor timely. We had an awesome lunch made by his son, Adam, who also works with Victor's travel agency. And then talked a while about the book project and how technology works here. What do attachments look like, what works and what doesn't? Are there communication capabilities like Skype (yes!)? Turned out to be a very productive meeting!
Before we came up the mountain from Shiyan City at the base, we had the opportunity to visit the original gateway to Wudangshan which is called Xuanyue Gate (玄岳门). This gateway was built in the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566). The road from this ancient gate to the Golden Peak (Summit) is called the 'Wudang Divine Road'. Here's a picture of the Three Musketeers beneath the ancient gate!
Later today we have a planned adventure with Victor over to Soaring Cliff (also known as Flying Cliff). More about this later!
Good news! We got our train tickets to Shanghai for May 8th, which will give us two nights in Shanghai for shopping before the long flights home! Less than one week left of this adventure - time has really flown by!
Blessings,
Dennis&Anita