Fellow Virtual Travelers,
As we begin to sort through the estimated 6,000 to 7,000 photos that Dennis and Anita took on the China 2012 excursion, memories of stories are coming to mind! We'll share some of these with our friends and family. If for any reason, you would rather not receive these periodic emails now that the trip is complete, just let us know and we'll remove your email address!
Wudangshan. Wudang Mountain. A magical Taoist-based mountain with a 5,000 year history of martial arts and Tai Chi! That hearkens back to the time of the building of the great Egyptian pyramids! These are mountain ranges plentiful with naturally growing herbs for medicine, temples, walkways and walls built during the Ming Dynasty with compound curves! Block placement even on those curves are so precise that you cannot fit a dime edge between them! And then there is Victor Gu...
In 2003, we met Victor in a bookstore in Shiyan City at the base of the Wudang mountains. Victor is his chosen English name - his Chinese name is Gu Shiyi. He spoke very good English, had an understanding of martial arts and an interest in health and longevity, We were looking for a book about Wudang in English. Victor bemoaned the fact that such a book did not exist (and still does not, some nine years later).
Sadly, we lost track of Victor over time. In preparation for our trip, Anita googled a legend of Wudang (called the Needle Grinding Well) and found in the search results a website with an email address: wudangvictor@hotmail.com
Wondering if this could possibly be the same Victor (after all how many Victors could there be in a remote mountain region in the middle of China)? Long story short, it WAS our Victor from 9 years ago and he now runs a travel agency and martial arts wellness center! Our travel agency eventually approved Victor for our local Wudang guide! So we ended up with not only the 'inside scoop' on Wudang history, but a fellow martial artist who allowed our video taping a number of his performances! We'll be editing those and will send him the full versions of each!
In the attached photo, we proudly introduce you to one of our Chinese martial arts friends! Victor is in a tai chi pose in front of one of the peaks at Wudang. In fact the highest peak you see is the Golden Summit:
http://english.cri.cn/6566/2010/10/08/902s598292.htm
And check out our friend's website:
http://www.wudangchina.com/index.htm
Nine years ago, the only way to get to Wudang was a ten hour train ride through amazing rural countrysides. This year we took a five hour bus ride on a new highway that runs over and through the mountains from Xi'an, the city of the Terra Cotta soldiers! We kind of missed seeing the ox drawn carts, children herding their goats and workers in rice paddies…
Blessings,
Dennis & Anita