wushuzilla

So, it has been a week since we arrived in Xi’an.  Here are the highlights:

The first day we slept in as much as possible, but there was a lot to do on our first day so we couldn’t oversleep too much.  After getting ready we headed out, first to get some breakfast and check out the local market for groceries.  The best discovery we made is that there is a small stand where a lady makes my favorite type of bing.  And right next to her is my second favorite type of bing.  Just 2 – 3 RMB each.  Heaven.

The market is pretty nice in that there is an endless supply of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and what not for very cheap prices.  I bought a huge sack of groceries there for about $6 USD, including meat, freshly made ready to cook noodles and really good tofu.

After that we took a taxi to the Muslim Quarter.  Ever since I had been here last year with Shahaub, Zane and X2, I’d been dreaming about these lamb dumplings we ate.  They were so good we ate there 3 times in 5 days.  It was my first order of business for food consumption.  While we were there I made some small videos of us walking around which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC78RrD8uYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSqwuvjUTaw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKonjmRajN4

After eating we grabbed a motorized pedicab and got a ride to the train station.  The trip was just 5 RMB and we had a nice conversation with the driver too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWJYVFh5Y6w

At the train station we thought we would be able to pick up the 3 big suitcases we had shipped up from Shenzhen, but it turns out they were at a different facility in the North East of Xi’an.  So we grabbed a taxi and went there.  The taxi driver accidentally forgot to start the meter (this has happened to me twice in the last week, for some reason) and so we asked him to wait for us and take us and our luggage back to Xi Gao Xin, which would be a good fare for him.  He was pretty nice and even helped us get the luggage organized in the car.  Soon enough we were back home, with a ton of my stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh3Ek51WhlA

The next day we went to the electronics market to get a router and a few other things for the home.  Unfortunately the problem wasn’t the router, but our lack of an access login for our internet, so we would have to use the internet at the local coffee shops (Starbucks and S.I.T.) which was actually kind of nice.  Ruhi has spent most of the week working on her Mona Foundation documentary project while I’ve been getting the lay of the land.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtzmHxJFvl0

I spent some time going through my things, re-arranging furniture with Ruhi, cleaning up the second room and figuring out what the neighborhood is like.  I also went to Metro to buy a soup pot.

On Monday and the two of us went to the McDonald’s by RenRenLe to meet with Susan and Vivian, who work in Ruhi’s company.  After that we took another pedicab to the S.I.T. Cafe near the University to use their internet and do some work.  We got some delicious street food over there too.  Really cheap too.  I can tell I’m going to like eating in Xi’an.

Tuesday was Ruhi’s birthday!  Happy Birthday Ruhi! It is also a Holy Day for Baha’i's.  In the morning we went to the Starbucks on KeJiLu and then to the S.I.T. cafe just upstairs from it where we did lots of work during the day.  In the afternoon we also got a call that the internet technician was coming over to our place to help set things up.  So we rushed back and waited for him to show up.

During the week I had also been asking Wu Di to help introduce me to his friends on the Shaanxi Wushu Team so that I could figure out what the training options are.  My friends Lucianno and Angelica also were helping me with some information on other options.

The options I had for Xi’an were either to go to the Sports University (Xi’an Physical Education University or XPEU), train with a nanquan guy named Su Ke Feng who was teaching at a school in Xi’an, or train with the Shaanxi Wushu Team.

Each had their pro’s and cons, but first I had to make contact with someone who could help me make the best decision.  Wu Di was able to get me in touch with Wu Ya Nan, last year’s Chinese National Taiji Champion (he got silver this year) who said that he could help me out.

First he offered to take me to meet with Su Ke Feng.  We planned to meet in the evening around 4:30 or 5:00, so Ruhi and I hurridly got our internet hooked up and then headed out to meet up with WYN and his girlfriend, Bai Xue, who worked at the Sheraton and spoke some pretty good English.

They were really nice and got us some Pizza to eat, one for us and one for them.  However, the kitchen at the Sheraton had accidentally put ham on them and since they were Muslim they don’t eat any pork.  Also, on the way to Su Ke Feng’s school, we found out that (a) he would not be there during that particular evening and (b) it was REALLY far on the east side of town.  Like … REALLY far.  Here is a map for comparison:

So, we opted instead to go get some dinner together.  That turned out to be a good idea.

Why?  Because both of them live in the Muslim Quarter and they both really know the food there.  The conversation in the cab was basically like this:

WYN: What sort of food have you had here before?

US: Yang Ro Pa Muo, the lamb burger things, some lamb dumplings and stuff like that.

WYN: Ah.  You ate all the famous food.  But you haven’t had any of the best food.

US: ……….

So they took us to the part of the Muslim Quarter that foreigners never go to and fed us food that foreigners usually never get to eat.  It was quite delicious and we had a great time hanging out with them.

Afterwards we said farewell and took a taxi from the Bell Tower back home.  WYN had also said he would help me visit the Shaanxi Wushu Team’s training location, since it was so close to where we lived.  Score!

The next day I got a message from him that he would take me there on the following day (Thursday, October 22).  So I spent most of the day working on my computer while Ruhi worked on hers.

Then Thursday came.  I made my way to the Xi’an Sports Center located about 10km down the road from us (11 RMB in the taxi) and met WYN at the front gate.  He brought me in to the facility and took me to the wushu hall.  I had actually been here once before when Wu Di was staying here after last year’s nationals.  At that time he was training with the National Team and they had sequestered them prior to a wushu demonstration in Taiwan.

Here is a picture of the Wushu Hall that I took in 2008.  I also stuck in a few of Wu Di, Ma Ling Juan and Zhao Qing Jian for good measure.

Since the All China Games had just ended WYN and the rest of the professional team were on vacation.  So it was nice of him to take the time to bring me by.  He introduced me to Yuan Ming who was coaching a group of nanquan athletes and kids (about 7 of them).  I would be training with them.

On another carpet was a big group of changquan kids being coached by none other than Chu Feng Lian, the famous Fanzi Quan athlete from the 80′s and teammate with Zhao Chang Jun.  In fact several of them were learning Fanzi Quan and they had some pretty crazy techniques in the form that I hadn’t seen in the standard fanzi you see at most competitions.  Definitely the real deal.

The workout was pretty good.  I haven’t trained in almost 2 months, so I was a little out of sorts, but the good thing was that everyone was sort of on coasting mode because it was a break for the pro’s and their coaches.  It wasn’t quite as rigorous as it might have been, which was good for someone like me who was trying to get back in to the swing of wushu again.  I made it through the class and worked on some conditioning at the end (frog leaps, duck walks and wall sits).  When I left my legs were a bit on the wobbly side.

Here is a little video I took while there so you can see what the training hall looks like inside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spu0gXU1vWU

WYN said that, until the professional team and coaches come back on the 1st, I could train with the nanquan group.  Then, when they got back we would figure out the cost and schedule for my training.  I was pretty happy to have found such a good facility so close to my home.  And after that he took me to show me which bus I would take to get there.  Just 1 RMB each way (about 12 cents).  Pretty nice.  Here is the bus route:

And so that was my first week in Xi’an.  I went from taking the train, getting my train-delivered bags, getting settled in my neighborhood, and finding a place to train (even though it is somewhat temporary).  I can’t wait to see how things develop next week!

Related posts:

1. Two-Week Wushu Recap (11/1-11/14)
2. Back from the Break, Training with Kids (11/20)
3. Strength Training Redux (11/27)
4. Training for Real (11/23)
5. How To Take a Ton of Wushu Videos (12/14)