It seems like a long time ago now, but I’ll try to recap the beginning of our Hawaii adventure.

Friday, August 20

After our night at the Econolodge near LAX we headed to the airport for our early morning flight (around 9 AM) to Honolulu.  Unfortunately part of the perils of flying stand-by means that you occasionally miss a flight.  The loads on the morning flight were very heavy and, while I would have gotten on the plane, Ruhi would have been stuck in L.A., so we waited for a flight later in the day.  Fortunately we both made it on and in first class even!

We arrived at Honolulu in the evening and caught a shuttle to the Ambassador hotel where we had made a reservation (thanks Cass!).  Unfortunately there was a problem and we weren’t able to check-in (no thanks to you Ambassador hotel), but after a bit of checking on-line we found a nearby hostel just a block from Waikiki Beach that was actually cheaper than the hotel and we still got a private room.  Score!

The balcony of the youth hostel

Saturday, August 21

The next morning we had some time to kill before our early evening flight to Moloka’i so we walked over to the beach, grabbed a spam musubi and some drinks at the ABC store and sat on the beach for a few hours.  Next to us were a couple of surfing instructors practicing jiujitsu on each other (which reminded us a lot of James from Wushu West) and in front of us was the wide-open Pacific ocean.  It was nice to just unwind for a while.

Surfers Practicing Jiu Jitsu

Waikiki Beach

In the afternoon we met up with Ruhi’s cousin at Starbucks and had some interesting conversations about colonoscopies (she’s a nurse), real estate (she’s a realtor) and then she gave us a ride to the airport where we caught a 9 seater Cesna run by Go! Mokulele Airlines.  The views on the 30 minute flight to Moloka’i island were awesome.  I’ll let them speak for themselves.

Kristin and Ruhi

About to board our plane to Moloka’i

Honolulu

Honolulu

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach

We were greeted by Ruhi’s Mom, Gaellen, and a local Hawaiian, Nelson.  They drove us to the Wavecrest Resort where Gaellen lives and we settled in to our apartment before heading over to Gaellen’s unit to greet Trina, John, Katie (John’s mom) and baby Sheena.  But it was late so we called it a night and hit the hay.

Sunday, August 22 – Sunday, August 29

To be honest, the week is a bit of a blur.  We did a lot of stuff so it is a little hard to keep track of it.  Instead of a day-by-day play-by-play I will do it by Photo galleries and give you some synopses of our various experiences.

Wavecrest Resort

First, here are some photos from the Wavecrest Resort where Gaellen lives.  It is located on the east side of Moloka’i, so it is nice and green with a great view of the beach and a pool.  One of the highlights was Nelson sharing with us some of the crab and fish he had caught.  He is a local fisherman so he basically goes out and uses a spear and net to catch squid, octopus, fish and shellfish straight from the ocean and then makes amazing local dishes with them.  Talk about fresh seafood!  It is literally from the ocean right in front of the building.

John at the pool

Full Moon Rise

Nelson the Fisherman

Nelson’s Catch of the Day

Dixie Maru Beach

We spent a day going up to a beach called “Dixie Maru”.  While there John got in some quality fishing time while the rest of us did some snorkeling.  We found the wreckage of a plane that had gone down just at the edge of the cove, which was pretty neat to see.  My first time seeing an authentic plane wreckage in the ocean.  Nelson spent his time getting some shellfish to eat.

John Fishing

Hula Class

Gaellen takes a Hula class in Moloka’i so we spent some time checking out their practice.  Elements of it reminded me a lot of Wushu practice – but I suppose that is to be expected.  I snapped photos, of course.

He is the Hula Instructor

Extended Exposure Shot

L: Gaellen R: Sunset

Halava Valley

One of the highlights was visiting Halava Valley on the West side of the island.  A very beautiful valley that opens up to the ocean.  We checked out the cove and beach followed by a trip to a local flower farm.  You can actually purchase the flowers online and have them shipped to anywhere in the world.  Check out their website at www.molokaiflowers.com.

Gaellen and Ruhi

A bee coming in for a landing

Jurassic Parking Lot

I actually took a LOT more photos than this. So if you have a moment please check out my galleries either on Facebook, or Picasaweb.

Cook House Music

We also took a trip to the famous Kualapu’u Cook House where the portion size is only matched by the size of the Hawaiian spirit.  Their food was amazing, but what was even cooler was a couple of local musicians asked if they could play some music for us.  Just some “backyard music” (according to them) but it was great to hear the heartfelt song on the ukulele and home-made bass.

Lookout and Moloka’i Hotel

After the Cookhouse we went to check out the highest natural cliffs in the world on the north side of the island.  It also has a view of what used to be a Leper colony and is now some protected lands that are almost inaccessible by anything by a boat or small plane.  Then after that we went to the Moloka’i hotel to watch some locals play music and do a bit of hula dancing.  Just some older residents of the island that like to go there to play music together.  It was very nice.

Tiny Bubbles

Family Photos and Wharf Boats

The day before John, Trina, Sheena and Katie left we posed for some family photos and then went out to see the arrival of 3 traditional Hawaiian canoes.  These are canoes that local Hawaiian navigators can use to go all the way to Tahiti, which is several thousand miles away.  And get this: they don’t need to use any navigation. They can even find their way if they can’t see the stars.  Pretty amazing stuff. 

Monday, August 30

And finally it was time for Ruhi and I to start the long trek back to China.  We caught an early morning flight from Moloka’i to Honolulu, followed by a nice business class trip to Narita, which is where I currently am.  Of course, it is now the 31st of August here and we’re waiting for a flight to Beijing this evening.  After arriving there we will stay overnight near the airport and catch a very early flight to Xi’an where I will begin my new life as a University teacher.

Here are some pictures of sunrise in Moloka’i, which I took from the Wharf before we left to Honolulu, along with a couple of photos from the flight.

The morning water was super clear!

Sunrise from the plane

Its been a great trip and a big thank you to everyone who made it possible!  I hope I can see you all again very soon!

Related posts:

1. Summer in the U.S.A.- Part 1 (California)
2. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 3 (Idaho)
3. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 2 (Texas)

The travel to Idaho was fairly pain free.  A quick plane ride from Austin to Phoenix and after a few hours of laying over, another quick ride up to Salt Lake City.  From there we took the Salt Lake Express to Idaho Falls, which is a bus that drove us the 4 hours north to our destination.  Its nice to have someone else do the driving.

Bob Picker gave us a ride from the bus stop to his and Nancy’s home.  The same home where we had our wedding just 11 or so months prior.  It seems like the time just flew right on by.  When we arrived Nancy showed us something amazing.  She had actually kept two of the cupcakes we had at our wedding on frozen storage, tightly sealed, just so that we could have it when we came back to Idaho again.  We were pretty flabbergasted. 

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The next morning there was a Baha’i devotional service at their home and then some brunch.  I took some pictures for you to check out.  A bunch of the folks were away at Summer Camp over near Sun Valley so it was just 6 of us in the morning.  Here are Nancy, Bob, the entrance to the home and a picture of Ruhi and I on the spot we got married.

Hmmm … bad hair day.  LOL

Anyway, my mom and Reid came to pick us up and, with a car full to the brim with luggage and groceries, we travelled the 90 minutes back to the beautiful Teton Valley and the town of Driggs.  Along the way my mom stopped to pick some flowers so I snapped a few photos.

We got back, unpacked, and then talked and caught up for a few hours until around sunset when Ruhi, my mom and I went for a walk.  I took a lot of photos along the way, which you can see below. 

Now, the truth is that, since Idaho was primarily a working trip, I didn’t have much opportunity to take any more photographs.  Ruhi, however, snapped some nice pictures so I will defer to her for the rest of our Idaho stay.  A few highlights were …

• I got to finally meet Heather at the TVCC whom I correspond with for work pretty regularly
• I saw Adolpho the day before he left for Puerto Rico on his way to live in Japan with his family. Adolpho is a Judo instructor.  He used to be a marine, and then was a Wyoming state trooper.  Now he and his family are moving to Kyushu to follow their passion of Judo and life in Asia.  Looks like I might see them in Xi’an at some point too.
• I saw Lisa Smith-Batchen and her husband Jay.  Lisa is an ultra-runner.  She recently ran 50 miles in each of the 50 states over a period of 62 days to raise money for orphans in Africa.  Yes, you read that correctly.  2500 miles of running in 2 months.  And halfway through she had broken her foot too .. but she kept running.  She’s ran the badwater race in Death Valley a dozen times, the Marathon de Sables in the Sahara Desert a bunch of times and was the first woman to run the Grand Slam … 4 100 mile runs followed by the Badwater in a single season.  Pretty impressive.
• Ruhi got to do the Yellowstone Grand Teton Loop road with my mom, which is one of the top scenic drives in the U.S.  Just spectacular views. 
• I did a lot of work.  I have a few clients in the area that I was doing some meetings with and working for.
• We went to the Spud Drive-In Movie Theater!  I haven’t been to a drive-in theater since I was a kid so this was pretty neat.  It is one of the only all-digital Drive-In theaters in the world.  We saw “The Expendables”.

Pretty soon the trip was over though.  On Thursday morning my mom and Reid drove us to Idaho Falls airport where we caught a small plane to Salt lake City, followed by a larger plane to LAX.  My dad was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and help us as we found a place to stay for the night.  Originally we were going to stay at a hostel near the airport but it turned out that we could get a local Econolodge for cheaper – and it also turns out the reviews on the hostel make us glad we didn’t go!

Here are a couple pictures from the Econolodge as the sun set in Los Angeles …

Next Stop .. Hawaii!

Related posts:

1. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 2 (Texas)
2. Summer in the U.S.A.- Part 1 (California)
3. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 4 (Hawaii)

After a night in a comfortable bed in her guest room we spent the day getting situated and prepared for our time in Austin.  Part of that was meeting up with Ruhi’s dad, Michael, and getting some delicious mini burgers!  They got some good burgers in Austin, Texas y’all.

Probably the most important part of our trip was attending the Flores Family Reunion.  The Flores family are Ruhi’s Paternal Grandmother’s family, but there are a good chunk of Ruhi’s family that are a part of the annual event.  Here are some photos from the reunion.

Another big part of our time in Austin was getting some work done for our various projects.  That meant getting a tour of a few of Austin’s finer coffee shops.  We visited the Spider House Cafe near UT, the Mozart Cafe on Lake Austin, The Snack Bar on SoCo, and even spent a day at a restaurant out in Bee Cave called Panera.  Here are some highlight photos.

We were also treated to an Enchilada / BINGO night at the Quintanilla household.  Highlights include my managing to win the coveted “Bingo Bear”, really good Apple Pie from Ruhi’s Aunt, and some archival family photo scanning.

On our last night in Austin we held a get-together similar to the one we had in L.A. at Roma Pizzaria.  To continue the theme we had it at Home Slice Pizza located on South Congress, one of the best pizza places in Austin, and certainly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten.  We had about 10 or 11 people show up from as far away as Dallas and Houston! 

It was right across from Guerro’s, where we ate earlier in the week with Ruhi’s dad, and where we saw Cindy Lauper having dinner (she was playing in Austin this week).  While waiting outside for our table I played around with some exposure settings on my camera and got the following photos.

So, after a week in Austin, it was time for Ruhi and I to make our way to our next destination … Idaho.  On Saturday morning we caught a flight from Austin to Phoenix followed by a flight up to Salt Lake City.  From there it was 4 hours on the Salt Lake Shuttle to our overnight stay with Bob and Nancy Picker in Idaho Falls.  The very same place we got married just one year before.  It seems we have come full circle.

Here are a few photos from our journey to Idaho.  But of course Part 3 will be coming up after this leg of our journey is finished.  And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Part 4 – Hawaii!  Which will be our final leg before finally arriving back home in China.

Ruhi and her Dad say goodbye at the Austin Airport

Related posts:

1. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 3 (Idaho)
2. Summer in the U.S.A.- Part 1 (California)
3. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 4 (Hawaii)

We flew out from Beijing, but since we are flying stand-by ended up staying one night in Japan before getting on our plane the next day.  We stayed in the Nikko Hotel near Narita airport and of course I had to get a bit of sashimi (chirashizushi to be precise) and some of the delicious convenience store food that Japan is known for.  Before you think that flying stand-by sucks, keep in mind that we flew Business Class the whole way.  I also managed to snap a photo of the moon over the wing.

Southland

Our first stop was the L.A. area to visit family and friends.  We stayed in Arcadia near Jenn and Wang Wei where they were nice enough to put us up in a place of our own.  The first day we made sure to visit Ruhi’s new niece, Sheena, as well as Trina and John.

The second day we drove down to Carlsbad to visit Ruhi’s grandmother (mom’s mom).  I also got to meet a few other uncles, aunts and such.

We were also able to visit my dad and step-mom Elaine in their new home out in Rancho Cucamonga.

And probably one of the highlights of the trip was being able to visit with a lot of old friends (mostly wushu-related) at a super-amazing Pizza place in Arcadia named Roma Pizzeria.  Here are pictures from that:

And finally a few more gratuitous shots of Sheena, just for good measure.

Bay Area

The next leg of our trip was 4 days in the Bay Area, where my sister and brother-in-law are now living.  Here are a couple pictures from Indian Rock in Berkeley.

Of course, I couldn’t visit the Bay Area without dropping by Wushu West, which I did on two occasions.  On Sunday morning I put the students through their paces, and then again on Tuesday I showed up to help out a little bit and get a bit of my own stretching in.  Always great to see my wushu family whenever I can.

I was also lucky enough to be able to visit both of my God-kids during this trip.  By coincidence they both happen to live in the Bay Area right now.  First up was Christina and Reeve down in San Jose, and then a visit with the Gemenez family up in Daly City

While driving around the Peninsula we also dropped by Mountain View to say a quick hello to Tiffany, who works at Google.

We also were able to attend Feast in Oakland and meet some of the local Baha’i’s.  But our trip was a short one so after just a few days it was time to head out and fly back to L.A.

The Slow Train to Texas

We only had a few hours between arriving at Burbank Airport and our train from Union Station to Texas.  We filled the time up with a trip to Felippe’s for some French Dip sandwiches with Jenn, Wang Wei, Trina and Sheena, as well as a surprise visit by my dad who took the train with us out as far as Ontario.

And at last we were on our train for the 30 hour ride to Texas.  But that is for another blog entry.  For now, we ride off into the sunset …

Related posts:

1. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 3 (Idaho)
2. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 4 (Hawaii)
3. Summer in the U.S.A. – Part 2 (Texas)

Wang Fu Jing’s Night Food Market (7/16)

Ruhi in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

I’m excited to be in Beijing! Taken in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

This is the mother of a friend who studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU or “Bei Wai”).  She was staying in the same apartment as us while she was there, but after a few days she had to return home to Malaysia. (7/19)

And this is her daughter, who’s name I can say but can not write for the life of me.  Something like “Nythiya”?  “Nydyia?”  Anyway, she is in a degree program at Bei Wai, so naturally her Chinese is pretty good. (7/19)

This is our friend Brian, who is a teacher at Bei Wai.  We were staying at his apartment during our time in the capital city.  Next to him is a student who came over to practice a speech she was giving at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium a day or two later.

Of course, no trip to Beijing is complete without visiting with some wushu folks.  Here we are with Hao Zhi Hua at the Blue Frog restaurant in San Li Tun’s Village Mall.  Cary was there too, but I didn’t include his photo because I was afraid his hair would attack me.

All the Wushu West folks will recognize Sunny, our intrepid tailor and all-around fashion police.  James was there to put in a big order for his friend’s wedding and I was there to get a jacket and shirt made, along with some clothes for a few folks in the U.S.  Yay for Ya Xiu!

And then there is Wu Di.  We met up with him, Osric Chau (another alivenotdead artist who you might remember as the young Tibetan monk in the film “2012”) and Stephen for some sushi and fun.  Wu Di shared a script idea with us and we gave him our feedback.  Then he was nice enough to drive us back home.  I was hoping to see him again before I left, but my schedule was crazy and I wasn’t able to see him again.

Wu Di

Osric Chau

Stephen

The next are a set of photos from “Pure Lotus”, a Buddhist Vegetarian restaurant located in the Chaoyang area near San Li Tun.  Great food and a very unique environment made it a great eating experience.  I ended up going twice, both times treated by someone else!

Buddhist statue made from wood.

This is their menu!  It is about 3 feet long and weighs close to 20 pounds.

Main entrance area of the restaurant.

A cup of tea

Word of wisdom

Some vegetarian hand rolls.  Very delicious.

And finally, one of the things I was doing here in Beijing was some work for Khalil Fong and his fan club.  Some of it was administrative, some of it was fan interaction and logistics, and some of it was photographic.  I got to attend his concert here in Beijing which was quite spectacular.  Soul Boy has some skillz.  I was able to hang out in the dressing room beforehand and also get some pictures from backstage, so I wanted to share a few of the ones I like the most here:

Some autographed concert cards for fans

Backstage with some band members before the show

Jun Kung on guitar!  Ray on Base!

I like his energy in this shot

Left: Taken from back stage, Right: sipping some water between songs

I like the light in this one.  No photoshopping required!

View of the audience from the 1st row.

While at the concert I ran in to an old friend from back home.  Marla!

At the concert were Dayyan and his wife Bei Bi, along with another friend Saba, who was the DP on one of Ruhi’s film projects a few years back.  Saba joined in at lunch the next day since he and Khalil are old friends and I snapped a picture of them comparing cameras at the table. 

Yes … we at at “Pure Lotus”.

And that more or less wraps up the main highlights of the trip.  We got some good stuff done and I had a nice time but now it is time for us to head off for our month-long trip to the U.S.  Keep your eyes peeled here as I blog our travels around the western hemisphere!

One more bonus pic, taking a queue from Emilio.

Related posts:

1. Beijing – Day 15: Beijing Roast Duck Dinner
2. Beijing – Day 7 & 8: Training Next to the Pros
3. Beijing – Day 13/14: Training and New Arrivals

This time around I opted for air travel, since I was a bit more pressed for time and train travel does take a bit of time.  Here are some photos of my early-morning flight from Xi’an to Guangzhou, as well as my bus trip to the Guangzhou East Train Station and the train trip from there to the Shenzhen border.  I actually took the train to Lo Wu, but since I was going to Jack’s it was much easier to take the Shenzhen subway to Lok Ma Chau (Futian) and cross there.  Then I could just catch a $10HKD bus straight to his front door.

Here are some pictures of that trip (By the way, all photos were taken courtesy of my new cell phone.  I didn’t bring any other camera with me to test if it was a good solution for trip blog photo taking – seems to have done the job decently … ):

Taxi to the Xi'an Airport

Xi'an Airport

Working at the airport

A view of Guangzhou from the bus

Lao Tai Tai's on the train to Shenzhen

Watch out!

Bus to Jack's

I arrived the day before Jack was leaving for the U.S. to attend a friend’s wedding so we went out to grab a bite to eat at “China Land”, a restaurant close to his home.

It was as hot as it looks

But the fun was short-lived since I had a lot of work to do at the North Point office where I would be stationed for most of my occupational duties.  While working there I thought it would be a good chance to experiment on different ways to make the commute from Tin Shui Wai to North Point.  The fastest ended up being the 969 bus to Sheung Shui (although it goes all the way to Causeway Bay) and then the MTR to Quarry Bay station.  Less than 90 minutes (for around $28HKD).

But by far the most pleasant way was to take the 269 bus to Hung Hom ferry pier and take the ferry across from there to North Point and walk a few blocks to the office, however it took the longest at just around 2 hours (for $25HKD).  The 269 bus is nice too because it also goes through TST, which is pretty convenient.

I took pictures of my various travel methods which you can check out here:

View of Causeway Bay from the bus

Western Tunnel Toll Booths

A few highlights from my trip were checking out a showing of Kick Ass with Khalil, Davina and Yuklan, spending the night in an office in TST while setting up a computer network (which I ended up having to re-do a few days later – ugh!), Checking out a super late showing of Iron Man 2 in Mongkok on my last night in Hong Kong, catching coffee with Ryan at Starbucks, eating dinner at a really fancy restaurant located in a clothing store, going computer equipment shopping in Wan Chai, and getting some great expense tracking software for my HTC Touch Pro 2.

Here are a few highlight photos from the rest of my time in Hong Kong:

Didn't get to see it -- waiting for English subs

Many levels of escalators!

Dan getting some Adidas swag

On my way back through Shenzhen I got my wallet picked from my pocket at the Futian Border crossing.  That would have sucked way worse if I actually had anything vital in there.  Just an ATM card for one of my Hong Kong banks and about $60HKD.  All of my vital stuff I keep in my travel belt wallet that goes securely under my shirt and pants waist.  So aside from some inconvenience it didn’t create any super horrible situations and I was able to make it to my subway / train / taxi / plane / bus back to Xi’an, where I arrived home, safe and sound, just an hour or two before Cindo de Mayo.

This will be my last trip to Hong Kong until at least sometime in June.  It will be nice to spend a bit longer at home, since I’m up to my neck in a backlog of work and tasks that need completing.

Some big news and information about my future plans on the horizon too, but it is still premature to talk about that, so for now you can just keep your eyes peeled for the post in the coming weeks.

Related posts:

1. Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Movie Sets (1/14)
2. How to Travel Like a Pro: Xi’an to Hong Kong
3. Training with the Hong Kong Wushu Team (1/11)

January

January was a cold month.  I spent most of the time focusing on my wushu.  In fact, it would be one of the last time I really got a good amount of training in this year (so far!).  This was also the month Charisse was staying with us prior to our February trip to Hong Kong for the Family Reunion and Vision that Inspires Conference.  We had a visit from Mejdi and his son (he’s been in China for a loooong time), I got to visit the Sports University, get my health card and a bunch of other stuff.  We also went on a day-trip to YanLing to visit some Friends.  Here are some highlight photos for you to check out:

February

We were gone 3 out of the 4 weeks of this month.  Hong Kong was calling so we headed down.  I posted a ton of photos from this on my Facebook and Picasa albums, so you can check those out.  Click here for my favorites.

A few other highlights was getting to meet Kevin Spacey and having a waaaaay-in-the-distance-hard-to-see walk-on extra role in the film that Dayyan was making with Kevin and Daniel Wu (and Gong Beibi, of course).  Can’t wait to see if I’m actually visible or not.

February is also when Ayyam-i-ha, the annual Baha’i holiday, is held.  We had a nice little get together in our home to celebrate (nothing too big – just a few friends) which just happened to coincide with the Lantern Festival which brought a great fireworks display directly outside our window.

Also on the schedule was the celebratory dinner for the end of Carmel Consulting, the company that Ruhi was general manager of.  It only took half a year to close the company.  Welcome to China!

Some photos from February:

March

March was the Fast, which is the 19 day period from March 2 – 20 when Baha’i’s do not eat from sunrise to sunset.  Not too many photos from March due to my constant hunger (hahaha) but I did manage to get a few here and there.  I did take a quick 2 day trip to Hong Kong though around the 26th, but there isn’t too much to write about that.  Ruhi started school in March so she was pretty busy with her studies.

March in general was a low-media month for me and I didn’t really take that many photos. Actually a lot of my media was video, which is a pain to edit, so no pictures to share. Maybe next time.

April

Well, April is still going on, but it has already been pretty chock-full of stuff.  My friend Lisa paid a quick visit to Xi’an and I took her to my favorite noodle/dumpling place near our home.  I got to practice the arts with some calligraphy and sculpting, and I spent a week in Hong Kong (and am going for another trip on Monday!).  I didn’t make it to the Wushu competition in Hangzhou, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last one.  Since Xiao Yu qualified for the next round I have a feeling I’ll still be able to shout and scream for my friends and training mates in the coming months.

Here are some photos from this month so far:

Related posts:

1. Life in Xi’an – XISU, Food, 4Dream and More …
2. Life in Xi’an: KTV, Birthday Brunch and more! (1/7)
3. (Sm/F)og, Three Things and a Bonus (12/1)

The shanty town I just passed reminds me of Haiti.  Although unlike Haiti there are high rise apartment buildings just beyond them. Lots of construction in Zhengzhou.  More than most cities I’ve visited in China.  I guess that Shaolin money is doing its job.

Anyway, after a week in Hong Kong filled with meetings, meetings, work and some stress, I’m finally on my way home.  And boy do I need a trip home.  I will have to soak it all up though because I’m coming back to Hong Kong on the 26th for 3 more days.  What happened to my wushu training?  I haven’t been to wushu in a month or so if seems.  “Out of shape” does not even begin to describe things.

Some highlights …

Where i bought my new cell phone: HTC Touch Pro 2

On the bus

MBDF

Hold on!

Jack

All photos courtesy of my new cell phone!

Related posts:

1. How to Travel Like a Pro: Xi’an to Hong Kong
2. Hong Kong Highlights in May
3. Training with the Hong Kong Wushu Team (1/11)

I picked up a 3G USB Wireless Modem at the DianZiGuangChang in Xi’an and signed up for a trial package to see how it works.  The 3G stick includes a slot for my 8GB MicroSD card too, so it acts both as a modem and a memory stick (8GB MicroSD was 115 RMB or around $20 USD).  The USB modem was 320 RMB and I signed up for 3 months of the lowest nation-wide access rate plan, which includes 60 hours of online 3G access each month up to downloads to 15GB.  If this proves to be helpful there are plans that allow for unlimited use.  I think the best deal was unlimited nation-wide use for 2800 RMB / year.  That comes down to around 200-something RMB / month, which is only around 100 RMB more than I’m paying for this plan.

Anyway, the plan is 100 RMB / month but you have to get a 3 month block.  So I paid 300 RMB for that.  Around 735 RMB all together.  Not too bad.  I have 3 months of 3G wireless access for a little more than $100 USD.

The other reason I got this was because next month (assuming this works well) I’m planning on attending the Duilian competition being held in Tianjin.  Yeah, it isn’t your normal wushu competition, but I feel bad about not attending this one so at least I can provide some interesting duilian footage from Tianjin.  I hope to Tweet from the competition too and if that works well, then you can be sure that, come Nationals in the fall, I will be there with my laptop giving you the up-to-the-minute play-by-play.  Will even try to post some pictures from the event too, if possible.  And even video, you ask?  Well, who knows?  That is entirely possible.

I’ll keep this short.  I have more stuff to blog that I’m a little behind on, but I’ll save that for when I am able to plug in my computer.

BTW, I’m putting together an FAQ here on wushuzilla so that all of the (constantly repeating) questions I get will be searchable through the website.  You can ask a question here if you want it included:

Related posts:

1. How to Travel Like a Pro: Xi’an to Hong Kong
2. Training with the Hong Kong Wushu Team (1/11)
3. Heading Home from Hong Kong

I made my way to her dorm room and hung out with her and Zhang Yang as they finished up their packing.  She was nice enough to give me a copy of the schedule for the competition events so I thought I would share it here with all of you.  One interesting thing is that they moved Changquan to the 3rd day.  Usually they have it on the morning of the first.  Anyway, here it is:

I’ve highlighted the events I definitely want to attend with red.  The ones in blue are ones that I would like to see, but may not get much footage of, either because they are concurrent with a preferred event on another carpet, or because I might not be there.  (Those 8 AM sessions are brutal).

Also, there is a slight chance that I might not get there until Monday afternoon, in which case I would be missing the Monday morning events.  I’ll have a better idea once the weekend is here what my status will be.

Anyway, I hung out with Xiao Yu and Zhang Yang for a bit.  Pretty soon Xiao Yu’s best friend (who’s name I forget) come in the room to help them bring their luggage downstairs.  She’s super nice and also from Shandong, Dong Ming.  A Sanda athlete who is apparently pretty good because she has her picture up as one of the athletes who were “celebrated” upon her return from the All China Games.  Don’t know if she medaled, but she probably got at least top 8 in her division.

She mentioned that she has a Sanda competition coming up in Anhui on April 8, so she will be preparing for that.  If any of you are in Anhui you can be sure to check it out. (She also mentioned that I’ve lost weight, so what she says MAY be subject to interpretation.   )

Wu Ya Nan met us at the bottom of the stairs and then we walked over to the bus.  As we were walking he said “I haven’t seen you in training much lately” and I mentioned that I had been in Hong Kong for a week for work.  But he’s right and I’ve been reflecting lately about my lack of attendance in the wushu guan.  Once I get back from the competition (hopefully rared up and motivated from watching lots of good wushu) I really want to revamp my commitment to my training.  I need to get in the gym more.

After a while the rest of the taolu athletes came and loaded themselves on the bus.  I took video of the whole thing so you don’t need too many details from me here.  Sufficeth to say it was neat to see them get the send-off for competition.  Now I kind of wish I had been able to go with them on the train, but it is good that I have a few days in Xi’an still since I have a lot to do.

Here is the video for you to enjoy!

One good thing about today was that I went running in the morning.  I was meeting James and Adam at their place so I decided to make it a run and hoofed it over.  Here is the map and distance:

So, not a super long distance, just 2.1 km.  But it felt good to get out on the road again.  I walked back as well, so I guess that is another 2.1 km of walking I can add to that.  I’m going to really try to do more running during this week away in Hangzhou / Shanghai.  Actually, I have a commitment with James and Adam that we each will go running every day for 2 weeks, so that is extra motivation for me to do it as well. 

Thats all for today.  There is some wushu classes at the Sports Center, but mainly just a few straggling kids.  I think I would rather focus on getting some of my projects finished so that when I come back to wushu after the competition I can really go at it full steam ahead.  Until then … lots of running!!

Related posts:

1. Two-Week Wushu Recap (11/1-11/14)