China Trip 2010 - Dreaming Dragon - Chinese Martial Arts

China Trip 2010 - Guizhou Odyssey: Glimpses of the Past

Friday 18th June

The Dreaming Dragon party for this year's trip to China consisted of 3 first-timers: Peter Wood, Marcin Kamycki and Monika Kamycka. Master Huang Ping, Yoyo and Dipen making up the rest of the tour party with Master Zhao Junhui arranging to meet them in China. The tour party met at Heathrow airport to fly to Beijing.

Saturday 19th June

We arrrived in Beijing early morning before taking a minibus for a 2-hour drive to Tianjin. After arriving at a beautiful hotel, Master Huang Ping took the party for lunch at the restaurant in the hotel. In the evening we were greeted at the hotel by Master Zhang Hong Jun (under whom Master Huang Ping' had previously studied under). Master Zhang Hong Jun is a well-respected martial arts Master in China, and who was familiar to many at Dreaming Dragon as they had met him in 2004. Master Zhang Hong Jun took us to his newly-opened restaurant called "Jin Wu Tang" (Tianjin Martial Hall). This restaurant also doubled up as a training and leisure centre for this martial arts club. We were give a personal tour around the place by Master Zhang Hong Jun and his brother, Master Zhang Hong Biao, and taken to his office where we were shown the martial arts shrine to his previous instructors. In the main restaurant area, the ground floor contained a large professional boxing/sanshou ring, with the tables for the dinners situated on balconies above and round the ring. The dining area was beautiful decorated and we were treated to a wonderful dinner at the restaurant sitting at the main table with Master Zhang Hong Jun. The staff at the restaurant were very warm and friendly, and tended to all of our needs. At first, we thought the boxing ring was for decorative purposes, however, we were mistaken...once dinner was under way, we were treated to many sanshou bouts held in the ring whilst we enjoyed our meal. The display of martial arts fighting skill on display was very high...a credit to the teachings of Master Zhang Hong Jun. As is the custom in China, there was much toasting with rice wine with Master Zhang Hong Jun. Also, many other dining guests at the restaurant came over to toast Master Zhang Hong Jun showing the respect that people had for me...this made us feel quite privileged to be seated at the main table with him.

Sunday 20th June

The morning was spent training with Master Zhang Hong Jun and some of his students at his training hall. It is a privilege to be able to train with Master Zhang as you cannot just walk off the street and request to start training with him; you have to be introduced to him by someone he knows and then he makes the decision as to whether he accepts you as a student. Our first experiences of Master Zhang were in 2004; we had previously heard much about him by Master Huang Ping and we were certainly not disappointed when we first met him. He is a truly outstanding teacher as well as an outstanding person; people are in total awe of him especially as he is former Chinese National Sanshou champion. Luckily for Dreaming Dragon students, the bond between Master Zhang and Master Huang Ping is very close as he has considerate respect for Master Huang Ping's ability and of her personality which enables the likes of us mere mortals the opportunity to train with him. Master Zhang has developed his own style of martial art which we first experienced in 2004 and which was truly unique. Well, in 2010, he has taken this style several levels higher and the forms that he demonstrated were incredible, and were performed with incredible grace and spirit; the forms embodied the spirit of an eagle in my untrained eyes. After training, Master Zhang invited us and one of his own students to lunch. We were treated to some lovely food and much toasting with rice wine. This gave us another opportunity to get to know Master Zhang as the person rather than just as the incredible teacher of martial arts that he is. He was very warm and made us feel very welcome; he was very happy to see Master Huang Ping again and you could see that in how he responded to her and her students. After lunch, Master Zhang's student took us to a massage and sauna centre where we spent several hours relaxing, which was great after a good training session. After such a wonderful lunch, we were still quite full so it was a quick visit to a local, but incredibly large, shopping centre to buy light snacks for dinner.

Monday 21st June

This morning was again spent training with Master Zhang trying to learn some of the movements of his style. Master Zhang's students were very friendly and were most enthusiastic to help us during the training. It was wonderful to experience such warmth in martial arts circles, along with much laughter. In this training session, Master Zhang also demonstrated the versatility of his training by combining his new style with some Baguazhang movements and it was wonderful to watch as the energy flowed seamless in his movements. (Master Zhang has a background in Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Yiquan). After training, Master Zhang invited us to have lunch at his home. Again there was plenty of delicious food and the customary rice wine, although this time there was the warm variety available too. Much toasting was done during the lunch as we each personally thanked Master Zhang for being such a wonderful host. Master Zhang offered us much valuable advice, telling that it is hard to find truly good students and reminded us the qualities that are required to be good students if we wanted to achieve anything in martial arts. We took the advice in the spirit that it was intended and made a promise to keep it. We spent the afternoon at foot massage parlour being massaged and stretched in different directions which was much needed after the morning training session. We left the massage parlour just in time to walk to the a restaurant that is famous for offering over 100 different varieties of dumplings. The restaurant was very busy and dumplings were delicious too...just as good as they were in 2004 when we last visited this restaurant.

Tuesday 22nd June

This morning we took the Metro into the heart of Tianjin for own city tour. We visited various landmarks and historical housing of the Guomingtang government as well as those of the six occupying nations in the early 20th century. Along the way we visited an famouse anitque shop which also doubled up as restaurant and tea-house. After a while, some of us realised that we have visited this restaurant before back in 2004 although the main entrance had changed which made it difficult to recognize it from the outside. However, once inside the restaurant it all came flooding back. We continued our exploration of the city of Tianjin by visiting the Tianjin's Chinatown...yes, you heard correctly, there is a Chinatown in Tianjin!! The Chinatown was contained many shops with the architecture being that of ancient china. It was quite a beautiful looking place and great fun to browse around in. A few of us took the opportunity to buy a few items as well as to try out some of the delicacies on offer in the local food stalls. After walking around for so long, we decided to make our way to the "Gou Bu Li" restaurant in the heart of Tiajin...this is a very famous chain of restaurants in china specializing in a popular variety of steamed bun known as "baozi", consisting of dough wrappers stuffed with meat or vegetable filling and served in steamer baskets as well as other hot dishes. After lunch, we decided to work off our full stomachs by taking a nice long walk along the river taking in the views of a changing city until the evening.

Wednesday 23rd June

This morning we packed our bags and headed off to the airport. Master Zhang Hongjun had phoned Master Huang Ping to wish her and all her students well and a safe journey as well telling her to visit him again soon. We arrived at the airport in good time and our flight took off on time at 1:00PM for what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour flight scheduled to arrive in Guiyang (Guizhou province) via Zhengzhou at around 3:00PM, where Master Zhao Junhui was waiting for us. However, due to bad weather, we had to land at various other airports such that instead of flight from Tianjin -> Zhengzhou -> Guiyang, we ended up taking the detour of Tianjin -> Xi'an -> Zhengzhou -> Chengdu -> Guiyang. We finally arrived in Guiyang at midnight...9 hours later than scheduled!!! However, it was a welcome sight to see Master Zhao Junhui greeting us at Guiyang airport along with his former Chinese Army student, Lian Ye Tai, and others, before taking us in several cars away from the airport. As some of us were hungry after a gruelling journey, Master Zhao Junhui went out of his way to find a lovely restaurant at 1:00AM in the morning, where he and Lian Ye Tai ordered a magnicifent array of dishes, as well as the traditional rice wine. Despite the long, tiring journey and that was the early hours of the morning, there was much laughter, fun and enjoyment as well as much toasting with rice warm. It was a wonderful way to end a long day as we headed to the centre of Guiyang to our hotel.

Thursday 24th June

This morning, we were greeted by another of Master Zhao Junhui's former Army student, Zhu Shihan, who was now a senior manager in a Tobacco company in Guiyang. Zhu Shihan had kindly arranged for two of his company drivers to drive us around to various places in outside of Guiyang city in two cars (a top of the range BMW and Mercedes Benz) . It was a very comfortable to way to travel around outside of Guiyang, and proved the respect that Master Zhao Junhui commands from his former students, as well as highlighting the welcoming nature of the Chinese people in looking after their Guests. Our first destination was to the Huanggoushu waterfall which is 137km from Guiyang. There are around 18 waterfalls in this region with Huanggoushu being the best known. Huangguoshu Waterfall is the largest waterfall in Asia, standing at seventy-four meters (243 feet) high and eighty-one meters (266 feet) wide. A truly beautiful sight. We had lunch at a little family-owned restaurant and situated upstairs which gave us a breath-taking view of the surrounding mountains and rooftops of the village nearby. We were welcomed by friends Zhu Shihan who were wonderful hosts looking after all of our needs. The lunch was fabulous as usual and again the rice wine came out in time for plenty of toasting. As we were meeting new people every day, it was very hard to avoid the rice wine and customary toasting...by now we were all becoming experts and this was well-received by our hosts. After lunch, we were taken to the nearby Doupotang scenic area, full of running streams, waterfalls, natural rock formations as well as beautiful, natural plantation. There was plenty of walking to do through this area as well giving us plenty of time to take in the natural beauty of the scenery as well the soothing sound of the water as it rushed by. Afterwards, we returned to Guiyang, where we were taken to a plush restaurant and into a private banqueting room where we were greeted by Zhu Shihan. Another evening of fabulous food, fun, laughter and of course rice wine and much toasting, was enjoyed by all. The evening was rounded off with Zhu Shihan presenting Master Zhao Junhui with a small gift to mark the re-uniting of Master and Student.

Friday 25th June

In the morning, we readied ourselves to leave Guiyang and head for for 2 hour drive to Kaili. Zhu Shihan was at our hotel to see us off and had also kindly arranged for this drivers to drive us and our luggage to Kaili. The views of the surrounding areas were magnificent as headed off to Kaili in two cars. As we approached the edge of Kaili city, we were greeted by another of Master Zhao Junhui's former Army students, but who was now considered a very, very close friend. I had the pleasure of meeting Jian Hua for a day in Kunming in 2009, and found him to be a very friendly, warm and entertaining person so I was really looking forward to seeing him again. On this occassion, we would be spending five days in his company so it would be a good opportunity to get to know him more. Jian Hua accompanied us to our hotel near the centre of Kaili city. After checking into our hotel rooms, Jian Hua had arranged for us to have lunch in a private room. Jian Hua had pre-ordered a variety of interesting and delicious dishes as well as many vegetarian dishes for me. After lunch we had a couple hours of free time, and a few of us decide to explore a bit of the city on foot, looking at the shops and interacting with a few of the locals exercising in small play area. In the evening, we were driven by Jian Hua to a Traditional Miao People Restaurant which was designed in authentic Miao house style. We taken to a private room in the upper floor of the restaurant where Master Zhao Junhui and some of his former Army students (Yang Xian, Wang Lin, Wang Bo Tai) were waiting for us. We were warmly greeted by our hosts who were extremely happy to see their teacher, Master Zhao Junhui, again after so many years. A few moments later we were also joined by Jian Hua's closest friend, Wu Chen Qin, who also made us feel very welcome. Needlessly to say, that our hosts had ordered us some wonderful traditional Miao People style food as well as plenty of rice wine, so there was plenty of toasting, laughter, fun, enjoyment and new friendship forged during the evening. During the dinner, we treated to a traditional Miao welcome ceremony by Miao girls dressed in their beautiful traditional Miao outfits. After some traditional songs by the Miao girls, Dipen, Peter and Marcin were the recipients of some Miao ceremony where the Miao girls would tease them with some food and wine. It was truly wonderful feeling to experience the Miao culture and within the walls of a lovely restaurant surrounded wonderful new friends. After dinner, we all headed off for a foot massage.

Saturday 26th June

This morning we were taken to a local cafe for breakfast. Jian Hua wanted to us to sample the life and experiences of the locals, which always began in the morning with a particular type of breakfast. The cafe was buzzing with many locals, some on their way to work and some on their way to school. We were each given a large bowl with noodles in a spicy and tangy soup along with meat and vegetables. The cuisine is Guizhou province tends to be spicy and tangy, not matter what time of day it is and although it is not what we are used to, the breakfast was indeed delicious and enjoyed by all. Master Zhao Junhui, when planning our trips to China, always tries to enable us to experience the real china and to experience all that the local do. After breakfast, we explored Kaili city on foot for most of the morning taking in the views of the buildings and structures as well as being viewed with much curiosity by the locals as we were the only foreigners in town. To keep in with the theme of experiencing life as the locals, we were taken to a small family restaurant in town. The food was, as always varied and delicious, and was also accompanied by the traditional tangy soup, which is the favourite of the Guizhou people. After lunch, we went to Jian Hua's home in central Kaili for tea and his home-made sweet rice wine. In the late afternoon, we boarded our mini-bus, driven by Jian Hua, and made our way to Xijiang which about 2 hours drive outside of Kaili city, and that has one of the famous "Miao Jia Zhai" (Miao Family Villages). Along the way, we witnessed many breathtaking views of mountain, natural forestation as well as the traditional small Miao villages built on the sides of the mountains with many rice fields either on terraces or the foot of the mountains. When we arrived at the Miao Family Village, we were greeted by Miao girls dressed in beautiful, traditional Miao outfits, waiting with large Ox horns full of the local rice wine. It is the custom of the Miao people that they greet visitors to the village with songs and the visitor must drink the rice wine if they want to enter the village. We were informed by the Jian Hua, that if we touched the large Ox horn containing the rice wine then we would have to drink all of the rice wine in the horn. As I approached the gate, a Miao girl stood in my way, singing and holding a large Ox horn containing wine, after a brief moment to stepped forward and held open part of the Ox horn to my mouth and I began to drink from it. I was very careful to keep my hands behind my back to avoid touching the Ox horn, however, this young Miao girl decide to go against all tradition, and continued to lift up the bottom of the Ox horn, forcing me to drink all of the rice wine. When I had finished, I glanced up at the girl who had a big smile on her face and I returned the smile...who could not be happy with such a warm welcome...it was a lovely experience. One by one each of us entered the village and on the other side were more older Miao ladies in traditional outfits lined up on either side of the road. I glanced back to take in the view of the surrounding mountains, the traditional buildings, the Miao girls and ladies, the singing and drinking ceremony, and thought to myself, I had finally made it to this place that I had been planning to come to for several years. Once inside the village, Master Zhao Junhui and Master Huang Ping encouraged us to try out some of the local delicacies available on the stalls...one of those being rice cakes from sticky rice...delicious. We walked along the the narrow road of the picturesque village taking many photos and also browsing some of the shops along the road. There was a river running along the side of the road and there were also many houses along the river. There were several bridges known as Feng Yu Qiao (Wind Rain Bridge) constructed in traditional Miao style that allowed us to cross over to the other side of the river. Later, we were taken by Jian Hua to the centre of the village where a large arena had been built to witness song, music and dance by the Miao villagers. At the end of the performances, the villagers encouraged the audience to come and take part in the final dance, Peter, Marcin and Dipen needed no more encouragement and were the first ones to go to dance with the Miao girls...soon, most of the audience joined them too. So far it had been such wonderful experience, but this was not to be then end of it. Master Zhao Junhui and Jian Hua then took us to a local restaurant built on the side of the mountain where we were to have dinner. We had a private room on the top floor of this restaurant overlooking the whole of the village. As the night closed in, the lights of the individual Miao houses began to lighten up and we witnessed some beautiful views of the village. That in itself was worth waiting for, however, there was also much traditional food and rice wine to enjoy at this restaurant...we were feeling very happy and very privileged to be at this wonderful. After dinner, we returned to our hotel in Kaili.

Sunday 27th June

We began the day with a 4 hour drive to the scenic area of Shanmu River, a tributary of Wuyang River in Shibing County, that has become increasingly popular for its crystal clear water, green mountains on both banks and picturesque surroundings. Shanmu River is famous for white water rafting...the rafting course was more than 20 kilometers long and took about 3 hours to finish. The deepest part of the water was about 1.3 meters. Two people sat in the rubber dinghy on opposite sides and mostly just drifted with the waves. A pole was also provide in case you needed to push yourselves away from the green mountains on the either side of the river or from the rock formations in the middle of the river. Some barbecues were available along the river which provided by the locals. We, of course, stopped to sample the the delicious food that was available before continuing the journey down the river. As we moved downstream, the course became narrower and there were more reefs, which provided breathtaking scenery. There's no doubt that traveling Shanmu river's white water rafting course provided us with unforgettable memories and deepened the camaraderie that existed within our travelling group. Afterwards we drove back to Kaili and straight to a special traditional Dong People style restaurant in the centre of Kaili. We were taken to a private room where we were warmly greeted by Yang Xian (whom we had met 3 days ago) and his wife who were to be such wonderful hosts on this evening. Yang Xian had gone out of his to order a variety of traditional Dong people style dishes which absolutely delicious. He has had also ordered plenty of rice wine (known as "slow killer" due to the fact that it appears very light however, it creeps up on you) so there was much toasting to be done that evening. During the dinner, we were again treated to some traditional Dong song and music by Dong girls and boys dressed in wonderful traditional outfits. This was warmly received by ourselves and appreciated the efforts that Yang Xian had gone through to make us feel welcomed.

Monday 28th June

Today was the beginning of an adventure to a remote part of Guizhou which contained many villages inhabited by the Dong people. This area of Guizhou had not seen much money pumped into the transport infrastructure to the area thus making the journey to it somewhat hazardous. At the same time, due to the lack of investment in the area, the smaller towns and villages in the area were untouched by modernization and so this was the main attraction of visiting the area. Not many tourists visit the area due to the remoteness of the area, treacherous roads, lack of trains and airport. We were really looking forward to visiting this area. We left Kail in the morning at around 9am, in two regular cars driven by Jian Hua and his friend, Wu Chen Qin. The roads leading out of Kaili were in good condition so the journey was comfortable to begin with. As we drove through the countryside, we experienced beautiful scenery of green mountains and natural forestation. Travelling up the mountains and into the low clouds gave the surroundings a mystic view...Guizhou is a place of truly natural beauty. We also drove through many small towns, enchanting small villages and it gave us a real insight into the lives of local people as they wentabout their daily lives, which, in the end, made the journey worthwhile. We stopped over in a small town for lunch at a small family restaurant for some delicious food. After lunch, we continued our journey which now had become a little a bit bumpy due the poor conditions of the roads. As passed through the mountains there was much evidence of rockfalls from the side of the mountains which had carefully been piled on one-side...a sign of things to come ahead in the journey. At one point during the journey, we came to the side of one mountain that had a few cars stopped on the road. As we got out of our car, we could see that there were large rocks falling off from the side of the mountain caused by vibrations from the road. Luckily for us, we had former Army officers in the group and their cool heads were a Godsend as they always managed to think of a way to get past anything. It was decided that all members of the group except the drivers would have to run pass the falling rocks when there was an available opportunity. We approached the area with caution, and when the rocks ceased to fall momentarily, we made a dash past the problematic area. As we got to the other side, we could hear the rocks falling behind us. Then, Jian Hua and Wu Chen Qin, drove each car past the dangerous area of the road when the opportunity arose. After that experience, we were wondering what lay ahead for us on this journey. However, except for the roads becoming increasingly more bumpy at the times, we did not experience any other difficulties but did experience more beautiful scenery, stopping off at various places to take photos and sample fresh water melons on the side of the road. Nine hours after beginnng our journey in Kaili, we arrived in the city of Liping where we checked into a lovely little hotel in the centre of the city. After freshening up, we met in the foyer of the hotel where we were greeted by Jian Hua's childhood friend, Long who was a school teacher and so was referred to as Long Laoshi. Long Laoshi was from the Miao people community and was a very warm, jovial individual. After the introductions, we walked to a local Dong people restaurant quite close to the hotel. At the restaurant we were also joined by Jian Hua's Brother-in-law. The food at the restaurant was absolutely delicious and all of our individual needs were catered for, including the rice wine. We were treated to some Dong songs by the local Dong girls with wonderful voices which was thoroughly enjoyable, enhancing our whole experience of this trip to China. The evening ended with all of us having more beer and watching football together in Wu Chen Qin's hotel room.

Tuesday 29th June

After breakfast, we started out on drive to Zhaoxing where the one of the Dong Jia Zhai (Dong family village) was located. Due to the heavy overnight rain the roads were treacherous as the dirt roads had become muddy and were flooded in many areas. We had many difficult moments during the journey which caused us to think that we may become stuck in the road unable to go further or retreat. However, thanks to the expert driving of Jian Hua and Wu Chen Qin, we negotiated every difficulty that we encountered along the way. The journey would normally take about 2 hours but due the to the treacherous conditions we arrived in the Dong village 4 hours after we began the journey. The Dong village was untouched by any modernization and that gave it an authentic and charming aura. There was a river flowing through the centre of the village with numerous beautifully-carved bridges along its length. We wandered leisurely through the village, browsing in shops and taking in all the views. We even sat down on the bridge where many of the locals had gathered and had a chat to a few of them; the Dong people were very friendly and welcome us warmly. We had lunch in a restaurant in the village, with yet again more delicious food on offer. After lunch, we began the return journey back to Liping, and needless to say, the journey back was equally difficult, however, it was worth all that effort to visit such an enchanting place that had been untouched by modernization, giving us a real authentic view of this part of China. We finally arrived back in Liping in the late afternoon and as it was another 7 hours drive back to Kaili, it was quite obvious we would not be able to reach Kaili today as planned, since driving in the night would be far too dangerous on this route. It was decided that we would drive to Jinping, which was also Jian Hua's hometown and stop over here for the night. Jian Hua phoned a friend in Jinping to ask him to make arrangements for dinner and hotel accomodation; it seemed that Jian Hua had friends all over Guizhou who were always willing to help, which was lucky for us as things could be organized at short notice. On the way to Jinping we stopped over to visit the site of the Gaotun Natural Bridge (Tiansheng Qiao) that is a waterfall natural bridge eroded through limestone karst by the Bazhou River, a tributary of the Fulu River. Access to the bridge is via walkways and trails that run through and over the bridge. The span,of the bridge is about 230 feet and the whole site was very picturesque. After visiting the bridge, we continued our journey and arrived in Jinping in the early evening. We drove through to the centre of the small city where there was a river with a restaurant on a boat docked by the side of the river. We were greeted by Jian Hua's friend who had arranged the dinner for us. We were taken to a private room on the boat where we were treated to more delicous food. After dinner, we made our way to a hotel, and once we had checked in, a few of us were invited out to a local open-air bar to view the football on the large screen.

Wednesday 30th June

In keeping with the theme of doing as the locals do, we joined the locals for breakfast at a local cafe. After breakfast we started out on our journey back to Kaili and as had a train to catch to Kunming in the later afternoon it was essential that get to Kaili one way or another. The Sun shone brightly on Jinping that morning, however, any hopes that the journey would be an easy one quickly evaporated. As we made our way up the mountain outside of Jinping city, the well-kept city road quickly turned into a dirt road which became increasingly muddy. Near the top of the small mountian, we saw a Landrover attempt to drive up a large incline that was also on placed a bend in the road. The road was extrememly muddy in that section, and we watched the make several attempts as it slid back down the incline after each effort. Finally it managed to weave itself up and over the large incline; if the landrover had slid back in the wrong direction, then it would have ended by sliding down by the side of the mountain. Jian Hua decided that we would not be able to negotiate that incline in the normal cars that we were in and so decide to take the minor road that weaved and wound itself around the side and up the mountain. This was to be an equally hair-raising experience. The small road was unfortunately also dirt road, made muddy by overnight rain; it was also only wide enough for one car, and so Jian Hua had to beep the horn often, especially when approaching bends in case another car was coming in the opposite direction. We encountered many flooded areas on this smaller road making it very difficult for the car to get any traction as it moved up and along the road. Once false move by the Jian Hua and we would be heading down the side of the mountain very quickly...we tried very hard to be think about that. There were times that the road was muddly and incline so great that we had get out of the car and help push it up the mountain and this sometimes occured on bends too. However, thanks to the experty driving of Jian Hua and Wu Chen Qin, we finally negotiated that difficult, scary section of the mountain and got to the top in one piece. Luckily for us, the rest of the journey was not as dangerous as this. When an opportunity came along, we stopped over by the side of the road where a small stream was flowing by the side of road to clean our boots and to wash down both cars that become so muddy during the journey up the mountain. After a few hours into our journey, we arrived at a small town 80km outside of Kaili city in time for lunch. Jian Hua had phoned a friend residing in this town who was also the Commander of the local traffic police. We met up with Jian Hua's friend and were escorted to a restaurant outside the town in a beautiful setting. We were also joined at the restaurant by two other female friends who were very pleased to meet us. Along with the delicious food on offer, there was much toasting with alcohol. At one stage, one of Jian Hua's friend was so happy to meet us that she sang a Chinese song for us. Master Huang Ping decided that one our group should do the same, and asked Dipen to sing a song in Chinese for our hosts. Dipen, along with Master Zhao Junhui and Jian Hua, sang a Chinese song, much to the delight and surprise of our hosts. After lunch, we said our goodbyes and continued our journey to Kaili. We arrrived in Kaili at around 4:00PM, just in time to catch the overnight sleeper train to Kunming. We said our goodbyes to both Jian Hua and Wu Chen Qin at Kaili train stations. It felt really sad to be saying goodbye to Jian Hua, who had been such a wonderful friend and had looked after all of us...we were sure we would be seeing him again sometime in future.

Thursday 1st July

The train pulled into Kunming rail station at around 8:00AM, where we were warmly greeted by Poom Ge and Zhang Qing, a long-time friend of many of those travelling to China with Dreaming Dragon. We were transported to our hotel in the centre of Kunming and after we had checked in, we then drove to a restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, we returned to our hotel for a couple hours of rest. Around lunchtime, we took taxis to a shopping area in Kunming, where we browsed in the many shops that were available. After visiting numerous shops and having bought a few items, we stopped at an area containing many foodstalls where we sat down and ordered many different dishes from the available stalls. Zhang Qing had bought some special local dishes for us to try...absolutely delicious. After lunch, we head off to the Baoshan Hotel, which also has a Korean massage centre on the 2nd floor. We enjoyed a whole afternoon of baths, sauna, foot massage and korean body massage...a very enjoyable and relaxing experience. It was early evening by the time we left the Korean massage centre, and we were met by some friends of Master Zhao Junhui outside the Baoshan hotel. We then got into several cars and drove to the edge of Kunming, near the Western Hills, where a large beautiful shopping complex had been newly built with quite unique architecture. Within this shopping complex, there was a beautiful Jinpo people style restaurant. Inside the restaurant, there were two of Army officers waiting for us, one of whom was Fong Yong (Master Zhao Junhui's former Army student) and his commanding officer, Yong Yong. We were warmly greeted by the two Army Officers, especially by Fong Yong who was a Kung Fu brother for us and who spoke very good English. An array of delicious traditional Jinpo people style dishes were ordered for us, and once the rice wine made an appearance, there was plenty of toasting being done throughout the evening. During our meal, we were treated to special Jinpo style welcome ceremony with much singing and customary drinking red wine with the beautifully-dressed Jinpo girls. After dinner, Fong Yong and Yong Yong invited us all to have tea at beautiful Tea House nearby. We watched, as the girl in the Tea House elegantly made the tea, explaining the many points of making perfect Pu'er tea. At Tea House, we then joined by another of Kai Long, another of Master Zhao Junhui's former Army student, who was now a government official. Kai Long was due to leave for Thailand on Government business the next day, and so happy to see Master Zhao Junhui and his new Kung Fu brethren from Dreaming Dragon, that he wanted to make the most of the time available. He invited all of us to visit KTV, a high-end Karaoke club, to spend the rest of the night singing, drinking and eating more food. We arrived at the KTV club, situated in a plush area in Kunming, and were taken to a private room where several of Kai Long's friends were already waiting for us. An evening of singing, drinking, dancing (of which some of us were very poor at...but we won't mention any names) and general merriment was had by all which created a special bond of friendship between the Dreaming Dragons and our local hosts. It was 2:00AM in the early hours of the morning before we left the KTV and said goodbye to our new friends. It had been a really long day...but definitely an enjoyable one and we went to bed feeling very happy.

Friday 2nd July

It was a bright, warm sunny day as we drove in two cars to the Shi Lin (Stone Forest) which is situated about 83km outside of Kunming. A typical karst formation, the Stone Forest covers an area of more than three hundred square kilometres. When we arrived at the entrance of the Stone Forest, Master Zhao Junhui arranged for local guide from the Sani people to take us around the main sections of the Stone Forest. Our guide spoke very good English and was very informative with a great sense of humour in explaining all about the Stone Forest. We spent the morning exploring the main areas of the Stone Forest enjoying the great views that were available. Near the end of the tour, we visited an art gallery situated within the Stone Forest complex, where witnesses many fine pieces of artwork, with the most beautiful being those that depicted the many varying ethnic groups in Yunnan. We were also very fortunate to each receive a personal scroll with calligraphy written by the resident artist; each scroll had a chinese character written on it that, according to the artist, most characterized the recipient. On our way back to Kunming, we stopped over in a small town to have lunch at a local restaurant...needless to say the food was delicious. After lunch, we returned to our hotel for a well-deserved rest for the remainder of the afternoon. In the evening, we travelled by taxis to a plush restaurants situated on the top floor of large shopping mall. We were escorted to a large private room, which was beautiful decorated, and were served tea until our hosts had arrived. After a few moments, we were introduced to Ce Wai and his wife. Ce Wai was an old Army friend of Master Zhao Junhui and they greeted each other very warmly. Later on with were joined by another of Master Zhao Junhui's Army friend who was accompanied by his daughter who spoke very good English. We were also joined for dinner by two Army officers currently serving under Ce Wai. We were warmly welcomed by all of our Chinese hosts and new friendships were forged by toasting with delicious rice wine made from mushrooms. Ce Wai had ordered an array of delicious dishes which were as good in taste as they were in appearance. In finding out that Dipen was a vegetarian, he promptly ordered more vegetarian dishes; he was a very considerate host. After, dinner we took taxis to the centre of Kunming where we walked through the city centre. The place was buzzing with people, and there were many shops and stalls still open despite the late hour. We browsed in many shops and ate ice-cream as we casually strolled through the centre and all the way back to our hotel.

Saturday 3rd July

After an hour or so of driving in several cars, ourselves and a large group of our Chinese friends arrived at the Western Hills on the edge of Kunming. In this area, we were taken to a large complex that had facilities for grass-rafting and roller-blading. First, sitting on individual small rafts, we all took turns in sliding down the side of a grass hill. Most of us took the opportunity to have several goes at this as it was thoroughly enjoyable. After, the rafting, we headed towards the roller-blading area, where a couple of us were fitted with protective clothing and some roller-blades. We then proceeded to, or should I say attempted to in the case of one or two of us, roller-bladed down the grass hill. A couple of us took a few falls during the session, much to the delight of the other members of our group, however it was thoroughly enjoyable experience as well as very tiring. As if these two activities were not enough to tire us out, the whole group walked barefooted along the large grassy range at the complex; a few of us also indulged in bit of chinese wrestling too!! We had lunch in a nearby village at a family restaurant where the food was delicious. Our Chinese friends had brought with them an extremely large pot of strong rice wine and there was much toasting done due to the fact there were so many of us. After lunch, we headed off to the centre of Kunming for a spot shopping, giving us to be items for family and friends. After a few hours of shopping, we headed off to a restaurant to meet up with more of Master Zhao Junhui's friens for dinner. After dinner, we made our way to a theatre to watch the fabulous show called "Dynamic Yunnan", which showcased many of the ethnic singing and dancing that can be found in Yunnan, as well the performance of the "Peacock Dance" by the nationally-famous, Yang Liping. After the show, we had a leisurely walk back to our hotel.

Sunday 4th July

This morning, we got up early and took the opportunity to go and watch the locals practising Tai Chi and other martial arts at various open areas in the centre of Kunming. Afterwards, we walked around the city viewing some of the shops before making our way to Zhang Qing's home. We were warmly welcomed by Zhang Qing and his daughter, Yan Qi, before sitting down around a Tea Table for some delicious Pu'er tea. Zhang Qing had been very busy preparing a wonderful home-cooked lunch for us, where one of the specialities was dog meat. After lunch, we were treated to a display of Chinese calligraphy by Zhang Qing and Yan Q; their skills in calligraphy were wonderful as they specially produced a piece of work for each one of us to take home. In the middle of the afternoon, we were driven to Kunming Airport, where we said our goodbyes to Master Zhao Junhui, Master Huang and Zhang Qing before heading off to the gate to board our flight to Beijing. We arrived in Beijing in the evening and a few of decide on a late night visit to the centre of Beijing which was extremely lively despite the late hour.

Monday 5th July

We woke early this morning before heading to the Beijing Airport for a flight back to London

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