CHINA 中国
The West often paints China as this rigid, mysterious monolith. But that misses the real thing.. A bold, almost careless country where ancient history stand right next to neon skyscrapers, and life moves at full throttle without apology. I like to compare it as Taiwan’s more bashful older brother.
Here’s a collection of photos taken during my 2 month travel around China.
SHANGHAI
Flying directly into Shanghai you experience the immediacy of the chaos of China. It had a typical big city rush to it but with the added benefit of everybody staring at you and cameras everywhere. I had some freelance work on during that time so I based my self in a pretty nice hostel in the centre. Rooms were expensive but food was cheap and 好吃
DALI,
YUNNAN PROVINCE
Day hike up to an old hermitage temple on a mountain in Dali with a new friend. One monk and a cat live here. We would often pass solar powered CCTV cameras on the trail. Kind of feels everywhere in China is monitored.
CHENGDU,
SICHUAN PROVINCE
I didn’t get many photos around Chengdu, I was working most of the time. But Chengdu is famous for Giant Panda’s. They are native to Sichuan so naturally I had to visit the famous Panda Park. It was more of a panda nursery that reintroduces them into the wild at certain stages. They are very cute creatures, but made me question how they can even survive in the wild if all they do is chill and eat bamboo…
CHUNYOU MUSIC FESTIVAL,
CHENGDU
Chun You is a 10 year running music festival in Chengdu. Id say its probably the most liberal / alternative festival in China. Full of Mongolian, Tibetan youths with dreadlocks and face tattoos. It was very un-like China. I had heard about it from some new Chinese friends in Thailand. And it just happened that it worked for me date wise as the next day I needed to travel from West China to East for my Kung-Fu training.
It was a bit of a mix of young adolescent drinkers dancing to twenty-four hour techno while passing around their homemade 70% rice or pineapple alcohol and a more mature crowd around an organic stage area where there would be digeridoo and ethnic instrumental performance. This was more my vibe. And I also saw many friends I knew from Taiwan and Thailand there also!
Here’s a picture of my elite camping setup.
MALING KUNG-FU ACADEMY
After months spent in Pai training Qi Gong and Kung-fu I had a bit of a calling to deepen my practice. My friend Yuri had recommend this school in Jiangsu Province. I had spent a month here, training from 6:00 to 16:00 every weekday. It was a very transformative period for me. Being able to train discipline, focus and increasing my ability to learn new things. I hadn’t taken any photos of the school itself. It was more like an old high school or academy stile building rather than a temple that most shaolin programmes brand themselves as. But this experience was comfortable, I had my own room and had great home grown & cooked food from Mama Bao (The masters Mother).
These photos were taken at a nearby park Maling-Shan that we trained at sometimes.
The Gang Goes To (Mt.) Hua Shan
Mount Hua is defined by its sheer, vertical granite monoliths. Unlike mountains with sloped ridges, Huashan shoots straight out of the earth.
It is considered the geographical and cultural root of the Chinese civilization.
While other sacred peaks in China became blends of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, Mount Hua has historically remained an exclusively pure Taoist sanctuary.
For centuries, it attracted only the hardiest hermits and monks. They braved the treacherous cliffs to isolate themselves in its 72 suspended caves to brew elixirs of immortality and practice internal alchemy.
