On September the 18th I stumbled upon the website for Eric Lee’s 2008 China Tour. I have met and trained with Grand Master Eric Lee in the past and he is a very fun and knowledgeable teacher of Kung Fu. I had been invited to go on these tours before but due to time, finances, and responsibilities I was unable to go. This year I decided, however, that I would. This will be the last year that Master Lee hosts this type of tour which was added incentive to take the opportunity to go along with him. I was able to get off of work, I had help at the school to take my classes, and I had enough in savings to handle the cost of the trip. since I will be turning 30 a few days before the trip, this seemed like a wonderful birthday present for myself.
I’ve always wanted to travel in China, especially to see the Shaolin Temple since this is where my art originated. Master Lee’s tour takes you around China to several cities to see some of the more famous sites and also has a stop over for a few days at the Shaolin Temple.
This will also be my first travel abroad. I think this will be a great way to introduce myself to international travel. I will be with a group that is being hosted by a master that I know and respect, we will have translators with us at all times, and all food, hotel accommodations, and entry fees to tourist attractions will be covered by the agency putting together this tour for us. With all of the details covered I can sit back and relax and enjoy the tour and the martial training with little worry.
Once I decided to go, I had to work quickly to get everything I needed together to make the trip happen. I sent an email off to inquire if there was space available and asked my boss if it was possible to get off of work for the necessary time period. I waited all weekend anxiously for a reply but did not receive one. This is not unusual since Master Lee is a very busy individual. The following Monday I called Master Lee and luckily there was still space available. Then it was a rush to get the necessary papers from the agent who is making arrangements for us to get a flight put together and accommodations and to get the paper work that she needed from me. Luckily I already had a passport. I knew that someday I would want to go travelling and that I would decide on the spur of the moment to go, so that I had better get a passport so I would not have to wait or miss any opportunities to travel. The only other thing I needed was to have my visa ready. This needed to be submitted to the Chinese Consulate for approval. I am currently still waiting for the visa. As long as I get it back in time with my passport, since it is required to obtain the visa, I will be able to go on this tour. I should have the visa by the end of next week just in time to embark on my journey the following Friday.
This year the tour will travel to Beijing, Zhengzhou, and Xi’an. We will spend several days in each city seeing the sites. Our current itinerary is as follows:
Oct. 10 – Leave for Beijing
Oct. 11 – Arrival in Beijing
Oct. 12 – Visit the Great Wall and Ming Tombs
Oct. 13 – Visit the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City
Oct. 14 – Visit the Summer Palace and Panda Garden
Oct. 15 – Take the Bullet Train to Zhengzhou transferring to Shaolin Temple
Oct. 16 – Full day training at Shaolin Taguo Martial Arts School
Oct. 17 – Full day training at Shaolin Taguo Martial Arts School
Oct. 18 – Train ride to Xi’an
Oct. 19 – Visit the Terra Cotta Warrior’s Museum and see a Qi Dynasty Show
Oct. 20 – Bicycling on old city wall, visit the Bell tower and return to Beijing in evening
Oct. 21 – Fly home
I am really looking forward to this trip. I am excited already and making plans for what I need to buy to take and more importantly what I would like to buy while in China to bring back. I have also began to prepare this site for the trip. I have a couple of memory cards for my camera totaling 6GB of space. So when I return I intend to put up many pictures of my trip in China. I have set up the gallery and if I have time will even spruce up the sites aesthetics if I can before I go. I also intend to take some notebooks to chronicle my journey. If I do not have time or access to the internet while over there, I will write up and post my trip journal when I return posted to the dates that things actually happened. This way I hope that you can enjoy my trip and the lovely scenery of China also.
