Sorry it has taken so long just to say hi but so much as happened since I arrived back from China. China was fantastic and after my reconnecting tour in the Uk I was feeling confident and well loved to go forward and spend the first 4 days on my own. Unfortunately sms costs and there was no facebook to share my experiences with anyone. I walked and explored places such as Forbidden City , Museums, Jingshen Park , Temples. Beijing is such a huge place to get arround I stared to explore the transport system. Apart from buses and trains was the Rickshaw which was a wonderful experience along the Hutongs and stopping off for a tea ceremony on the way to one of the famous Bell Towers. The surrounding area at night was one of beauty with its river and boat life all lit up with Chinese Laterns. Once I met up with the tour group it was full on. There were 21 of us 22 including tour guide. We had lots of QiGong training and Tai Chi training. Then off to a little town called Pin Yao , remote and steeped in culture , one of my favourite places on tour. Then on to Wudang Mountain which is everyones favourite and the feeling everyone gets from the vibes from this place is quite extraordinary. The surrounding mountains and training with Taoist Monks is quite surreal. This is my second visit to Wudang and the second was just if not more extraordinary then the first. Unfortunately 3 days was not enough but we had other places to visit and we left on an overnight train to Guilin. I am sure you have all seen the Chinese artwork of mountains and rivers, well these are surely of Guilin. Amazing. The mountain formation is something you need to have a look at and to be there and be surrounded by it was truely awesome! Let me say at this point the food was fantastic , lots of flavour and variety. there were a lot of vegetarians on the tour and they were well catered for. I stopped eating bread while I was in China and my gut never felt happier. No more bread for me think Ill be sticking to rice for breakfast or noodles. Sadly our trip was coming to an end as we approached Shanghai we all realised it was nearing the end and a few of us started to get teary (including me) about having to say goodbye to new found friends. But Shanghai didnt disappoint us with its hidden chinese culture tucked away amidst the huge city and the Pear TV Tower with its glass bottom floor was another extraordinary experience. Tary Yip our tour guide , who organised all our travelling , food, accommodation etc. is a teacher and master in tai chi , Qigong and various martial arts so all through our tour we would be practicing new forms of tai chi and Qi Gong . This trip I learnt one new form called the Sun Form and 2 new Qi gong forms plus we had a whole day of the 24 Yang Form. Which is a standard tai chi form for anyone who does tai chi. After the tour Tary came to australia and did a 2 week end seminar and stayed with Chris and I. Unfortunately for Tary, Chris never made it back from his travels so he never got a chance to meet. And poor Tary got left with my two teenagers to look after him. Tary has left Australia now and I heard that his seminars all went well, although not enough people attended. Maybe next year we can have more. Todate Chris and I are still in Korea. It has been a blessing to have had this time together. We hadnt seen each other in 8 weeks with my travels and his travels so this is a forced time out just for us. Perfect timing really. We went through the whole hospital experience with CT scans , Xrays, Blood tests . All the hospital staff were so helpful and we werent left for hours wondering what was going to happen next. We were in and out in about 5 hours with Chris being given the all clear to travel home next Wednesday. In the meantime Korea has free tours put on by the government to promote Korea and tourism. This service we have been told will only be running for a year. Perfect timing for us. We have seen many sites and experienced the culture and friendliness of Korean people. It is very hard as a tourist here as they are not multicultural nothing is sign posted in English and going to restaurants is confusing as ordering something to eat apart from rice is a spicy surprise. Personally I feel Korea is amazing how they have pushed for there individuality and independance and have succeeded in separating themselves from the culture of China and Japan even though they are in close proximity. Anyway time to sign off another tour awaits. Love to you all and thank you again for all your love and kindness.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 01:22:37 +0000
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