School of Chinese Fighting Arts – Kuching Sarawak.

So what else do I do here in Kuching Sarawak ?

Well….I teach.

I will elaborate later but for now, a short clip :-

Another week, another “high hand”…..

Another week just zoomed by ….. how time flies even in “laid-back” Kuching ……

Maybe I should rephrase that; when you are so immersed in what you are doing, you don’t pay attention to anything else and next thing you know, you are another week older…..

Spent quality time again with “Hakka Suppressing Tiger” Sifu Kong, first at his little stall selling steamed buns and then his home; this old gentleman is fast becoming a good friend and mentor.

So we talked about kung fu and plan to initiate a class for him to pass on his extraordinary style of Hakka boxing.

You know, the more I touch hands with Kong Sifu, the more I appreciate that old kung fu idiom:-

“I am not afraid of my opponent’s 10 thousand techniques. It’s the one technique practiced 10,000 times that I am afraid of”

Playing with Kong Sifu, I find myself “afraid” most of the time……..

Liang Sifu’s Flying Crane.

Got some messages asking to view Sifu Liang’s “Flying Crane” mentioned in my preceding entry.

 

So here’s a glimpse; I would love to post more but I got to clear it with Liang Sifu first…you understand.

 

Also, now that it’s really shaping up – friends and students from the US visiting Sarawak this coming November, I am trying to put together a mini-gathering.

 

Masters from Kuching, Sibu and my teachers/seniors from Singapore will be invited; just an informal get together to intermingle…….

 

Of course there will be a very formal Carlsberg fight – special brew – the grown-ups’ version.

 

I am also planning a jungle trekking session and run with  “Hash Harriers” Kuching chapter….

 

For those not in the know, these are crazy folks who run jungle tracks and afterwards stomach as much beer as possible at the end point.

 

I know, I know …….. Feels like heaven……

 

 

 

Learning from a high hand…..

Well, it’s starting to look like I could only update this blog sporadically what with 3 projects staring at me and all that …..

And it’s with one of the projects in mind that I find myself revisiting Sifu Liang, the senior disciple of the late GM Wong Yi Ing to request for more of old materials etc.

So we spent about an hour going through some of GM Wong’s distinctive White Crane legacy and next thing you know, we are “playing” again.

I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could from this energetic 85 yrs old Sifu and came away with so much White Crane goodies….including viewing and taping a rarely publicly demonstrated “Flying Crane” form.

I know I said this before – the more I interact with these old masters, the more I feel that I know very little of White Crane.

Just a drop of water in an endless sea……

Sunday today – lazy, sunny…..the perfect setting for some Carlsberg and “Kansas”.

The mantis and crane master.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s been a while since my last entry….

Hectic with this and that, mainly visiting and touching base with the masters here in Kuching; I was away for almost 2 months and it’s good to visit and sip tea and what else? – touch hands of course

And, through friends and other contacts, I was given leads about more masters of TCMA and I went through the same routine of calling, visiting and interviewing them.

Like Sifu Tnay for instance – a Hakka Mantis and Fukien White Crane master, Sifu Tnay has got to the point where his Mantis and White Crane flow seamlessly.

Spending a few hours one afternoon a few days ago, I was taken into his world of traditional training with the late Sifu Chong; a legendary Hakka Mantis master known for his fighting prowess in these parts.

This is the same Sifu Chong I described in my earlier entries – the man famed for his machine-gun like fast lethal hands.

So you can imagine my fixation when I hear Sifu Tnay talks about Chong’s exploits ….. Methinks someone got to get all the details down and write a book ……

Anyway…got Sifu Tnay here doing a short portion of one of his forms.