February 2013
3 posts
Cheap, plastic, tacky constants →
The aftermath of a Shaolin adventure
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The Buddha →
Recapping on the adventure so far ...
Since this blog, so far, has been suffering from a serious case of Kung Fu infobesity, and while I rest(ed) from both blogging and Kung Fu for a few weeks (months?), let me share some highlights from my nine-months trip to China where I grappled with a measure of physical laziness, spiritual and mental heaviness, against a longing desire to find answers in Kung Fu and the eastern arts, and to move...
December 2012
7 posts
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WIN! Free Shaolin Kung Fu course
What? Shaolin Dragon Camp and our friends at Tazkarty are giving one lucky Cairo 360 reader a chance to attend an eight-day camp staring February 8th – one that would otherwise cost you 5500LE.
Where? The camp will be held in the far reaches of Bahariya Oasis. Attendees will stay in Qasr El Bawity hotel on full-board basis and the trip will include an overnight camping excursion to the White...
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WatchSanda training at my school’s (Ta Gou) new campus. When done right, it’s goddamn sexy.
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“You don’t know anyone at the party, so you don’t want to go. You don’t like...”
– Julien Smith
(via kaleidoscopicjuvenile)
“Stop trying to leave,
and you will arrive.”
— Lao Tzu”
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November 2012
7 posts
'Shaolin Kung Fu Warrior' Camp, in Bahariya Oasis,... →
In addition to hard Kung Fu, the 8-day Shaolin Dragon camp will include a tour of the White and Black deserts. We will set camp in the heart of the Western Desert for one night of stargazing, meditating and energy work with teachers’ guidance. Then we will relax and enjoy Bedouin tunes under the clear night sky.
Make sure to secure your spot NOW on Tazkarty.net! There are very few places...
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Why go Kung Fu camping in Egypt with Shaolin...
Why go Kung Fu camping with us?
To learn an ancient martial art ––Shaolin!–– move, tone up and explore your body’s potential.
Make the first step on the path to becoming a Shaolin Kung Fu Warrior-In-Training.
Shaolin Kung Fu engages body and mind; it’s a spiritual, mental and physical experience, not just sports.
Learn to work your “life force” or “life energy” using the practice of Qi Gong...
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'Shaolin Kung Fu Warrior' camp in Egypt!
I’m delighted (read: so damn excited that I almost can’t believe this is happening) to announce that Shaolin Dragon Camp, the moving martial arts school that the German Buddha Felix Fechner and myself have co-founded, will be holding our first Kung Fu camp in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt from 8-17 February 2013, on a beautiful serene and secluded resort in the Western Desert, called...
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WatchShifu Shen Jia’s “Drunken Fist.”
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October 2012
16 posts
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The girl factor
Me: Shifu, will you still like me if I perform badly tomorrow?
Shifu: You will do your best, you must do your best.
Me: Yeah, but will you still like me?
Shifu (a little baffled): Yeah, of course. But I'll like you more if you do good.
For someone who's used to training young men, you can easily see he's not used to that kind of shit, lol. Shaolin girls ... not the same.
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““If you have good eyes, every day is a beautiful day.” - Shi Yu Fu,...”
– These are some of the beautiful, motivating, truthful words people I’ve met here in Shaolin have said. It all makes me feel very lucky to be here, and to cross paths with them.
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WatchShenjia doing some Kung Fu jumps, compiled by yours truly this morning.
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Call me 铂金 –– in the Middle Kingdom
So almost two months after I chose a Chinese name & settled on it, Shenjia (shifu) came & told me my real given name “can be transformed into Chinese,” contrary to what I thought. According to Shenjia, Pakinam is “Báijīn” 铂金 [Pronounced Boai-Jin, the ‘i’ is almost silent] in Chinese, which means platinum or white gold, and the word symbolizes wealth and...
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Of Friends ...
My friend, if you think I’m here solely for the Kung Fu, you’re absolutely wrong. The training and the Kung Fu is only a small part of why I’m here. Oh yes. If you know me well, you’d know that I can’t travel without purpose. And I needed to travel this year, to take off, change habits, perhaps even to escape my day job, suffocating circumstances back home,...
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Shaolin Encounters: Exhibit A – The German Buddha
The Scenario has called this my “love letter to a certain dragon-slaying, flying, enlightened man who goes by the name of ‘The German Buddha’.” Although the premise is false, it is indeed a letter, and it’s filled with respect and affection for a very unique friend –– silent, Peter-Pan-ish, and who (I suspect) would befriend a dragon, sted of slaying it, if he ever...
September 2012
14 posts
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THE SHAOLIN LETTERS: The art of self-destructing
Pakinam Amer is an award-winning investigative journalist and travel writer. She’s currently living in the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and martial arts, in Henan province, China. Pakinam trains in traditional Shaolin Kung Fu at Lao Ta Gou, the best martial arts camp in the “Center of Heaven and Earth.” She sends weekly dispatches to The Scenario…
Have you ever felt that your...
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... and this is where to Wushu and Tai Ji in China...
Zhao Chang Jun Wushu Academy in Xi’an, Shaanxi province — the city is lively, modern, foreigners-friendly and is also home to the Terra Cotta army. It has a Starbucks (Erm, after living in lovely Dengfeng for several months, I can assure you Starbucks makes a difference). This academy is where Donnie Yen, famous for playing Ip Man on screen, learned some of his martial arts.
The...
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WatchFelix shows me one of his favorite moves. So bloody cool!
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Shaolin Letters: The Fellowship of Kung Fu
Pakinam Amer is an award-winning investigative journalist and travel writer. She’s currently living in the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and martial arts, in Henan province, China. Pakinam trains in traditional Shaolin Kung Fu at Lao Ta Gou, the best martial arts camp in the “Center of Heaven and Earth.” She sends weekly dispatches to The Scenario.
“But I don’t want to go among...
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The art of self-destructing
Have you ever felt that your body cannot contain your soul? That your emotions are flowing, flooding you so strongly, that your body is filled up to the brim? That you want out of your own flesh?
If you haven’t been through this, then perhaps you can’t possibly imagine it.
This is exactly how I felt like less than an hour earlier, as I hurried out of the training hall to hide into my...
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Watch“Walking Stick” Kung Fu form by teacher and Trewona camp co-founder Felix Fechner. Here, he’s doing the form as part of training in Lao Ta Gou, so it’s a more relaxed atmosphere. In an actual performance, Felix would do it faster and with more power.
However, take it from me, it’s always a joy watching Felix doing form, every move precise and synched with his...
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WatchShi Di Felix Fechner doing the “Drunken Master form” or Zui Quan.
One of the difficult forms, the Drunken Master requires much flexibility, and the theatrics of pretending to be drunk is part of the beauty of this form. Every move is calculated, including the falls which have to look natural. Although some of the patterns —like swinging of hands— may look flowery and...
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Shaolin Letters: Xiaolong’s “Faithful” White Boy
Pakinam Amer is an award-winning investigative journalist and travel writer. She is currently in Henan Province in China, living near the Shaolin Temple in the martial arts town known as Dengfeng, learning Kung Fu in a boarding school called “Little Dragon”, and chronicling her journey for CairoScene in “The Shaolin Letters: An Egyptian girl’s adventures in ‘Kung Fu China”…
At the end of April, I...
August 2012
9 posts
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“The sea’s only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel...”
– Primo Levi (via the very awesome triathlete tritonsy)
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Micro Guide to where to Shaolin Kung Fu in China
Lao Ta Gou (Old Tagou) One of the oldest training Kung Fu camps in China, and particularly in Dengfeng, indisputably the best, harshest and grittiest. It’s located in the Shaolin Temple, just minutes beyond the temple’s “scenic spot gate.” It’s in a strategic spot on Mount Song, students run to the temple every morning, do Tai Chi by the gates and in the heart of the...
