Early flight, 7:55 am. I not sure sleep was an issue. The hotel packed a ”to go” breakfast which made it as far as an airport trash bin. Airport security was quite intrusive, my pat down was as rigorous as some massages I have had but with no smile. Poor Ross was dismayed because they […]
Travel
October 21st: The Great Wall
To be honest I was quite ambivalent about visiting the Great Wall. The most frequent question asked before I began this sojourn was “are you going to the Great Wall?” I put off the questions with, “this is a Tai Chi training trip and I don’t think the Great Wall is on the agenda.” In […]
October 20th: Chengde Summer Resort
The Mountain Vista Hotel was built on a grand scheme and maybe hosted some significant dignitaries at one time but now it is showing some signs of neglected maintenance. Our first clue was the shower was cold on the last day it warmed to tepid. After our mediocre breakfast buffet, I wondered the large lobby […]
Trip to Chengde- Saturday, October 19_
My ankle was sore today I didn’t make the walk to Temple Park for practice. The plan was for the troop to walk to the park and practice, lǎo shī suggested that I might consider remaining behind since the group needed to walk to the park, practice, and be back for lunch before our three-hour drive to […]
The Forbidden City-Friday, October 18
This morning we packed up and drove off to “The forbidden City”. The first two things we noticed was the throngs of people (tour group leaders with locator flags) and the smog. Although, several of us have Air Quality Index (AQI) monitor apps on our phones; I don’t think we had any real concept of the […]