HK Day 18 (Sun Jul 15)

sunday morning i had wanted to attend Sifu Jon's class at the main gym, and Anna had said she'd be interested in checking it out. However, i couldn't quite get myself out of bed from sleeping late the past couple of nights (and not really enough the ones before that), and also wanted to make sure i was rested enough for GM Leung Ting's class that evening. plus, i had wanted to treat Anna to lunch since it was possibly my last meal with her (it was).

we got sushi with Colin and his friend Jason. i don't think i mentioned it in my last post when we ate there, but the place's cooked salmon belly sushi is amazing... we ate kind of late, and were all pretty hungry so ordered a ton of sushi. maybe too much :P. i was definitely more than full by the end. next, we went to Mong Kok to do some shopping.

so i knew one probably existed but never bothered to look into it, but the minibus from Kennedy Town to Mong Kok is twice as fast as the routine i had been following (5 bus to Central, then the Tsuen Wan MTR)... and cheaper! we took that to Mong Kok to do some shopping. Colin bought some cool casual shoes and i was tempted to get a pair too, but refrained. i figured if i really still wanted them, i could come back the next day since i'd be in the Mong Kok area anyway (hoping to prevent an impulse buy. EDIT: failed).

after shopping in the hot hot sun we got a respite in a Hui Lau Shan (of course). Colin and Jason were going to head to Flower Street and Anna and i walked with them 'til Anna's other friend Mark found us. He also wanted to get some shoes (running) so Anna and i went with him and Colin and Jason went on ahead. (my main motivation was staying closer to Yau Ma Tei since i had class that night). Went to some shoe stores, then we looked at some cell phones. Apparently a Taiwanese company has a cool new touch-screen phone that's meant to compete w/the iPhone. it was pretty darn cool and had some nifty UI tricks that could make using it less of a hassle. it also made me realize how unimpressive my phone is, but oh well. :) someday i might get a cutting edge fancy phone. i'm a happy camper as long as it's functional enough, has decent enough UI, and has good reception (ie--NOT AT&T/Cingular).

we parted ways and i had about an hour left before class. i was kind of hungry but not really, so grabbed a mcchicken sandwich and coke :P.

at the school, i was waiting outside for a bit since the door was closed (and the window in the door was covered up still, though i could see light through the top of the door). finally, the security guard in the building told me there were people inside and i should knock. i didn't want to interrupt anyone since i was early, but it was very darn hot in the hallway, so i decided i could blame the security dude if it all went south... it didn't. Sifu Leung Kwok Wah opened the door and there were a few students there with him. got changed, did some stretching, then did some chi-sau with another student. Sifu Jon arrived so i chatted with him a bit and then started doing some chi sau with him. And then, , Great Grandmaster Leung Ting arrived. i enjoyed very much seeing my si-gung in his "natural" environment... it was, after all, the LEUNG TING GYM that he started around 40 years ago, and the very same space that the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man had opened a class. He mostly taught in Cantonese, so Jerry was kind enough to translate for me and Danilo (another non-Cantonese speaking instructor). When explaining something mainly to Danilo and me, GGMLT spoke in English, and when just talking to me, he used Mandarin. i learned some good stuff, saw some great stuff, and had a simply wonderful time being there at the international headquarters learning from the Grandmaster himself.

afterward, i went to eat with some of the other instructors. once again, i was blessed that everyone made me feel like i belonged there. afterward, we said some goodbyes, as it was my second to last night in HK i would not be seeing some people again.