I’ve just been going through my hard drive, trying to find some pictures I took of the Piper guys when they visited Singapore in January 2008. I mis-filed the photos, and I’ve been trying to locate them for ages… Finally, I’ve located them. I particularly like this one…

Lloyd, Corey, and Nigel…

I’ve just realized that I never blogged about their visit; it was during my final days in Singapore before the move to Beijing, and I guess I was just too busy. It was extremely cool, though. I didn’t have time to train with them, but I saw a public demo, and hung out with them a couple of times. I was very impressed by seeing Piper in action; it’s fast, vicious, and extremely effective. The guys are really sound, I enjoyed their company. Hehehe, we exchanged some insights, and I think I made Lloyd’s eyes bulge at one point with a technique I learned from Master Zhou Yue Wen

I need a holiday to recover, how am I going to face work tomorrow…?

As I mentioned, the Piper guys were passing through town for a few days; I managed to catch up with them on Thursday night at a seminar they gave at a local school, and then again on Friday night - after my class with Master Zhou - as they explored Chinatown. Very, very nice guys. More on that in a later post.

Yesterday was taken up with a small part of the seemingly endless preparations for my move to Beijing, followed in the evening by Ch’an meditation. Our sifu instructed us in the different kinds of meditation, and their purposes. I am still hung up on the koan of “What is a butterfly?“. Katz!

Today was the second in my interview series as I sat down over lunch with Madam Ge, and asked her about the Beijing wushu team, life in the movies , and the future of Chinese wushu. Many, many thanks to her for her time - and even more to my gongfu brother Jono, for translating.

A bonus was meeting up with a visiting Taiwanese master, Mr Liu Pang Yao. We had much difficulty understanding each other, but it turns out he’s expert in at least Cheng Man Ching taijiquan and Cheng-style bagua (and probably much else besides). He gave a few demonstrations of applications, which were very, very cool - and which I will appreciate a lot more once my back and shoulder return to normal Very, very, effective, let’s put it that way! He gave me a few flyers for the World Cup Tai Chi Chuan Championship, to be held in Taipei in October this year. Email tccass at ms35 dot hinet dot com for more info.

Now, it’s home again, and settling back into paperwork before work tomorrow…

A quick note for anyone who’s interested but didn’t notice Lloyd’s comment on the old blog: the Piper guys will be in Singapore for a few days. They’ll be giving a demo of their Urban Shield system on Thursday; it’s a private event, but they’ve extended an invitation to me - should be very interesting!