Home in Sopron

From Budapest I travelled to Sopron, to end my journey, at least for a little while. But before I started my well earned rest I had the chance to participate in an excellent workshop lead by Judy Millen. People even came all the way from Canada and brought with them the travelling Taoist Tai Chi Society Panda. We instantly became friends and told each other great stories from our adventures in the Society.

Date: October 8-9
Place: Sopron, Hungary
Event: IWS

Intensive in Budapest

Not much after I arrived back to Hungary, I found myself in the middle of an intensive in Budapest. People were very interested in my stories about Tai Chi friends from around the world.

Date: September 10
Place: Budapest, Hungary
Event: Intensive

Arrived home

After a long and very eventful journey around the world, I finally arrived home. I was greeted with hugs and warm smiles in Budapest. Everybody wanted to hear the story of my journey and it was really nice thinking back on the places I have been to and all the good friends I have met.

Visiting Norway

Sunday I left Stockholm and today I arrived to Oslo in Norway. I had the opportunity to take part in an open practice in a nice community hall with some very nice local members of the society. They were very happy to meet me, and they were suprised when I told them how many Taoist Tai Chi places I have been to so far. I enjoyed the practice very much, it was so good that I could find some time to visit this place too.


Date: 25.08.2011
Place: Oslo, Norway

Summer class in Stockholm

The members arrived and I had the opportunity to take my first summer class in a park in Stockholm.




Date: 2011. 07. 06.
Place: Stockholm, Sweden

Arrived in Stockholm

Very delayed from the trip from Malaysia I am waiting for the members of Taoist Tai Chi Society in Stockholm to arrive.

Holiday in Thailand

After the workshop in Kuantan I have found a new friend to travel with, Anna who is a member of TTCS of Sweden. She attended the just concluded International Workshop at Kuantan and it was obvious that she would accompany me back to Europe.
Malaysian people have had me worked very hard, you should see the high kicks and the low snakes they do...and I felt a bit worn out. We will go to have some vacation in Bali and then Thailand before going to work some more in Sweden. Unfortunately I was object to robbery in Bali. Probably one of the dogs. In Bali all the dogs must vaccinate against rabies and then they get a red necklace. Now I lost mine and have been chased by the dog catchers. They wanted to kill me! To compensate for the stress Anna took me to a spa to get some nice massage. I really enjoyed that.
Now we are in Hua Hin in Thailand to go Kite surfing.


The handover

At the 2011 International Workshop @ Sempurna Resort, Kuantan

The workshop kicked off exactly at 8.45 am on 25/3/11 with a brief opening speech by the Organizing Committee and introduction of Tony Kwong as the Instructor for the 3-day workshop. I was told that a total of 101 members registered for this workshop and it was a record turn out. From this number, half are from overseas, and almost all of them from various branches in Australia except one representing TTCS Sweden.

Tony started the workshop with the Foundation Exercises. All was well until the Don-Yu and Tor-yu part. At one point, Tony took the participants to a non-stop 250 repetitions of Don-Yu! Tony also provided ample demonstrations of the set in slow motion and the participants really learnt a lot from it. Two members, namely Helen Gaunt from Margaret River, Australia and Ruby from Kuantan, spoke about their recoveries from an auto accident and stroke respectively. Doctors have told Helen that she will walk with a limp but today there is no sign of it at all and she is putting more time on her Tai Chi. For Ruby, it is exactly a year when she first met Tony at last year's workshop. Today, she could raise her right hand and her legs are much stronger. The participants were also told that she can now drive a car and is instructing line dancing! Both of them are grateful to Tony for the help and guidance and for making the speedy recoveries.

On 26/3/11, after two days of training, it was time for some happy moments. To coincide with the workshop, TTCS Kuantan is celebrating its 15th Anniversary. Dato Alan Yong spoke about how it all got started for TTCS Kuantan. A lavish buffet dinner was served and members took turn to perform on stage. I could see happy faces all around me and it is truly a one big happy family together in celebration.

All good things must come to an end. It was time to say goodbye to all the participants, some of whom will be extending their stay by visiting the surrounding places of interest; and some will be heading straight home. It has been a wonderful two months for me in Malaysia. The food, the nice places of interest, great hospitality, sweet memories and most of all, the good people of TTCS Malaysia, thank you very much for taking care of me. I hope to be back in the near future. Leaving you with these words, TERIMA KASIH DAN JUMPA LAGI (thank you and see you again).

I am now in Kuantan

I have arrived at the Sempurna Resort, Kuantan and have the good fortune to meet a good number of the participants who came from far and near. Also, I am glad to inform that Tony Kwong has safely arrived at the resort at 7.30 pm, just in time for the Welcoming Dinner. Prior to coming to Kuantan, I went for a sight-seeing trip of Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Let me have this chance to introduce to you some of the interesting places. First, I went to KL Tower located at the Bukit Nenas or Pineapple Hill. At the Observation Level, I had a good view of KL and its surrounding suburb. At one of the windows, I could see the Petronas Twin Towers at close range and it was awesome. Then, I went to the Central Market which was built in 1888 and was initially a wet market before changing to a centre for local arts and craft. Here, I visited an art gallery-cum-antique house. Next stop was the Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square where one could see a contrast of the old and new buildings. Check the photo and you could see the old Court House on the foreground and the new high rise buildings at the background. To end the day, I went back to Kajang for TTC practice and thanked the members for taking good care of me for almost two months.

Tomorrow (25/3) is the first day of the Malaysian TTC International Workshop and a total of 101 participants will get together to work on their Tai Chi with Tony on centrestage. I am all ready for the workshop.

Looking at Twin Tower


At the Central Market


At the gallery


At Dataran Merdeka (Old and new)

Busy schedules ahead

For this week , I would have some busy schedules to follow. It would kick-off tomorrow (23/3/11) where I would be visiting interesting sights of Kuala Lumpur city centre in the afternoon. In the evening, I will be back at Kajang centre for practice session. On 24/3/11, after breakfast, I will be travelling to Kuantan by car. Upon arrival there, I will check-in to the Sempurna Resort, the venue for the International Workshop to be conducted by Tony Kwong of ITTCS. Workshop will begin on 25/3/11 and ends on 27/3/11. Right after, I will be on the road back to Kajang and in the evening, it is dinner time with Tony Kwong and Kajang members. Oh yes, Tony will be with me for the return trip to Kajang.

On 28/3/11, guess what, I will be leaving Malaysia. How time flies, it has been almost two months since I arrived here from Australia. It has been fun in hot and sunny Malaysia and I have made a lot of friends and experienced the wide variety of local food and fruits. Truly awesome. I am going to miss them very much.

I have not told you where I would be heading next, right? Well, this is done on purpose. You will know it soon. Before I sign off, please check the attachment, it is a map of Malaysia. See if you can locate all the places that I have mentioned in my reports. Have fun. Bye.

Meeting the oldest member

How time flies and already it is 5 March. As you can recall, when I came here two weeks earlier to meet the Senior Section members, they have invited me to come today to practice TTC and join in a "makan makan" session together. The word "makan" is in the Malay language and it simply mean "to eat".

I am glad to be back to see them, always with a smile for me. After the practice, I took the opportunity to take a photo with the oldest member of the group. She is none other that Madam Chong Kon Moi who is 84 years old. She started TTC since the start of the Senior Section about six years ago. Since then, she has been faithfully attending practice sessions every Saturday morning, from 6 to 7 am. Madam Chong will be going for a holiday to South Korea on 15 March with three other members. I like to wish her "Happy Holiday. Enjoy yourself"

Then, it was time for "makan makan". There were plenty of food to be shared. These food were prepared by the members themselves. I enjoyed the food and also the company of the senior members. I am glad that they are healthy. All their hard work are now paying good dividends as they are now enjoying the health benefits of practicing Taoist tai Chi.

A.G.M. & Dinner

It was Saturday 5 March 2011, and I am at the Mewah Club at Kajang. At the registration counter where I was positioned to welcome and distributed the 2011 Malaysian t-shirt to all the attendees. The Annual General Meeting got underway first and went on smoothly until the selection of Committee Members for Term 2011-2013. A list of candidates were read out and accepted by the members. I was informed that these candidates will be meeting soon and decide amongst themselves, the 9 positions in the Committee, starting with The President. In the meantime, President Phin will be steering the interim Committee. There was one more issue i.e changes to the Constitution. The changes are deemed neccessary inorder for TTCS Malaysia to get on par with other member countries. The members accepted the changes without objections. With that, it was the end of the AGM.

For Dinner, members were feted to an all Indian vegetarian menu prepared by a local caterer. For me, it was a little too spicy but I still liked it. For entertainment, two videos were shown on large screen. First, was a short video on the 2010 National Workshop held at the Chin Swee Caves Temple near Genting Highlands. Next came the Greetings To ITTCS On The 40th Anniversary Celebration. I enjoyed watching, particularly the latter where the concept of the video and good editing work really stood out. The local members got excited when they saw President Phin wishing ITTCS in the national language. To end the evening, a group photo was organized. Check the photo and you will see me right at the center.

I like to take this opportunity to congratulate Phin and the members who participated in the video. Well done. And also, I would like to congratulate and welcome the new Committee Members. Keep up the good work and keep moving forward. Cheers.

Old is Gold

Apart from conducting Beginners and Continuing classes, Kajang branch also runs a special class for the local senior citizens. Simply called the Senior Section, this group consists of members aged 60 and above. Thus far, it is an all-women group (wonder what happened to all the senior men in Kajang!). The oldest member is 84 and she is a regular in the group.

The Senior Section practice once a week i.e on Saturday mornings, from 6.00 to 7.00 in the morning. The venue is at the town's Catholic Church which is within walking distance from the main practice venue at Mewah Club. "President" Phin and Swee Fun, Treasurer and ICC Member, are the Instructors and they have been carrying out their responsibilities diligently since the inception.

I have the chance to meet the senior group last Saturday (26/2) morning when Phin brought me there. It was still dark but at the outdoor badminton court where they practice, it was sufficiently lighted up by the adjacent street lights. Twelve senior members turned up that morning and I saw them happily practicing the set under the watchful eyes of Phin and Swee Fun. After practice, we took photo and later, one of the senior members reminded Phin to bring me over on 12/3 as they will be having a pot luck session after practice, to celebrate the birthday of members born in the month of March. Phin told me that this is a regular monthly activity for the senior members.

I am so happy for them. They all look so wonderful today because they know the importance of exercise and in Taoist Tai Chi, they can enjoy this internal arts of health that cultivate the body and mind.

Tiger in Malaysia - a new week, a new adventure...

I have discovered that Kajang members practice twice a week i.e on every Wednesday and Friday evenings, from 8.15 to 9.30 pm. These are the only time available for TTC as members will be busy with their work in the day time.
Yesterday evening (23/2) I got to meet more members. They have heard about me from the other members and keen to check me out. Of course, when they looked at me, there could only be just one reaction i.e they all smiled happily. I liked that, and also not forgetting the hugs and kisses. I am the luckiest Tiger in the world!
Before I get too carried away, at that practice session, "President" Phin unveiled the 2011 Malaysian t-shirt to the members. It is maroon in colour with the society's logo and two Chinese characters saying "Rabbit Year" (direct translation to English) prominently featured on the left side. On the reverse side, I could see two familiar lines i.e Taiost Tai Chi internal arts of health. Cultivating body and mind. Simple and nice.
For the next few days, I will be staying over at "President" Phin's place on the other side of town. I learnt a new phrase from "President" Phin which would be appropriate to use now. It is JUMPA LAGI - in the Malay language and it means See You Again. Goodbye.

Meeting the Malaysian members

Today (18/2/11), I am so happy that I could meet Malaysian members for the very first time. The place is @ Mewah Club in Kajang. When I arrived there, some of the members were warming up and doing some stretching exercises.All these came to a halt when they saw me and they all smiled at me and said that I look so cute! I was then introduced to the members officially and right after, Phin, the President of TTCS Malaysia gave me a "Hoong Pau" as a welcoming gift and also as a tradition during Chinese New Year where the elderly would distribute it to family members and friends. Next, we took a group photograph. I saw the members in their locally printed TTC t-shirts and was particularly fond of the green one with the picture of children in it and the message on it says "Children of Malaysia". There was a Malay boy, a Chinese girl (with pony tails), an Indian girl and last but not least, a Punjabi boy with his turban. These represent the main ethnic races in the country.

Then, I saw them practicing, first with the Standing exercises. I noticed that after each Standing exercise, they would proceed with 10 times of Don You. So, in all, they would have done at least 40 times of Don You for the Standing exercises. This was followed with two sets of TTC with a short water break in between. It was time to say good bye to all the Kajang members for this week. Phin told me to come again next week and meet more Kajang members. Of course, I replied with a loud ROAR.

Until the next time, it is goodbye for now.


At the main entrance


Mewah club


Receiving Hoong Pau


With Kajang members

Tiger in Malaysia

I have safely landed in Malaysia and am currently enjoying the hospitality and festivity here.
Oh yes, they are still celebrating Chinese New Year. The celebration started on February 3 and will be coming to an end tomorrow 17/2.
I have arrived towards the end of January from Australia and have shortly been transfered to Kajang, where TTCS Malaysia is located.

Up to this point, I have been enjoying the Chinese New Year food which includes "Loh Hei", a vegetarian salad with slices of fish meat which is a must for CNY. And it is only available in Malaysia and Singapore. Apart from that, I also enjoyed the local titbits like "Muruku" and Mandarin oranges (imported from China), please check the photo attached herewith for the above said.

Away from food, the temperature here is around 28 to 32, hot and humid and I have been sweating quite a lot. The good thing this year is that there has been a lot of rain and this brought the temperature down quite a bit. I am eagerly looking forward to do a set or two this Friday with the members.

In the photo, I am seated next to She Rabbit. As you may be aware, this lunar year, it is the turn of Rabbit, and it symbolizes the passing of the baton from Tiger to Rabbit. On the foreground, you can see red packets or "hoong pow" in Cantonese. During CNY, elderly and married people will distribute "hoong pow" to the young and unmarried in the family as well as to friends. And lastly, in the background, it is the Malaysian flag.