Flying with dragons over a bamboo forest

Hello again, my dear and faithful readers, we meet once again to talk about things that probably no one is interested in.

As usual in this blog, we start with music.“It's time to step out of consciousness, To be air in the disaster mundane, Let the dragons fly again, To burn the historical indecency” (Que salgan los dragones - Chinoy) I don't know but the topic I'm going to talk about reminded me of this verse from the song, so without further details, today's blog is about the country I would like to visit.

One of my dreams is to visit China. I have wanted to know this country since I was 8 or 9 years old. China is the world's most populous country and the second economic power in the world, with vast landscapes spanning prairies, deserts, mountains, lakes, rivers, and coasts. Also, it's the place where many kung fu movies happen, which in case I didn't tell you about it on my first blog “This is me”, is my favorite martial art, and I practiced it for 8 years, it's the main reason I would like to visit China.

Since I first saw a martial arts movie, I fell in love with kung fu and the landscapes of China. I love nature, the bamboo forests, the rivers, the mountains, the peach trees, the culture, and the food. Actually, I love everything about China and I would love to be able to visit these places that I have only been able to see in movies like The Forbidden Kingdom, one of my favorites by the way.

If I ever have the opportunity to go there, I would like to know the Great Wall of China and practice kung fu there like in the movie Karate Kid, which I think should be called Kung Fu Kid because throughout the movie they talk about the real kung fu and the main character learns kung fu, not karate but well, that's the way things are. I would also like to go to the Wudang Mountains for two reasons. The first is because there are monasteries, palaces, and temples that besides being world heritage sites, are sites of meditation, practices related to ancestral customs, and the practice of martial arts. The latter is what strikes me the most because Wudang Kung Fu is practiced there, which is a little different from the one I practiced, which was Shaolin Kung Fu, but it is just as interesting, and I would like to know it more closely. The second thing I would like to see in these mountains is the Dragon Well, which also appears in Karate Kid and, according to Jackie Chan is magic kung fu water.

The cities in China I would go to would be Beijing, to see Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace, which is where mulan, my favorite Disney princess, saves the emperor of China; Chengdu, to go to conservation centers and breeding panda bears that are in semi-freedom surrounded by bamboo, also this city has one of the most interesting Chinese cuisine that I would like to try; Xi 'an, to see the life-size terracotta figures and more traditional China in one of the cities that is part of the famous silk road; Shanghai, where I would like to tour the most modern and bustling part of the city and walk at night through the Yuyuan Gardens with all the lights that characterize cities in China; Yunnan, to see the rice terraces I have only seen in the movies; Yangshuo, to see the beautiful mountains full of vegetation on the banks of the river and rafting in bamboo boats; Suzhou, to stroll through the gardens, pagodas and canals; And finally, I would obviously go to Hong Kong, one of the most modern cities in the world.

I don't know if I would like to live there, it's a very beautiful country, full of culture and super interesting places, but I couldn't be far from my family so I would only travel a few weeks to see the places I mentioned before, but I wouldn't be able to stay and leave my life in Chile behind. But you never know what can happen in the future and, as they say, never say never, so I will just say that at least it's not in my plans to go live outside Chile, on the other side of the world.

Well friends, you know all the places I would like to visit in China, now I just lack the money and time to go. So far today's blog, I hope you haven't been bored reading, and although I rarely say goodbye with a song, this time one came to mind when I finished writing, and it's perfect for the occasion so I'll put it. "If you thought we wouldn't return if you believed this didn't bode well at all, that the muses left us and won’t come back, that we're already finished" (H2Oz - Mägo de Oz )

Until next time…

Sakin Povea M