極真香港支部の2011年最終稽古

January 13, 2011. Written in Xiamen, China.

極真香港支部の2011年最終稽古

香港の極真カラテ支部は、日本人のT先生が率いる団体で、日本の極真以上に日本的な極真カラテが体験できる。T先生は1970年に本部道場で入門し、大山総裁の直弟子として極真カラテを始め、山崎照朝先生や大石代悟師範などと実際に手を合わせた。後に城南支部に再入門し、八巻選手や数見選手とともにも稽古した。極真カラテのことをよく知らないものならこのすごさがうまく伝わらないのかもしれないが、要するに、昔の武術としての極真も、現代のアスレチックな競技としての極真をも、最高のレベルで経験している方、というわけだ。

稽古が行われたのは古いビルの10階だった。大分早く着いてしまい、ドアの前で待っていた。ジークンドー（ブルース・リーが発祥した哲学武道）の会館を借りてやっているらしい。先生が現れるのは、凡そ稽古開始10分前だった。年末だからということで、あまり人は来ないらしい。香港は中国内地同様、旧正月だから西暦の年末は大して祝ったりしないらしいが、それでも忙しい時期で道場生はなかなか来れないらしい。それでも４、5人の道場生が現れ、オーソドックスに基本稽古から入った。私は号令をかけるように言われ、その後の移動稽古も指導することになった。型をT先生が指導し、今の極真にない型「ナイファンチ」を教わった。昔は本部道場で「ナイファンチ」が行われていたらしい。「せっかく香港に来たので、ナイファンチを覚えてから帰りなさい」とT先生の言葉。「三戦」の型は縦に進む基本だが、この「ナイファンチ」は横の動きの基本らしい。組手でいうと、左右のフットワークになるわけだ。

最後はスパーリングを行ったが、私以外に選手がいなかったため、軽く行った。

「新年に入ってからくれば、たくさんスパーリングができるよ」とT先生。

稽古終了後、みんなで道場付近の日本料理屋さんでお酒を飲んだ。T先生がいろいろと昔の極真や香港での生活を語り、興味深い話が聞けた。1992年から香港に滞在されているT先生はファッションデザイナーで、主にチャイナドレスとスーツを作るらしい。香港で極真を指導するようになったのは1993年からで、20年弱の歴史を持つ支部である。道場生は技だけでなく、日本的な礼儀まで身につけているので、T先生の長年のご指導が本当に形になっている様子が覗えた。

さて、来年はたくさんスパーリングができるぞ！今から楽しみだ！

年末の海

January 12, 2011. Written in Xiamen, China

年末の海

2011年も残りわずかというところで、フランスの友人らと香港の海へ行くことになった。最初は地下鉄で 筲箕湾駅まで行き、まずそこで昼食を取ることにした。屋台が並んでおり、唐揚げやてんぷら、それから新鮮なドラゴンフルーツジュースを買って公園で食べた。町外れのようで、東京の郊外に少し似た雰囲気が漂う。屋台で買ったものはみんな美味しく、一日の出かけの始まりとしては悪くなかった。

この駅から、バスで海へ向かった。まずは山を越え、越えるに連れてきれいな海が少しずつ見えてきた。途中には人の家も何もなく、バスが停車することもなく進んだ。香港だとは

ちょっと信じがたい。

たどり着くと、いかにも海の町らしい町並みが覗えた。屋台で串を焼いてるおじさんとか、小さな売店でボールを売ろうとするおばさんとか、それからサーフィンインストラクターの若いいけてるあんちゃんたちなどが立ち並んでいる。だが、さすがは冬で、人の少なさからすればオフシーズンであることもわかる。それでも泳いでいる人は2、3人いたと思う。 

SくんとAさんというカップルを除いて、われわれもみんな泳ぐ気満々で、さっそく海パンに着替えた。外は15度くらいで、決して寒いわけではないが、それでも泳ぐにしてはやっぱり少し寒そう。だが、迷うことなく3人で一気にダッシュして水に飛び込んだ。最初は少し寒いが、慣れるとそうでもない。12月後半に海で泳げるとは、なんという贅沢だ！

波が結構強いので、一生懸命いに泳いでも全然進めず、元の位置に戻されてしまうのだった。だが、これらの波に対して向かっていき、飛び込むのも返って楽しく、3人でたくさん笑った。30分くらいすると波に飛ばされすぎて目が回ってしまい、そろそろ陸に戻ることにした。

だが、まだ体力も元気も余っており、土俵を作って今度は相撲をやってみた。泳がなかったSくんも参加した。一番太っている彼ならいけるんじゃないかと思ったが、やはり脂肪だけではだめで、体力のない彼は誰にも勝てずじまいだった。力士ってやっぱり、脂肪だけじゃないんだなと改めて思った。テコンドーで体を鍛えているGくんと3回勝負したが、２勝1敗1分けだった。3回目の勝負では大外狩りを決めたが、一緒に倒れ、ほぼ同時に倒れたのでどっちが勝ったかがわからなかったということで引き分けになった。

日本で空手指導員をやっていた頃、稽古前によく子どもたちに相撲をやらせていたことを思い出した。みんな今もきっと元気で頑張っていることだろう。

Macao.

January 12, 2012. Written in Xiamen, China 

Macao.

With my French friends, I went to Macao the day after christmas. From Hong Kong, you go there by this fast, fast speedboat,and arrive within the hour. All of my friends fell asleep as soon as they landed on their chairs, so for me there was nothing else to do then bash the buttons of my gameboy. First, I thought I was hearing some strange sound effects while playing the game, but a few minutes before arrival one of the French guys had woken up and took a picture of me playing with this so called “sound effect”

The kid had been watching me the whole time without me noticing it. When I offered him to play a bit, he politely refused.

If we talk about worldwide fame, of course Las Vegas is the nr.1 gambling city in the world. The problem for Las Vegas is, however, that in gambling it is not about the fame, but all about the money. And when we talk about the biggest gambling city, moneywise, Macao has become nr.1 in the last decade. This is all thanks to the rich mainland Chinese with their gambling spirits becoming even richer. You will easily see people spend thousands of dollars on 1 game of blackjack.

But, gambling is not all Macao has to offer. At least, my French friends believed so. Before going to the huge casino’s, they decided to view the old town first. Macao is an old Portuguese colony, and one of the only Asian cities that have a Mediterranean look.

In the middle of all of this, there is the St.Paul Cathedral, which you can climb.

At the top, numerous coins have been thrown on the surface of open windows. However, in front of them, it says that it is forbidden to throw them. Well, let me be so kind to get rid of them then! I could barely reach it but was able to take about 10 coins by hanging over the fence and stretching my arms.

Some of these coins were from Macao, but the majority was from Hong Kong. I also grabbed one Malaysian coin, and one SEGA coin. Altogether I seemed to have taken about 2 Euro’s in value. Paul joined me in my good deeds and picked up a few coins as well. 2 girls observing this approached us and asked us why we were doing this.

“Err…” we didn’t know what to say.

“Because it brings luck?” they asked.

“Yes, yes, because it brings luck, of course”

With this money, I decided to become rich in the casino’s. Wouldn’t that be a great story? 2 guys that grab some coins at the cathedral becoming rich? First, we had to do some more sightseeing though. On the streets, people were handing out small bits of food to try out and then buy. We tried out, but didn’t buy. Free coins, free food, I’m already starting to love Macao!

And then, it was finally time for the casino’s! Be sure not to lose that coin you picked up Paul, because it is going to make you rich! We took one of the free casino busses that bring you to the casino island for free. 

The first casino we entered was a new one opened in 2011 called Galaxy, a huge casino in a sub-tropical resort style.

We walked through the many tables and slot machines. Blackjack was the game we were going to play, but we couldn’t find a table with a minimum bet under 500 HK Dollars (5000 Yen or 50 Euro). I asked where the low bet tables are, but learned that 500 was the absolute minimum for the whole casino. Chinese people can be so incredibly rich! I then accidently entered a high-betting zone, which you are not allowed to go if you are not playing. Here, people were spending thousands, sometimes ten thousands of dollars on one game of blackjack or roullete. A casino girl approached me, and gave me free whine and fried dumplings.

Ok, this wasn’t the casino’s were our coins were going to become gold. Here, they would become no more than an ice-cream at the McDonalds. We decided to go to “The Venetian” next, which is not only the biggest casino in Macao but also the biggest casino in the world. But here too, none of the 800 gambling tables dared to go below 300 HK dollars. The shopping centre of the casino was a complete replication of Venice, just as fake and big as anything in Las Vegas would be. And again, in these Venatian rivers many, many coins were dropped. We also found one gambling chip lying in the river. Knowing that the minimum bet is 300 Dollars, it must have been worth a lot, but even Paul was not courageous enough to putt of his clothes and jump in.

At the front of the casino, we asked for a casino with cheaper bets. They told us that a casino near the ferry port had some cheaper tables. Perfect! We could quickly become rich there and then go back straight to Hong Kong. After arriving there, we soon found out though, that our St Paul Cathedral coins weren’t of much value here either. After having asked, we found out that there was 1 blackjack table with a minimum bet level of 100, and one roulette table with the same minimum. They did serve free drinks, though. First free coins, then free food and now free drinks! I have only been winning in Macao for now! That was about to change, though. I exchanged 200 Hong Kong dollars for gambling chips, and went to search for the 100 dollar black jack table. I couldn’t find it, and decided to try my luck at the 100 dollar roulette table instead. I chose to bet 100 dollar on red. The little ball was now rolling on the spin. If it would be red, I would be 100 dollar richer in a second! The ball lost speed bit y bit. Of course, it ended on black.

So now I had another 100 dollar to spend. I didn’t feel like playing roulette again. My French friends were drinking something at the bar. I left my bag at their seats and went to search the table. It didn’t take me long to find it this time, but the table was already full. I observed the play for about 30 minutes. One guy was playing it very carefully, and although losing sometimes, he definitely seemed to be gaining chips. He often stopped with surprisingly low cards, but then the dealer would usually get busted, almost as if he could predict it. When a seat finally opened I sat down and put in my last 100 dollars for 1 game. I was going to play it safe like the guy that had been winning. My first to cards were a 10 and a 4. Usually I would play on, but after hesitating for a while I decided not to. The guy next to me did take a card, it was a 10. So I had been right! If I had taken a card I would have been busted right now. After everyone was played out, the dealer took 2 cards. She ended up at exactly 21. Game over.

So much for gambling for me, just 1 minute (if you don’t count the watching) and already lost 200 dollars. I went to my friends and had a drink with them.

From the casino, we walked back to the ferry port only to find out that all the night-ferries had been sold out. It was now around 2:15, but the next one with tickets available was the ferry of 6:10 in the morning, at least so it said on the screen in front of the ticket corner. That was strange, given the fact that these ferries go twice in an hour, even in midnight time, and there weren’t even that many people around. A few Chinese people approached us, saying that they had some tickets left they could sell us for a higher price. It was almost the double of a normal price, so I decided not to buy it. My friends, however were hesitating on what to do. They only had a few days left in Hong Kong, so one sleepless night would hurt.

“Its so cheap! You will lose a lot of time if you wait!” a young girl said.

While my friends were trying to bargain, I headed to the ticket corner to buy my ticket for the next morning.

“We have tickets for 3:00, sir.” the man said.

Whaaaat!!?? I called my friends to go together on this boat. So the ticket office had been bribed by these Chinese guys.

“You are such a lyar!” I said to the young girl, before we headed to the departure hall.

She seemed hurt by these words, and tried to make clear that she was not.

“I am not a lyar! I just have to do as my boss tells me. It’s my job you know”

I smiled at her and said that it was OK.

After we had checked in, an official told us that we could go on the boat of 2:30, because it had been so empty. In the “full” empty boat, I didn’t care about the money that I had lost at the casino anymore. It was the first scam that I had been able to avoid and that felt great. While having an interesting conversation with Paul, beloved Hong Kong came closer and closer.

Vliegeren

Januray 12, 2012. Written in Xiamen, China.

 Vliegeren

Samen met Keiko ben ik op bezoek geweest bij de nicht van Man (Man heb ik ontmoet in Guilin). 

Het was voor het eerst dat ik thuis was bij een echte Hong Kongse familie, wat natuurlijk iets speciaals is. De familie woont in een luxe flat van 50 verdiepingen. De verdiepingen van 40 tot 49 bestaan echter niet, omdat de 4 ongeluk schijnt te brengen. Eigenlijk zijn het dus maar 40 verdiepingen, maar voor een woonflat vond ik dat meer dan genoeg.

De nicht van Man woont er samen met haar ouders (en dus Man’s tante en oom) , en ook haar man en kindje wonen hier. Het was een ruime, zeer moderne en schone woonruimte die wel duidelijk maakte dat het gezin behoorlijk goed verdiend. Het dochtertje van Man’s nicht was 5 of 6 jaar en erg schattig. De familie hield van reizen, en daardoor sprak het dochtertje niet alleen vloeiend Cantonees, Mandarijns en Engels, maar ook een beetje Japans, Koreaans en Frans. Na in het appartement een kop thee gedronken te hebben, lieten we de oom en tante achter en gingen we met de auto naar de natuur die Hong Kong te bieden heeft. Vader nam een vlieger in vlindervorm mee die hij terwijl wij een kop thee dronken net gekocht scheen te hebben. Vliegeren had het dochtertje nooit eerder gedaan, maar vandaag hadden ze het een leuk idee gevonden om dat eens te gaan doen. 

Na een klein uur rijden kwamen we aan op een groot parkeerterrein omringd door bergen en de zee. Vanaf hier liepen we naar een heuvel waar veel mensen, jong en oud stonden te vliegeren.

“Kijk mama, heeeeel veel vliegers!” zei het kleine meisje steeds.

Voor mij was het ook lang geleden dat ik voor het laatst had gevliegerd. Ik had alleen vage herrineringen het als klein kind op vakantie in Belgie geprobeerd te hebben, maar toen na de vlieger perongeluk in mijn eigen oog gevlogen te hebben vreselijk moeten huilen.

De vader en ik begonnen meteen enthousiast het ding in de lucht proberen te krijgen. Ik gooide hem omhoog en hij probeerde hem te besturen. Dit ging echter niet meteen als gewenst, en vele mensen kregen daardoor onze vlieger op hun hoofd. Opgeven was er echter niet bij. De vader bleef fanatiek achter het ding aan rennen, en ik gooide het dan weer in de lucht. Beetje bij beetje ging het steeds beter, maar toch bleef de vlieger meestal niet langer dan een minuut in de lucht. 

We draaide de regels om. Nu zat ik achter het stuur, en gooide de vader het ding in de lucht. Bovenop de heuvel was een soort plein met een verhoging op het midden. De vader was zo slim om op deze verhoging te staan, zodat de vlieger al behoorlijk hoog begon. Na een paar keer proberen lukte het mij hierdoor de vlieger zo hoog in de lucht te krijgen dat hij niet makkelijk meer naar beneden zou vallen. Een paar keer leek hij toch opeens toch weer naar beneden te vallen, maar net optijd kon ik het ding steeds weer de lucht in sturen. 

Toen hij echt zo hoog mogelijk was, was er eigenlijk niet veel meer aan. Alles wat je nog moest doen was het touwtje vast houden. Dat mocht het dochtertje dan ook doen. Blij stond ze met het stuur in haar handje te wijzen naar de vlieger die hoog in de lucht was.

In bomen zaten vele neergestorte vliegers, en nu het meisje het stuur vast had besloot ik een van deze vliegers uit de boom proberen te pakken. Vader kwam weer enthousiast mee helpen en terwijl hij de tak omlaag trok maakte ik een grote sprong naar de vlieger. Nu hadden we er twee! Het touwtje van deze vlieger was echter iets minder lang, waardoor we hem minder hoog in de lucht konden krijgen, maar het leek wel veel makelijker dan de eerste te gaan. 

Nu gooide ik hem in de lucht en bestuurde Keiko hem. Dit ging ook behoorlijk goed, totdat het ding in de war raakte met iemands anders vlieger, waardoor de vlieger van die man helaas in een boom vloog. Terwijl wij onze verontschuldigingen tegenover deze man aan het maken waren, scheen er iets gebeurd te zijn met de vlieger van het kleine meisje. Toen we terug kwamen stond ze namelijk vreselijk te huilen. De vlieger scheen van de heuvel af gevlogen te zijn. Als je van de heuvel af keek, vielen er honderden neergestorte vliegers te zien. De vlinder viel niet meer terug te halen. Wel haalde ik met de vader nog een paar vliegers uit de boom om het meisje te troosten. Nu hadden we er veel meer dan eerst. Er was zelfs een vlieger van Winnie de Pooh bij. Maar dit was allemaal niet belangrijk. Ze wou haar mooie vlinder terug, niet een andere vlieger. Het was echter een dapper meisje en op de terugweg in de auto zat ze alweer vrolijk een liedje met de radio mee te zingen. De vlinder zou voor altijd vergeten zijn.

フレンチなお寿司

January 7, 2011. Written in Hong Kong.

フレンチなお寿司

まだまだフレンチの話は続くぞ！クリスマス・イブの翌日（って、クリスマスの日か）。
夜みんなで食事することになったのだが、フレンチはお寿司が食べたいということで、22時以降全品が半額になるという寿司屋を訪れた。有名なキャンペーンみたいで、九時半すぎにくると、もう店の前が大行列になっていた。8人なのだが、本当に8人分の席が空くかどうか心配だった。それでも、先に紙に注文を書いて、座れたときにお寿司がすぐにくるようにという、スピードの速いシステムはさすがで、相当儲かっているのに違いない。

僕は日本のKさん（香港から日本へ帰るということで、この日中国内地からやってきた）と紙をシェアして注文した。香港まで来て寿司というのも少し可哀相だが……。
一方で、フランス人が何を頼んでいるのかはわからないが、たくさん頼んでいることだけは間違いないようだった。

漸くお店に入れたのは、23時少し前だっただろうか。それでも、よく8人席が空いたなと思った。約束どおり、前もって頼んだ料理がどんどん来た。Kさんと一緒に頼んだまぐろ・いくら・うに・はまち・えんがわなど、定番だったりちょっと渋かったりといった注文がまずきて、味はそんなに美味しくないが、まあ海外だから仕方ない。

ところが、本当の驚きはフランス人らの注文が来たときだった。まったく何を考えてやがる！これは、もはや寿司じゃないぞ！日本文化を勘違いしている！

写真を撮り損ねたが、これと同じくらいの大きさのサーモン刺身と、カリフォルニアロールのお皿があった。

全部食べきれるわけないと思ったが、彼らは全部問題なく食べつくした。しかもものすごい勢いで。サーモンとカリフォルニアロールのみから成り立つ寿司とは、なんと悲惨なできごとだ！もう海外で寿司は食べたくないと思った。

おまけに、僕らの注文を見て、フランス人のコメントったらない。
「お前ら変なものばかり頼むね！」だってさ。「フランスでは、サーモンが基本なんだけどね」とも。
むっときたが、なんとかその怒りを抑えた。まるでフランス式に寿司を食べないとだめだぞ、と説教されてるみたいだった！

でもまあまあ、海外はそんなもんだろうということで落ち着こう。とにかく楽しい食事会だった！うん！

ロマンチックなPくんは、ひたすら僕のことを指差しては「ラスト・クリスマス」を歌ってくれた。感動！うれしいよ！

全品半額だったのだが、ものすごい頼みっぷりのせいで結構な値段になった。それなら飲茶へ行きたかったよ！！

 あっ、ちなみに彼らの翌日の夕食だが、バーベキュー式の焼きサーモンでした。これ、本当の話……。

About skillful French-Indian friendly guys.

January 7, 2011. Written in Hong Kong.

About skillful French-Indian friendly guys.

My Japanese friend Keiko, whom I met in mainland China, arrived in Hong Kong on the 25th to take her plane back to Japan from here. On this day, I was supposed to go hiking with my French friends, but decided to pick her up from the train station first, and meet up with my friends later. That morning, they left the house 1 hour before me to take the ferry to one of Hong Kong's nature rich islands. I borrowed Nicolas's phone so that I could call him via his girlfriend to meet up later.

After having picked up Keiko, we together went to the island where Nicolas told me to go, by train and bus. It was a pretty long ride, but still we somehow arrived earlier than them.
 Now, this was a mysterious case. They left the apartment and headed straight to the island. I left 1 hour later, went to pick up Keiko at the train station and then finally went to the island. How in hell could I be faster!?

Believe me, there is a very good reason for this.
This reason is called "Siddart".
Siddart is a friendly French-Indian guy, who likes to laugh a lot. Laughing, he does better than anyone else in the world, even when there is nothing funny. That being said, laughing is not his only skill. There is this other thing he is very, very skilled in. What is this skill, you ask? Let me tell you.
It is being LATE!! Yes, L-A-T-E!! And by late I mean really late! It can easily take him two hours to walk 100 meters, no joke. On Christmas eve, he managed to be 8 hours late on the appointment.
But! ...He is a very nice guy, really.

So, me and Keiko had some time to kill. We walked around on the island. There were many shops and restaurants selling seafood. Everywhere, you could smell the sea and good fish. There were many people walking the small streets of the town, but that didn't make it any less beautiful.  Being confronted by all this seafood, we got hungry and decided to have lunch. We had some squid and shrimps that were really good. Especially Keiko appreciated the good food after 3 months of all the oily mainland food.

Nearly 40 minutes after our arrival at the island, my fellow friends finally arrived. But, no harm done! I was glad to introduce them to Keiko. We started to hike, and had some conversations on the way. I don't think that our pace was very fast, but Siddart and his girlfriend didn't seem to be able to keep up with us anyway.
The distance between us and them became more and more, and after a while we couldn't see them anymore.

Hong Kong really has some beautiful nature landscapes, something that you would not expect from such a huge, vibrant city. Especially the sea is very clear if you consider all of the pollution such a huge city must produce.

Do you believe that this is all Hong Kong?

When we arrived back in the little town of the island, we decided what to do next. Would we go to the great Buddha by bus, walk a bit more or take a speed-boat tour? While debating about this we wandered through town. The sun was just about to set.

 We bumped into Siddart and his girlfriend. It was already getting too late to go somewhere else, so we decided to go on a speed boat-tour instead. There are supposed to be pink dolphins in the sea surrounding Hong Kong, and the story goes that if you are lucky you might be able to see one. However, Nicolas told me that he had read a story that it is so uncommon these days that even the captains of these speed-boats have never seen any themselves.

It was a nice tour anyway, especially because the speed and the high waves created some excitement. The captain of the boat was a very nice smiling old man. Much better than all those people that look as if they are bored to hell while providing their services.

After this exciting tour, it was time for us to go back to the city. In the end, we didn't do so much hiking, but it was a pleasant day non the less!