I was very flattered in November when Sifu asked me to join the team going to a Tai Chi competition in Bangkok. So after getting Rika's permission I immediately signed-up.
But I forgot that Mat and his girlfriend were scheduled to visit us in Hong Kong that same weekend (sorry Matt!)
Our Tai Chi school sends teams various competitions around Asia and are well organized for arranging packages of flights and hotels. Since I don't speak chinese I don't quite follow whats going on much of the time. But everyone was very patient in looking after me and making Rika and Hannah welcome on the trip.
We flew out Saturday morning for the competition on Sunday. It was quite funny seeing a dozen tai chi swords being bundled up and checked-in at the airport.
Sunday morning: Practicing in the Hotel before the competition
We mini-bussed first-thing in the morning to the competition at the gymnasium of the old National Stadium.
Team photo:
First up was registration and collecting our ID tags. There were foreign teams from Hong Kong, mainland China (Xi An), and Singapore?, and many local teams including a club of Bangkok-based Japanese who were strong in traditional Chen style. The Japanese team's supporters including several kids Hannah's age who she quickly made friends with. Out of several hundred competitors there was only one other gweilo.
My ID tag. I was amused and rather flattered to be in the China contingent.
Next an opening ceremony which we did twice (one rehearsal). The teams marched into the gymnasium behind one by one and then lined up to hear welcoming speeches in Thai and Chinese.
The action was filmed by a video crew and projected onto 2 large screens either side of the stage.
Our team.
After the speeches we were reorganized to be evenly spaced out (standing on little spots that had been carefully placed on the floor ahead of time) for a mass performance of Yang 24 form.
Yang 24 is the the kind of 'lords prayer' of Tai Chi - everyone knows it as it is the first form most people learn. Except me - I started with Chen-stla and don't yet know the Yang 24. This was rather inconvenient as I was on the side of the group, and I was easily the tallest person.
Mass demonstration of Yang 24 form (can you see Hannah Papa on the far right?)
Most of the time I could fake it by copying the people around me, but when we faced to the right of the hall I had to guess what to do, and wave my arms randomly around. Soon I could hear giggles behind me whenever I got it wrong or turned the wrong way.
After that the competition proper started. There were many categories : Yang-style 24, Yang 32 sword, Yang 40, Yang 42, Yang 42 sword, Traditional Yang, Traditional Yang sword, Kung Fu Fan, Kung Fu Fan Chen-style, Chen style, Sun style, and Freestyle Group.
Each category was split into international sections and local sections.
The Group Free-style category was the most competitive, and the one each school wanted to win most.
Video: our club competing in the group competition.
My category was up about 1pm. The time limit was 6 min so I had time to do the full Chen-56 form.
After the October competition in Hong Kong I had hoped to keep-up my training, to further improve strength and flexibility, and polish the forms. But instead I got extremely busy at work with a new and urgent project and was able to do very little training.
In fact, I was so out of condition I'd considered pulling-out, but eventually decided to 'suck-it-up' and just try to do the best I could, and just hope to remember the whole routine and not embarrass myself!
Hannah-papa competing in solo Chen-style category.
The competitors competed in front of the judges four at a time. Luckily I did not to bump into anyone.
In the end I was quite pleased with my performance. My level had dropped a lot since October but I was able to stay much calmer in the enclosure and give a much better account of my level. So net-net the performance was about the same. I was glad that Sifu seemed pretty satisfied.
About 2 hours after the set, the results were posted. I was graded 8.47 and 'silver medal'. This really impressed Hannah, but to be honest I don't know what it means. It seems that most competitors who were proficient in their form got a medal, and several people in each category won 'gold', although their standard was obviously very high. Still, I suspect I was lucky to get silver.
Sifu with our youngest team member. She is only 13 but has been training in martial arts for 6 years and got 2 gold medals.
After the competition there was a gala dinner with traditional Thai entertainment - singing, Thai dance, Muay-tai demonstration, Lady-boys, and also Tai Chi demonstrations including one by our Sifu. Our table wasn't overly impressed by the Thai boxing (a tough audience for a martial arts demo), but the ladyboys were a big hit.
Post-event dinner
By 8pm we were all tired, especially Hannah, so we left early for our hotel. Thanks to the Taiji Association of Thailand for organizing everything so well.
Most of the team went sightseeing on Monday and returned Tuesday but because of work and school commitments we had to fly-back Monday morning. Overall it was a terrific event which I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience.
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