Brandon Hickman - Hong Kong
18th – 28th March 2014
Well what an experience! I was invited to Hong Kong to perform at the Annual Dinner where all the Sifu’s congregate once a year to commemorate the last Grandmaster, Wong Cheung who taught Hark Fu Mun, which means Black Tiger Kung Fu.
My Dad and I flew from Birmingham Airport to Dubai and then onto Hong Kong, so we were up nearly 24 hrs. I thought the first day in Hong Kong would be to rest but I was wrong we dropped our cases at the hotel and went to meet our two instructors Alan and Franco who are both Masters in Kung Fu. I was to train with Franco prior to the demonstration at the Annual Dinner. Franco was like Jackie Chan in his movies very disciplined but funny and supportive at the same time. We trained hard every day from 09:00 – 13:00 hrs so I had no chance to catch up on my sleep.
The training area was in the local park where people passing would just stop to watch. I was a bit nervous to start with but after a while it just felt natural. For the Annual Dinner I was performing with the Broad Sword which was used in ancient times for fighting. As I was training with the Broad Sword in the park I was expecting to be told I could not train in an open area by the local police or member of the public but No! all appeared to respect the art of Kung Fu and the way I was using the sword.
So after 7 days of continuous training I was ready for my performance. At the Annual Dinner I performed six spinning roundhouse kicks in succession then the Broad Sword and Two Man form with my Sifu from my Academy. I was really pleased with my performance and everyone stood up and clapped and then one of the old street fighters who used to defend the club asked if he could do a hand form with me he was really strong. I was told this was very good as he very rarely wanted to instruct other’s as he had no faith in their ability.
With my performance over my nerves had gone so let me tell you what I ate it included snake, ducks feet, oysters, noodles, sticky rice, sushi, pizza and sweet and sour pork. I liked the snake but preferred the sweet and sour but as for the duck’s feet YUK!
I have posted one of my performance’s on YOU TUBE if anyone wants to view I have also added some photos to this piece.
I have been studying martial arts since I was five and achieved my Black Belt in TaeKwonDo when I was eight and I am currently training for my Pre-Black Sash in Si Lum Hark Fu Mun Kung Fu.