We have spent just two short weeks training at Qufu Shaolin Kung Fu school, having arrived with no experience in martial arts. Luckily for us there were other new students, which meant, despite the older students flipping and twirling away in their group, we were all in the same situation! It seems that we have learnt an awful lot, and Master Yuan made an effort to train us quickly as he knew we were only staying for a short time, which was great.

The training has been largely fun (not including power stretching) and with good variation. We learnt Tai Chi in the early morning, then kung fu basics, Qi Gong and Wudang/short staff form in the afternoons with Master Wu. Some classes are optional and we also learnt some mandarin in the evenings after class, which has been useful. There is lots (and lots) of stretching, which was hard for our old limbs, although after only a week, we could touch the floor on a front bend.

- The school is also next to a national park, and on Thursdays we did power training on the mountain which is tough, a little bit crazy and brilliant fun.

- We have really enjoyed meeting the people here, in particular our newbie group have been great fun to train with and Master Yuan has been good, patient and always maintaining a sense of humour with us (definitely needed when we are new to martial arts) and has made training fun, despite the language barriers.

- The school is currently undergoing improvements in the grounds and is awaiting delivery of new training kit, the beds all recently got replaced (although they are still the thinnest mattress you will ever see), all of which will improve the training experience.

- Today we are leaving to continue our journey, and despite staying for such a short time, I am very glad we came.