jiefo Blog

My next (four) big projects

I recently spent the Chinese New Year in the homeland, visiting 5 different cities over 3 weeks and visiting both sides of my family. Chongqing → Zunyi → Harbin → Zhengzhou → Wuxi.

Chongqing was a futuristic, cyberpunk, disorientating, bright city built on the mountains that was a war capital in the past.

Harbin’s Ice and Snow Festival is easily the coolest modern man-made set of structures I’ve ever seen, with the Great Wall of China being the most breathtaking ancient man-made structure.

In Zunyi and Zhengzhou I spent time with family, connecting back to my heritage and traditional Chinese culture, while learning the importance of familial love.

In Wuxi I fell in love with the slower-paced life and beauty of a city built on water. China’s water towns are like mini Venice’s scattered around the country.

My time in China enlightened me, in the spiritual sense (IE, I am now more than ever feeling spiritually connected, and eager to dive deeper into Chinese Buddhist philosophies and Taoism), but also enlightened me in how I plan to spend the remaining months of my gap year before law school.

And so I present my next four big projects that I hope to complete by July:

1) Muay Thai camp in Thailand (1-2 weeks)

Train muay thai with the founders — living and training with professional warriors twice a day, eating good thai food, and lounging on the beach.

2) 環島 “Huan Dao” — Roundabout Taiwan (10 days)

A 9-day 968 km (602 mile) biking route around the entire island, a true challenge that has been ingrained in Taiwanese identity culture.

3) Shaolin Temple Life (1-4 weeks)

Live and train Shaolin Kungfu in the mainland. Learn kungfu but also immerse myself in Buddhist/Taoist monk culture, daily meditations, and Chinese culture.

4) Travel China again and spend more time with family (~30-45  days)

Must visit cities:

• Shenzhen
• Ancient Capitals: Beijing, Xi’An, Luoyang, Nanjing
• Chengdu
• Zhangjiajie (Avatar Mountains)
• Xinjiang
• Tibet

Hopefully by August, I’ll have completed all of these projects. But even if not, I am excited to embark on this second half of my gap year.