Final Post

I know it's been months since I've posted here last. This comes from a few reasons. When I first arrived in China, everything was new, everything was an adventure, I wanted to share it all. I would send out a post every week, accompanied by maybe 60 photos, and documenting almost my every move. I finally realized, this was good for a time, it helped me reflect, and hopefully gave people on the outside a nice taste for what living in China is truly like from an inside perspective, but that I needed to move on. It was taking more time to document it all than it should and I wanted to move on to other things, find a focus. 

So here we are, my last chopsticks and kickflips post. Thank you to everyone who faithfully read the blog and encouraged me with your feedback. Thank you even to the occasional web surfer who may have even been silent but was in the least bit impacts by whatever I had to share. 

Here's a final glimpse of Kunming, and I'm off....

See you soon, China. 

Calling All Skaters

Drew launching an ollie over Ardent's mascot.

It's already over a month into 2013, but a lot of exciting things have been happening and I anticipate it only getting better as the months go on. Around the middle of January, I was fortunate enough to take a 5 day trip to the nearby city of Dali, Yunnan with Joel, Drew, and Xiao Liang. We all had an amazing time with all the homies over there, and I'll hopefully post some photos on www.justshuffleit.blogspot.com in the near future, but in the meantime check out our tour video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkk5c3Ki6O0. Upon our arrival back to Kunming, we had the priviledge of meeting and hosting a crew of skaters passing through China on a 2 month trip and would be staying in Kunming for the second half of their journey. They all are super rad dudes, and we're extremely blessed to have them here with us seeing the same vision for the skatepark and the community.

We also got the skatepark tagged up a little bit by some local artists.

Had to ship these in from Shanghai.

"A way in the wilderness"

Amazing artists.

Little Erwin with a not-so-little 360 flip.

Peeping the footy.

Isaac landed this backside heelflip twice, just for the cameras.

Reloading the film.

Thai-looking plaza in South Kunming

Nice frontside tailslide for the kids.

Joel executing an interesting new trick. Half-cab noseslide bonk.

To all of our dismay, my roomate and good friend, Noah, went back home for Chinese New Year and decided he wouldn't be coming back. So we threw a going away lunch for him.

Sad to see him go.

Adeng always prepares amazing food.

Sewer life.

Kunming river.

One of the major events the crew of skaters through, in collaboration with Ardent Skatepark, was an afternoon of skate lessons at a skatespot in town. The whole thing went down really well and we had about 50 local skaters come out to join in the fun. Many people stopped by to watch as well.

Split pants. A common sight around these parts. Very convenient.

Also a common sight. Just whip the spinner fast enough until it starts to make a droning humming sound.

Mid-afternoon nap.

The newest and oldest skater of the bunch.

Diko with a proper heelflip.

This man had a lot to say. Unfortunately no one had a clue what it was. Even our Chinese friends.

High ollie contest. 8 boards tall took home the prize.

Showcasing the prize.

Congratulations for having mad pop.

Erwin, smith grind up the rail.

Poaching multiple angles at a monsterous spot.

Just one more try!

As Spring Festival brings in the Chinese New Year, sounds of firecrackers can be heard all day and all night long. People are psyched for the year of the snake, and students, families, and business owners alike are all heading home to their respective provinces to enjoy the festivities. I will be staying Kunming for the next week, but plan to take a long 13 hour train ride to Nanning, GuangXi for a week where the crew of skaters will be going on their last leg of the journey. Should be fulfilling trip and I can't wait to share it all with you next. 

Things are looking up as the new year slithers on in.