Hit the road back to Cairo Airport. All interest now at an end, apart from lunch booking at a restaurant that serves the best chicken in Cairo. We didn’t get to say goodbye to drivers F and M as they disappeared last night, so we will have to come back next year.
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A magic wind was blowing all night, turning us slowly into sand beings. Got up in the middle of the night to check those sleeping outside, but couldn’t tell who was who – they all had their heads inside their sleeping bags. Some crawled into tents.
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This was a day of so much magic that I am not going to give it a number or a date.
Woke at dawn, all quiet, sun just about to bounce above the horizon, and take myself to the top of the highest dune in sight of camp. Salute the sun with the world at my feet
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Was going to skip the morning routine writeup but as we were waiting for breakfast they let the horses out of the nearby stables to run around their paddock. Brown and white Arabian horses galloped and frisked in front of us as we ruefully remembered our pathetic attempts at (well I did – perhaps the others were making more favourable comparisons with their inner stallions).
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Usual start, crack of dawn, blah, interval sprints, stretch in glorious setting blah blah, breakfast (most delicious bread cheese balls on the planet) blah blah blah.
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05.48 Alarm goes off. Sun still below the horizon. It is impossible to catch the colours of this dawn on a camera – the understated soft lilacs and blushing pinks are turned into overblown oranges.
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Day 2. Driving all the way to Siwa. After extensive breakfast on the basis that we must make sure not to miss another one, load up and hit the road.
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Day One. Because of no sleep this was a non-day of pseudo jet lag.
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FWC are back in Egypt, and even no wifi and poor mobile reception can’t stop news reaching the blog!
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Danil Mikhailov, head instructor of the FWC Muswell Hill Club in North London, has just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. The title of RGS Fellow is reserved for people who make a contribution to the shared body of knowledge about the world, whether through scientific study, cultural research or exploration. Famous past Fellows included everyone from Livingstone and Shackleton, to Sir Edmund Hillary, while present Fellows include Sir David Attenborough.
Danil signs his book “”The History and Philosophy of Kung Fu: An Introduction”
Danil’s Fellowship was awarded in recognition of his work in researching and writing about the culture of Chinese traditional kung fu. Danil has been one of the editors of Wushu Scholar Magazine for nearly fifteen years, travelling around China with Dennis, Sharon and the rest of the Wushu Scholar team to interview masters of rare kung fu styles.
In addition to that, Danil has studied and written about the philosophical aspects of Chinese kung fu, building on his MA research at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
In 2012 Danil published his first book, “The History and Philosophy of Kung Fu: an Introduction”, to great reviews, and is currently planning his next book, about the connections between ancient Shamanic practices and kung fu.
You can join Danil for his next lecture on the topic of “Morality and Kung Fu” at Claremont Hall in Angel on the 29th of March.