Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Horse is off to a Good Start.

Chinese New Years monkey king and lion dance

Happy Lunar New Year! This is the year of the horse and I have a feeling it is going to be a really good year. In Chinese there is a saying that goes “马到成功” which means when the horse comes you will reach success. It is a proverb wishing someone complete and immediate success.

year of the horse horses

Speaking of complete and immediate success, the beginning of this lunar year has already showered me with tons of fortune. I am in pre-production on a SAG short film as an actor and action coordinator. I just shot an editorial James Bond themed shoot with an awesome photographer in downtown LA. (I’ll provide more details on those in a separate post.) Last but not least, I along with my brother performing alongside the rest of the Wushu Shaolin team have been booked on over 8 performances within the span of this and last week!

wushu shaolin monks and demo

We started off with a performance at Brentwood High. I performed Chang Quan (Long Fist) and Jian Shu (Straight Sword) alongside several highly skilled monks and world class wushu athletes.

The next demo was to be in Nevada. That day I had a full day photo shoot for the 007 themed editorial shoot. Immediately after I met up the Wushu Shaolin team. At night we began our journey to Nevada.

Eureka Hotel and Casino

We arrived at Eureka Hotel and Casino Resort. We drove passed Las Vegas and entered into Mesquite, NV. Though we had a long night of driving, the next day we were able to grab some buffet and get in a quick swim… and by quick swim I mean, my brother and I dove into sub 30 degree water to wake ourselves up! Check out the video.

Why jump into freezing water in the middle of winter? Always push yourself and see what you are capable of.

For Eureka Casino we had to perform 4 times in one hour intervals. monkey king and red lion

We had 2 lions, a monkey king, lion dance drummer, and a gong player. We did end up in Vegas, but it was pretty much just a pit stop. We didn’t stay long.Las Vegas on Chinese New Years 2014

On the way back to LA, we stopped by Lohan School of Wushu in Las Vegas. We got to see some cool traditional kung fu forms, lion heads, as well as some pictures that showed the history and lineage of kung fu in America.Lohan school of Shaolin in Vegas

old school pic douglas wong and james lew at lohan school of shaolin

lion heads

I even got a quick workout in. Shifu Sal, Alvin, and I took turns on the pads and delivered a few kicks and punches to the gut.

After we got back to LA it was about 3am the next day. We slept for a few hours and hit the road again. We traveled to Orange County, La Brea, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood for performances throughout the day. We performed at a school, senior living complex, Hakkasan in Beverly Hills, and a private mansion party. Each performance was unique in the venue, routine, and crowd.

Hakkasan in Beverly Hills
The entrance of Hakkasan in Beverly Hills
Hakkasan Bar
The bar at Hakkasan

We got some lucky new years money from some guests and finished the day off strong. 🙂 We have a few more performances next week, then I’ll be shooting for 4 days in a row, and right after filming I’ll be flying to Vietnam for a friends wedding. Busy is good! This year is off to a great start for me and I hope it is going to be great for everyone else too!

Happy Year of the Horse!

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