Day 2 of Training and the Shaolin Si...
We woke up about 530 and when I got out of bed, my feet were sore, but that was pretty much it. Awesome. Neither of us slept well.
Morning practice was just stretching and then off to breakfast. So counter productive. During breakfast, I had some noodles and found a dead maggot/worm in there. Great. Its China, that thing happens everywhere, but it made me lose my appetite. At least it was dead.
After breakfast we had to meet sifu because he was giving us uniforms. Crap, I need to tell him now, they hadnt taken the passports to town yet either. So, after I got my uniform and he took us to get some thermos for hot water, I was nervous cause I didn't want to be a jerk, but I also didn't want many people around. I never pulled that off. We were in the shop when I told him that I just didnt feel comfortable. He seemed angry. He was like, Ok, give the stuff back. You will lose some money, basically, the bs 200 for the pick up at the airport. YOu gots to cut your losses somewhere. He walked away with the other sifus. I headed back with Chris and then Xanda sifu came to our room right after we arrived and he told me to get my stuff and go. He was like..."Hurry up, can you do this any quicker." I was like..."Listen Dick, I am going as quick as I can." He gave me back my money and he walked me to the road and I got a taxi. I said goodbye to Shi Yan Lin. I got into a taxi around 8AM and headed for the bus station. As I left, I started to think back and I really think that Shi Yan Lin never received my emails. The Xanda Sifu prolly looked it over and thats why Shi Yan Lin seemed obvious to my plan.
Great communication skills there, mailbox head (xanda sifu).
I got to the train station and looked around for the Iveco Mini-Bus Bus station. I found it and went to one bus sitting in between the bus station and the train station. I asked how much, and all they could keep saying was, "Hi, hello, do you want to study Chinese gong fu. Gong Fu is very good. Chinese gong fu. Hao!" I was like, yeah, I want to study, how much for a ride to the SHaolin Si...they were like, 260RMB, I just turned and walked away. Didnt say anything.
Got a ticket for a bus that takes a slight tour of the scenic spots around Dengfeng. Only cost 22RMB. I got on the bus that was schedualed to leave for 9am and it didn't leave until 930AM. And what was on the VCD player..and playing over and over again? Jet Li's "Shaolin Temple". Ugh, two times in a row is long enuff. This bus station was quite crowded with bus. There was always one coming and leaving.
We finally left at about 930. The bus was packed. Some of the views of Henan rural area along the highway was nice, but pretty much nothing but farm land. Along the way there were a few places where there was a gong fu character as a statue in the middle of nowhere. It was kinda goofy.
We arrived in Dengfeng and I was suprised we were there so early. It was only 2 hours and the people and books I read said about 2.5 hours. Interesting. The first stop we made was at the Songyuan Academy. A very old Taoist study place. In it there is a 4500 year old cypress tree. Its friggin huge!
It was here that I met two guys from my bus group. They both spoke very good english. We chatted and took fotos. My camera gave me that friggin' Memory card error again. Crap..on the 1GB card. SOmething is wrong with this camera. I am worried that the fotos I took on this may be lost. But I don't know because I was able to view them. I just couldn't take pictures.
I popped in my older card and it worked fine. Go figure. I was hoping that it wouldn't cut out either. I was carrying my big back pack and all my stuff at this time. I was soooo tired from it. It gets real heavy after awhile while going in and out of your little side bag for camera stuff.
After this place we went to Taiyong Nunnery temple. I didn't go in, you see one Buddhist temple,you pretty much see them all. Its cool though still. I just took pictures outside of the place and chatted with the english speakers. I had told them I was interested in gong fu and one of them, Fisher (because his last name Yu is pronounced the same way as fish in Chinese is). He was a big fan of the NBA, he was wearing Denis Rodman's jersey. Eric was the other one. They didnt believe that foreigners could learn gong fu in the schools unless they stay for a very long time. I told them they can. No one seems to listen to me when I say that i have studied gong fu for 4years and 8 months. I don't know why. I found a couple of the schools I was interested in on the map that I had bought at Songyuan. We finally arrived at the Shaolin era.
We left our big bags in a shop that allows visitors to keep their heavy things safe. I made sure I took my money with me though. Just in case.
We walked towards the temple. On the way we saw Tagou Institute. No one was practicing, it must be lunch time. We then stopped off at the Wushu Center where there were performances. I actually thought the performance was kinda lame. There were only a couple cools thigns that I hadnt seen there. Like the throwing of a pin thru a piece of glass to break a balloon and a guy be raised up on the end of spear tips. They should sharpen those blades and see if they can still do it.
After that, we walked to the Shaolin Temple. It was kool to see. It was alot of fun, but to be truthful, it was just like every other temple i have seen in China. Nothing really spectaculer. However, there were a few things in the Temple that had been given to them buy famous kings in the past and stuff. Some really great historical things.
Took lots of pictures. I saw the floor that had indentations in it because allegedly, thats where the monks used to practice a certain form for a long time.
And of course, I had to do Taiji somewhere in the Shaolin temple, so I did. Eric and Fisher were cracking up. So was I. A monk came to watch as well. Funny stuff.
We left and headed over to the Pagoda forest. This place was really cool. This is where famous or special monks received burial. I saw the newest one for the most recently deceased abbot I think and on it he had things inscribed that showed what was happening in his time. On it were the words, "Never get left behind" or something like that...referring to modernization and changing times. Pictures of a plane, computer, car, cellfone, and a couple other things that I forget were carved in it.
After the Pagoda forest, we headed to Tagou Institute.They were offering to help me talk with the people there. These guys were wonderful. Had lots of fun with them.
Man, the Tagou school, its cool. Its got 7000 students enrolled. As we were walking up to it, we saw the students all wearing red uniforms practicing out in the field. It was awesome. We went up the steps and found the right office. I met with Wang Xiaohui who I talked to via email and they showed me the rooms for foreigners. The rooms are friggin 3-4 star hotel rooms. I was totally suprised. But, however, since its CHina, there is a catch. I also went to where the foreigners practice.
I walked back with Xiaohui and the boys to get my bag and I said goodbye to them and told htem I would email them soon.
I then walked back with Xiaohui and she took me to pay. I just paid for 10 days, just to be cautious, wanted to see what its like. I really dont mind paying the extra money, because the location...is amazing, like1000m from Shaolin, and the teachers for foreigners seemed really nice and wanted to see what I knew. I showed them some stuff and they seemed slightly impressed but the only thing that got to me is when they said my stances are bad. I was like...dude, I agree, they need some fine tuning, but they arent bad, there better than most of the other people in this room practicing right now. Whatever. But they were wondeful and i am excited to start practice with them.
The room I was put in was shared with a 14 year old russian kid. And, it was not quite to the same par as the one they showed me. This one had all the same stuff but was a little run down. So chinese. That one they showed me must be the viewing room.
It turns out that the AC in our room, when it is turned on, leaks a lot of water onto the floor. AWESOME! So chinese!
I had dinner. Have to pay for that too. As well as this internet connection, cost 4rmb/hour. This place is really only interested in Money, but I will give the training a chance. And, its almost worth it for the location. Gorgeous views. The mountain is across the way wonderful.
After dinner, I typed up some journal entries and some emails. I then celebrated with the two russian fellas, since they both hang out in the room alot. APparently today is a national russian day of celebrating some sort of war...or re-enactment of war. So, the older one, Jola, went to Dengfeng and got a roast chicken like the ones from Boston Market in Michigan, and some wine. We ate chicken and wine. Jola was giving wine to my roomate, so I figured it was a russian thing. I mean...they drink vodka instead of water. Its their essence. "Listen, Capt. Bat Gwano, if that really is your name..."
I chatted with them and the red wine was great and so was the chicken. I haven't had chicken this good since i left the US. great.
Well, then we went to bed, and my roomate started freaking out because he got a little sick from the wine and was worried he was gonna die because his heart was pumping fast. Aiya. I was up to about 1200 trying to keep him calm and stuff. Tomorrow moring , I am gonna be friggin tired.