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Published: October 30th 2009
SUN 11 OCT 2009
Just to put all your minds at ease, I'll start by confirming that Paul was much better by the morning and just woke with a headache, probably down to dehydration so he will definitely be back to his usual mischievous ways in no time!!
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR! Leaving Stuart and Jamie behind till South East Asia; Derek, Leanne, Paul and I donned our packs and started the long trudge to the station without so much as a morsel to eat as breakie was not served at the hostel till aft 7.30am.
By the time we cleared security the train was boarding so we rushed through. Now up to this point every train we had taken had been a night train and a soft sleeper at that (the most expensive but best quality and safest for long journeys). This time, however, as it was only a six hour journey we opted for soft seats (the category of seats progresses from hard seat to soft seat, to hard sleeper, to soft sleeper). It was chaos!! Most people were already on the train, there were no spaces to put the backpacks overhead and no room
Shaolin Monk
They were AMAZING!!for them on the floor, EVERYBODY was just staring. After what seemed like an eternity and an arduous grapple squeezing bags between shelves, under seats, between legs and even onto laps we were settled and ready to go.
The major advantage of the soft seats was the fact they cost only a quarter of the price of a soft sleeper cabin. However, the disadvantages were quite numerous; amazingly enough in China, I seem to be of average height (hey, no laughing!) so my leg room although tight was bearable, but for anyone taller than 5ft 2in the leg room must have a tight squeeze to say the least so you could imagine what it must have felt like sitting with knees under chin for six hours and your feet and knees practically touching the person sat facing you!! In a soft sleeper seat, you have a cabin and can close the door to the outside corridor, whereas the hard sleeper seats or any other seats were just in a normal carriage with a tiny walkway down the centre and every two minutes some sort of cart would come shove its way past selling everything from food to teddy's or
magazines to toothbrushes - all of which would constantly yell in Chinese louder than a town crier - quite disconcerting!! The final point which I decided not to worry about for at least 5hrs was the fact we had no idea when to actually get off the train!!!!!
Six (very squashed and uncomfortable) hours later (and still without having had a morsel to eat for over 20hrs) we arrived at Luoyang. We had booked into a hostel which was not actually a hostel but a more authentic experience living with a Chinese family - a homestay so to speak!! We were met at the train station by a young boy who looked about 10 but introduced himself as 'Long' the son of the man who was offering his spare rooms as hostel dorms. Long was 14 years old and what a star! He helped us purchase tickets to our next stop (the hostility and blatant animosity we seem to receive of the great majority of Chinese we meet now becoming rather tedious and definitely tarnishing the China experience!) For example, as I approached the ticket office the attendant would just shut the window and move to the next seat
along so I would have to queue up all over again, the little lad just shoved his way to the front yelling in Chinese at the attendant till he reluctantly and begrudgingly sorted our tickets!! Its just ridiculous!!! I do not see where the problem is or why the Chinese behave like this towards travellers, although I'm sure when on a group tour and not interacting with the general populace that the overall vision is one the differs greatly from our experiences. We have learnt several phrases in Mandarin also but still we are treated with contempt. Every person we have met in the hostels has said they are considering adjusting their flights to bring them forward and leave China ahead of schedule as they would rather spend time and money elsewhere due to the continuous negative and poor attitude and the constant , unceasing rip off Westerners outlook.
The place we were staying was a good 40min journey from the train station so we hopped on a bus. I do not think I have ever been on a bus which was SO old or on its last legs as this one!!!! It was a lady driving it (unusual
for China) and my god did she have to work at driving - it must have been the hardest workout you could possibly do - bet you burnt more calories per hour than any sort of cardio you could imagine!! Every time the revs dropped below half way the engine would cut out so anytime we approached traffic lights (every 200m) the engine would cut out, the lady had to stand in the seat, use all her force to ram the gearstick back, start the engine, then ram it back forward into gear and keep then stomp into the accelerator to keep the revs high. To change gear she had to lean her entire body to the side and use all her bodyweight to force the stick into the next gear - it looked exhausting!!! I was amazed it actually made the forty minutes to get us to the stop we needed to get off at!!!
As we crossed the street, following Long - Leanne and I saw some night markets selling gorgeous looking food and wished to get some bits, Long negotiated and got us 3 large rounds of a soft pitta style bread for 10p, three large
spring rolls for 10p and three long sweet breads for 10p. In the previous markets we were being charged at least 10p if not more, just for 1.
We rounded the corner onto possibly the roughest estate you could imagine! We slid our way along a dirt path with garbage piled high at the sides, chickens and dogs roaming across the path. The undulated mud walkway lead up to a bridge which crossed huge ravine filled with nothing but strewn with rubbish and waste. At the end of the bridge a huge refuse collection point was being rifled through by a few homeless, all of which paused to stare at us! We entered a large gated complex and were informed we would not be permitted to take photos. Jaws a gape and feeling Derek and Leanne's nervous and petrified eyes burning into the back of my head, I decided making it so far we should at least see the room, after all, the reviews on the hosteling website raved about this home stay!! Through an old creaking, filthy doorway, we followed an even more filthy concrete stairwell covered with graffiti and with broken push bikes and chairs disguarded on
each level! Seven long floors and no lift later, we reached the top floor of the block of flats (we're in the penthouse - I joked!) Long opened the door to reveal ... another door - a HUGE silver vault type door, we half expected to have to turn a wheel to get in!!! We entered the living area and you know, it wasn't bad at all! It was basic but immaculately clean, cleaner than some of the hostels we had previously stayed in!! Long and his dad could not have been more friendly and welcoming, offering us coffee and help with anything and the put up beds were much more comfortable than the concrete beds provided in the rest of China so we decided to stay ... and just not go out until the taxi picked us up for the tour the next day - ha ha!!!
MON 12 OCT 09
The private taxi collected us at 7am and took us the short distance but long journey due to volume of traffic to the LONGMEN CAVES, a UNESCO world heritage site - home to a spectacular parade of Buddhist figures. One thousand three hundred and
fifty caves, seven hundred and fifty niches and forty pagodas had been carved in the limestone caves. We skipped the tour as they were asking extortionate prices and instead returned to the taxi to reach the destination we actually left Xi'an to visit - two and a half hours later we reached SHAOLIN SI.
SHAOLIN SI
Shaolin Si - as the book states 'the place of legends'!
It is said that Zen Buddhism first originated at the temple here .. not only that but rather ironically given Buddhism's peaceful doctrines - it is also said to be the place where Chinese Kung Fu first started!!! Set against a backdrop of rolling hills the entrance to Shaolin Si was spectacular!!! Beautifully landscaped gardens, streets lined with Chinese style buildings and large bronze statues of figures in various martial arts or fight positions.
As we walked down the main road to each side young students all dressed in red tracksuits practiced various forms of Kung Fu - jumps, throws, kicks, some grappling, others practicing weapons routines with long poles, a few with numchuckers, there were even a few who were linked to harnesses with their fellow students helping to brace
the weight and they were running in slow time up to a wall, then running up the wall before completing a back flip to return them to the ground (just like what you see sped up on Jackie Chan films!!!!)
The grounds and setting at Shaolin Si were just gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking and just as I imagined with the mountains surrounding all the opulence! We walked through to the grounds of the temple, it was like a miniature version of the Forbidden City except much much more pretty and authentic. All the buildings were based on the Ming Dynasty era and the people there seemed to treat the temple with much more respect and dignity than we had witnessed in other historical areas. Paul and Derek were laughing about all the Chinese people getting pictures taken next to seemingly normal trees, however, when you approached the trees you could see holes which had been driven into the bark by Kung Fu practitioners' fingers - ouch!! Two fearsome dragon statues with fists raised stood towering over the sides of the courtyard. Numerous halls lead the way up the main temple, in each people were lighting incense from a flame which was burning out of a bronze replica of an open water lily then placing the sticks to burn out in small allocated pagodas. In one of the halls the brick floor is dented from where the monks used to stamp during their Kung Fu training. Throughout the grounds, trees, beautifully ornate lampposts, murals and sculptures added to the ambiance. Paul and I loved it and both enjoyed it much more than The Forbidden City!!
The final stop and one of the main reasons for visiting Shaolin was to watch the Kung Fu demonstration. The guide book informed us that Kung Fu was first developed as a form of gymnastics to counterbalance the immobility of meditation. The monks co-ordinated movements based on the way animals moved, the way snakes crawled and the way tigers leap. As the original temple was isolated, it was prone to bandits so the monks eventually turned their exercises into a form of self-defense. The discipline of the monks is world renowned - punching walls for years upon years to strengthen their hands, running with bags of sand attached to their knees to strengthen their legs and to strengthen their heads, hitting them with bricks!! (Like you do)
The demonstration included one monk breaking an iron bar with his head, a very young monk balancing on two fingers in a hand stand then doing press ups still on just two fingers, one punched a small pin through a pane of glass to burst a balloon being held on the other side and one placed a stainless steel tip spear to his throat whilst two monks held the other end and he walked into the spear till it bent in two - incredible!!! The animal movements, which I mentioned before, could be clearly seen with one monk replicating a snake with his leg way up over his head acting like a tail - now that's impressive flexibility (take note people - especially clients and classes will be working towards that when I return - ha ha!). The one you would probably prefer to have a go at was 'the drunken boxing' where the performer twists, staggers and weaves as if inebriated!
Now ... it had been me who dragged the other three the six hour torturous train journey from Xi'an, booked us into the home stay and then arranged the other 2.5hr taxi ride. I was feeling a little apprehensive about whether or not I had done the right thing and did sense the cold doubts about whether the journey had been worth the end result ... it was!!!! Phew!!!!
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Karen Hudson
non-member comment
Shoot!!!
Oh my goodness, that was like a suspense thriller, what a gripping read, thank goodness all was well in the end! Hope you are enjoying the total relaxation and the cocktails.... xx