China Tour 2019

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Day 6 – May 9^th - Zhengzhou, Shaolin Temple, Kung Fu Concert, Pagoda Forest,







Today we took one of the tours on offer to The Shaolin Temple in Henan ($110ea) , which is considered THE birthplace of Kung Fu. It was about a 2 hour drive on the bus which passed through some more interesting countryside. Henan has dozens of Kung Fu schools which are sort of private schools considered a cut above the normal schools. The largest one in the town has 35,000 students. We passed a couple of them as we walked to the temple and the yards were full of kids of all ages going through Kung Fu practice routines, which they do for half the school day with the rest in the classroom. Then we went to a Kung Fu ‘concert’ with several different groups demonstrating their skills. This included one amazing boy of about 8 or 10 who did backward somersaults flipping onto his head and feet instead of his hands!



After this we all took part in a Kung Fu routine led by a lady who took us through all the moves that bring you good health, happiness and long life. A master Kung Fu sat quietly on the side and after the exercises finished we were invited to let the Master advise us on any health issues we had. A couple of people sat down and he probed at their feet (touching on acupressure points). Then he told them they needed two or three heat patches plus his magic cream at $10 each. The crowd quickly woke up to what was happening and we quickly nicked off to the next venue. Starting to realise that part of this trip is a major marketing exercise by the Chinese Government, which is fine when you are also told that the reason the trip is so cheap is that the government provides massive subsidies to the tour operators.



Then we wandered through the world heritage listed Pagoda Gardens which was a beautiful area with at least 100 pagodas laid out in magnificent gardens.



For dinner we headed back to the local mall for more of our favourite handcakes, picked up different type at the next door stall, then back to the square for Barry to get some more dancercise, and so to bed.

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