They claim this tree is 4,500 years old, but I don't believe it. We were coerced into taking a tour of this temple on our way to Shaolin.
The first thing we did after we spent all night on the train to Zengzhou (and it wasn't first-class this time) was get on a bus to go to Shaolin Temple. It should've taken about an hour. Instead, it took about six. First, some government official was visiting the temple so all roads and entrances were closed indefinitely. The driver had to drive around and around to kill time. Second, we somehow got trapped on a tour--a long-winded, non-English-speaking tour. After many fits of hand gestures and phrasebook-pointing, we finally convinced the driver to let us off the bus and get our luggage. We got into a cab and I completely lose it. This cab driver is taking us everywhere but the Shaolin Temple. He takes us to a restaurant, a hotel, another restaurant, calls somebody on the phone and on and on for nearly 45 minutes on top of the five hours we already spent on the bus. The temple is a few miles away. He refuses to go there, prolonging the agony by taking us to various commission-based vendors he has deals with, playing dumb the whole time. By now, I could mimic the words so I knew he could understand me. At one point, the driver got out of the car (to make some deal with a hotel we didn't want to stay in) and I considered stealing the cab. I would have had I known where the temple was, but I didn't. I was so frustrated, I started to cry. A little. He drove us to the Shaolin Temple. When we finally arrived, I considered hocking my own loogie and spitting at the cab and/or its driver but thought better of it. Onward.
This is the Shaolin Wushu Academy. There are different campuses in the area, but this the main one, in walking distance to the temple itself.
I guess if you're a martial arts fan like Mick is, a visit to the Shaolin Temple is mandatory. We planned to stay at the campus hotel, reserved for foreigners and journalists, but first we had to get past the gates, which was pretty difficult when the swarms of hustlers descended on us. Raw from the cab incident, I felt a little mean so I started mocking them, tugging at them like they were tugging me and mimicking pitch-perfect that horrible nasally, honking noise they made when they want your attention, right back at them. It's very petty of me (I know, quit reminding me) but it brought tremendous satisfaction. It also made the Wushu Academy campus all the better. The staff and students were so unbelievably nice, so different from what was going on outside. It's like a working-class boarding school (some students were as young as five) except that they're all gymnasts and kung fu experts. I saw an older boy tease a six-year-old and in a split second, the six-year-old had him in arm lock. Mick went to classes and I chilled and marveled at how those little kids could get up at 4:30am to do drills and practice. The camaraderie was amazing. I can't believe the Chinese government wants to tear the place down to make room for more profitable tourist attractions.
Shaolin students wearing the required uniform.
Mick in a private class for foreigners. The course to become a Shaolin master takes three years of living on campus.
It's wash day. The kids are really disciplined, but really child-like and friendly.
Students calling home.
Mick at the student store. I bought a pair of regulation sneakers for $2.
No, not spicy-ass meat as in spicy-ass chicken, but more like spicy ASS meat. The food was really, really cheap and not bad. Only the older kids and their parents ate at the restaurant. The rest of the students ate from the cafeteria.
A gathering of students in a field. I think it's a graduation of sorts from one level to another.
Afternoon practice. The students focus on academics in the morning and physical exercise later in the day.
We watched a Shaolin demonstration for tourists. The kids are specially trained for performance.
Every hotel we stayed at had these bedside controls for the room light and TV. It's not very convenient because sometimes you would have to switch these buttons on in order to make the actual switches work. One step forward, two steps back.
10:15 PM // Wednesday December 20, 2006 // permalink
