Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Morning came early…very, very early. Boys received a 5am wake-up call, followed by room inspection and check-out at the hotel. All went remarkably smoothly. The boys are quick, efficient and ready for another adventure. The hotel had packed a breakfast for each boy, a soft roll, hard-boiled egg, two pieces of a sweet spice cake, a banana and tangerine and a sweet yogurt drink. This was supplemented by the wide variety of energy bars that seem to never diminish in their quantity, though boys seem to be eating them daily. It was still dark when we arrived at the Zhengzhou train station and navigated our way through x-raying of bags-both carried and rolled. For reasons we don’t understand, we had to go down an escalator, roll a short distance and take another escalator up. The escalator doesn’t start to move stepped upon. Nice because I thought we were going to have to drag the luggage up and down. Now we are rolling past booths of boxed and bagged items. Most are in shiny red packaging with unknown contents. The pictures on the front of the packages reveal nothing about the food? Inside. We roll past booth after booth of what seems to be the same food. Workers push shockingly long, shaggy brooms across the immaculate floors. Everywhere people are lugging cardboard boxes and bulging plastic bags. On we roll to the waiting area. Boys joke around and socialize for the few minutes we must wait to squeeze through a tiny opening in the metal fence surrounding the track. And everyone can clearly see we are a group, which doesn’t matter at all as they break into our group. And so I begin holding on to the children, lest we become separated as I’m not sure where we will find ourselves once through this ridiculous gate. Now we are on the platform. We can see the train. We roll on and Mr. Jackson and the four luggage boys arrange the many bags. Seats are found. We settle in for a pleasant three-hour trip. Unloading ourselves was a tad frenzied as before we are off the train, new folks are pushing, pushing their way into the car we are attempting to vacate. Can they not see that their entry would only be enhanced by our exit? Clearly not as we are squeezing past many people, all who are holding luggage, babies, boxes and their own luggage. Finally off the train we do a vocal count. All present and accounted for… We meet our Deng Feng tour guide, Howard, who is loquacious, energetic and knowledgeable. We get on the bus and ride to the restaurant-crowded and full of locals. Tourists do not frequent this place and the food is authentic. We enjoy the hand-made noodles, so very long and the waitress helps boys navigate the noodles into their bowls. We leave the restaurant and are thrilled to find a park, right across the street as the boys must frolic and run our some energy. Like many public parks, there are a variety of work-out-like equipment-elliptical-like runners, trim-your-waist twisting circular platforms, chinning bars and what appears to be a modified bench press for the lower legs. Local children toddle about, padded against the cold. Their pants have a convenient slit in the back and Ms. Thaler and I snap pictures of everyone we can. Two pedaled carts roll by; one with a small black bird with a bright orange beak in a rattan cage in the back of the cart and the other is a yam-seller. Her face is as lined as the yams stacked around the cart. Time to get back on the bus for a two-hour ride to Deng Feng, where we check into the hotel, have some free time before going to dinner. Another local and authentic meal followed by a Kung Fu show at the hotel. Back to the rooms and soon it is lights out.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
After a local and wonderfully varied Chinese breakfast in the hotel, we head off to the Shaolin Temple. This historic temple is a training center for monks training in Kung Fu. We walk to an area where we take a small bus to the Pagoda Forest, a series of tall stone pagodas containing the ashes of master monks. Different heights show different ranking. The pagodas range in age from about 10-1500 years old. The newest pagoda had pictures of computers and other modern items, as the pagoda is supposed to represent the modern life of the monk whose remains are inside. We walk through different sections of the Temple. The Shaolin Temple Park has many adjacent buildings. We pass a number of large rectangular incense burners, embellished with carvings, and decorative ends such as intricately carved elephant heads. Sand lines the bottom of the burner and many sticks of golden-brown incense are burning, standing vertically in the burner. Incense is a way to communicate your wishes to the heavens above. Some boys light incense and plant their sticks in the sandy bottom. We are heading towards the Kung Fu show. In addition to the martial arts elements of Kung Fu, the bys begin to understand the spiritual aspects of the practice, including the ability to direct and control life force (qi). Many of the poses and actions demonstrated by the monks are based on observing animals fighting. We see a demonstration representing a monkey, snake, tiger and toad. The monks are amazingly flexible, muscular and disciplined. They demonstrate their skills with a variety of poles, flexible swords and bolas, which are chains that swing quickly about the head and body with a ball attached to the end. The monks concentrate energy into their bodies and direct this energy allowing them to perform feats, which are unusual. Some are acts of physical strength. Others use their concentration to withstand pain such as having a stone strip broken over the head. One pops a balloon through a window frame held up for this purpose. Liam and Alex Bro… are called up to the stage to participate. A monk demonstrates physical feats, which our boys must attempt to replicate. Liam was the monkey and Alex was a toad. Both boys were fabulous, though unable to spin their bodies and spines into patterns demonstrated by the monk masters.
Back on the bus to a vegetarian lunch at a local monastery for nuns. As with other meals, plates laden with a variety of vegetables continue to appear. Back on the bus to the train station where we repeat the process in reverse from our trip here. This train is even nicer than the last nice train; this time a high-speed, white-nosed sleek bullet train. We will arrive late at our hotel in Xi’an and will have some time Thursday morning before we head out to the Terra-Cotta Warrior Museum, sure to be a highlight of their remarkable trip to China.
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