Shaolin Temple

After the train, we boarded a bus to our first stop on the tour for the day, Shaolin temple. For those that may not know, this is the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu. It is the place where a younger (more alive) David Carradine learned how to walk on rice paper without leaving any footprints (unfortunately, he didn’t learn how not to choke himself to death while….well, you know the rest of the story Grasshopper). And for those that don’t know either of these things, it is the setting for Kung Fu Panda. It was about a 2 hour bus ride after the nice long train ride so sitting wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing but there was little choice.

Luckily for us, the tour guide took it upon herself to help us forget about the aching joints and instead had us focus on the earache/headache she was causing by talking. The bus was equipped with a sound system and speakers at every second row, so she began to give her bullhorn dissertation on Henan province, Shaolin Temple, what she ate for dinner when she was three, why she hated her mom….whatever! I called Tammy so she could get an idea of the noise; it was a constant bullhorn for almost 90 minutes (it was like listen to the drive through guy…you want fries with that?). It got to the point where you were hoping for the bus to plunge off the side of the road and burst into flames just to escape the misery. Earplugs, no use. It wasn’t like everyone was on pins and needles to listen, she just kept talking. I’ll take the water boarding; I’ll listen to the full State of the Union address, even the rebuttal, with no bathroom breaks and no beer, please just stop! After an eternity (and after I confessed to being the gunman on the grassy knoll) she relinquished the microphone to our bus leader John. John talked for a moment and then put the Expats on display. He asked Steve to go up and say a few words, which Steve did. Then it was my turn. They wanted me to sing a song, my choice Western or Chinese (Chinese….now how would that work?). I declined and talked to them about the train experience for me. I had forgotten my faithful teleprompter (I think Mr. Obama had it) and I was a bit surprised by this impromptu speech but I tried to roll with it (Four scores and seven years ago…). It wasn’t much but I left them wanting more (or perhaps they knew if I gave up the microphone, the tour guide took it back).

The landscape was much different on the journey, a lot of deep ravines and gullies and many mountains. The area reminded me a lot of Xi’an. Many farms and small villages could be seen along the way to the temple. I saw some animals but no cows, a lot of sheep and goats grazing in the fields. When we got near the temple, we got into a smaller town where there were kids all in uniforms outside practicing their martial arts in groups. It was a little bizarre but interesting to see. These weren’t monks or anything, just typical school age kids in matching uniforms going through the various drills. It looked like a regular school but obviously was not as much for “book learnin’”.

When we arrived at the temple there were older kids dressed in uniforms performing martial arts moves in sequence with the others around them. It was very interesting to watch as they went through the various moves. There must have been over 500 people out in this area in different groups practicing. Some had no weapons; others had staffs, spears, swords, etc. Something that I was kind of expecting but I wasn’t sure we would be able to see. Then we arrived, or so I thought, we climbed the steps and turned the corner and BAM!! There’s a long line of people waiting to get into this place. (Crap!) I wasn’t sure what it was but it had to be good right? It turns out that this was the line to go into the performance by the Shaolin monks.

The performance had both good and bad points. First thing was that everyone was crowded in and there was little room to maneuver to your seats if you were in the middle of the group. It was like stadium seating (for midgets) with very little room to squeeze by the people to the open middle seats. Then when we were seated a guy gets on the mic and some monks come out and he starts jabbering. It turns out that for a mere 10RMB you could get your photo taken with the monks in a pose looking like you were going to attack something or someone. So, we sat there and watched the people go up, grab their weapon of choice and be told how to stand by the monks and then “poof!” Picture taken….NEXT!!!. People kept going up and they kept talking about it and showing photos even when no one was in line. The show was basically on hold while they sold the photos and if you didn’t get your photo before the show, you could get it after the show was over. By the way, don’t forget your souvenir DVD, only 10 RMB. Strange stuff to watch that took about 15-20 minutes (it would be like going to see Macbeth but first, get your photos taken with the cast while everyone watches and waits). When the photo shoot finally ended, individual monks came out and showed their skills. After showing off the different techniques (monkey, tiger, snake, panda, tour guide….just kidding), out came a different group to show their mastery of mind over matter. One guy broke a metal plate over his head, two guys bent spears pressed into their throats and finally one guy threw a pin at a pane of glass to cause a small bb-type hole in the glass that burst a balloon on the other side. That was kind of impressive. Then a large group came out and did their thing with their moves. Finally they brought in 4 audience members to try and copy the moves of the monks. Our bus leader, John was picked to go onstage to do the moves. He did very well and was able to copy almost all of the moves of the monk. At the end the audience chose the winner. With the audience largely comprised of our bus and company people, John was the clear winner and won a DVD of the monk’s performance. He was very proud and continued to talk about it through the rest of the day. It is something I am sure that he will never forget. The surprising thing is that it was longer waiting for the photos to be taken than the performance…very odd. These monks had obvious skills but were being hawked like cheap jewelry on the street (watch, bag), I would be interested to see how they felt about that. Then we exited and this part of the “temple” was over, we went back onto the path to the old temple.

The old temple was more interesting but along the way you were hounded by people selling trinkets, people selling food and beggars. You believe that…beggars! Inside of the temple area?!?!. I thought these monks were in tune with the world and were to display kindness to everyone, I would’ve thought that no one would need to beg at the temple but there they were (odd how the beggars made it into the temple in the first place since we all had to pay to get in, how could beggars afford the cover charge?). The old temple was restored (obviously) and it looked like many of the temples I have seen in the past but we had to move quickly to keep up with the tour so there was no time to stop and smell the roses. The interesting points here were the trees with alleged finger holes in them from the monks practicing their martial arts skills and many wall inscriptions and other items that would’ve normally caused me to pause and take more notice but the group was moving on. The theme was I came, I saw and I kept going.

Then it was on to the 100 pagoda forest. This is an area where they had small pagodas that were built for the head monks when they died. So obviously there were old and new ones but many of these smaller pagodas built. Each was a little different and you got a sense that perhaps they reflected a little bit on the person for whom they were built. One that was newer drew my attention because it contained images of a car, an airplane and a laptop computer so this monk was obviously more recently deceased. The temple has changed to allow electricity but I wasn’t really sure about the internet access but they probably have that as well. Who knows what else has changed within the temple that we haven’t seen. This was an interesting area but again, move on people; we’ve got to get to lunch. You never really had the time to fully grasp anything, it was get a flavor and move on. There were still areas that we didn’t get to explore but perhaps that is part of the point. This is how they travel; they want to see as much as they can as opposed to enjoying what they can see. It could’ve been worse and you have to remember that this was after an overnight train ride so perhaps I wasn’t in the best of moods (I know, it does sound strange doesn’t it?).

After the 100 pagoda forest, it was turn around and head for the buses. You couldn’t take 30 steps without running into another vendor selling beads or other trinkets. It really took away the mystique for me and showed that the temple had become a money maker for people and the history of the place be damned. The junk being sold was probably the biggest surprise. I went in with the idea that I would purchase a set of nunchucks (after all it was a kung fu place right) but after looking at the quality of the ones they had, I decided against it. There was absolutely nothing special about them, nothing said “Shaoling Temple” to me with the exception of the one monk figurine that I bought for 10 RMB. It summed up the place for me; it was cheap and pretty sad so I got it. I was really expecting to find many things here that peaked my interest but there wasn’t much. I can say I went to the Shaolin Temple and leave it at that. I wish I had more time because the 100 pagoda forest was interesting and there was so much else that we missed that perhaps my perception would’ve changed.

Then it was on the bus to head to the next stop, the Longmen Grottos. Along the way, we would stop for lunch. This was the really interesting part of the day. The bus stops and everyone starts moving like the bus is on fire and we have to escape. I had no idea we were stopping for lunch until we got off and everyone is rushing into the restaurant. Imagine 300+ people descending on a restaurant at the same time. They had tables set for 10 people each and we sat down with little room to move. A lazy susan in the middle allowed for the food to be passed around. Within minutes the food starts to arrive at the table. A big bowl of rice, bread, veggies, pork&veggies, etc. It was like placing food down in front of a group of starving wild dogs. As soon as it hit the table, chopsticks were flying to get the food; food was being consumed at a rate that I could not believe. Granted it was about 2:00 in the afternoon but “Holy Locust Attack Batman!” They hogged down, it was every man and woman for themselves; if you wanted to eat you had better jump in or it would be gone. I don’t know what the hurry was (chow it down before the taste catches up with you!) but the food was pretty good and believe me, my expectations were pretty low for the food on this trip. In less than 15 minutes lunch was over and we were back on the bus (seriously, less than 15 minutes).

On to the Longmen Grottos, coming soon.

PS - November was a busy month for the China Dudley's. Warren went to Japan at the same time that I went to Henan Province. When we got back, that Thursday we all headed to Beijing so there is a lot to write about and we'll try to get it all posted as quickly as we can. Check out the photos as well, we will have new albums uploaded with photos to go along with the posts. Happy belated Thanksgiving!