As a kid I always loved martial arts. I began training in Pai Lum Tao Kung Fu around the age of 14 and did some some San Shou in my late 20s, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to join my Kung Fu teacher Glenn C. Wilson and some of my fellow students when the chance to visit China and train at the Shaolin temple became available.
First thing, the visa process is a pain in the ass and the pollution in Beijing was a bitch.
I personally don’t like my passport leaving my side, let alone mailing it into an embassy, but if you want to go to China it’s a necessity. As for the pollution, I was stuffed up with an hour of my arrival, so bring decongestants and nasal spray for good measure. You will thank me later.
We flew to Beijing on Hainan air via Chicago and thirteen and a half hours later, we had arrived. The Chinese customs weren’t as rough as I thought they would be, however they will take your backup cell batteries, so leave them at home and save your money.
We exited the terminal and were greeted by Yin our amazing tour guide who was really informative and also saved the day on multiple occasions.
I’m not one who typically enjoys group trips. Single day excursions I love, but for me, being shoved in a bus feels like I’m cattle being led to the slaughter. I’m more at ease when I find my chance to roam the streets to satisfy my wanderlust and get a few local beers at night.
But some trips have a purpose.
Our first day after arrival was spent checking out the Great Wall. The section we visited had steps varied in size from inches to a few feet and the air was harsh. I injured my knee from a training mishap, so not only was I walking like the worlds oldest 33 year old, it took a lot out of me to climb. At some points I lifted myself up some of the stairs until reaching the highest point, before hobbling my way back to the bus in a hurry. I was miserable, my friends laughed, but I was successful and the view was well worth the effort.
The next day we were off to the Forbidden City. This is one of those places where I didn’t think I would be impressed due to the sea of tourists with cameras in hand, but I was amazed. The stone work and beautiful colors were visually stunning and it’s rich history was pretty impressive as well.
We spent the rest of the day hitting the streets, and I was introduced to one of my favorite pastimes, haggling.
In China, nearly everything is up for debate in terms of price. So have fun with it.
The following day was spent touring the Summer Palace and the Temple of heaven. Both were beautiful, but insanely busy. I would have spent more time at the Summer Palace given the option, but had to go because the tour was moving on.
That night I packed my things and in the morning we took the train to Zhengzhou.
We then boarded the slowest and shittiest bus known to man through Dengfeng towards old Shaolin. The ride took well over twice the estimated arrival time and after what seemed like an eternity we arrived at the TaGou Kung fu academy.
The accommodations were very meager, the showers were cold, and the food was mostly vegetarian, but the experience was legendary.
We woke before the sun for a jog at sunrise and an all day training session with one of their coaches. The mist settled heavy and saturated our clothes, while the trainer sized us up to see the skill level of each guest.
After a few hours of our assessment we were given a lunch break and told to meet in the training hall where we worked out all day, until finally being dismissed for dinner.
I will tell you I left it all on the floor.
If you want to get the most out of your experience as a student, there is no choice. You have to be one of the hardest workers to get further instruction.
On that note, the students here are seriously impressive.
Some are orphans who are on the path to becoming monks and others are ultra rich kids sent to learn the value of humility and hard work. Regardless of their standing in life, these kids live poor, and they work.
At one point I watched two kids roughly 7 or 8 years of age carrying sacks of potatoes up a set of about twenty stairs. They dropped it half way up and with one look from their teacher immediately ran down the stairs to start over.
I believe their regimen was 6 hours of academics and 8 hours of martial arts training a day, 6 days a week, chores all 7. If they slack on their grades or training, they have to put in overtime later in the day. They wash their clothes by hand, brush their teeth, as well as bath, all with the same bucket of water.
They love to practice English and call out foreigners to show their Kung Fu too.
As a warning, if you are brave enough to do so, they are not shy to tell you whether you pass or fail. Keep that in mind.
Our second day in Shaolin was spent touring the monastery and the surrounding local area, then later hiking up into the Songshan mountain range to see Damo Cave and the massive statue of Bodhidharma that sits at the top.
After some more haggling in Dengfeng that night, I crashed early and were on our way back to Zengzhou train station to return to Beijing. Thanks to Yin it was via a much less shitty bus.
Our final day in Beijing was in a different part of town and much more conveniently located to some some shops and locals bars. Many of my friends shopped for souvenirs most of the day. I got bored with shopping and went to the bar for some balance.
I already felt like a monk anyways.
All in all China for me was an interesting adventure. It weirded me out that random strangers wanted to take pictures of us and that I never knew when I was ordering chicken heads, but I learned some amazing history, picked up some new Kung fu, and got some chances to haggle my way to some great deals.