China 2011-2012

[Drunk Monk]

Contact Wang Yumin at Dengfeng China International Travel Service (CITS). The office is at the NW corner of Dengfeng, on Beihuan Rd.
T: 0086317-62877038
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:cits@shaolinkungfutour.com">cits@shaolinkungfutour.com</a><!-- e -->

Mr. Wang speaks perfect English and has been handling U.S. tourists for decades. He will charge for services but he can save your ass in an emergency.

I'm emailing him, as well as my master Shi Decheng (although I'm not sure if he's in Dengfeng now).

Don't brush your teeth with tap water anymore. Bottled water is super cheap. Always check the seal on your bottled water.

[Drunk Monk]

Been IMing w/greg w/travel advice.

Why, when I was there, we didn't have such luxury. The only way we could get messages out was by carrier falcon.

[The Queen]

We've Skyped every day. The connection is terrible; but I can hear him and see him and he looks just fine. I know other people have been doing video calls for awhile; can't believe we haven't bothered with it before now, but I'm very glad we have it now!

[Drunk Monk]

Did I ever tell you about blowing up a fax machine in China? Was that in my book? I can't remember. But that's the way we used to do it. I lugged a huge fax machine, only to have it explode the moment it was plugged in.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Just got yelled at, I think, by the woman in charge of breakfast. See if you start the conversation with Nei Hao, they think you can go further. I then looked at my ticket and realized I was a half hour early for breakfast. which is why I am here posting.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I have contacted him with an email. Sent it through there main website. I will use this email address if I don't hear back.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Just because you are on a tram traveling up a mountain, don't think for a second that it's taking you to the top of the mountain. Who the fuck put all those stairs in? And couldn't you have dynamited the rock and put stairs in its place rather just putting a handrail next to the rock and carving a couple of dubious footholds?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

In between lighting incense, I took this picture for DM.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Sal arrived promptly at 11am for our trip across the square to the bus station. When choosing a hotel in a foreign country, sometimes it is much better to be lucky than good.

Sal took our money to buy the tickets while I became acquainted with the other woman who was training with Sal and Patty. Her name is Natasha. She currently works in Dubai in the hotel industry. Her one year contract is up so while she waits to sign a new contract in Dubai, she is training here in Dengfeng.

Natasha also is a model. Sal hopes that she will bring some beauty to the little film endeavor. While we waited for Sal to return with the tickets, Natasha did gather a crowd of curious Chinese men. They really wanted to know what was behind the surgical mask Natasha wore.

The bus to Dengfeng was packed. My early dreams of sitting by myself, camera bag at my side were quickly replaced by a young Chinese woman who tried to converse with me, but that didn’t happen.

A Chinese soap opera played on the screen at the front of the bus. Some of the passengers found it highly amusing. The guy behind Natasha, who sat behind me, was attempting to break the snoring decibel record. Natasha volunteered to talk to him about sleep apnea.

The bus pulled from the station at 11:30. By noon we were still trying to make the turn in front of my hotel. I think it took forty five minutes until the bus approached something you could call progress. Basically, the 50 mile trip to Dengfeng took two hours. The majority of the travel time was getting out of Zhengzhou.

When we disembarked from the bus, our group immediately gathered a group of drivers who wanted to take us into town from the station. Sal’s plan of walking away from them got us a driver for twenty yuan.

If only the address where my hotel stood was accurate. Having the right name for the hotel would have helped, too. I was going under the assumption that the name of the place was Holiday Inn Rome Spirit. At least that was the name given on the Ctrip website. The address was 2 Dayu Lu. When we disembarked at what we thought was that address, there was no hotel by that name there.

The group wandered the sidewalks looking for something to clue us in. Eventually Sal went into another hotel to ask for help. I’m thinking the girls were a little cranky about this but they didn’t say a word.

We eventually got the right address and hailed a cab to the hotel. Turns out the name is the Roman Holiday Hotel. It’s a really big nice hotel at the east end of town. We probably could have walked there from the bus station.

The room was far nicer than my Tian Quan hotel room. Which is kind of like saying gold is better than dirt. Patty and Natasha spent a lot of time rubbing the furry wallpaper. I enjoyed inhaling and not smelling cigarette smoke. There is a big shower complete with window that looks into the bedroom. I can see lovely Dayu street out my window. Oddly, they have given me two tubes of bubble bath, but there is no tub. I have been supplied with two tooth brushes and one comb in individually wrapped packages. And like most American hotels, there is a shrine of overpriced food to tempt me.

Next stop was Sal’s school. The school lies closer to Shaolin passed all the other big schools. It lies off a little dirt path just beyond the last stop on the Dengfeng bus line.

The school was empty when we arrived. The dirt courtyard was bare. On the outside wall of the main workout hall were two basketball baskets. So, I guess it’s not all martial arts at the school.

Sal’s sifu was away for the day, but his mother and aunt were busy washing the linens for the beds.

Patty and Natasha had agreed to take care of two puppies for some fellow student. It might not be so much take care of as we are leaving, you can have the dogs. The dogs were locked up in their room while Sal and company came to Zhengzhou to pick me up. The dogs were locked up for twenty four hours.

The dogs had done what dogs will do when they have to go the bathroom. There were several minutes of clean up before I went into the room.

Their room made my hotel room in Zhengzhou look like a palace. It had two bunkbeds, lockers for valuables and a space heater. The walls were unpainted concrete as well as the floor. When they move out, it could probably make a good prison cell. The whole room is about a quarter the size of Dengfeng hotel room. It doesn’t have a window from the shower to the bedroom. The bathroom is next door. Their internet is stolen from unprotected neighbors wifi. I’m very glad I did not stay there.

As nice as the Roman Holiday Hotel is, they still wouldn’t take my credit card for the room. If I paid for the room in advance, I would have no money for the rest of the trip. The first order of business for me, because it is all about me, was to get to a bank and change some euros I had left over from the Irish trip.

We walked through a run down neighborhood behind the school. Some people were burning branches to keep warm. None of the houses looked finish. But all the entry ways looked really nice. The illusion was destroyed by the empty brick window openings you could see behind the doors.

The girls decided to bring their dogs with them rather than leave them behind to poop some more. The had some purses they put the dogs in and carried them.

The bus back to Dengfeng was a whopping one Yuan each. It dropped us in the main shopping district of town. We wandered through some back allies on the way to the bank. I saw a lot vendors making things on the streets. A lot of them had grinders and sewing machines. There was a lot for sale but nothing like Zhengzhou.

I had to fill out a bunch of forms and photocopy my passport in order to change my money. Although the cashier did have a button that said Thankyou when she pushed it.

We were going to have dinner in the night market but we were a bit too early for it. I did buy some nice mochi cakes and a cream puff from a street vendor.

We dined at some place where we picked out our food according to pictures in a book. As Sal kept pointing out our food was going to look nothing like the pictures. He was proven correct. Except in the case of the french fries. They looked like the picture. My pork and rice dish became a hot pepper and bell pepper extravaganza with a few pieces of sinew to add flavor. I gave most of this meat to the dogs who were still hiding in their bags.

I ordered Iced Tea as well. But I was rethinking this as I had been frequently warned to stay away from the water. Fortunately, the beverage came hot and tasted nothing like tea. it was this nasty lemony flavor. Not nearly as nice as the bottled green tea I bought from the next door.

Because I am insane, I decided to walk back to the hotel from downtown Dengfeng rather than get in a cab. Plus, I figured I knew the way. All I had to do was find the right street.

The walk back was an adventure for the eyes. I saw a medical clinic with patients visible through the front glass. Myriads of people were huddled around makeshift fires on the streets. A lot of the illumination for the stores came from dim flickering fluorescent bulbs.

I was figuring I would see the Zen hotel where we had started the day asking for directions. I didn’t. I did cross the river that I remembered. And I saw the German bar Hans when I was just about to give up. Then there it was across the street, the Roman Holiday Hotel. I just had to dare crossing the busy intersection to get there.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

My wristwatch needs to stop lying to me. I swore it read 4:30am. Which means time to get up. So, I showered and shaved and brushed my teeth. Then I logged on to the computer only to be informed it is only 1am. Good times.

[Drunk Monk]

I'll share it with the rest of the office on Monday. I won't be on hotmail IM until then, but you might catch me on facebook chat over the weekend. I'll try to be online when you are doing the predawn jetlag brain circus tweak.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Go download Skype. My handle is bab.greg

[Drunk Monk]

Not sure about tomorrow. Might sleep through it. Hopefully back in the game on Monday.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I went to bed at 9 and snapped fully awake at midnight. My body clock was all screwed up. I read for a bit and then was able to sleep until 5am. It doesn’t matter where I am, my body says to get up at 5am.

Reports to the contrary I had ample hotwater in my walk in shower with windows overlooking the bedroom and entry hall. I’d like to hear the thinking behind that particular feature.

I prowled the Hotel since I had plenty of time before breakfast. The gentleman’s spa on my floor was still closed, so I was unable to find out what mysteries were behind that door. I made way to the second floor for my appointment with my 7am breakfast. I wanted to eat and get on the road. I wanted to be at Shaolin when the doors opened at 8am. I am a man who is tight with a schedule.

Turns out I read the ticket wrong and breakfast wasn’t until 7:30. The woman in charge of breakfast was yelling this at me, I think, but I realized my error when I actually looked at my meal ticket. Yes, an actual meal ticket not somebody I’m sleeping with for money. As a matter of fact as part of my room rate, I get two breakfast tickets.

Breakfast eventually, consisted of may dishes I couldn’t identify along with assortment of steamed buns and fried dough. There was also gruel and hardboiled eggs. There must have been a door open to the outside near our dining room because it was just above freezing in the room. All the rooms in that area have names. I was going to suggest that I could eat in the Ireland room but settled for the Rome right next to the buffet. I ate in the room along with an older Chines woman who kept throwing me stares and awkward smiles.

Armed with my Shaolin Hat, Got Qi T-shirt, and too much camera gear, I proceeded to the curb to catch a taxi to Shaolin. The men in the guard shack at the entrance to the parking lot in front of the hotel immediately had to investigate this strange apparition that had appeared in their midst. They were dressed in gray uniforms with hard brim hats that reminded me of army uniforms. I gave them my Nei Hao and they all laughed. This was going to be an ongoing occurence whenever I spoke,

I got the first taxi cab by myself. Everyone or I should say Sal, had told me the taxi should be about 20 yuan to get to the Temple. When the driver said thirty, i tried to talk him down fearing I was getting ripped off. The driver refused and drove off.

The biggest guard, let’s call him Henry, came to see about my difficulties. I tried to explain what I was doing. Henry tried to answer. Eventually he hailed me another cab. More haggling. I think we agreed on twenty yuan. There was a lot of hand gestures that I might not have followed but it looked like he shook his head yes for the twenty.

Or not. When we finished the fifteen minute trip through the foggy morning countryside to the Temple, I gave him the twenty and he got upset. He showed me the three fingers. I mimed being upset but eventually handed over another ten. If I haven’t mentioned it, no tipping in China.

At the road where I was dropped off, the picture taking started immediately. There was a massive statue of Damo, the reputed founder of Zen and Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple. On his base, were other representatives of martial artists. I’ll probably receive scorn from Mr. Ching, but the statue reminded me a lot of the genie from Disney’s Alladin.

I’m putting the camera on the tripod, which I have schlepped all the way from Los Angeles. Because if you want to take really nice clear pictures you need a very stable base. This was no longer the case with my very expensive carbon fiber manfrotto tripod. Every time I depressed the shutter, the camera moved. A lot. That’s not something you want in a tripod. It makes for very blurry pictures. Not something you want in a picture, a picture you have traveled sixteen hours to take. Anger was high on the list of emotions I was currently exhibiting.

I made do by taking all the pictures with timer. Hit the button and stand away, hoping the shutter going off wouldn’t shake the camera too much. I could have solved some of that by setting a high shutter speeds, but the foggy conditions didn’t allow for that. It was so gray I had to shoot slow and wide open. I made do.

From where the driver dropped me off until the time I hit the ticket booth, maybe 300 yards, took me about an hour to traverse. There were kung fu medallions on the little gate to shoot. Temple guard dog garbage cans with bad Chinglish on them needed their pictures taken. I shot the massive gate. And I shot a lot of my good friend Damo on his plinth. Anybody walking with me would have been ready to punch my lights out for my dawdling.

Ticket for entry to the temple costs 100 Yuan. Around the ticket section is a massive courtyard lined with shops and other tourist services. There was a photo place where I had hopes that I could get the tripod fixed, but it was closed. All I needed was an allen wrench to tighten the loose nut on the top plate of the tripod. How hard could be that to find?

As I made my way down the stairs to the road leading to the Temple, I spotted a guy doing some metal work in one of the shops. Metal Work? Tool User? I hurried over and gave him my best Nei Hao. I did my hand gesture routine of tightening the bolt on the plate. He eventually understood and went off to find tools.

He came back with a phillip’s head screw driver. Not quite an allen key but it seemed to do the job. At first he wanted to take the bolt out which was the opposite of what I needed, but eventually we got that straightened out.

On the right at the bottom of the stairs was a gate with a guard. On the far side was a place called the Dharma Hall. Since there was a gate and a guard, I figured I should try and go through. I was rebuffed.

I then came to another interesting building. More guards. More refusal. I think it might be the residence for the warrior monks because the two guys guarding the access looked martial-esque.

The first main building I got to, I believe was Mr. Ching’s Wushuguan. Only later looking at the pictures did it remind me of the front cover of his book. Again there was tremendous dawdling as I took pictures. I did some self-portraits for Mr. Ching for which I had worn my ‘Got Qi’ T-shirt. The only athletic activity I saw at the facility was a bunch of the kids playing basketball in the ancestors courtyard. That seems to be the sport of choice here in Dengfeng. Every martial arts school seems to have backboard tucked into the corner.

It was about 9:30 when I finally arrived at the site I recognized, the famous Dragon Gate. There was film crew in residence on the steps with some tape barricades strung between the trees to keep the public out. The film crew had scattered leaves around the walk way as well as wetting down the stones. Some white kid was the star. He was dressed in warrior monk gray uniform and was sweeping the leaves and doing some forms with the broom.

The tourist were kind of watching, kind of ignoring the film crew in order to get their pictures in front of the temple. I took my picture, too, but on the other side of the crew. I was also the object of much picture taking.

The film crew wrapped up and headed into the Temple. I made my way into the Temple just beyond the main gate rather than join with the tour groups that were making there way in through the main gate.

More pictures. Buddhas in front of the shrines. Buddhas inside the shrine. I watched as one group prayed over two long boxes near the main altar. I’m thinking they had swords in them. I lit some incense for Mr. Ching.

By this time, the screw had loosened again on my tripod plate. I was learning to deal with the frustration. I noticed the film company had set up in this courtyard. They had some external lights shining into a window on the courtyard. I also noticed a grip. Turns out grips have a universal look. Another thing about grips, they carry tools. And from the equipment they were using I was pretty sure one of them would have an allen key.

I was rewarded for my pantomime with said tool. Voila, right tool for the job and my tripod plate was now really secure.

Another good discovery of this first square was the sword shop. They had a beautiful display of some beautiful weapons. I took pictures. I snagged a catalog. Life was good in the Temple.

What would have really helped at this point would be a guide book in English. I saw a lot of different building with a bunch of altars and Buddhas but I can’t really give you the names of the buildings. I did photograph the giant statues guarding the main door. I photographed the holes in the trees the monks did practicing their iron fist techniques. I think I saw the broken floor in another hall, but I’m not certain. And if they had incense to burn, I burned it. I probably took pictures of altars, I shouldn’t have, but there was only one room that specifically forbade it.

Even without a guide, it was a fascinating stop.

From there it was off to the Pagoda forest which is where the monuments to all the former Abbots are located. There were a few signs to indicate what pagodas were what. Which is good because there were a lot of them and they do have a lot of the same characteristics. More shooting.

Another goal was to get to Damo’s cave, where Damo meditated and came up with Kung Fu. The sign post said it was 4000 meters to the cave. At this point I was beat and I wasn’t up to walking up a mountain for over two miles, including, according to Mr. Ching, a hellacious set of stairs.

But as I was leaving the Pagoda forest, I was accosted by one of the myriad sales people in the area. She wanted me to buy a ticket to take the tram to see Haiuke’s temple. Haiuke was the second abbot to Damo and his first assistant. He cut off his arm to show how serious he was to be a disciple of Damo. There were supposed to be four wells on the temple grounds that Damo created to help Haiuke after the cutting off the arm incident. It was one of the things I wanted to do on this trip so I was an easy sell. There were also supposed to be rope bridges and waterfalls at the end of the gondola ride. Here was my opportunity to see these things without all that disgusting hiking.

The first tip that it was not going to be as easy as planned was the big set of stairs to get to the tram. But hey, I could make it.

Much like a ski lift, the gondola cabs never stop moving. You have to move along with the cab as it swings through the station and jump in while it’s still moving. I had the tripod in one hand and the backpack on my back. The woman attendant pulled open the door to my cab and made some gesture I didn’t quite get about my head.

As I stepped up into the cab, she also called out about my backpack. I took this to mean I should take this off so I could sit down. So, while I’m stepping up into the cab, holding the tripod with one hand and trying to remove my backpack with the other. I slammed my head into the roof of the cab above the doorway. Oh my god, did that hurt. Looking back the attendant had tried to warn me to mind my head getting into the cab. I parsed this information a bit too late.

During the first part of the journey up the mountain, I spent a lot of time patting the very sore spot on the top of my head.

The ride up the mountain took about fifteen minutes. From the amount of empty cabs around me, I figured I was one of the brave few to make this journey. Or stupid. On the ground below me was a trail and I spotted a young monk sliding on his down the trail. He did not look happy.

I manage the dismount clumsily but without further pain. There were a few vendors on the path to Huike’s temple, but they didn’t have anything I needed.

There was a monk stationed at the temple. He showed me the four wells. There was even ewers if I was in mind to have a drink. Fear of Chinese water and Mao’s revenge kept me from sampling. I burned more incense.

Now, there was supposed to suspension bridges and waterfalls further up the path. I wanted to see them. I continued on. There was another statue at an overlook of the valley. I’m going to say it was of Huike.

I came to a fork in the path. Chinese letters told what was at the end of each destination. Path to the left had some really steep stairs. Path to the right had some stairs going down, but not a lot. I figured the path to the right would go around this peak to the bridge and the waterfall. I could kind of see the gorge along that path.

Let’s face it. I am out of shape. Very far out of shape. I took the path down. I knew I would have to climb back up these stairs but there weren’t a lot of them. I could do this.

Yeah, not so much. The stairs down led to stairs up. And then more stairs up. In some places the stairs ended at boulders with steps sort of chiseled into them. There was a hand rail next to this treacherous footing. I still was carrying my tripod and camera.

Eventually, I came to a really steep set of stairs. It looked like these would finally lead me to the peak. I climbed them very slowly with a lot of panting. And cursing. I flashed on the idea that I was alone on this mountain. What if I got hurt? Do they have rescue services in China to help foolish mountain travelers.

I made it to the top of the stairs. To my delight, I found more stairs and boulder combination. The war in my head to continue or stop raged. What if I just had to climb these last ten stairs and I was at the cool destination?

I finally gave up when I came to a boulder to traverse. Beyond the boulder I could see still more stairs and railings making their precipitous climb up the mountain. I spotted a couple making their way down, stopping every ten feet or to so to snap pictures with their iPhones.

I rested. There was another peak behind me which was the destination of the other path. Yahoos were crying out from there to hear their echoes off the canyon walls. I panted a lot.

I decided to pack the camera away and pulled out the strap to carry the tripod. Going down over the rocks wasn’t going to be as easy as coming up them. The couple caught up to me as I gingerly made my down. I let them pass, but they only made it a few feet before they stopped for another set of pictures.

I panted a lot on the way down the tram. I managed not to concuss myself a second time on entry. The wind at this point had started to pick up making the ride down a bit more chilly.

One of the things Mr. Ching urged me to do was visit the temple of the four directions. It was right across the bridge from Shaolin. I had spotted it on the way in and decided to visit it on the way out. The main thing was to try and go underneath to see the depiction of Buddhist hell in the basement.

The temple across the bridge didn’t have the name I anticipated. It was called the Temple of the 500 Buddhas and used to be the rest stop for visiting monks. There were five hundred Buddhas, all painted gold. I took two pictures before I was informed that picture taking wasn’t allowed, which was a shame because every Buddha was unique and interesting.

Here is where I call into question the veracity of some of the monks. There was a spot to burn incense as you made your way passed all the Buddhas. Two monks were stationed there to hand out incense and take donations. For just hanging around, i was given one of the Buddha cards for free.

While I waited, a man came up to bow and burn incense. The monks showed him what to do, I watched. There was already some incense burning in the altar. The man finished his ablutions rose and left. He wasn’t gone two minutes. When the monk started pulling out the first burning bundle of incense. He put it out in the ashes of the altar. He then took out the incense of the man who just left and doused that as well. To me, that didn’t seem right.

I was still figuring this was the temple that Mr. Ching had mentioned but now with a different name. It had the symmetrical layout he talked about. I just had to look for the doors to the basement.

I found them but they were locked. I asked the girls guarding the door but I got the head shake for my troubles.

I had now been in the Temple grounds for a good eight hours and was exhausted. At the road, a man wanted to know if I needed a taxi for the trip to town. Again the price was thirty yuan. And it was unlicensed or black cab. I was too tired to care. I also had to show him how to get to the hotel. I think he wanted to dump me early because he didn’t want to see the real cabbies and get into trouble. but I made him pull up to the gate. I’m not sure if Henry was in the guard shack or not.

At this point I was running on zero fuel. I had a small breakfast and no lunch and I had done a nice hike up a mountain. I had to get myself out of the chair in the hotel room to go find food.

My hotel is not in an area surrounded by shops and restaurants. It’s more of the night club district. I can see two Karaoke bars from my window along with some other nighclub across the street.

So, I wandered in search of food. I saw dimly lit grocery shops that didn’t look too appealing. I found some nice looking tea shops but I didn’t think was up to explaining what I needed to eat. I saw a pet shop with six big golden retrievers in the window. At least I hope it’s a pet shop. Although in their defense, I did see what looked like bags of kibble. I passed two empty german style pubs selling Carlsberg beer. I ended buying some crackers and bottled tea at the shop across the street from the hotel.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Just to clarify, I found CITS and Beihuan road. It's the same road as my hotel. At my end of that street, it's called Da Yu lu