Practicing Kung Fu in DengfengMonday, August 10, 2009
Powered by NetMobile. ______________________________________________________________________ Louyang and Shao Lin
This morning I woke up on a train that was taking us from Beijing to the central part of China, specifically the city of Louyang. After arring in Louyang we freshened up and went to Longmen or Dragon Gate Grotto. There we saw thousands of Buddha statues carved into the limestone rock of the mountain. The tallest one we saw was a massive carving 17 meters high. It was awe inspiring.
We then got back on the bus and drove to the nearby town of Dengfeng, the birthplace of kung fu and our home for the next few days. After a quick rest we went to visit the one and only Shao Lin temple world famous for its kung fu and a place we will spend some time at the next few days. We went into the part of the temple reserved for meditation and got an insightful lesson on Shao Lin temple amd its effect on Buddhism from the temple's supervisor. We then got a very different kung fu experience when we went to visit a nearby martial arts academy. There were literally thousands of students dressed alike outside practicing their moves in perfect synchronization. This was both impressive and intimidating. We got an even closer look with some of the more advanced students and what they were able to do was fascinating. They were so quick and agile it seemed almost superhuman. They would flip and kick and punch so quickly and precisely it seemed nearly robotic. We then witnessed a kid about 10 years old do head flips across the room and I think that kid could beat me up any day. At dinner the girls kicked the boys out of the students table so us guys ate with the Chinese guides. It ws great to have some more time to talk with them one on one. Especially Ping who told us about her time working during the cultural revolution. She was a miner at age 15 and only learned English after Chinese policied were more relaxed. She taught herself English and encouraged all us boys to learn Chinese because if she could teach herself English than we could learn Chinese easily. I don't know if it would be that easy, but I definitely want to continue learnin Chinese. --- ______________________________________________________________________ ChengdeSaturday, August 8, 2009
Today was our first full day in Chengde. First, we visited the imperial summer moutain resort, or the emperor's summer home. Then we went on a hike on a mini great wall of china, which after a 6 hour trek yesterday we were all so happy for. We walked for about two hours and then finally arrived at where we had lunch.
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Today we hiked for abou 10 km along the rampant part of the great wall of China. While this may bot sound too rigorous it soon turned into a full on trek including a stretch through dense jungle. I sweat more and drank mor water in those 5 hours than I have in my whole life. We were all pretty much covered in sweat and it was a little bit nasty. The views were amazing and it was really hard to believe that we were actually hiking the great wall. It was treacherous and difficult, but the feeling of accomplishment and the panoramic scenery were worth it.
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This trip has been different from other ones I have been on because of the level of culture we get to experience while we are here. Whenever a group of Chinese people realize we are from America most of the time they run up and ask if they can take a picture with us. The friendliness of the majority of the people of this country has been one of the most suprising things so far. Wherever you are you find yourself talking with the locals and quickly becoming friends. We have already exchanged emails with a few people and I plan on keeping up correspondence with them.
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China has been awesome so far! After a really long flight and a quick rest on our first day we started off on a day of adventure. This mornng we went to the temple of heaven and did tai chi there. Then we went to see the beautiful and awe inspiring Forbidden City. We ended off the day by practicing ping pong with chinese students. At first I was pretty hopeless, but after some correction on my form, I was ready to play. While I still lost miserably I had a lot of fun!
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