Kung Fu fighting

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Trip Start Jun 09, 2005 Previous
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  Zhengzhou, China
Tuesday, September 6, 2005

John and I leave Shanghai on a sleeper train. I am quite apprehensive about our 17 hour overnight journey and my heart starts to race when I see the chaos at the train station. It seems as though everyone in Shanghai is leaving. The compulsory x-ray machines that are located at the entrance to the train station are jam packed full of luggage. The bags spit off the conveyer belt and everyone scrammbles to gather up their belongings. Our food bag bursts open and all its contents skid across the floor. We fight our way through the crowds of people and eventually board the 16.52pm K152 heading to Zhengzhou. We are stopping here to visit the Shaolin monastery, which is world famous for it's Kung Fu fighting monks and I wonder why on earth the 2000 other ordinary looking passengers are going there. Surely it's not going to be too busy with tourists at the next stop?

In contrast to the soft sleeper carriages (see Shanghai entry), now we are travelling in a hard sleeper. The ticket is cheaper but now we enter a carriage containing about one hundred passengers. The carriage is divided into small doorless compartments and each compartment contains 6 'hard' bunk beds in two rows. Life in the hard sleeper carriage is a real hive of activity. It's noisy, claustraphobic and there is little privacy. However no one else seems to be bothered by the cramped conditions and I find the situation bemusing. Waitresses ride up and down the corridor with trollies selling hot food, books and other nik naks, conductors check and recheck everyone's tickets to ensure that there are no free-loaders on board, and young girls constantly clean the carpet and communal areas.

01 on the train

The passengers play cards and drink beers, in intimate conversations with people they have never met before. We have heard that the food is terrible and so we join the locals and tuck into our own instant noodles. It gets dark quickly and John soon crawls up the ladder to his top bunk and disappears under his duvet cover. At 10pm the lights are dimmed and the music stops and I fall into a deep sleep.

'We've arrived' my friendly Taiwanese cabin mate calls. I wake with a shock, first because I have been sleeping quite soundly overnight and second because we are in Zhengzhou 3 hours earlier than expected. It is 7am and within a few minutes we are off the train and carrying our 20kg backpacks. Blurry eyed we begin to search for a hotel room.

Zhengzhou has a cool climate in September although it's not too much fun finding somewhere with our heavy bags and empty stomachs. There are more McDonalds here than I have ever seen in a city and before long we end up eating breakfast there. The upstairs is still closed for the day and I am surprised to see a dirty barefooted boy about 6 years old sleeping along the plastic chairs.

John leaves me and the bags in McDonalds and heads off on foot to find a hostel. As this city is rapidly developing, our 2005 Let's Go guide book is fairly useless. After 3 hours we find a clean and comfortable room (funnily enough right next to McDonalds), which costs 160 Yuan for 2 nights (approximately 11 pounds).

We spend a lazy day in Zhengzhou walking around like zombies after our 14 hour train ride.

02 Kungfu

John spots a hairdressers and decides to have a hair cut. I decide to meet John later and walk around the city tasting some of the local melon served on sticks (delicious) and trying to avoid being run over the busy roads. Back at the hairdressers one hour later, John is having his head massaged. He is looking relaxed although his hair doesn't look any different. 'I'm not too sure whether I have asked for a haircut' he murmers, 'but this head massage is great'. Eventually a pair of scissors appear. This is going to be the longest time that anyone has spent on John's hair and so I decide to treat myself to a hairwash.

A typical hairwash in China consists of what I would describe as a shampoo, wash and massage. A young pretty girl washes my hair and proceeds to press her thumbs hard into my head, at certain points squeezing my skull with tremendous pressure. After my head, (we are still waiting for John's haircut to finish) I am lucky to get a shoulder, back, arm and finger massage. My body feels relaxed and I regain consciousness to see a refreshed reflection of myself in the hairdressers mirror. It's good timing as John's haircut is just about finished. The hairdresser professionally gives John's neat wisps of hair a hot blow dry (apparently his first in 10 years) and apart from his 5 day old stubble, he looks pretty hot!

In the evening John experiences karaoke for the first time. We enter a dark reception room and are led off to our own private room complete with TV, pc and leather sofas.

03 Wooden Buddha

Unfortunately the list of English songs (and our singing) is fairly limited but armed with two hours warmup, a beer and his new haircut John is in full swing dancing and singing ad hoc to any tune. We leave the hot and sticky room slightly embarrased as we realise that the walls are not sound proofed and for the next four days we both suffer croaky voices and sore throats.

The next day we set off early to the Shaolin Monastery to see the Kung Fu. Our guide book describes this as a very popular place with tourists but it seems to be relatively quiet. We decide to travel there using public bus as it is only 44 yuan each which seems to be reasonable particularly with the number of guides on board. By the end of the day, the cost escalates by a factor of six as the driver stops off at many isolated temples and we are given no choice but to continue following the chinese tour for fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere. The temples each have some nice courtyards which have beautiful old cypress trees but many of the ancient books are locked away behind glass bookshelves and very few monks are to be seen.

The highlight at the Shaolin Monastery is a performance provided by young boys wearing bright orange suits and black laces which criss cross up their legs. In an modern auditorium the boys bound across the stage like bouncing balls, skillfully kicking their legs into the air, charging with swords, sticks and ball & chains. They also cleverly mimic different types of animals running around the wild.

04 Pagoda forest

The part I liked the most was the concentration of a young monk and his inner 'chi' which enables him to effortlessly smash two heavy metal rods into four pieces using his head. He also uses his body to fire a single nail through a sheet of glass and to burst a balloon on the other side of the glass.

After walking through several more temples and halls we enter the pagoda forest. Inside this enclosed green maze it is peaceful and we find hundreds of brick and stone pagodas which tower up into the sky. These tombs range from 20cm to 20m in height and many are proped up using wooden sticks.

Our final excusion of the day is a trip up the Shaolin mountain. We jump onto Austrian manufactured cable car and ascend above the trees into the sky. At the peak we find a path which has been constructed onto the side of a rock face. We follow a path to some amazing rock formations and think we could easily spent more time up here. However the sun is setting and we still need to find our bus to get home again.

We return to Zhenzhou exhausted, but work our way to the other side of town to the FuiXian Garden restuarant. Here we have an unforgettable experience with the friendly and kind staff. A girl plays a large grand piano as we order some beef and peppers, fresh shrimps and vegetables. It's been such a busy day that there was no time for either breakfast or lunch and we both have to restrain ourselves from greedily stuffing our faces. Our waitresses are two 21 year old students, Echo and Lisa. They work 10 hours a day, seven days a week in the restaurant to support their studies. The girls are unbelievably excited to see John and to practise their English with us and act as though they have been waiting to see us all their lives. The staff swiftly replace our dirty plates every few minutes and assist us in every possible means. I go to the toilet and for an embarrasing moment wonder whether they are actually going to accompany me into the cublicle. Echo patiently waits outside though, ready to turn on the water taps and to courteously hand me a paper towel to dry my hands. The evening ends with a presentation of a hand made 3D paper flower and heart. The meal costs an expensive (for China) but affordable 170yuan (12 pounds) and the girls kindly show us where to get the bus back home.

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05 Shaolin Mountain

06 Dinner in Zhengzhou

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