Off the train and on to Kung Fu

Hello again all! Today was yet another amazing day in China. We woke up very early on our train this morning and got ready for our day. The train was a surprisingly fun experience and I slept like a baby. Soon after we woke up and got our stuff together we were at our stop, Louyang. Our group found our bus and got on the way. The first thing we did was stop at a local hotel to have breakfast and take showers. During breakfast we were greated by a special guest, the deputy director of tourism for the city of Louyang. The man expressed his gratitude for our visit and presented us with gifts including a ceramic carving which housed the pioni, the city flower.

The next stop for today was the Longman Grotto, a mountain with over 2,000 Buddah carvings in it. The carvings ranged from a 42 foot tall Empress with Prime Minister, Concubine, and Soldiers to an army of 13,000 1 inch tall figures listening to Buddah. Some carvings were as old as 1500 years but the preservation was truly great and the detail was just as beautiful today as ever. What was very upsetting about the carvings, however, was that many of their heads were cut off. Whenever there was an emperor in charge who was not Buddhist, he would order the carvings to be destroyed. Because of this, many of the beautiful heads are cut off and ruined. The last carving we viewed was the largest Buddah there and it was magnificent. We finished there and got back on our way to lunch. Lunch was not the best that we had eaten, but it was still edible. After that we arrived in at our next hotel, got settled in, and then we walked over to the Shoalin Temple.

This was the only temple we had visited so far that is a working temple currently. Since it is used, we needed to be extra respectful there. Every doorway in China has a tall thresh hold step at the door to keep the deamons away. Usually, it doesn't matter how you cross it but at the temple the men must walk over it with their left foot and the women with their right. Additionally, we had to dress very conservative and be quiet and respectful in the temple. In the temple we saw monks everywhere and greeted them with "Ar Me Toa Fua". We walked through the temple and viewed the beautiful statues of Buddah and the georgeous architecture. After a little bit of touring, our guide led us out a weird door and through an ally. We didn't know where we were going and were brought into a classroom. We were soon met by the temple's head monk. He gave us a small lecture about monks and Buddhism and the Shoalin Temple. It was a very enlightening and the things he said related universally to everyone in the room. The monk discussed the 3 vows that the monks make to learn at the temple which are no anger, no ignorance, and no greed. He also shared advice like live in the moment and worry about your soul's current incarnation and not a future reincarnation. He then shared the history of the temple and explained that it was burned down three times before and what we are seing today was rebuilt between the 1980's and 1995. He also told of a story about how a past emperor was once captured in the mountains surrounding the temple and when the monks heard him 13 monks went to save the man. He was forever greatful so when the man became emperor he gave the Shaolin Temple 2000 acres of land and had the warrior monks become part of China's millitary. Because of that, the warrior monks at the temple are still very fierce and up until 50 years ago still worked with the government. When the monk was done with his lesson we all took a photo with him and then finished our tour of the temple. While touring the monks sold insence for people to put infront of the temple. It is said you should put three in the urn for the past, present, and future and when Buddah smells them he will grant you good fortune. As we left the temple, we walked on the center tiles which had lotus flowers engraved on them which is said to bring good fortune as well.

After the temple we made our way to our home for the next few days: the Kung Fu school. As we drove up we saw hundreds of students marching in formation with weapons in hand. This crew was a scary one and we realized in a short while our group would join them soon. We went into a practice room and watched a demonstration by the students. It was absolutely amazing to see how talented they are and what they can force their bodies to do. Upstairs they were doing some of the best boxing I had ever seen. There were some girls fighting in their that could knock me out with one punch. We got out of their quickly with fear in our minds and said good bye to the students we would soon be studing with.

Dinner was scheduled to end our day and it was absolutely delicious. One of the dishes actually tasted like sesame chicken from home, we were in shock. To make it even better, they had French fries. It tasted so good but was soon over and it was time to go to our inn. As a surprise, however, we made a stop at a local grocery store and bought some snacks because with the upcoming physical activity we are going to get very hungry. We got some chocolate and snacks because they were the only foods that looked familiar and safe. It was time to check out and get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is an extreme Kung Fu lesson and some exploring through town. Talk to you then!