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We awoke relatively early and headed to the nearby bus station to catch our ride to the Shaolin temple. The station was a bit of a circus as people were harassing tommy to ensure he picked their bus. Once our bus was chosen we boarded and Laura and I soon realised it was not made us lanky types, my knees were basically around my ears. On top of this there was a really loud Chinese tv show being played which did start to grate on you after a while. It's was like a really random talent show with everyone either shouting or singing... Very badly!
Eventually we did set off and the duration of the journey was approximately 90 minutes. On arriving to Shaolin we had to transfer to a smaller local bus which again was an experience. When I boarded there were no seats so the conductor gave me a fold away stool which was hilarious and gave Laura a very amusing photo opportunity... Especially as I attempted to balance my self on this tiny stool while speeding along. We headed through a mountain range and arrived at the Shaolin temple complex. Stepping off the bus the wind cut right through you and made your face sting. We were later informed in the wind the temperature dropped to minus ten degrees. The scenery however is amazing with beautiful temples everywhere and snow covered peaks in the distance to marvel at. Tommy showed us to our accommodation on site and the foyer was very cold and we were all a bit disgruntled when we found out we were on the bottom floor (heat rises and all that). By this point we were very hungry and we headed for the very cold cafeteria wrapped in in all our clothes. The flower tea was boiling hot and very welcoming which was subsequently followed by large potions of seasoned cabbage, spicy chicken, beef a pork dish and rice. It was obvious that Shaolin students eat very well!! Even if was very cold the food was very good and did give you a warm feeling inside.
After lunch we headed to watch a Shaolin Kung Fu show which was a demonstration of various disciplines showing off their strength, speed, control and coordination. There was an awkward moment when one young student made an attempt to pierce a balloon through a piece of glass with a needle. After 5 attempts he failed and we felt really sorry for him, then the 'master' appeared, set himself up through meditation and pierced the glass first time, showing that is how it's done.
After the show finished we headed back into the cold and headed up to the Shaolin temple. The structure was incredible and we were told it has often been a victim of war and it was last put to the torch in 1928 which required reconstruction of some of the buildings.... Some only being as old as the 1980s. We got some lovely photos and nearly got one of the elusive monks but not quite, this did frustrate Laura who I think is starting to turn into a professional photographer. We headed to the pagoda forest which contained extravagant burial sites for various Shaolin monks throughout the ages, it was quite a site. Unfortunately due to wind conditions were unable to head to the mountain on cable car which considering how cold it was may of been for the best.
We headed back o the hotel and the heater had not done anything in our absence despite being left on at thirty degrees... it was freezing! As the evening passed we managed to get hold of some family through face time but the evening was getting colder and colder and even the hot tasty noodles we had prepared did nothing to warm our poor bones. laura was snuggled under the duvet with all her socks and gloves on her feet... still didnt help. Some bright spark had put the heater near the ceiling and the ice cold floor was cancelling out any heat gained. It got to the point where we thought something needs to be done about this. As luck would have Jorge was on the case and negotiating a move upstairs with Geekos headquarters as all of us we thinking we will never sleep down here. After some translation through a geckos representative we headed upstairs and I think Laura and I got lucky with a relatively warm room. Laura got us wrapped up in three duvets in a single bed, with water bottles filled with hot water by our feet... we were so toasty I must have drifted off quickly as I can't remember anything else.
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